Law the declared Will of his Maker accordingly a Law the Rule of his Obedience was written in his Heart Now Sin the Transgression of this Law contains many great Evils 1. Sin is a Rebellion against the Soveraign Majesty of God that gives the Life of Authority to the Law Therefore Divine Precepts are enforced with the most proper and binding Motive to Obedience I am the Lord. He that with purpose and pleasure commits Sin implicitely renounces his Dependance upon God as his Maker and Governour over-rules the Law and arrogates an irresponsible Licence to do his own Will This is exprest by those Atheistical Designers who said With our Tongue we will prevail our Lips are our own who is Lord over us The Language of Actions that is more natural and convincing than of Words declares that sinful Men despise the Commands of God as if they were not his Creatures and Subjects What a Dishonour what a Displeasure is it to the God of Glory that proud Dust should fly in his Face and controul his Authority He has ten thousand times ten thousand Angels that are high in Dignity and excel in Strength waiting in a Posture of Reverence and Observance about his Throne ready to do his Will How provoking is it for a despicable Worm to contravene his Law and lift his Hand against him It will be no Excuse to plead the Commands of Men for Sin for as much as God is more glorious than Men so much more are his Commands to be respected and obeyed than Mens When there is an evident Opposition between the Laws of Men and of God we must disobey our Superiours tho we displease them and obey our Supream Ruler He that does what is forbidden or neglects to do what is commanded by the Divine Law to please Men tho invested with the highest Sovereignty on Earth is guilty of double Wickedness of Impiety in deposing God and Idolatry in deifying Men. It is an extream Aggravation of this Evil in that Sin as it is a disclaiming our Homage to God so 't is in true account a yielding Subjection to the Devil For Sin is in the strictest Propriety his Work The Original Rebellion in Paradise was by his Temptation and all the actual and habitual Sins of Men since the Fall are by his efficacious Influence He darkens the Carnal Mind and sways the polluted Will he excites and inflames the vicious Affections and imperiously rules in the Children of Disobedience He is therefore stiled the Prince and God of this World And what more contumelious Indignity can there be than the preferring to the glorious Creator of Heaven and Earth a damned Spirit the most cursed part of the Creation It is most reasonable that the Baseness of the Competitor should be a Foil to reinforce the Lustre of God's Authority yet Men reject God and comply with the Tempter O prodigious Perversness 2. Sin vilifies the ruling Wisdom of God that prescrib'd the Law to Men. Altho the Dominion of God over us be Supreme and Absolute yet 't is exercis'd according to the Counsel of his VVill by the best Means for the best Ends he is accordingly stiled by the Apostle The eternal King and only wise God 'T is the glorious Prerogative of his Soveraignty and Deity that he can do no Wrong for he necessarily acts according to the Excellencies of his Nature Particularly his Wisdom is so relucent in his Laws that the serious Contemplation of it will ravish the sincere Minds of Men into a Compliance with them They are framed with exact Congruity to the Nature of God and his Relation to us and to the Faculties of Man before he was corrupted From hence the Divine Law being the Transcript not only of God's Will but his Wisdom binds the Understanding and Will our leading Faculties to esteem and approve to consent and choose all his Precepts as best Now Sin vilifies the Infinite Understanding of God with respect both to the Precepts of the Law the Rule of our Duty and the Sanction annex'd to confirm its Obligation It does constructively tax the Precepts as unequal too rigid and severe a Confinement to our Wills and Actions Thus the impious Rebels complain The Ways of the Lord are not equal as injurious to their Liberty and not worthy of Observance What St. James saith to correct the uncharitable censorious Humour of some in his time He that speaks Evil of his Brother and judges his Brother speaks Evil of the Law and judges the Law as an imperfect and rash Rule is applicable to Sinners in any other kind As an unskilful Hand by straining too high breaks the Strings of an Instrument and spoils the Musick so the Strictness and the Severity of the Precepts breaks the harmonious Agreement between the Wills of Men and the Law and casts an Imputation of Imprudence upon the Law-giver This is the implicit Blasphemy in Sin Besides the Law has Rewards and Punishments to secure our Respects and Obedience to it The wise God knows the Frame of the reasonable Creature what are the inward Springs of our Actions and has accordingly propounded such Motives to our Hope and Fear the most active Passions as may engage us to perform our Duty He promises his Favour