serious and pensive to think this is but the Pattern of what must befall themselves and that all this must shortly be acted upon them that they now see done unto others But since this Day presents us with no such Solemnity some perhaps may wonder that I have chosen this Text and Subject of Mortality to treat upon Indeed Custom hath made it almost improper to preach of Death without a Funeral and to speak to Men of their last End and Dissolution without setting before their Eyes an Example of it Look well therefore one upon another what are we all as it were but so many Corpses so many Spectacles of Mortality rather to be numbred among the Dead than among the Living every Day and Hour wears away part of our Lives and so much of them as is already spent so far are we already dead and buried This present moment is the longest measure of our Lives what is past is dead to us and what is to come is not yet born how soon God may put a final Period to our present state how few times more our Pulses may beat and this busie Breath in our Nostrils return to us again we know not so frail and so uncertain are our Lives that this may be truly a Funeral Sermon to some one of us before the close of it Since then we are all of us thus subject to the stroke of Death it can never be unseasonable to warn you that you be not surprized and taken by it unprovided In the Words now read you have the great Statute-Law of Heaven that Law that God hath passed upon all the Chil-of Men and that is That it is appointed to them once to die Now that I may make way to press upon you the serious consideration of your own Mortality let me briefly mark out some things that tend to the Explication of the Words And First In that the Proposition is laid down in the Text indefinitely It is appointed unto men it is that which is equivalent to an Universal and reacheth to all men It is appointed to all men once to die We read of two only in the whole Book of God that were exempted by an extraordinary Grace and peculiar Priviledge from this great Law of Dying and they were Enoch and Elias Of Enoch it is said Gen. 5.24 That he walked with God and he was not for God took him And of Elias it is said 2 Kin 2.11 That he went up by a Whirlwind into Heaven The great God after a strange and unusual manner tackt their temporal and eternal Life together making their Time run it self into Eternity without any period or interruption The Apostle also tells us 1 Cor. 15.51 52. That all shall not die to wit at the last Day at the last appearing of Jesus Christ there shall be a World full of Persons that shall not taste of Death All shall not die but all shall be changed in a moment in the twinckling of an Eye These are exempted and being excepted it is certain all the Generations of Men from the first Creation to the last Consummation of all things are all appointed by God unto Death Secondly All must die once All must die once but Believers do not die the second Death There is frequent mention made in Scripture of the first and second Death The first Death is the separation of the Soul from the Body The second Death is the separation of the Soul from God As the Union of the Soul and Body is the Life of Man so the Union of God with the Soul is the Life of the Soul Now Believers do not die this second Death Rev. 20.8 for on such as the Apostle speaks the second Death hath no power They are still united unto God after an unconceivable and ineffable manner As when Christ lay in the Grave though his Soul was truly separated from his Body yet both Soul and Body were hypostatically united to the Godhead so also though the natural Union between a Believer's Soul and Body be dissolved by Death yet both Soul and Body continue mystically united unto Christ even in their separation one from another It is not therefore this second but the first Death that all are appointed unto The Hand of Death must untie those secret and sweet Bands those vital Knots that fasten Soul and Body together must fall asunder one day in every Man All Men must die because Death is the punishment of Sin Thirdly It is appointed unto every Man to undergo this first Death It is decreed and ordained by God and that not upon the Account of any natural Necessity but for the Punishment of Sin The Apostle tells us plainly That by Sin Death entred into the World Death therefore is not so much a Debt due to Nature as a Debt due to the avenging Justice of God for though Man at first was created in pure Nature yet was he also created in a deathless State and Death siezeth upon us not as we are Men but as we are Sinners liable to the Curse of the Covenant of Works containing in it that Threatning In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die It is true Adam even before he sinned had in him the contemperation of the same contrary Qualities that we now have and so at least had also the remote Principles of Death but yet it is probable that he was created with such a Priviledge that he might by his own Will sway and over-rule the Jars and Discords of his elementary constitution and continue himself in Life as long as he should continue himself in Obedience however whether it was so or otherwise yet certain it is that Death came into the World as the punishment of Sin So then it is not primarily Man's Nature but Man's Sin and the Curse of the Law taking hold of him that brought in this necessity of dying Sin is not only the Sting but the Cause of Death and it gives it not only its Terrour but it s very Being also And therefore it is somewhat remarkable that among all the Creatures in the World Man only is termed Mortal most certain it is that other Creatures decay and perish as well as he yet among all perishing things Man only hath that wretched denomination of being Mortal and there is good reason for it since he alone of all perishing things being created immortal voluntarily subjected himself unto Death and by his own Fault brought upon himself that Name of Mortal as a Brand of perpetual Infamy And thus now I come to the Subject that I intend to insist upon and that is The Unavoidableness and Certainty of Death To go about to prove this were to lose so much time every one grants he must die All other Questions about Man are answered by Peradventures If it be demanded Whether such an Embryo shall see the Light What 's the Answer but perhaps it shall perhaps it shall not If it be
Christian account Death among his Gains for it is the Hand of Death that draws the Curtain and lets him in to see God face to face in Heaven that Palace of inestimable Pleasure and Delight where the strongest Beams of Glory shall beat fully upon our Faces and where we shall be made strong enough to bear them Neither doth Death bring any detriment to our Bodies since they shall be new moulded at the Resurrection 1 Cor. 15.53 when this Mortal shall put on Immortality and this Corruptible put on Incorruption when these dull Lumps shall become impassible as the Angels subtle as a Ray of Light bright as the Sun nimble as Lightning Who is there that hath hopes of Heaven that would have this Law of Death reversed Who would be confined to live always a wretched Life here on Earth that Sin and Sorrow share between them A holy Soul cannot but long and be impatient in breathing forth Desires after the kind Office of Death to deliver it into so great and incomprehensible a Glory crying out earnestly with the Apostle Phil. 1.21 I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ which is best of all Now of what great concernment this Subject of Man's Mortality is Of what concernment the thoughts of Death are God by his Providence since I last spake in this Place hath sadly evinced and by a near Instance hath confirmed what I then Preached unto you of the Frailty and Uncertainty of this present Life Happy were it for us if either Sermons or Examples might awaken us to a serious Consideration that we our selves also must shortly die and it may be as suddenly Are we not all subjected to the same Attack Hath not God's Hands kneaded our Bodies out of the same clay and may not his Fingers crumble them again into the same dust Certainly the Cords of our Tabernacles may be as easily unloosed and cut asunder as theirs I have read of a great Emperour that to engrave upon himself the deeper Apprehensions of his own Frailty and Mortality caused his own Funerals to be solemniz'd while he was yet living laying himself down in his Tomb weeping over himself as his own Mourner If there were any advantage in this to prepare him to die at last really by dying thus first in an Emblem we may almost daily have the same There 's not a Funeral of any of our Relations or Acquaintance that we are called to give our Attendance upon but by serious and solemn Reflections upon our selves we may make it our own and if by beholding others nailed up in their Coffins laid down in their cold Graves covered over with Earth that they may become a Feast for Worms if now we reckon our selves among the number of them we shall not be very much mistaken for this is only but a few days to anticipate what shall shortly be our state and condition This Advantage we our selves may make of the Death of others to look upon it as a resemblance at least of our own What is the Language of every Grave we see open its mouth to receive into it the dead Body of some Neighbour or Acquaintance but only this That we also are mortal and perishing There 's not a broken Skull or a rotten Bone that lies scattered about the Grave but hath Death and Mortality written upon them and call loudly upon us to prepare our selves to take up our Abode in the same darkness and corruption with them and if upon every such sad occasion we do not make a particular Application thereof unto our own selves we not only lose our Friend's Lives but their very Deaths also And yet in this Affair that might be of great advantage to us we are exceeding faulty for the reflections we make on the death of others are usually very impertinent and make no lasting impressions upon us When Death comes and mows down our Acquaintance and Relations round about us the Reflection that we usually make is more upon the Loss that we have sustained by their Death than upon the Example they are thereby made to us of our own Frailty and Mortality and thereby as God by his Providence hath deprived us of the Comfort we had in their Lives so we deprive our selves of the Instruction and Benefit we might have by their Death Or if some extraordinary Circumstance that appears in the Death of others strikes us into serious Thoughts of our own yet usually they are but short-liv'd and fleeting for a while it may be we think of humane frailty and the mutability of our present State but these Thoughts soon wear off and we return to the same Vanity and wretched Security as before for such dying Meditations of Death are usually very unprofitable It is with most men as it is with a Flock of Sheep that graze fearlesly till the Shepherd rusheth in among them and lays hold of one of them for the Slaughter and this presently frights them making them leave their Food and run scattering about the Field but no sooner is the Tumult over but they flock together again and feed as securely without Thoughts of death or danger as before So truly is it with most men when either the report is spread abroad that such or such a person is dead and it may be suddenly by some sudden and unexpected stroke or when they are called to visit some dying Person where they behold departing Pangs distorted Eyes quivering Limbs wan and ghastly Corpse the Image of Death in all its lively terrours if they have any Remainders of natural Tenderness it must needs strike them into Pensiveness to think that one day this must be their own Case and that therefore it behoves them to be in continual preparation for this last and dreadful Change But no sooner is the Dead interr'd and the Grave fill'd up again but all these sage and serious Thoughts vanish and they return to the same excess of Sin and Pleasure as before This is the brutish Folly and Sottishness of most men But Oh why should not men always keep alive vigorous thoughts and meditations of Death Are they not always alike mortal Are they not as much subject to the Arrest of Death at other times as when they see Examples of Mortality before their Eyes The Law stands still in force unrepealed in Heaven That it is appointed unto all Men once to die Indeed it fares with such as these as ordinarily it doth with Malefactors that fear not the Penalty of the Law till they see it executed upon others Let us therefore act rationally as Men and as long as we are in danger be kept by that danger prepared to entertain that which we know is irreversibly appointed unto us But now besides this general Appointment of God That all shall die there is a particular Appointment that reacheth to every particular Circumstance of Man's Death the time when the manner how we shall die These are unalterably determined in God's
â—s small Sins yet they still plod on in â—he way to Hell and Destruction without any stop or interruption In sharp Diseases the violence of the Fit doth not â—ast so long as the Disease lasts at times â—here is an Intermission but still there is â— constant Distemper in the Body So when the pang of a violent Sin is well over yet still there remains a constant Distemper in the Soul which though it be not outragious yet still continues the Souls Disease and will bring it to its Death at last In the Fortification of a City or Town all the Ramparts are not Castles and Strong holds but between Fort and Fort there is a Line drawn thaâ— doth as it were joyn all together anâ— makes the place Impregnable So is â— in the Fortification of the Soul by Sin all Sins are not Strong holds of Sathan they are greater and grosser Sins but between these is drawn a line of smalleâ— Sins so close that you cannot find â— Breach in it and by these the Heart iâ— fenced against God Now is it nothing that your Little Sins fill up all the voiâ— spaces of your Lives Is it nothing thaâ— you no where lie open to the force and impression of the Holy Spirit He by his Convictions batters the greater and more hainous Sins of your Lives buâ— these Strong holds of Sathan are Impregnable and give him the repulse he seeks to enter in by the Thoughts but these are so fortified by Vanity and Earthly mindedness and a thousand other Follies that though they are but Little Sins yet swarms of them stop up the passage and the Soul is so full already that there is no room for the Holy Spirit to enter There 's not a sinner here that if he will make an Impartial search within him but will find the experience of this in his own breast When at any â—me you have flown out into the Commission of any boisterous and notorious Wickedness have you not afterwards â—und that you live in a more constant â—king and allowance of little Sins When â—nce a Man is stunn'd by some heavy â—ow a small nip or pinch is not then felt â—y him And when once Conscience is â—eadned by the stroak of some great and â—andalous Sin afterwards it grows less â—ensible of the guilt and evil that there â— in smaller Sins and thus you live in â—hem without pain and regret till you â—ll into some notorious Wickedness that â—ore hardens the Heart and more fears â—he Conscience and what is this but to â—n round from Sin to Sin from a small â—in to a great Sin and from a great Sin â—o a small Sin again till Hell put a peâ—iod to this Circle what is this now â—ut for the Devil to get ground upon â—ou by great Sins and to keep it by little Sins whereby he drives on and keeps up â—he trade of Sin and when God shall â—ast up your Accounts for you at the last Day you will find that the Trade hath â—gain'd you no small loss even the loss of â—our Immortal Souls Now although â—he evil and danger of committing little Sins hath been made very apparent in the forementioned particulars yet because Men are very prone to indulge and excuse themselves herein I shall add some farther Demonstrations of their aggravated Guilt in these following particulars Which will serve greatly for the confirmation of the truth of the Doctrine Little Sins usually are the damning Sins First Consider little Sins usually are the damning and destroying Sins There are more beyond comparison that perish and go down to Hell by the Commission of little Sins than by those that are more Notorious and Infamous here perisheth the Hypocrite and here the formal Professor here perisheth your honest civil neighbourly Man that is so fair and upright in his dealing that you can see nothing that is gross and scandalous by him Oh! but yet the blood of their precious and Immortal Souls runs out and is spilt for ever thorough those insensible wounds that little Sins do make Yea hereby commonly perisheth the Prophane Sinner also for it is usually but the Commission of one small Sin more that fills up the measure of their â—niquities and makes them fully ripe â—or Damnation sometimes indeed God â—oth by some signal Stroke of his Vengeance strike the sinner through and â—hrough in the Commission of some bold â—nd daring Sin but usually the last Sin â—f the worst of Men is but of the lesser â—ze and though God hath formerly â—orn many great impieties from such â—ersons yet is he at last so provoked by â—ome little Sin that he will wait no lonâ—er but snatcheth the sinner away in his â—rath and throws him down into Hell This is an Argument how dreadfully â—rovoking small Sins are that usually â—pon the Commission of one of them God puts an end to his patience and forâ—earance It is not all the great and crying â—ins of a Mans Life that brings so much misery upon him as a little Sin that â—nks him down into Eternal Torments â—oth Usually the last Sin that a sinner â—nters into Hell by is but a little Sin Take it therefore as a warning from God â—enceforth never more despise any Sin â—s slight because it is small We have a â—nown Proverb among us that when a â—east hath his full load one straw more will break his Back Believe it sirs it is most certainly true in the present Case many Christians have been a long time sinners against God and their own Souls adding iniquity to iniquity and some oâ— you may already have your full load â— beware how you ever venture upon thâ— Commission of another Sin though it bâ— but a little and a slight Sin yet this slighâ— and small Sin added to the rest may breaâ— and sink you for ever into Hell thiâ— little Sin may fill up the Ephah of youâ— iniquities and after this small Sin yoâ— may neither have time to Sin again noâ— to Repent of your Sin Little Sins what they want in weight they do more than make up innumber Secondly Consider this Small Sin what they want in weight usually they do more than make up in number and therefore are as pernicious to the Souâ— as the greatest Sins can be Hence David prays Psal 19.12 Who can understand his errours cleanse thou me from secret Sins Psal 19.12 Secret Sins must needs bâ— the least and smallest Sins seeing they are so small that he that commits then cannot discern them but yet as they are small so are they numerous whâ— knows how often he thus transgresseth whâ— can understand his errours Therefore cleanse thou me O Lord from these secret â—ins A Ship may have a heavy burâ—en of Sands as well as of Milstones and â—ay be as soon sunk with them And â—uly small Sins though they should be â— small as Sands yet commonly they â—e as numerous as the Sands too and â—hat odds then is there between
Whoremonger or an Adulterer or a Murtherer These Sins make a Man a Scorn and a Reproach to all that pretend to Civility But now there are other Sins that are inward and spiritual Sins that are indeed more sinful though less scandalous such as Vnbelief Hypocrisie Hardness of Heart Slighting and Rejecting of Christ Resisting the Holy Ghost and the like Now herein lies the great mistake of the World in estimating of Sin At the naming of the former we are ready to tremble and so indeed we ought and not only so but we ought to shun and avoid those that are guilty of them as Monsters of Men. But now we have no such abhorrency against the latter if the Life be free from gross Enormities we look upon Vnbelief and Impenitency but as small and trivial sins Now those Sins that we thus slight are incomparably the greatest and the vilest Sins Murther Adultery Blasphemy and the rest of those crying Impieties could not damn the Soul were it not for Vnbelief and Impenitency It is not the Swearer or the Drunkard that perish but it is the Vnbeliever He that believes not is condemned already John 3.18 And so hating of God and a secret scorning and despising of Holiness and the Ways of God these are Sins that do not defile and pollute the outward Man and many doubtless are guilty of them that are of a fair and civil Life and Conversation and yet these are Sins that may out-vie with the most horrid Sins for the hottest and lowest place in Hell We see then what small heed is to be given to the Judgment of the World concerning small Sins Those that the World counts little Sins may be great and heinous in the sight of God for God judgeth not as Man judgeth he is a Spirit and therefore spiritual Sins and Provocations such as Inordinacy in the Thoughts Desires and Affections these are Sins possibly that are more heinous in God's Sight than more carnal and grosser Sins are Damnation for little Sins will be most into lerable damnation Seventhly and lastly Consider this Damnation for little Sins will be most aggravated and most intolerable Damnation Oh will it not be a most cutting Consideration to the Soul in Hell when it shall think here I lie and fry for ever in unquenchable Flames for the gratifying of my self in that which I call'd little Sins Fool that ever I was that I should account any Sin little that would bring to this place of Torment There 's another of my fellow-wretched Sinners between whom and me there was as much difference as there was between me and a true Saint He prophane and daringly wicked I honest and civil and yet for allowing my self in those Sins to which the World encouraged me and called little Sins the same Hell that holds him shall hold me for ever Oh the dreadful Severity of God! Oh wretched Folly and Madness of mine Oh insufferable Torments and Anguish Believe â—t thus will those that are damned for small and little Sins reflect upon their former Lives such will be their dismal Reflections and such will be yours also expect no other if being warned of the great Evil that there is in little Sins you will yet persist in them without Repenâ—ance And thus I have done with the Doctrinal Part of the Text I now come to make some Application of it Vse 1 And the First Use shall be by way of Corollary If so be that little Sins have in them so much danger and guilt as hath been demonstrated to you what shall we then think of great and notorious Impieties If Sands will sink a Man so deep into the Lake of Fire and Brimstone how deep then will their Hell be that are plunged into it with Talents of Lead bound upon their Souls Whilst I have been setting forth the Aggravations of the great Evil that there is in little Sins possibly some prophane Spirit or other may thus argue if little Sins be so dangerous and damning then since it is utterly impossible to keep our selves free from all Sins whatever what need I scruple the greatest Sin more than the least I am stated down under a necessity of sinning and I am told that the rate that every Sin will stand me in is eternal Death the least is not less and the greatest is no more It is but ridiculous Folly for a Malefactor nicely to shun the Dirt and pick out the cleaner â—ath when he is going to Execution â—nd so it is but a Folly for me to go the â—raiter and severer way to Hell and â—herefore since there is no difference beâ—ween Sins in the end but all alike lead â—own to the same Destruction I will put â—o difference between them in my praâ—tice But let such presumptuous Sinâ—ers know First That All Mens sins are not equal as all Mens Sins are not â—ual here so neither shall all Mens Torâ—ents he equal hereafter Some shall be â—aten with fewer others with more â—ripes some shall be chastised with â—hips others with Scorpions The Eâ—rnal Furnace shall be heated seven â—mes hotter for some than for others â—nd for whom is the greater wrath preâ—red but for the greatest Sinners In â—e blackest and hottest place in Hell â—ere is chained the great Devil that â—rch Rebel against God and after him â— ranked whole Clusters of damned â—irits each according to their several â—grees both of Sin and Torment He â—at suffers the least suffers no less than Hell but yet he is in a condition to be envied at by those whose daring and desperate Wickednesses have brought upon them far heavier and sorer vengeance these shall have cause to envy the state of little Sinners even as they do envy the state of glorified Saints in Heaven Do not therefore conclude that because the wages of the least sin is Death therefore the wages of the greatest Sin is no more nor no worse For though in a natural Death there is no being dead a little yet in the spiritual and eternal Death there are degrees As the Civiâ— Man was a Saint here on Earth in comparison of the Lewd and Debauched Sinner so shall he be happy hereafter in comparison of his Torments Let such therefore seriously consider how sad and infinitely wretched their Condition musâ— needs be since that no less than Damnation it self shall be judged a Happiness compared with what they shall suffer and what Wrath they shall lie under to Eternity In committing great sins we avoid not less sins Secondly Consider In the commissioâ— of great Sins you do not avoid the commission of less Sins but only add to thâ— guilt of them and to that Damnation that will follow upon them It is true if a meer Civil Man whose highest Attainments are but some commendable external Vertues if he could change the guilt of all the little Sins that he hath committed in his whole Life for the single guilt of some great and heinous Sin though I pretend
if a Man should therefore burn his House down about him because it wants repairing Is there none among us now that when we have sinned against light and against convictions sit down under this despairing temptation That it is in vain for us ever to make head against such a lust more it will prevail and why should we not therefore give up our selves to it truly what you have been tempted unto others have practised and because the stream of their corruptions is violent they therefore spread out their arms to it and suffer themselves to be carried down by it into the gulph of Perdition resolving to run after the stream and current of their own corruptions because they find it so strong despairing of ever subduing them having been so often overcome by them To despair of obtaining pardon for them Secondly The frequent commission of presumptuous sins makes Men despair of ever obtaining pardon for them and that hardens them in resolutions to continue in them and then they cry out with Cain My iniquity is greater than can be forgiven Despair of pardon oftentimes exasperates to more and greater offences as if a Thief when he is robbing of a Man should argue with himself if I am detected of this robbery it will cost me my life and if I murther him I can but lose my life just so do many argue My sins are already so many and so great that I cannot avoid damnation for them I see my Name pricked down among Reprobates it is but in vain for me to struggle against my own fate and God's decrees it is too nice a scruple since God hath given me up to the Devil for me not to give up my self to sin and so away they go to sin and sin at random desperately and resolvedly oh horrid hardness that when the thoughts of Hell use to quench and allay the wickedness of other Men when it is most furious yet these wretches never think of Hell but that that Eternal Fire inflames their lusts and the thoughts of their own destruction doth even confirm them in the practice of those very sins that destroy them and yet to this pass doth the commission of presumptuous sins bring many a wretched Soul in the World to Why now resolution to sin out of despair is to sin as the Devil sins indeed it is to give the Devil's image in the Soul it's last flourish The Devils and the damned Spirits as they lie always smothering and burning in Hell so they always hear that dreadful sound For ever thus for ever thus and because their Chains are made strong and eternal by an Almighty Decree this makes them implacable they fret and look upward and curse that God that hath plunged them into those torments from which Hell will never free them this makes them desperate in their resolutions to sin because they despair of ever bettering their condition beware therefore least you also by frequent commissions of Presumptuous Sins be given up to Hellish despair such as this is so to despair of mercy as at the same time to provoke and defie Justice and that 's the first great danger of sinning presumptuously it will make Men resolute either thorough security or thorough despair to continue in sin Secondly Presumptuous Sins make men impudent and shameless in Sin Presumptuous Sins as they steel the heart with most desperate resolutions so they also brazen the face with most shameless impudency All shame ariseth from the apprehension of some evil suspected of us or discovered in us and the eyes that can discover it are either the Eyes of God and Angels or the Eyes of Men like our selves Now all presumptuous Sinners are grown bold and impudent as to God and Angels though God be present with them in the closest secrecy though his Eye sees them in the thickest darkness yet this doth not at all over-awe them they dare sin even before his Face that must Judge them and if some of them be yet so modest as to conceal their wickedness from the notice of Men yet they are also so foolish and bold as not to regard God's seeing them in comparison of whom to sin in the sight of the whole World is but to sin in secret but yet the frequency of presumptuous sinning will also quickly cause them to abandon this shame too and to outface the Face of Men which they more dread than they do the Face of God or Angels The Lord himself takes notice of the impudency of such Men and certainly every Sinner hath cause to blush when God calls him impudent In Jeremy 6.15 says God there were they ashamed when they had committed all these abominations nay they were not at all ashamed neither could they blush and in Jer. 3.3 they have a Whores forehead and they refuse to be ashamed and in Isaiah 3.9 the shew of their countenance says God doth witness against them they declare their sin as Sodom Three degrees of shamelesness in sinning they hid it not There are three degrees of shamelessness in sinning to which many of our grosser Sinners do arise A committing foul sins publickly First Those that will dare to commit foul sins even publickly and knowingly Some Men lose half the pleasure of their sins unless others may know how wicked they are and how far they dare affront the Almighty the Swearer swears not in secret where none can hear him but in Company and calls Men to witness as well as God the Drunkard reels in our Streets in mid day and is ready to discharge his vomit in the faces of all that he meets with truly presumptuous sinning will at last grow to publick sinning not only at the last day that which hath been done in secret shall be divulged upon the house top but many times even in this life those sins that at first wicked Men darst not commit but in secret where no eye sees them after a while they are grown bolder and will act and own them before all Men. Secondly A boasting and glorying in sins when committed Others are advanced farther and not only sin openly but they boast and glory in their sins also the Apostle in Philippians 3.19 speaks of them whose glory was in their shame they boast as if they had done some notable exploit when alas they have only murthered a poor Soul of their own that lay drawing on towards its death before Thirdly A boasting in sins they dare not commit There are others so shameless that they boast of those very wickednesses that they never darst to commit As cowards brag of their exploits in such and such a combat which yet they never darst engage in so there are a generation in the World who dare not for the terror of their consciences commit a sin that yet will boast that they have committed it as if it were a generous and honourable thing to be called and accounted a daring Sinner shall I call these Men or