that is better than Life to the Obedient and threatens his Wrath that is worse than Death to the Rebellious Now Sin makes it evident that these Motives are not effectual in the Minds of Men And this reflects upon the Wisdom of the Law-giver as if defective in not binding his Subjects firmly to their Duty for if the Advantage or Pleasure that may be gain'd by Sin be greater than the Reward that is promised to Obedience and the Punishment that is threatned against the Transgression the Law is unable to restrain from Sin and the Ends of Government are not obtained Thus Sinners in venturing upon forbidden things reproach the Understanding of the Divine Law-giver 3. Sin is a Contrariety to the unspotted Holiness of God Of all the glorious and benign Constellations of the Divine Attributes that shine in the Law of God his Holiness has the brightest Lustre God is holy in all his Works but the most venerable and precious Monument of his Holiness is the Law For the Holiness of God consists in the Correspondence of his Will and Actions with his moral Perfections Wisdom Goodness and Justice and the Law is the perfect Copy of his Nature and Will The Psalmist who had a purged Eye saw and admir'd its Purity and Perfection The Commandment of the Lord is pure inlightning the Eyes The Word is very near therefore thy Servant loves it 'T is the perspicuous Rule of our Duty without Blemish or Imperfection The Commandment is holy just and good It injoins nothing but what is absolutely Good without the least Tincture of Evil. The Sum of it is set down by the Apostle to live soberly that is to abstain from any thing that
them nay sinks them below the insensible part of the Creation that invariably observes the Law and Order prescribed by the Creator Astonishing Degeneracy Hear O Heavens give Ear O Earth I have nourished and brought up Children and they have rebelled against me was the Complaint of God himself The considerate Review of this will melt us into Tears of Confusion 2dly 'T was the unvaluable Goodness of God to give his Law to Man for his Rule both in respect of the matter of the Law and his end in giving it 1. The matter of the Law this as is forecited from the Apostle is holy just and good It contains all things that are honest and just and pure and lovely and of good Report whatsoever are vertuous and Praise-worthy In Obedience to it the Innocence and Perfection of the reasonable Creature consists This I do but glance upon having been consider'd before 2. The end of giving the Law God was pleas'd upon Man's Creation by an illustrious Revelation to shew him his Duty to write his Law in his Heart that he might not take one step out of the Circle of its Precepts and immediately sin and perish His gracious Design was to keep Man in his Love that from the Obedience of the reasonable Creature the Divine Goodness might take its rise to reward him This unfeigned and excellent Goodness the Sinner outragiously despises for what greater Contempt can be exprest against a written Law than the tearing it in pieces and trampling it under foot And this constructively the Sinner does to the Law of God which Contempt extends to the gracious Giver of it Thus the Commandment that was ordain'd unto Life by Sin was found unto Death 3. Sin is an extream vilifying of God's Goodness in preferring Carnal Pleasures to his Favour and Communion with him wherein the Life the Felicity the Heaven of the reasonable Creature consists God is Infinite in all possible Perfections All sufficient to make us compleatly and eternally happy he disdains to have any Competitor and requires to be supream in our Esteem and Affections the reason of this is so evident by Divine and Natural Light that 't is needless to spend many words about it 'T is an Observation of St. Austin That it was a Rule amongst the Heathens that a wise Man should worship all their Deities The Romans were so insatiable in Idolatry that they sent to Foreign Countries to bring the Gods of several Nations an unpolish'd Stone a tame Serpent that were reputed Deities they received with great Solemnity and Reverence But the true God had no Temple no Worship in Rome where there was a Pantheon dedicated to the Honour of all the false Gods The Reason he gives of it is that the true God who alone has Divine Excellencies and Divine Empire will be worship'd alone and strictly forbids the Assumption of any into his Throne To adore any besides him is infinitely debasing and provoking to his dread Majesty Now Sin in its Nature is a Conversion from God to the Creature and whatever the Temptation be in yielding to it there is signified that we choose something before his Favour Sin is founded in bono jucundo something that is delectable to the Carnal Nature 't is the universal Character of Carnal Men They are Lovers of Pleasure more than Lovers of God To some Riches are the most alluring Object The young Man in the Gospel when our Saviour commanded him to give his Estate to the Poor and he should have Treasure in Heaven went away