observe these following particulars First Consider this that we and all Mankind were in Adam not only as in our common Parent from whom we received our Being but as in our Common Head Surety and Representative from whom we were to receive either our well or our ill Being he was the Head of the Covenant both he and we were Parties in the Covenant he obeying we obeyed and he sinning we transgressed what he did as in this publick capacity was not alone his Personal Act but it was ours also Now what Right Adam had to Indent for his Posterity and to oblige them to the Terms of the Covenant I have long since opened to you on another occasion and I shall therefore pass it by now Secondly The Threatning annexed to the Covenant of Works was Death In the Day thou Eatest thereof says God thou shalt surely Die Gen. 2.17 Now there is a Threefold Death that by the violation of this Command Man was subject unto A Temporal Death onsisting in the Miseries of this Life and at last a separation of the Soul from the Body An Eternal Death consisting in the everlasting separation of the Soul from God and a Spiritual Death consisting in the loss and separation of God's Image from the Soul And upon Adam's Sin this Threefold Death was Threatned namely Temporal Spiritual and Eternal Of these Three the Spirituaâ— Death was presently inflicted upon Man's Fall consisting in the separation of the Image of God from the Soul Man waâ— immediately deprived of that Holiness and perfect Righteousness wherein the Image of God did consist Then Thirdly Observe No Action can be Holy that doth not flow from the Image of God in the Soul as from its principle Every Action is sinful that hath not the Glory of God for its end now no Action can have the Glory of God for its end that hath not the Image oâ— God for its principle and therefore Man being despoiled of this Image of God there is no Action of any Man in the state of Nature but what is sinful and corrupt And hence it is that in Regeneration God again stamps his Image upon the Soul not indeed so perfectly as at Man's first Creation but yet in such a degree as doth thorough Grace enable him to Act Holily and in some measure according to the will of God Fourthly Though Man be despoiled of the Image of God and cannot Act Holily yet he is a busie and active Creature and must and will be still acting he hath an active Nature and he hath active Faculties still left him though the Image of God that should make those Actions Holy is justly taken from him And here at last we have traced out the true cause of that strong propension that there is in all Men unto Sin While the Soul enjoyed the Image of God it sought especially to do all in reference unto God but now that it hath lost that Image it cannot any longer raise up its Actions to a suitableness to the Will of God and therefore now it sinks them and seeks only to please its own Carnal Desires and Appetite Take the whole resolution of it in Two or Three Words The Nature of the Soul makes it prone and inclined to Act for it is a busie active Creature and if it Acts it must Sin because it hath not the Image of God to raise its Actions to a Holy and Divine conformity to the Will of God and therefore now to be prone to act is to be prone to sin and this is the true ground of that strong Propension that is in all Men to that which is evil and sinful Quest But You will say if this proneness to sin be from the loss of God's Image how comes it to pass that those who are renewed again according to the Image of God do still complain of this strong proneness and propension to sin Answ To this I answer that those of fallen Mankind to whom God is pleased to restore his Image in regeneration accordingly as this Image is more or less perfect so is this proneness to sin more or less strong but because the best are but in part renewed therefore this sinful proneness is but in part destroyed in the best Grace weakens it but Grace doth not quite remove it and therefore the holiest Christian hath and shall have as long as he lives in this World ' cause to complain with the Apostle Romans 7. 23. I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind there is a carnal sensual inclination in him strongly swaying him to sin contrary to the bent and inclination of his renewed part and therefore he shall have cause still to cry out with the Apostle Oh wretched Man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death because the Image of God is but in part restored in him therefore there is partly also an inclination in him to sin Yea but you will say possibly this inclination in the best Christians may be to smaller and lesser sins Object but it cannot be thought that a Child of God who is renewed again according to the Image of God should have a strong proneness and inclination to those foul sins that the wicked of the World lie in To this I answer Answ the most that Grace doth in the best of God's Children in this life is to weaken and lessen that natural propension that is in a Child of God to every sin but not to destroy that Propension to any one sin at all no not to the foulest and vilest sins The Old Man in this life never loseth one limb though it be weakned and consuming away in his whole body Take a Child of God that before his Conversion had a strong Propension to any sin suppose what sin you will though never so foul and horrid the same Propension still remains It is not indeed so violent and raging as it was but there it is it is abated and overcome by Grace but still there is the same proneness to sin it may be a Christian is not so sensible of this Propension to sin not so frequently as formerly he hath but yet the experience of the best sometimes can inform them that even to the worst sins and most horrid temptations they find a faction and party in their hearts to promote them and it is as much work as Grace can do to subdue and quell these great sins I now come to enquire into the grounds and reasons why God should suffer this proneness to sin to continue in his dearest Saints and Children after their Conversion and Regeneration possibly some may think it would have been far more conducible to God's glory as well as their own peace and comfort if God had at once at their first Conversion utterly destroyed all the seeds and remainders of corruption in them and at first made them as perfectly holy as they shall be at last hereby God would not have been so
forth it self it is kept out from the thoughts when they are busied in holy Meditation it is kepâ— out from the affections when they are set upon heavenly Objects it is kept ouâ— from the life and conversation wherâ— the duties both of the general and particular calling are duely performed in their respective seasons the Apostle exhorts us in Ephesians 4.27 not to give place to the Devil truly when God's exciting Grace quickens our inherent Grace into continual exercise when every faculty is filled with holy actings and every season with holy duties the Devil can have no place to tempt nor corruption to stir it is the best security God can give from the commission of Sin to quicken to the performance of Duty when we pray or meditate or attend upon publick Ordinances we ought to bless God for his exciting Grace whereby we have not only performed a duty but also escaped some soul and notorious Sin that we might have committed had we not been so holily employed we who are here now present before the Lord this day had we neglected this present opportunity who of us knows what horrid temptations and foul sins we might have been exposed to in our own Houses which in the House of God we have avoided David when he walked idly upon the roof of his House he lies open to the Snares of the Devil and sins foully had he then been at his Harp or Psalms he might thereby have driven the Evil Spirit from himself as formerly he did from his Master Saul running Streams preserve themselves pure and clean when standing Pools soon grow corrupt and noisome and venomous creatures breed in them so is it with the heart whilest God's exciting and quickning Grace puts it upon continual act it is preserved from corruption but when once it grows sluggish and doth not freely flow forth into the actings of Grace and performance of Duties the spawn of all manner of sin breeds there and filthy lusts crawl to and fro in it without any disturbance and therefore we should continually pray that God would vouchsafe us the quickning influence of his Spirit that he would fill our sails with that wind that blows where it listeth arise O North Wind and come thou South Wind and blow upon our Gardens that the Spices thereof may flow forth for if the Spices do not the stench will Secondly As God by his exciting Grace hinders those Sins that might arise in the Heart so he also suppresseth those Sins that do arise There is the greatest contrariety imaginable betwixt inherent Sin and inherent Grace when the one is vigorous the other languisheth when the one is acted the other grows dull and sluggish Now both these opposite Principles have their seat and abode in the same Heart and both of them are in continual expectation of exciting influence to call them forth into act Indwelling Corruption that is usually rouzed up by Temptation when it stirs in the heart and is ready to break forth in the life Habitual Grace though it looks on yet is of it self so feeble that it can make no opposition till a kindly influence from the Spirit of God calls out some particular Grace that is directly contrary to that Sin that stirs and this resists and subdues it This Method God used in keeping the Apostle from sinning 2 Cor. 12. He was there under a sharp and pungent Temptation that is therefore called a Thorn in the Flesh v. 7. Satan buffets and the Apostle prays and God answers My Grace is sufficient for thee My Grace is sufficient not thy Grace that Grace that is in thee is but weak and helpless yea a very nothing if I withdraw my influence from it but that quickning Grace that flows from me that alone is sufficient to remove the Temptation and to prevent the Sin Why now while God's exciting Grace work'd upon the Apostle's inherent Grace this Temptation this Thorn in the Flesh only made him more watchful and more industrious against it but if God should have suspended this his Influence this Thorn in the Flesh would immediately notwithstanding all his Grace sadly have wounded his Conscience by the commission of some great and foul Sin Now as all manner of Sin lies couched in that Body of Sin that we bear about with us so all manner of Grace lies couched in that Principle of Grace that God implants in his own Children Now when the Devil by his Temptations calls forth some particular Sin God also at the same time by his exciting Grace calls forth a particular Grace to hinder the commission of that Sin Thus when they are tempted to Pride God calls forth Humility to prick that swelling puffing Bladder when they are tempted to Wrath and Passion he stirs up Meekness when to murmuring and repining against the dispensations of God he puts Patience upon its perfect work Briefly there is no Sin whatever that the Devil can by his Temptation stir up in the Heart but God also can stir up a contrary Grace to it to quell and master it This is the Method of God's exciting Grace in the preventing of Sin that when the Devil calls forth a particular Corruption out of the Stock of Corruption God calls forth a particular Grace contrary to it from the Stock of Grace But yet there are some particular Graces that are more especially employed about this Service and which God doth most frequently exercise and set on work to keep his Children from the commission of Sin First God hinders the commission of sin by keeping up the lively and vigorous actings of Faith Indeed if Faith fail all other Graces must fail by consequence Faith is the Soul's Steward that fetcheth in Supplies of Grace from Christ in whom is the Treasure of it and distributes them to all the other Graces of the Soul Therefore when Christ tells St. Peter Satan had desired to sift him by his Temptations lest he should be thereby discouraged and dejected presently he adds in v. 32. But I have prayed for thee that thy Faith fail not And wherefore his Faith rather than any other Grace but because other Graces must take their Lot with Faith and must be strong or weak victorious or languishing as Faith is and therefore it is called the Shield of Faith Ephes 6.6 Now the Office of a Shield is to defend not only the Body but the rest of the Armour also and so doth Faith when it is dexterously managed it keeps both the Soul and its Graces also from the Attempts of the Devil I might be large here in shewing you how Faith preserves from Sin as by deriving vertue and strength from the Death and Blood of Christ by pleading God's Engagements and Promises to tread Satan under our feet by urging and importuning Christ to fulfill in us the end of his coming into the World which was to destroy the Works of the Devil and many such Ways I might name by which Faith prevents Sin