sorrowful as if he had been offer'd to his loss To others the Pleasures that in strict Propriety are sensual are most charming Love is the Weight of the Soul that turns it not like a dead Weight of the Scales but with Election freely to its Object in the carnal Ballance the present Things of the World are of conspicuous Moment and out-weigh Spiritual and Eternal Blessings Altho the Favour of God be eminently all that can be desir'd under the Notion of Riches or Honour or Pleasure and every Atom of our Affection is due to him yet Carnal Men think it a cheap Purchase to obtain the good Things of this World by sinful means with the loss of his Favour This their Actions declare Prodigious Folly as if a few Sparks struck out of a Flint that can neither afford Light or Warmth were more desirable than the Sun in its Brightness And how contumelious and provoking it is to God he declares in the most moving Expressions Be astonished O ye Heavens at this and be horribly afraid be ye very desolate saith the Lord. For my People have committed two Evils they have forsaken me the Fountain of living Waters and hewed them out broken Cisterns that can hold no Water This immediately was charg'd upon the Jews who set up Idols of Jealousy and ador'd them rather than the glorious Jehovah and in proportion 't is true of all Sinners for every vicious Affection prefers some vain Object before his Love and the Enjoyment of his glorious Presence that is the Reward of Obedience 5. The Sinner disparages the impartial Justice of God In the Divine Law there is a Connexion between Sin and Punishment the Evil of doing and the Evil of suffering This is not a meer Arbitrary Constitution but founded on the inseparable Desert of Sin and the Rectitude of God's Nature which unchangeably loves Holiness and hates Sin Altho the threatning does not lay a strict necessity upon the Lawgiver always to inflict the Punishment yet God having declar'd his equal Laws as the Rule of our Duty and of his Judgment if they should be usually without Effect upon Offenders the Bands of Government would be dissolv'd and consequently the Honour of his Justice stain'd both with respect to his Nature and Office for as an essential Attribute 't is the Correspondence of his Will and Actions with his Moral Perfections and as Soveraign Ruler he is to preserve Equity and Order in his Kingdom Now those who voluntarily break his Law presume upon Impunity The first rebellious Sin was committed upon this Presumption God threatn'd If you eat the forbidden Fruit you shall die the Serpent says Eat and you shall not die and assenting to the Temptation Adam fell to Disobedience And ever since Men are fearless to sin upon the same Motive God chargeth the wicked Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such a one as thy self not concern'd to punish the Violation of his sacred Laws The Sinner commits the Divine Attributes to fight against one another presuming that Mercy will disarm Justice and stop its terrible Effects upon impenitent obstinate Sinners From hence they become bold and harden'd in the continuance of their Sins There is a Root that beareth Gall and Wormwood and when the Curse of the Law is declar'd and denounc'd against Sin the Wicked blesseth himself in his Heart saying I shall have Peace tho I walk in the Imagination of my Heart
Tempter with Defiance and Indignation This holy Fear is not a meer judicial Impression that restrains from Sin for the dreadful Punishment that follows for that servile Affection tho it may stop a Temptation and hinder the Eruption of a Lust into the gross Act yet it does not renew the Nature and make us Holy and Heavenly There may be a respective Dislike of Sin with a direct Affection to it Besides a meer servile Fear is repugnant to Nature and will be expell'd if possible Therefore that we may be in the Fear of the Lord all the day long we must regard him in his endearing Attributes his Love his Goodness and Compassion his rewarding Mercy and this will produce a filial Fear of Reverence and Caution lest we should offend so gracious a God As the natural Life is preserved by grateful Food not by Aloes and Wormwood which are useful Medicines so the Spiritual Life is maintained by the comfortable Apprehensions of God as the Rewarder of our Fidelity in all our Trials 2. Strip Sin of its Disguises wash off its flattering Colours that you may see its native Ugliness Joseph's reply to the Tempter How shall I do this great Wickedness Illusion and Concupiscence are the Inducements to Sin When a Lust represents the Temptation as very alluring and hinders the Reflection of the Mind upon the intrinsick and consequential Evil of Sin 't is like the putting Poison into the Glass but when it has so far corrupted the Mind that Sin is esteemed a small Evil Poison is thrown into the Fountain If we consider the Majesty of the Lawgiver there is no Law small nor Sin small that is the Transgression of it Yet the most are secure in an evil course by Conceits that their Sins are small 