they who thus argue and who thus act never knew what a sweet and powerful Attractiveness there is in the sense of pardoning Grace and Love to win over the Heart from the practice of those sins that God hath forgot to punish Pardoning Grace engageth to Love God Secondly This should engage us to Love that God who so loved us as freely for his own sake to forgive us such vast Debts and such multiplied sins This is the import of that Speech of our Saviour he loveth most to whom most is forgiven him And hence it is and you may commonly observe it That none are such great Lovers and Admirers of free Grace as those who before Conversion were the vilest and most flagitious Sinners Thirdly Pardoning Grace should teach us to forgive others Since God doth so freely pardon us let this teach us and prevail with us to pardon and forgive the offence of others This is that the Scripture doth urge as the most natural Inference of this Doctrine of God's pardoning Grace Thus the Apostle Ephes 4.32 Be ye kind to one another tender-hearted forgiving one another as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you And say not as ignorant People are wont to do I will forgive but I will never forget for God doth forgive and forget too I will blot out your transgressions and I will remember your sins no more Your sins against God are Talents others Offences against you are but Pence and if for every trivial Provocation you are ready to take your Brother by the Throat and wreak your wrath and revenge upon him may you not fear lest your Lord and Master to whom you stand deeply indebted should also deal so with you for far greater Crimes than others can be guilty of against you and cast you into Prison until you have paid the utmost most Farthing especially considering that you pray for the forgiveness of your own sins as you do proportionably forgive the sins of others Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us And thus I have opened and demonstrated unto you the former part of the Doctrine That the Grace of God whereby he blots out and forgives sin is absolutely free I am now in the next place to prove that it is infinitely glorious Now this I shall endeavour to do by considering pardon of sin in the Nature of it in the Concomitants of it and in the Effects and Consequences of it From all which it will appear both how great a Mercy it is to us and how great a Glory it is to God that he blots out and forgets sin And First Let us consider the nature of pardon of sin what it is And this we cannot better discover than by looking into the Nature of sin Sin therefore as the Apostle describes it is a Transgression of the Law Now to the Validity of any Law there are Penalties literally expressed or tacitly implyed which are altogether necessary The guilt contracted by the transgressing of the Law is nothing but our liableness to undergo the Penalty threatned in the Law and this guilt it is two-fold the one is intrinsical and necessary and that is the desert of punishment which sin carries always in it The other is extrinsical and adventitious by which sin is ordained to be punished These two things are in every sin Every sin deserves Death and God hath in his Law ordain'd and threatned to inflict Death for it Question Now it being clear That Pardon and Remission of Sin is nothing but the removal of the guilt of sin the Question is Whether it removes that guilt that consists in the desert of punishment or that which consists in the voluntary appointment of it unto punishment or both Answer To this I Answer Pardon of sin doth not remove the intrinsical desert of punishment but only the adventitious appointment and ordination of it unto punishment flowing from the Will of God who hath in his own Law threatned to punish sin Remission doth not make that the sins even of Believers themselves should not deserve Death for a liableness to the penalty of the Law in this sence is a necessary consequent upon the Transgression of the Law But because God in the Covenant of Grace hath promised not to reward his Penitent Servants according to the evil of their doings therefore Pardoning Grace removes this guilt of sin arising from God's Ordination of it unto punishment As now suppose a Traytour should accept of the proffer of a Pardon the guilt of his Treason ceaseth not in the inward nature of it but still he deserves to be punished but this Obnoxiousness of his through the Prince's Favour and Appointment is taken away and so that guilt ceaseth So the Repenting Sinner every sin he commits deserves Death but upon his believing in the Lord Jesus Christ this liableness unto Death ceaseth being graciously remitted to them by God Now the Scripture sets forth this Pardon of sin in very sweet and full Expressions It is called a covering of sin Psal 32.1 Blessed is the man whose transgression is forgiven and whose sin is covered Though our covering of our sins is no Security from the inspection of God's Eye who clearly beholds the most hidden and secret things of Darkness yet certainly those sins that God himself hath covered from himself he will never again look into so as to punish for them Nay yet farther as a ground of Comfort Pardon of sin is not only called a covering of our sins from God's sight but a covering of God's Face and Sight from them so we have it Psal 51.9 Hide thy face from my sins and blot out mine iniquities It is a casting of our sins behind God's back as a thing that shall never more be regarded or look'd upon so it is expressed to us Isaiah 38.17 Thou hast in love to my soul says good Hezekiah when a Message of Death was brought to him by the Prophet cast all my sins behind thy back It is a casting of them into the depth of the Sea from whence they shall never more arise either in this World to terrifie our Consciences or in the World to come to condemn our Souls so we have it in Micah 1.19 I will cast all their Iniquities says God into the depth of the Sea It is a scattering of them as a thick cloud so it is called Esay 44.22 I will scatter their sins as a cloud and their iniquities as a thick cloud And in the Text it is called a blotting out and a forgetting of sin I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for my own sake and will not remember thy sins a blotting out to shew That God will never read his Debt-Book against us and a forgetting it That we may not fear that God will accuse us without-book Now these and such like Expressions with which the Scripture doth abound do very much illustrate the Mercy of God in pardoning of sin and I
very dismal unto the minds of sinners yet is there far worse behind then all this still and that which carries in it far greater terrour and amazement and that is the sin that deserves Death and the Hell that follows it for as the Apostle says 1 Cor. 15.56 the sting of Death is sin And it s no wonder that Men who are conscious to themselves of condemning guilt dare not think of standing before the dreadful Tribunal of God and Death now is God's Serjeant to Arrest them and to bring them thither they cannot bear the thoughts of Eternal Vengeance and prepared Torments to be for ever inflicted on them by the Almighty Power of an incensed God and therefore it is no wonder that they put far from them the thoughts of Death because their Consciences tell them that that Day whensoever it comes will be to them an Evil Day Many more Reasons might be given of this brutishness of men in putting off the thoughts of Death and preparations for it but these shall suffice The next thing that I shall do shall be to lay down some Considerations that may fore-arm Christians against the Fears and Terrours of Death Considerations to arm men against the fears of Death and make them willing to submit unto this law of Dying unto which God hath subjected all men And First The soul is immortal and parting with this it enters into a better life If the Soul be immortal as certainly it is and that parting from this it enters upon a better Life than this we may well then be contented to Die upon that account No man says a Roman Author thinks Death is much to be avoided since Immortality follows Death I am very sensible how hard a task it is to perswade men to be willing to Die but yet let me ask you if you are believers for in this I speak only unto such what is there in Death that is so terrible to you I know it is monstrous and full of horrour if we consider nothing but the Corruption of the Flesh the gastly paleness the stiff cold and grim visage the distorted Eyes and trembling Limbs of Dying Persons And afterwards think of the stench and filthiness of the Grave and lastly the dissipation of the visible part of Man All these Considerations make Death very terrible and full of horrour to us But now he that shall consider after all this his spiritual invisible part what can he see in Death that is not very desirable to him the Body rests from its labours and the Soul enjoys its reward in Heaven If you are hereby taken away from conversing with men yet the Soul is elevated to an acquaintance with Angels that is still alive in its own Nature the Soul lives for ever being placed above the common Arrests of Death We find to this purpose after that God had tryed the patience of Job by the loss of all his substance and afterwards of all his Children also he restores to him double whatever he had taken from him Job 42. â—0 so we read in the Holy Story the Lord gave unto Job twice as much as he had before Now whereas at first Job had three thousand Camels God restores to him six thousand whereas before he had seven thousand Sheep God restores to him fourteen thousand and so of all the rest double the number of what he lost But when God comes to recompence to him the loss of his Children which doubtless were of far greater value than all the rest whereas he had seven Sons and three Daughters God restores to him the same number again not double in these as he did in all the rest And wherefore did God double his Camels his Sheep and his Oxen and not his Children why the Reason was because his Children were not so dead as were his Camels and the rest of his brute Creatures their Souls remain'd Immortal and Entire still after Death So that God in giving Job seven Sons and three Daughters did double them notwithstanding though he gave him no more than he had at first So here though we Die yet Death doth us no injury our better part survives and if we are Believers it survives in such unconceivable Joys as that all the pleasures of the World are but Misery and Wretchedness compared to them A Christian's Hope cannot be accomplished but by dying Secondly The whole Life of a Christian is founded upon a Hope that cannot be accomplished but by dying And if so that Mans Mistake must needs be inexcusable who abhors that which alone can bring him to the possession of his Hopes and Desires Christians what is it that you hope for Is it not to arrive at Glory with an innumerable Host of Angels and the Spirits of just Men made perfect to see God and to rejoyce in him at a nearer hand than you now do here below to be for ever blessed in the close Embraces of the sovereign Good And what other way is there of obtaining this but only by dying Death is now made to us an In-let to Glory the very Gate to Heaven It is therefore unreasonable to fear that which is the only way to obtain that we hope for Death is a quiet sleep Thirdly This Death though so much dreaded is no other than a quiet Sleep So the Scripture often represents it to us under the Notion of Sleep Them that sleep in Jesus shall God bring with him Sleep is the natural resemblance of Death Sleep and Death are very near a-kin When we are asleep we see not we hear not all our Senses are lock'd up from the enjoyment of any worldly Delights we take no comfort in our Friends in our Riches or Estates all these are cancell'd out of our Minds and what more doth Death do than cancel these things out of Men's Memories And yet the weary Labourer lays himself down with contentment to take his Sleep until the Morning and why may not we also lay down our selves with the same peace and contentment in our Graves to take our Rest and Sleep until the Morning of the Resurrection Indeed the Sleep of Death is different from natural Sleep since that deprives us of natural Light but this Sleep of Death brings us to the vision of true inaccessible Light What then is there in death that we should stand in dread of it Why should that be feared by those for whom the sting of it is already taken out Such may safely take this Serpent into their bosoms for though it hiss at them yet it cannot wound or hurt them nay instead of wounding them it is reconciled to them and become one of their party The Apostle therefore reckoning up the Inventory of a Christian reckons this among them 1 Cor. 3.22 Whether Life or Death all is yours And in another place he tells us Phil. 1.21 That to him to live was Christ and to die was Gain And well may a
them â—d the greatest Sins Every thought â—ou thinkest and every word thou â—eakest in an unregenerate State and conâ—tion there is Sin in it and though most â— them possibly are but little Sins yet â— multitude of them alone are able to â—nk you down into the lowest Hell â—our Consciences start back and are â—frighted as indeed they ought at a â—emptation to Murder Incest Blasâ—emy or any of those more horrid Sins â—at are the prodigies of corrupt Nature â—ese Sins you dare not so much as comâ—it once And yet thousands of thouâ—nds of lesser Sins such as sinful Thoughts â—le Words petty Oaths commodious Lyes â—ese proceed from you without either â—riving against them or mourning for â—em Why now Sirs do you more fear â—tolerable and everlasting Wrath for â—e single Commission of a great Sin than you do for the frequent and repeated Commission of less Sins Truly â— cannot precisely tell you whether you had not as good Blaspheme God once aâ— take his Name in vain often whetheâ— it be not as good to Murder once as to hate always The frequency of little Sins makes their guilt so great and theiâ— punishment so intolerable that the vilest Sins you can imagine shall have nothing to exceed them in unless it be the horror of the Name of that Sin Anâ— yet it fares with us as it did with thâ— Israelites we tremble more at one Goliah than we do at the whole Army of thâ— Philistines One gross scandalous Siâ— makes Conscience recoil and go back when yet we venture upon the number less guilt of smaller Sins that have leâ— terror in their Name though united iâ— their guilt they bring far sorer Condemnation on the Soul than the single Commission of a great Sin What great diâ—ference is there whether your Eternaâ— burning be kindled by many sparks oâ— by one fire brand Whether you Die bâ— many smaller Wounds or by one greaâ— one Many little Items may make Debt desperate and the payment impossible And truly when God shall â—eckon up against us at the great Day many thousand vain Thoughts and as many superfluous idle Words with as many petty Oaths and Lyes that we â—ave been guilty of the account will be â—s dreadful and the Wrath that will â—ollow as insupportable as if Murder Blasphemy or the greatest outrage that â—ver was committed in the World were â—ingly charged upon us Thirdly It 's difficult to convince men of the evil of little Sins Consider it is very difficult â—o convince Men of the great Evil and Danger that there is in little Sins and â—herefore it is very difficult to bring them â—o Repentance for them Indeed this is â—he great and desperate Evil that there â—s in small Sins that Men will not be perswaded that they are Evil. Flagitious wickednesses are usually self condemning they carry that brand upon them that makes them evident to every Mans Conscience that they come from Hell and will certainly lead to Hell Rom. 1.33 and therefore the Apostle Rom. 1.33 after he had reckoned up a black Catalogue of Sins tells them in the last verse that though they were Heathens yet they knew the Judgments of God that they that committed such things were worthy of Death But now the guilt of little Sins is not so apparent the eye of a meer natural Conscience looks usually outward to the Life and Conversation and if that be plain and smooth it sees not or dispenseth with the lesser Sins of the Heart Hence is it that we so seldom confess or mourn for those that we call lesser Sins When is it that we are deeply humbled for the Omission of duties or for the slight and perfunctory performance of them these we look not upon as