'T is true there is a vast difference between Sins in their Nature and Circumstances there are insensible Omissions and accusing Acts but the least is damnable Besides the allowance and number of Sins reputed small will involve under intolerable Guilt What is lighter than a Grain of Sand you may blow away a hundred with a Breath And what is heavier than a heap of Sand condens'd together 'T is our Wisdom and Duty to consider the Evil of Sin in its essential Malignity which implies no less than that God was neither wise nor good in making his Law and that he is not just and powerful to vindicate it And when tempted to any pleasant Sin to consider the due Aggravations of it as Joseph did which will controul the Efficacy of the Temptation I shall only add that when a Man has mortified the Lusts of the Flesh he has overcome the main part of the infernal Army that wars against the Soul Sensual Objects do powerfully and pleasantly insinuate into carnal Men and the Affections are very unwillingly restrain'd from them To undertake the Cure of those whose Disease is their Pleasure is almost a vain Attempt for they do not judg it an Evil to be regarded and will not accept distasteful Remedies 3. Fly all tempting occasions of Sin Joseph would not be alone with his Mistress There is no Vertue so confirmed and in that degree of Eminence but if one be frequently ingaged in vicious Society 't is in danger of being eclips'd and controul'd by the opposite Vice If the Ermins will associate with the Swine they must lie in the Mire if the Sheep with Wolves they must learn to bite and devour if Doves with Vultures they must learn to live on the Prey Our surest Guard is to keep at a distance from all engaging Snares He that from Carelesness or Confidence ventures into Temptations makes himself an easy Prey to the Tempter And let us daily pray for the Divine Assistance to keep us from the Evil of the World without which all our Resolutions will be as ineffectual as Ropes of Sand to bind us to our Duty 5. The Consideration of the Evil of Sin is a powerful Motive to our solemn and speedy Repentance The remembrance of our Original and Actual Sins will convince us that we are born for Repentance There are innumerable silent Sins that are unobserved and do not alarm the Conscience and altho a true Saint will neither hide any Sin nor suffer Sin to hide it self in his Breast yet the most holy Men in the World have great reason with the Psalmist to say with melting Affections Who can understand his Errors O cleanse me from my secret Sins discover them to me by the Light of the Word and cover them in the Blood of the Redeemer There are Sins of Infirmity and daily Incursion from which none can be perfectly freed in this mortal State these should excite our Watchfulness and be lamented with true Tears There are crying Sins of a Crimson Guilt which are to be confest with heart-breaking Sorrow confounding Shame and implacable Antipathy against them and to be forsaken for ever Of these some are of a deep die in their Nature and some from the Circumstances in committing them some are of a heinous Nature and more directly and expresly renounce our Duty and more immediately obstruct our Communion with God As a Mud-Wall intercepts the Light of the Sun from shining upon us 2. Some derive a greater Guilt from the Circumstances in the commission Such are 1. Sins against Knowledg for according to the Ingrediency of the Will in Sin the Guilt arises Now when Conscience interposes between the Carnal Heart and the Temptation and represents the Evil of Sin and deters from Compliance and yet Men will venture to break the Divine Law this exceedingly aggravates the Offence for such Sins are committed with a fuller Consent and are justly called Rebellion against the Light And the clearer the Light is the more it will increase the disconsolate fearful Darkness in Hell 2. Sins committed against the Love as well as the Law of God are exceedingly aggravated To pervert the Benefits we receive from God to his Dishonour to turn them into occasions of Sin which were designed to endear Obedience to us to sin licentiously and securely in hopes of an easy Pardon at last is intensive of our Guilt in a high degree This is to poison the Antidote and make it deadly There is a Sacrifice to reconcile offended Justice but if Men obstinately continue in Sin and abuse the Grace of the Gospel there is no Sacrifice to appease exasperated Mercy 3. Sins committed against solemn Promises and Engagements to forsake them have a deeper Die for Perfidiousness is join'd with this Disobedience The Divine Law strictly binds us to our Duty antecedently to our Consent but when we promise to obey it we increase our Obligations and by sinning break double Chains In short any habitual allowed Sin induces a heavy Guilt for it argues a deeper root and foundation of Sin in the Heart a stronger Inclination to it from whence the repeated Acts proceed which are new Provocations to the pure Eyes of God Accordingly in repenting