deserving Damnation and therefore we think they need no Repentance Nay are we not so far from judging and condemning our selves for them that we seek out pretences to excuse and lessen them calling them Slips Failings and vnavoidable Infirmities Gen. 19.20 And as Lot said of Zoar is it not a little one and our Souls shall live What can I think there is so much danger in a foolish Thought in a vain and inconsiderate Word Can I think that the great God will torment his poor creatures for ever for a Thought for a Word for a Glance yes believe it unless these Sins be done away in the Blood of Christ there is not the least of them but hath an infinite Evil in it and an infinite Wrath following of it If you will not now be convinced of it you shall be then when with dread and astonishment you shall hear God calling your little Sins by other Names than you now do you call them Failings and Infirmities but God will call them Presumptions and Rebellions What you say is but a vain Thought shall be arraign'd as Treason against God as Atheism and Soul Murder Then every formal heartless Duty that here you performed shall be accused of mocking and scoffing of God they are so interpretatively and in God's esteem and unless the guilt of them be done away by the Blood of sprinkling you will find them no less at the great and terrible Day of the Lord. Indeed the generality of Men have gotten a dangerous Method of doing away the guilt of their Sins great Sins they make to be little and little Sins they make to be none at all and thus they do away their Sins and so they Live in them customarily and Die in them impenitently and perish under them irrecoverably The least sin allow'd is a sign of an hypocritical Heart Fourthly Consider that the allowance anâ— cordial approbation but of the least Sin is â— certain sign of a most rotten and hypocriticaâ— Heart Be thy Conversation never sâ— blameless be thy profession never so glorious be thy Duties and Services never sâ— pompous yet if there be the secret reservation and allowance but of the leasâ— Sin all this is no more than so much vain show and pageantry Jam. 1.26 What says the Apostle Jam. 1.26 If any Man among you seem tâ— be Religious and bridleth not his Tongue that Man deceiveth himself his Religion is vain Why is it not strange that after so many prayers daily put up to God after an eminent profession and a considerable progress made in the ways of God that yet both the sincerity and success oâ— all this should depend upon so small â— thing as the tip of a man's Tongue If thaâ— be allowed to run at random into impertinencies not to say into Debaucheries and Prophaneness all your Duties all youâ— Prayers all your Profession is blown away by the same Tongue that uttered them and all your Religion will be in vain and let me add This seeming Religion will enâ— only in shame and confusion at the last when the Soul and Conscience of a sinner shall be ript open at the great Day before Men and Angels and that little Sin that kept God and Christ
and Eternal Salvation out shall openly be shew'd â—o all the World and laughed at by all â—he World that such a Sin should keep â— Man from Heaven and Eternal Happiness And therefore says David Psal 119.6 Psal 119.6 Then shall I not be ashamed when I â—ave respect unto all thy Commandments To have respect to some of God's Commandments and not to all is now Hypocrisy and will at last be shame and â—onfusion It is a most certain Truth â—hat though the Commission of the greaâ—est Sin be consistent with the truth of Grace yet so is not the approbation of â—he least Sin Oh! what a severe and criâ—ical thing is true Holyness that will no more allow the least Transgression than â—he greatest nor more tolerate the deâ—ilement of Dust in our Hearts than a Dunghill We have all of us need thereâ—ore to pray with David Psal 139.23 Psal 139.23 Search me O Lord and try my Heart try me and know my Thoughts and see if â—here be any evil way in me because our Sins may be so little as to escape our own â—earch and because the least Sin if let alone in the Heart will like a small speck in fruit spread to a total rottenness Therefore O Lord do thou search and try us and if there be any way of wickedness in us cast thou out our Corruptions that so thou maist not cast us out as corrupt and rotten at the last Little Sins make way for greater Sins Fifthly Consider little Sins do usually make way and open a passage into the Heart for the greatest and vilest Sins Thus a little thief that creeps in at the Window may unlock the Door for others that stand without And thus in fared with David while sensual Delight crept in by the eye at the sight of Bathsheba it opened his Heart to the temptation and in rusht those two outrageous Sins of Adultery and Murder Believe it there is no Sin so small but tends to the utmost wickedness that can possibly be committed An irreverent Thought of God tends to no less than Blasphemy and Atheism A slight grudge at another tends to no less than Murder A lascivious Thought tends to no less than impudent and common Prostitution And though at first they seem to play only singly about the Heart yet within a while they will mortally wound it There are two things give little Sins their growth and increase First The Devil by his Temptations is continually nursing up youngling Sins till they arrive to a full strength and stature of wickedness He is continually suiting Occasions and Temptations to the propensions of our Lusts Hath he wrought any sinful desire or any evil purpose in you he will take care you shall not long want an occasion to fulfil it Were it not for his vigilancy many a Sin must needs Die in the Womb that conceived it but as it was conceived by his Temptations so is it brought forth by his industry and diligence Secondly Natural Corruption it self is of a thriving growing Nature If any Lust hath seized strongly on the thoughts and boils there it will vent it self in Discourse A bad Heart as well as a bad Liver will break out at the Lips and if the Discourse be poysonous the Venom will spread it self into the Life and Conversation for out of the abundance of the Heart the Mouth speaketh and evil Words corrupt good Manners Sinful Thoughts form themselves into Words and Words will consolidate themselves into Actions and then Sin is perfected and hath attained its full growth And if you would know what the next degree or step is that Sin takes the Apostle St. James tells you Jam. 1.15 When Lust hath conceived it bringeth forth Sin and Sin when it is perfected bringeth forth Death You can no more set bounds to your Corruptions than to the raging Sea nor say to it Hitherto shall thy proud Waves go and no further It were Folly when you have set fire to a Train of Powder to expect it should stop any where short of the utmost of it So truly when the Thoughts are set on fire of Hell this will inflame the Tongue and that will inflame the Life and unless God's infinite Mercy prevent this burning will stop no where short of everlasting burning Ask but your own Experiences this Have you not often found it so Hath not the Devil drill'd you on from little Sins to great Sins and from these to far greater Abominations Believe it there is a bottomless deceit in every Sin and this is the desperate issue of it that if once you come to account any Sin small you will soon reckon the greatest Sin to be no more We commonly reckon the greatness of Sin by the abruptness of our advance to it Possibly it would seem a horrid thing at the first rising of a Temptation in our hearts if we should presently perpetrate the utmost of it into Act therefore the Method of Sin is more smooth and deceitful it counts a sinful Thought a little Transgression and sinful Discourse to have but a little more guilt in it than a sinful Thought and sinful Actions to have but a little more guilt in them than sinful Words A great Sin but in a little degree exceeds a less and so comparing Sin with Sin and not with the Law we at length come by invisible Advances to look upon the greatest Impieties in the world to be but little Sins and so to commit them If Satan prevails with us to go with him one step out of our way we are in danger to stop no where till we come to the height of all Prophaneness he will make us take a second and a third and so to travel on to Destruction for each of these is but one step the last step of Sin is but one step as well as the first and if the Devil prevails with us to take one step why should he not prevail with us to take the last step as well as the first step seeing it is but one Your second Sin no more exceeds your first than your first doth your Duty and so of the rest We should not therefore account any Sin small but look upon them as the spawn of all the vilest Abominations And as you would abhor Death and Hell so abhor the least Sin because it hath a Plot upon us in subserviency to greater Sins that without infinite Mercy will certainly bring to and terminate in Death and Hell Little Sins so called are indeed the greatest Sixthly Consider that those Sins that we commonly call the least are indeed the greatest and vilest Provocations Some Sins are Sins of greater Infamy and Scandal other Sins are Sins of greater Guilt and Sinfulness rude and blustering Sins Those Sins that are of greater Infamy are such as make him that commits them a scandalous person and these are commonly reputed great and crying Sins by the World If a Man be a Swearer or a Drunkard a
Hell belches out Fire and Flames and Brimstone against thee stop therefore I here as God's Officer arrest thee If now when Conscience thus calls and cries and threatens Men will yet venture on this is most bold and daring Presumption To disobey the Arrest but of the King's Officer is a most presumptuous Crime how much more therefore to disobey the Arrest of Conscience which is the chief and supreme Officer of God and who commands in the name yea in the stead of God as it were in the Soul and yet truly who among us is not in some kind or other guilty of this Presumption Why Sirs if God should now come down in terrible Majesty in the midst of us and if he should ask every man's Conscience here one by one Conscience wert thou ever resisted wert thou ever opposed in executing thine Office to this and to that Soul Why where sits the Person whose Conscience must not answer Yes Lord I accuse him I testifie to his very face I have often warned and admonished him O do not venture upon this or that Action there 's Sin there 's Guilt lies under it there 's Wrath and Vengeance that will follow it Oh pity oh spare thine own Soul this Sin will everlastingly ruine thee if thou committest it And what didst thou commit it notwithstanding all this Yes Lord while I was laying before him all the arguments that the thoughts of Heaven and Hell of thy Glory and his own Happiness could administer yet so presumptuous was he as to fall upon me thine Officer and these Stabs these Gashes and Wounds I received while I was admonishing him and warning him in thy Name O Sirs a thousand times better were it for us that we never had Consciences better that our Consciences were utterly seared and become insensible better that they were struck for ever dumb and should never open their Mouths more to reprove or to rebuke us better that we never had had the least glimmering of Light to distinguish betwixt our Duty and what is Sin than thus desperately to out-face and stifle our convictions and to offer violence to our Consciences and presumptuously to rush into the commission of Sin in despight of all these better men had no Consciences at all or that they were given up to a seared and a reprobate Sense than to sin thus in despight of their Consciences What says our Saviour Luke 12.47 That Servant that knew his Lord's Will and did it not he shall be beaten with many stripes There are two Things wherein it appears that all Sins against Conscience Two Aggravations of sinning against Conscience and against Convictions are presumptuous Sins First 1. It is a Contempt of the Authority of God Because in all such Sins there is a most horrid Contempt of the Authority Sovereignty of the great God And what higher Presumption can there be than for vile Worms to set at nought the Authority of that God at whose Frown Heaven and Hell and Earth tremble The Voice of Conscience rightly informed by the Scripture it is the Voice of God himself it is God speaking in a man's Bowels and whispering to a man's very Heart As Moses was the Interpreter betwixt God and the Israelites so Conscience is the Interpreter betwixt God and us Why now would it not have been think you a most desperate Presumption and a most daring Affront against the Majesty and Sovereignty of God if while he was with his own voice pronouncing the Ten Commandments with Thundering and Lightening and Earth-quake from Mount Sinai at the same time the Israelites to have been notoriously breaking and sinning against every one of those Commandments as he spake them Truly though now God delivers his Will and Commands to us not immediately by his own mouth as then he did but by Conscience his Interpreter yet while we know that Conscience speaks to us in the Name of God it is as much fearful Presumption for us to slight the voice of Conscience as if we should slight the voice of God himself speaking from heaven immediately to us And that 's the first Thing Secondly 2. Is is an evident argument that we stand in no awe of Hell and Damnation By sinning against our Consciences and against our Convictions we make it very evident that we stand in no awe or dread of any such thing as Hell and eternal Damnation is and is not that Boldness Is not that Presumption You scorn possibly to be such puling whimpering Sinners as to be affrighted with such Bug-bears as everlasting Torments and everlasting Wrath and Vengeance is you know the Wages of Sin is Death and that the Ways you take lead down to the Chambers of Destruction and yet though God and Devil stand in the way you will through Are not these think you bold and presumptuous Sinners that will go on in Sin though Hell-Fire flashes in their Faces who though God should cleave the Ground upon which they walk and through that Chink should give them a view of Hell though they should see the Damned tumbling up and down in those Torments and hear their Yellings and Shriekings and Roarings yea though God should point them out a place in Hell and tell them Look Sinner yonder is a Place kept void and heated from the beginning of the World for thee yet are there some such bold and daring Wretches that they would out-brave all this and they would sin in despight either of Heaven or Hell yea and which is a most sad and dreadful consideration some there are whose Consciences are already brim-full of extreme horrour and anguish and yet they will venture upon those Sins that have caused that horrour and are not such presumptuous Sinners they give their Consciences wound upon wound and though sometimes they roar bitterly yet they will sin outragiously even then when they roar and smart for Sin So that this is a clear evidence of a presumptuous Sin when a Sin is committed against a Man's own Conscience against Knowledge against Conviction this makes a Sin to be a presumptuous Sin when Conscience cries out Murder Murder Soul-Murder when it beseeches with Tears of Blood that they draw from it to desist from their Sins and yet is not heard nor regarded this is presumptuous sinning sinning with a high hand and with a brazen Forehead Secondly To sin upon long deliberation is to sin presumptuously Then a Man sins presumptuously when he sins upon long deliberation and forecast plotting and contriving with himself how he may accomplish his Sin Some Sins are committed merely through a sudden Surprize a Temptation comes upon the Soul unawares and finds it unprovided to make any resistance and so it prevails So it was with the Apostle St. Peter his Apostacy and Perjury was indeed very dreadful yet he was overcome by a sudden Surprize he had no foregoing Thoughts and Purposes to deny his Master yea his Resolution was to own and confess him
Monsters rather that boast of such things as make them more like Devils than Men and yet even to this height of profligate impudence will presumptuous sins lead you but let all such know God is resolved to try the foreheads of these Men at the last and great day of Judgment and in despight of all their swaggering and boldness shame and everlasting confusion shall cover their Faces as impudent as they are now Thirdly Consider this what a fearful thing it will be if God should cut off such Men in the very act of some presumptuous sin without affording them any time and space of repentance and have they any security that God will not what promise have they that God will forbear them one moment longer nay they have been often told that God will make a speedy end with them that he will take them away as with a Whirlwind living and in his wrath as it is in Psalm 57.9 and therefore he strikes not without giving them warning enough though he strikes suddenly God hath two chief Attributes that he especially â—ims to glorifie in all his transactions with Men his Mercy and his Justice these are the two great hinges upon which all the frame of his Providence moves the mighty affairs of Eternal Election and Reprobation were first agitated out of design to magnifie Mercy and Justice and all temporal concernments are governed in such a way as may most advance these two Attributes of Mercy and Justice why now Mercy hath already had a large share of glory in forbearing after so many provocations in waiting so long to be gracious staying year after year expecting your Repentance and if you contemn the Riches of God's Grace and Mercy still have you not Reason to fear it will be the Turn of Justice to deal with you next And believe it the commission of presumptuous Sins gives God a fair Opportunity to glorifie his Justice upon you to the utmost and why should you think God will lose such an Advantage All the World must needs fall down and with trembling adore the just severity of God when they see a notorious Sinner cut off in the very act of some notorious and presumptuous wickedness in Deuteron 17.12 13 when a presumptuous Sinner is punished says God all the People shall hear and fear and do no more presumptuously and if so much glory will accrew to God by destroying you why then should he spare you one moment longer than your next sin this is the best use he can make of presumptuous Sinners even to set them up as examples and monuments of his wrath and vengeance to terrifie others and why should you think then since his Mercy hath been glorified already to you in waiting and forbearing so long that he will not upon the next sin you commit glorifie his Justice also it may be God hath begun to deal thus already with some of you in the very midst of your sins hath not the hand writing of some remarkable judgment appeared against you hath not God smitten some of you in your Persons in your Estates or in your Relations well take Christ's counsel sin no more least a worst thing befal â—ou least the next provocation he strike you through and sink you to Hell Oh consider what a fearful thing it is while your Souls are all on flame in the commission of sin then for God to hurl them down into everlasting and unâ—uenchable fire as he may take just occasion and advantage to do for the glorifying of his Justice Fourthly Consider this It is hard to bring presumptuous Sinners to Repentance It is very hard to bring presumptuous Sinners to reformation and repentance the first step to evangelical sorrow is legal terrour which the Spirit of God works by convincing the Sinner of judgment and wrath to come but now tell a presumptuous Sinner what judgment and wrath â—s due to him that it is impossible for him to escape the vengeance of God that justice will over-take him read to him all the curses contained in the Book of God and tell him that they are all entailed upon his sin this moves him not he knew and considered all this before a presumptuous Sinner must be a knowing Sinner he knows what Hell is as well as ever any Man did that hath not felt it he knows what a precious Soul he destroys how glorious a Heaven he forfeits what dreadful condemnation he exposeth himself to he knows all this and yet he sins and though this were enough one would think to daunt a Devil yet he breaks through all this knowledge to his own lusts again the Apostle speaks of such in Romans 1.32 who knows the Judgments of God that they that commit such things are worthy of death yet presumptuously continue in the commission of such sins now what hope is there of reforming and reclaiming such as these are that sin after they have cast up their accounts what it will cost them certainly they that dare sin when they see Hell before them there is no hope that they will leave sinning till they see Hell flaming round about them and themselves in the midst of it Now then though these presumptuous Sins being in their nature and aggravations so hainous yet are the best Christians exceeding prone to commit them When the Sea is tempestuous did we only stand safe upon the shoar it were enough to behold the woful Shipwracks of others with that horror and commiseration that such a spectacle deserves but when we are tossed in the same tempest and see some split against Rocks and others swallowed up of quick sands unto which naturally the stream strongly carries us also truly then our pity and detestation of their dangers our horrour and consternation of their ruin is not sufficient without great care and diligence for our own security and preservation Therefore O Christians look to your selves the glorified Saints in Heaven see the dangers they have escaped with praise and the dangers others fall into with pity but thou O Christian art not yet got to shore still thou sailest upon the same Sea wherein most do perish even the raging Sea of Corruption which is yet made more raging by the storms of temptation and if thou seest many that are bound Heaven-ward make Shipwrack of Faith and a good Conscience it is not enough for thee to slight their dangers or to censure and pity their miscarriages but fear thou also least the same corruptions and temptations overwhelm and drown thee in the same Perdition this is the Apostle's caution 1 Cor. 10.12 Let him that thinks he stands take heed least he fall and in Rom. 11.20 Thou standest by Faith be not high-minded but fear And indeed because of that violent inclination that is in all unto Sin there is no state in this Life so perfect as to make this Exhortation useless and unseasonable David himself Prays for restraining Grace Keep back thy Servant from presumptuous Sins
them there we see our own heart unbowell'd and there we can discern what our selves are at the cost of other mens Sins What says the Wise man in Prov. 27 19 As in water face answereth unto face so doth the heart of a man to a man It was the proud Pharisee's boast Lord I thank thee that I am not as other men are Extortioners Vnjust Adulterers or a this Publican as it is in Luke 18. Yes believe it you and I and all yea the best of us all we are even as others are the vilest Sinners are the truest Glasses to represent to our view what our Hearts are their wickedness gives in a true Inventory of what lies locked up in our Breasts there we have the same Vipers knotting and sprawling within that crawl forth in others Lives there is Rancour and Malice and Hatred and Slaughters and Adulteries and the whole Spawn of all those black Sins that have made Men either infamous in Story or mighty in Torment and that we have not yet out-sinned all the Copies that ever were set us that we have not yet discovered some new unknown wickedness to the World is not because our inclination to Sin or our stock of Corruption fails us but because God's Grace either preventing or renewing fails not Where then is the Christian that hath not cause to go mourning to his Grave can you blame him to see him sad and disconsolate when he hath no less Reason for it than a Heart brim-full of Sin Certainly that Man neither loves God nor his own Soul that can hear that there is in him such a violent propension to injure the one and ruine the other without exclaiming with the Prophet Woe is me for I am undone because I am a Man of an unclean heart and of polluted Lips It is but just yea it is all the reason in the World that while our hearts continue to be fountains of Sin our heads should continue to be fountains of Tears That Proneness that is in God's Children to Sin should make them long for Heaven Thirdly Is there in the best a strong proneness to the worst Sins what cause have we then to long and breath after Heaven For not till then shall we be free from it In-dwelling Sin hath taken a Lease of our Souls and holds them by our own Lives it will be in us to the last gasp and as the Heart is the last that dies so also is that Corruption that lodgeth in it but yet die it must and die it shall And this is the comfort of a Child of God that though he brought Sin with him into the World yet he shall not carry it with him out of the World God hath so wisely ordered and appointed it that as Death came in by Sin so also shall Sin it self be destroyed by Death As Worms when they creep into their holes leave their Slime and their Dirt behind them Why truly so is it with a Christian when he dies he leaves all his Slime all his Filth and Corruption at the mouth of the Grave and his Soul gets free from that Clog and mounts up into the bosom of God and there alone is it that it shall no more strive and struggle against sinful Propensions and Inclinations there shall it be eternally fixed and confirmed not only in Glory but in Holiness also we shall there be out of the reach of Satan's Temptations We read indeed that sometimes the Devil appears before God as an Accuser but we never read that he comes there as a Tempter we shall no more feel the first risings and steamings up of Corruption there no more shall we cast kind glances upon our Sins nor have hovering Thoughts towards them O blessed Necessity when the Soul shall be tied up to one all-satisfying Good when it shall have as natural a proneness and ardour to delight in God as to love it self and to delight in its own happiness And who then would desire to linger any longer here below and to spin out his wretched Life wherein Sin and Sorrow shall have the greatest share here the best of us are in perpetual Combates and Quarrels betwixt Sin and Geace the one will not yield and the other cannot Corruption that compells one way and Grace commands another Haste therefore O Christian out of this Scuffle make haste to Heaven and there the controversie will be for ever decided there shalt thou no more live in fear of new sins nor yet in sorrow for old sins but all sorrow and sighing shall flee away all tears shall be wiped from our eyes and all Sin shall be rooted out of our hearts and we shall be perfectly holy even as the Angels themselves are A Proneness in us to Sin should make us â—â—â—ful to avoid occasions of Sin Lastly Is there such a strong proneness in the best to the worst Sins this then should teach us carefully to avoid all Temptations to Sin and whatever may be an occasion to draw forth that Corruption that lies latent within us Wherefore is it that one Petition of those few that Christ taught his Disciples was that God would not lead them into Temptation but because he knew there is in all of us sinful Natures that do too too well correspond with Temptations And he knew that if we were brought into Temptations it is very seldom that we are brought off from them without Sin Were we as free from inherent Sin as Adam was at first or were we confirmed in Grace as the Saints in Heaven now are we might then repell all Temptations with ease and therefore our Saviour whose Nature was spotless by an extraordinary conception and whose Holiness was secure to him by an unspeakable Union of the Godhead he tells us in John 4.13 The Prince of this World came and found nothing in him The Devil came to tempt him but because he found nothing in him therefore he could fasten nothing upon him no Temptation could enter because there was no Corruption to receive it and therefore when he tempted Christ he only cast fiery darts against an impenetrable Rock a Rock that will beat them back again into his own face but our Corruptions have made us combustible Matter that there is scarce a Dart thrown at us in vain when he tempts us it is but like the casting of Fire into Tinder that presently catcheth our Hearts kindle upon the least Spark that falls like a Vessel that is brim-full of Water upon the least jogg runs over Were we but true to our selves though the Devil might knock by his Temptations yet he could never burst open the everlasting Doors of our Hearts by force or violence but alas we our selves are not all of one heart and one mind Satan hath got a strong party within us that as soon as he knocks opens to him and entertains him and hence is it that many times small Temptations and very petty occasions draw forth great Corruptions as
by shortning their lives and yet are there none of us that wish our lives were prolonged to a thousand years were it possible not that we might have a longer time and space to repent but that we might the longer enjoy our sins why if God should grant your wish and keep you alive till the day of Judgment would not that day become a thousand fold more gloomy and dreadful to us than if God had cut us off at the ordinary time and age and therefore it is a great favour that God vouchsafes both to the Elect and to Reprobates in that since the Flood he hath cut short the days of Man upon Earth for hereby the Elect come to enjoy the Glory and Happiness of Heaven the sooner and Reprobates feel the Torments and Punishments of Hell the lighter Providence by a speedy dispatch preventing those Sins that otherwise would sink them the deeper into Condemnation Providence prevents Sin in men by shortning of mens Power Secondly God providentially keeps Men from sinning if not by shortning their Lives yet by cutting short their Power whereby they should be enabled to commit Sin All that power that wicked men have to sin it is either from themselves or from their wicked Associates whom they make use of as instruments for the accomplishment of their Impieties but Providence can strike them in both and thereby give their Lusts a miscarrying Womb and dry Breasts Sometimes God by his Providence cuts off their evil Instruments and thereby disables them from sinning sometimes their instruments for Counsel thus Providence by over-ruling Absalom to reject the Counsel of Achitophel prevents all that Mischief that so wise and so wicked a Statesman might have contrived and thereupon he goes and hangs himself Sometimes he cuts off their Instruments of Execution and so God disappointed the hopes of blaspheming Rabshekah sent an Angel that in one night kills almost two hundred thousand of the Assyrians dead on the place Certainly it is great folly for men upon confidence of their wise and powerful Instruments to set themselves up against that God that can without or against all Means and Instruments confound their Designs and frustrate all their Enterprizes And as God thus strikes their Instruments so sometimes he strikes their Persons and takes from them the use of those natural Faculties by which they should be enabled to commit their Sins sometimes he hides their Wits from them and besots them so he did to the Jews John 7.30 They sought to apprehend Jesus Why who did hinder them Was he not there among them Was there not enough of them to do it Yes there was but yet they only stand gazing at him like men besotted till he escaped away from them Sometimes God hides away their hands from them and enfeebles them as in Psal 76.5 None of the mighty men have found their hands God had benumm'd them and laid their hands out of the way when they should have used them The Sodomites you know swarm'd thick about Lot's House intending Villainy to his Guests and God smites them with Blindness that they grope for the door even at Noon-day Jeroboam stretcheth out his hand against the Prophet and God suddenly withers it This is God's frequent course with wicked men when he doth not subdue their Wills yet he oftentimes subdues their power of sinning yea and possibly although we have not such frequent instances of it God may deal thus sometimes with his own Children Thus he hath threatned or promised rather to his Church that he will hedge up her way with Thorns that she should not be able to break through to her Idols as formerly she had done so you have it in Hos 2.6 And indeed it is a great Mercy that God doth take away that power from men that he sees they will only abuse to their own destruction It is not Cruelty but Compassion that chains up mad-men and takes from them those Swords Arrows and Fire-brands that else they would hurl up and down abroad both to their own and others Mischiefs and so it is God's common pity to Sinners that are very Mad-men that fetters and chains them up and lays such a powerful restraint upon them by his Providence that where their wills are not defective yet their power to execute Sin should be What would wicked men think if God should now suddenly strike them dumb or blind or lame or impotent would they not judge this a heavy Judgment inflicted upon them they would so and yet believe it it were better for them that God should strike them dumb upon the place than that they should ever open their Mouths more to blaspheme and rail at God and his People better they were struck blind than that the Devil and vile Lusts should enter into the Soul by those Casements better that God should maim them than that they should have strength to commit those Sins that if but will'd will damn them but if executed will sink their Souls seven-fold deeper into condemnation Now the Providence of God by taking away ther power prevents their wickedness and so mercifully mitigates their condemnation Providence raiseth up another Power to oppose sinners Thirdly Sometimes God keeps men from the commission of Sin by raising up another power against that by which the Sinner is to execute his Sin Thus when Saul would have put Jonathan to Death for breaking a rash Vow that himself had made God raiseth up the Spirits of the People to rescue him and they plainly tell him Jonathan shall not die The Jews hated Christ and would have killed him but that they feared the People whom his Miracles had obliged to him so that they durst not venture upon him till his Hour was come Providence sometimes prevents Sin by some seasonable diversion Fourthly Sometimes Providence casts in some seasonable diversion that turns them off from the Commission of that Sin that they intended When they are hotly pursuing their wickedness Providence starts some other Game for them and sets them upon some other Work Thus it fared with Antiochus in Dan. 11.30 He sets himself against the Holy Covenant but for all his Rage against it he shall return into his own Land says God for the Ships of Shittim shall come against him and the Ships of the Romans and instead of invading others Dominions he must return to defend his own thus God diverted him from his Design of ruining the Jews And sometimes where God doth not dry up the Spring of Corruption yet he turns the streams of it which way he pleaseth As a skilful Physician when one part of the Body is oppressed with ill humours he draws it to another part that is less dangerous so God by his Providence turns men from the commission of a greater to a lesser Sin Thus he over-ruled Joseph's Brethren they consulted to cast him into a Pit and there to let him starve unless he could feed upon his Dream of Wheat-sheaves
but God by his Providence so orders it that Merchants pass by that way and to them they sell him There are I believe but few men who if they will examine back their Lives cannot produce many Instances both of the Devil's Policy in fitting them with occasions and opportunities of Sin and of God's Providence causing some emergent Affairs some unexpected Action to interpose and hinder them from those Sins that they purposed Providence prevents Sin by removing the Object Lastly God sometimes keeps men from Sin by removing the Object against which they intended to commit it Thus when Herod intended to put Peter to death the next morning that very night God sends an Angel and makes his escape and so prevents that Sin and so truly in all Aâ—es God hides away his Children from the fury of ungodly men There are doubtless many other various and mysterious Providences whereby God hinders the Sins of Men but these are the most common and most remarkable ways by shortning their Lives by lessening their Power by raising up another Power to oppose them by diverting another way and by removing the Objects of their Sins The next Thing is to shew you how God hinders the commission of Sin in a way of Grace but I shall leave this till another time and make some Application of what hath now been spoken And First then See here the sad and woful Estate of wicked men whom Grace doth not change but only Providence restrain A mere restraint from Sin when the Heart continues fully set and bent upon it must needs cause torment and vexation their own Corruptions urge them forward but God's Providence that meets them and crosses them at every turn and that disappointment that they meet with when they fully resolve upon Sin causes great vexation of Spirit as God will torment them hereafter for their Sins so he torments them here by keeping them from their Sins All the wicked in the world are strangely hampered by God's Providence as so many Bulls in a Net that though they struggle yet they cannot possibly break through and by their strugling they only vex and weary themselves God doth as it were give up the hearts of wicked men to the Devil only he ties their hands let them intend and imagine as much Evil and Mischief as they can yea as much as Hell can inspire into them yet none of these shall execute any of it otherwise than as God permits them Now if there be any real pleasure in Sin it is in the execution of it that which men take in plotting and contriving of it is merely the delight of a Dream and Fancy and herein lies the exceeding wretchedness of wicked men that though Providence almightily hinders them in the execution of Sin yet Justice will justly punish their intention and plotting of it Secondly This should teach us to adore and magnnfie this Sin-preventing Providence of God Our Lives our Estates yea whatever is dear precious to us hitherto have been secured to us only by his powerful hand which hath curb'd in the unruly Lusts of men and kept them from breaking forth into violence and blood and rapine Should God slack the Reins should he throw them upon the necks of ungodly men how would Uproars and Confusions Murders and Slaughters overspread the face of the whole Earth and make the World a Hell above ground Redemption and Providence are two wonderful Works of God by the one he pardons Sin that is committed and by the other he prevents Sin lest it be committed both of them are Contrivances of infinite Wisdom and both of them are unsearchable and past finding out and therefore we ought to ascribe the Glory of both unto God that hath laid both the Design of Redemption and of Providence for Man's Good and for Man's Salvation Thirdly If at any time we can recall to mind as indeed who is there that cannot that God hath thus by his Providence prevented us from the commission of Sin how should this oblige us thankfully to own this Mercy of God to us May not all of us say had not God taken away our power had he not taken away the Objects of our Lusts had he not diverted us some other way we had now been deeply engaged in those Sins that the merciful Providence of God hath diverted us from He it was that hedged up the broad way with Thorns that so he might turn us into the narrow way that leads unto eternal Life and Happiness Fourthly Hath God's Providence so many Ways and Methods to hinder the Commission of Sin why then we may be assured that he will never permit it but when it shall redound to his own Praise and Glory It is an excellent Saying of S. Austin He that is most good will never suffer evil unless he were also most wise whereby he is able to bring good out of evil And therefore when we see wicked men let alone to accomplish their hellish designs we may then quiet our selves with this God knows how to make his own advantage out of their wickedness he knows how from such Dung and Filth to reap a most fruitful Crop of Glory to himself The Rage of Man says the Psalmist thou wilt restrain and the residue thereof shall turn to thy praise that wickedness which God doth not restrain he will make redound to his own Praise and Glory Fourthly and lastly This may establish our hearts in peace when we see the wickedness of Men most raging and violent why they cannot sin unless God gives them a power as Christ told Pilate Thou hast no power over me in John 19.10 except it be given thee from above And certainly that God that gives them a power to sin still keeps a power in his own hands to limit them in their Sins and when their Lusts are most unruly he can say to them hitherto shall ye go and here shall your proud Waves be stayed He stints them and bounds them and he also can totally restrain them when he pleaseth and when it shall be most for his own Praise and Glory Now as God doth thus keep Men back from the commission of Presumptuous Sins by a strong hand of Providence So sometimes he doth by his Grace and this Grace is either meerly restraining or else it is sanctifying and renewing both of them are of very great force and efficacy by the one he holds Men back from Sin and by the other he turns them against Sin You have doubtless heard much concerning Sanctifying and Restraining Grace but yet that your Notions and Apprehensions of them may be more clear and distinct I shall give you the difference that there is betwixt these two in several particulars How restraining renewing Grace do differ they differ in their Subject they differ in their Essence and in their manner of Operation First In their Subject They differ in respect of their subject Restraining Grace is but common and it
purlues as soon as they are gotten within the Pale he ceaseth his pursuit It is usually the highest care and upshot of a Moral Man's endeavours to keep his Lusts from boiling over and raising Smoak and Ashes about him and if he can but obtain this let the Heart be brim full of Sin let the thoughts soak and stew in Malicious Unclean Covetous Designs and Contrivances he never opposeth or laments them a meer Restraint walks only round about the outward Man and if it meets with any Lust strugling abroad it drives it in again into the Heart but for those Sins that lie Pent up there it seldom molests and never subdues them The Heart may indulge it self in vain filthy destructive and pernicious Thoughts it may set brooding over Cockatrice-Eggs till it hatch them into Serpents and in them be stung to Death it may toss a Sin to and fro in the Fancy and thereby make some kind of recompence to the Devil for not committing of it and yet this Man be only under a powerful restraint from God's Restraining Grace But now Sanctifying Grace doth more especially oppose the Sins of the Heart and of the inward Man for there is its Seat and Residence in the Heart Restraining Grace watcheth without but true Grace dwells within And as Christ speaks of the Church of Pergamos it dwells there where Satan's Seat is it rules in the midst of its Enemies and it is engaged so to do for its own security that it may still crush them as they arise in the Heart Now from this particular we may be help'd in Judging whether our abstaining from Sin be only from common Restraining Grace or from Sanctifying and Renewing Grace See what Sins they are that you most of all labour to beat down do you strive only against the Sins of your Lives and not against the Sins of your Hearts that are the Spring and Fountain of the other Are you content when you have beaten your Corruptions from the out-works and driven them in where they do not rage so furiously as they have done whereas before they sallied forth at pleasure and made havock of your Souls and wounded your Consciences now they are Pent up in a narrower room and compass Doth this content you do you think it enough to lay close Siege to your Corruptions by Conviction and legal Terrours and to shut them up that they may no more break forth as formerly they have done to the gross defilement of your Lives if this be all then know this is no more than what a meer common Restraint may effect upon you without any work of Sanctifying Grace upon the Heart True Grace when it beats back Sin it follows it and pursues it into the Heart and there searcheth for it and if it sees it but breath in a Thought or stir in a Desire presently it falls upon it and destroys it Sanctifying Grace sets the will against sin but restraining Grace only awakens the Conscience Thirdly Sanctifying Grace when it keeps a Soul from sin it always engageth the will against it but common and restraining Grace only awakens and rouzeth up the Conscience against it the Will and the Conscience are two leading faculties of the Soul the one commands what shall be done and the other informs what ought to be done and all the rest of the faculties and affections of the Soul take part and side with these two now in a Godly Man these two are at an agreement what Conscience prompts the Will commands and the inferior faculties are already to execute Sanctifying Grace that works immediatly and specially upon the Will and makes a mighty change there that whereas before Conversion Man's Will is so utterly depraved that it can like nothing but sin after Grace hath touched it and mightily turn'd it about it cannot now any longer give its full and free consent to the commission of any sin if such a one sins he doth it truly and properly against his Will as the Apostle speaks in the Romans 7.15 Rom. 7.15 What I do I allow not now a wicked Man may sin against his Conscience but it is impossible that he should ever sin against his Will that is continually set upon sin and were it not that God sometimes raiseth up natural Conscience in him to oppose his corrupt Will he would every moment rush into the most damning impieties without any of the least regret or sense of it when the Devil presents a sin to the embraces of the Will and when the Will closeth with it and all the faculties of the Soul are ready to commit it God sends in Conscience among them what Conscience art thou asleep seest thou not how the Devil and thine own devilish heart are now plotting and contriving thine Eternal ruin Now this rouzeth Conscience and makes it storm and threaten and hurl Fire-brands into the face of sin while it lies in the very embraces of the Will and though it cannot change the Will from loving of it yet it frights the Will from committing of it this is the most usual way restraining Grace takes for the prevention of sin by sending in Conscience to make strong and vigorous oppositions against it there are none of us here but through Divine Grace have been kept from many sins that we were in great danger through the corruptions of our own hearts to have committed sin hath been conceived by us but God hath stifled and strangled it in the Womb would you know now whether this hath proceeded from God's Restraining or from God's Sanctifying Grace why then make a judgment according to this rule where restraining Grace only resists and hinders sin it doth it by setting one faculty and affection of the Soul against another but where sanctifying Grace hinders it it sets the same faculty and affection of the Soul against it self restraining Grace sets one affection against another Conscience against Will the fear of Hell against the love of Sin hellish terrors against sinful pleasures God's threatnings against the Devil's flatteries it martials up these and so enters the combat here are bandyings of one power of the Soul against another but now the Will that is entirely on sins part and if Conscience prevails and pulls away a beloved lust from the embraces of the Will the Sinner parts with it very heavily and unwillingly following it as Phaltiel did Michal weeping tho he durst not make resistance but now when sanctifying Grace opposeth and hinders sin it sets the same faculty and affection of the Soul against it self Will against Will and Love against Love Desire against Desire he wills the commission of sin it is true but yet at the same time he wills the mortification of it he loves to gratifie his sin but yet at the same time he wills the crossing of it too he desires to enjoy that pleasure and contentment that he fansies he may take in sin and yet he desires at the same time to destroy it here
is one and the same faculty bandying against it self and the reason of this is because a Child of God hath two Principles in every single faculty there is in him a mixture of Flesh and Spirit a carnal part that sides with sin and a spiritual part that always contradicts and opposeth it and these two are spread over his whole Soul and are mingled with every power and faculty thereof so that he can neither do the evil nor do the good that he would do without contradiction strife and reluctancy now try your selves by this when you are tempted to sin what is it that resists it Is it your Will or is it only your Conscience are you only frighted from it doth the fear of Hell overcome the love of sin why all this may be from a mere restraint in those who are altogether unacquainted with the power of sanctifying Grace this is the symptom and Character of a gracious Soul that when it is most inclinable unto sin yet at the same time is most averse from it when it most wisheth the accomplishment of sin yet even then it strongly wishes the subduing and mortifying of that sin I know this appears a Riddle and a strange Paradox to wicked Men but those who have any true sense of the work of Grace upon their own hearts know it to be a truth and rejoyce in the experiences that they have of it Fourthly and lastly Restraining and sanctifying Grace differ in the motives and arguments that they make use of for the resisting of sin there are two general Topicks or common places whence all arguments against sin are drawn and those are the Law and the Gospel both of these administer such weapons that if rightly used are very effectual for the beating down of sin and commonly restraining Grace useth those only that are borrowed from the Law it urgeth the command it thunders the curse it brandisheth the sword of Justice and makes reports of nothing but Hell and eternal Damnation and such like arguments that scare Men from the committing of their sins though still they love them now sanctifying Grace though it also makes a most profitable use of these very arguments yet it chiefly useth more mild and more ingenious motives drawn from the love of God from the Death of Christ from the comforts of the Holy Ghost and these though they strike softer yet they wound deeper now hereby also you may give a guess whether your abstaining from sin be merely from restraining or from sanctifying Grace observe what weapons you use What considerations do over-awe your hearts Are they such as are drawn only from the Law and the sad reflections of the end and issue of sin That it brings Shame and Death and Hell must you run down to Hell every time a temptation comes to fetch arguments thence to oppose against your corruptions can you no where else quench the fiery Darts of the Devil unless it be in that Lake of Fire if this be all though this too is well yet know if it be all this is no more than what restraint and common Grace may perform it is the proper character of restraining Grace to keep Men back from the commission of sin only by dread and fear of punishment but now sanctifying Grace that especially betakes it self to Gospel Arguments and considers how disingenious it is to sin against a reconciled and a gracious Father against a crucified and a bleeding Saviour against a patient and long suffering Spirit and heaps up many such like ingenious arguments that work kindly upon the heart he leads every temptation to the Cross of Christ and there shews it his Saviour hanging and bleeding and can I commit this sin that hath drawn so much blood from my Saviour to expiate it and would draw so much blood from my Conscience to perpetrate it did he die to free me from the condemnation of it and shall I wilfully rush into the commission of it no O Lord thy love withholds me I cannot do this thing and sin against so rich so free and infinite Mercy and Goodness that thou dayly extendest towards me Thus true Grace usually teacheth a Child of God to argue against his sins and this keeps him from the commission of those sins that others rising up against them only from the terrors and threatnings of the Law and other such dreadful considerations fall into notwithstanding a Wooll-pack sooner damps a bullet than a Stone-wall and truly sofâ— arguments taken from the Gospel from the love of God from the death oâ— Christ from the patience and long suffering of the Spirit these soft arguments sooner damp a temptation and resist a corruption than more rigid and severe ones will when alone used by themselves Now having thus in general shewed you the difference betwixt sanctifying and restraining Grace I shall now descend to more particular considerations of those ways and methods that God useth in keeping Men back from Sin by his special and sanctifying Grace and here I shall premise this That whatever Sin God doth I mean by his sanctifying Grace prevent his own Children from the commission of he doth it by exciting the inward Principle of Grace to the actual use and exercise of it there is a two-fold Grace always necessary to keep the best Christians from Sin Habitual and Exciting Grace and God makes use of the one to quicken and stir up the other he makes use of exciting Grace to quicken habitual Grace that else would lie sluggish and dormant in the Soul Habitual Grace that denominates the Soul alive unto God but yet it is no otherwise alive than a Man in a Swoon is it is exciting Grace that alone can enable it to perform the Functions and Offices of Life in the deepest Winter there is life in the seed that lies buried under ground but yet it acts not till the Sun's influence draws it forth and then it heaves and shoves away the Earth that covered it and spreads it self into the beauties of a Flower So is it here inherent habitual Grace is an immortal seed and it is but a seed till the influences of the approaching and exciting Grace of God awaken it and chafe it's benumbed vertue and then it stirs and thrusts away all that dung and filth of corruptions under which it lay buried and then it flows forth into actual Grace habitual and exciting Grace must both concurr to the producing of actual Grace as necessarily as there must be the concurrence both of the heat of the Sun and of life in the seed to produce a Flower now by God's exciting inherent habitual Grace in the Soul he keeps Men from sinning two ways First by prevention and secondly by suppression of Sin First hereby he prevents and excludes those Sins that werâ— we not employed in the exercise of Gracâ— we would commit when the Soul is constantly employed in holy and spirituaâ— affairs Sin hath then neither room noâ— opportunity to put
we are both ways discharged from our Guilt by Satisfaction unto the Penalty of the Law in Christ our Surety and by the free Grace and Mercy of God who hath made and sealed to us a gracious Act of Pardon in Christ's Blood and therefore we stand upright in Law and are as Just and Righteous in God's sight as if we had never sinned against him O how great Consolation is here unto the Children of God! They account themselves great Sinners yea the greatest and worst of Sinners but God accounts them Just and Righteous they keep their sins in remembrance as David speaks my sin is ever before me when God hath not only forgiven but fotgotten them they write and speak bitter things against themselves when God is writing out their Pardon and setting his Seal unto it God's Grace as easily pardons great as small sins Fourthly Pardoning Grace can as easily triumph in the remitting of great and many Sins as of few and small Sins What a great blot upon the Heavens is a thick Cloud and yet the Beams of the Sun can pierce thorow that and scatter it easily Why now God will blot out our Trangressions as a thick Cloud so himself tells us by the Prophet Isa 44.12 I will blot out thy transgressions as a cloud and thine iniquities as a thick cloud A great Debt may as easily be blotted out as a small one Ten thousand Talents is a great Summ yet it is as easily and freely forgiven by the great God as a few Pence God proclaims himself to be a God pardoning Iniquity Transgression and Sin that is Sins of all sorts and sizes The greatest Sins repented of are no more without the Extent of Divine Grace and Mercy than the least Sins unrepented of are without the Cognizance of Divine Justice Esay 1.18 Though your sins be as scarlet yet shall they become as white as snow though they be red as crimson yet they shall be as wooll And can there then be found a despairing Soul in the World when the great God hath thus magnified his Grace and Mercy above all his Works yea and above all ours also Say not then O Sinner my sins are greater than can be forgiven this is to stint and limit the Grace of God which he hath made boundless and infinite and thou mayest with as much Truth and Reason say thou art greater than God as that thy Sins are greater than his Mercy Of all things in the World take heed that you be not injurious to this rich Grace to this free Love and Mercy that pardons thee even for his own sake God pardons thee for himself for his own Sake and dost thou fear O Penitent believing Soul that ever he will condemn thee for thy Sins no but as much as God and his Mercy is greater than our Sins so much more Reason will he find in himself to Pardon the Repenting Believing Sinner than he can find Reason in his Sins to condemn him Thus we see what cause of Comfort there is in this Pardoning Grace of God And thus also we have consider'd Pardon of Sin in its own Nature Of the Concomitants of Pardon of sin Secondly We shall now consider Pardon of Sin in its Concomitants and Adjuncts and so we shall take a view of those things which do inseparably accompany it and thereby also we may see how great and unspeakable a Mercy it is It is a Mercy that is never bestowed upon the Soul singly and alone but evermore comes environ'd with whole Troops and Associate-Blessings As Pardon of Sin and Acceptation go together First Pardon of Sin is always conjoyn'd with the Acceptation of our Persons Indeed these two are the twin Parts of our Justification and therefore we have them coupled together Ephes 1.6 7. He hath made us accepted in the beloved In whom we have Redemption thorow his blood even the Forgiveness of Sin The whole Mystery of our Justification stands in these two things Remission and Acceptation Remission takes away our liableness unto Death and Acceptation gives us a Right and Title unto Life for to be accepted of God in Christ is no other than for God through the Righteousness and Obedience of Christ imputed to us to own and acknowledge us as having a Right and Title unto Heaven and therefore we have mention made of Pardon and an Inheritance together as the full summ of our Justification Acts 11.18 That they may receive forgiveness of sin and an inheritance among those that are sanctified It is not therefore O Soul a bare negative Mercy that God intends thee in the Pardon of thy Sins it is not merely the removing of the Curse and the Wrath that thy sins have deserv'd though that alone can never be sufficiently admired but the same hand that plucks thee out of Hell by pardoning Grace and Mercy lifts thee up to Heaven by what it gives thee together with thy Pardon even a Right and Title to the glorious Inheritance of the Saints above Secondly Another Concomitant is this Pardoning and sanctifying Grace go together Who-ever God pardons he doth also in some measure sanctifie He subdues our sins as well as blots them out he abates their Power as well as removes their Guilt And indeed it were no better than lost labour for God to pardon sin if he did not purifie the Sinner also for were but the least Sin and Corruption left to rule and reign in us we should presently run our selves as far into Debt and Arrears as ever we were Indeed the best Christian in whom Grace is most prevailing and Corruption weakest yet even he stands daily and hourly in need of pardoning Mercy but yet withal his Sins are not of so high a Nature nor so deep a Stain as usually the Sins of wicked Men are His Sins usually are such rather for the manner of them than for the matter of them God by his pardoning Grace forgives Infirmities Failings and Defects and by his sanctifying Grace ordinarily keeps him from the commission of more gross and scandalous Sins And how then can we enough admire the rich Grace of God that not only forgives us our Debts but withal bestows a new stock upon us to keep us from running into Debt again in any great and desperate Summs Pardon of Sin and Adoption are inseparable Thirdly Pardon of sin is always conjoyn'd with our Adoption into the Family of Heaven Herein is the Love of God greatly seen not only to pardon Rebels but to make them his Children not only to forgive Debtors but to make them Heirs of his own Estate The same precious Blood that blots out our Sins writes us down Heirs of Glory and Co-heirs with Jesus Christ himself O infinite and unspeakable Mercy of God thus richly and bountiful to give as well as freely to forgive that he should thus instate us at present in his Love and Favour and hereafter instate us in his Glory This is not the