him Hazael once thought that 't was impossible he should incurr the Guilt of such horrid Villanies as he was foretold he would such as dashing young Children against the stones and ripping up Women with Child What replyed he to the Prophet Is thy Servant a Dog that he should do such things But for all that when he came into other Circumstances and so to have such Temptations as he never before met with he was such a Dog as to commit such Barbarities And if we will not be prevailed with to forsake in Will and Affection every Sin we shall scarcely stick longer at any Sin than our forbearance thereof is consistent with the Satisfaction of that Lust which is dearest to us We have Iudas also for an Example of this He was doubtless as to Outward Appearance a very Moral Inoffensive Man for our Saviour would not have given such Scandal as to have taken him had he not been so into the Number of his Constant Associates yet this Judas loving the Bag being a secretly Covetous Wretch could perswade himself even most basely to betray his Blessed Master when allured by the Bait of Gain to it and that a very sorry Bait too Fourthly Whosoever makes no Conscience of transgressing some one Law as he is Prepared to break all other upon strong Temptations so he actually disobeys other Laws according to that Latitude of Interpretation which our Lord hath given them and which ought to be given them Such a one may tremble at the Thoughts of breaking those two Commandments Thou shalt not commit Adultery Thou shalt not kill but Lusting in his Heart or Hating his Enemy will be Venial Sins with him though his Saviour hath told him that these are Transgressions of those Commandments This Man may punctually keep the First and Second Commandments as to the shunning of those Sins which in express terms are forbidden by them He may abhorr to acknowledge any other God but Iehovah he may abominate Graven Images in the Worship of God but while he preferreth the World either the Riches or Honours or Pleasures thereof before God as whosoever lives in the Allowance of any known Sin doth he is a very Idolater as the Apostle hath told us Fifthly Living in the Breach of but one Law would as truly Deprave Mens Natures and make them unmeet for the Enjoyment of God as living in the Breach of all It would do so as truly and really though not in the same degree One Sin allowed one Lust cherished robs the Soul of the Divine Image renders it unlike to God and consequently makes it uncapable of taking Satisfaction or Complacency in that Best of Beings who is pure Light and in whom is no Darkness at all It is thereby unqualified for the Heavenly and it sinks it down into the Hellish State We say One Leak will sink a Ship as sure as a Thousand And upon this Account One Sin entertained must needs as certainly ruine our Souls if we will not part with it as never so many Our Four First Considerations make it highly Reasonable that it should be so but this Last makes it Necessary Necessary from the very Nature of the thing not only nor yet Primarily from the Will of God I shall now Present you with Several plain Inferences from what hath been said As I. THat we ought not to account any Sin a Light or a small thing such a thing as God Almighty will not Concern Himself about Such a thing as we may allow ourselves in and yet be Objects of the Divine Favour This is Evident from what we have said or rather is our Text it self in other Words But I add for the farther Clearing of the Truth hereof that that Sin which we are apt to Fancy so Light a matter is either a Transgression of God's Law or 't is not if it be not we may not acknowledge it to be a Sin For Sin as saith the Apostle is the Transgression of the Law and where there is no Law there is no Transgression But if it be a Transgression of the Law how can it be a Light or a Trivial thing If it be really so then must God needs so account it for He judges of things as they are but how can God so account it when He hath made a Law against it Will His Infinite Wisdom suffer Him to make a Law which He matters not whether it be Observ'd or no Such a Law would be a very Vain and Needless one and therefore cannot be of God's making No Wise Man would be the Maker of such a Law But because some Sins are accounted small and others Great this Distinction is not to be born except we mean that some Sins are small ones in Comparison of others not that any are absolutely and in themselves small Indeed Considering Sins as Transgressions of God's Law so all are alike for one Sin is not more contrary to the Law than another All are as Contrary to the Law as can be That Stoical Paradox 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All Sins are Equal Tully gives this true Explication of Parva inquis Res est at Magna Culpa Thou sayest this is but a small thing but I say 't is a Great fault in quo peccatur id potest esse aliud alio majus aut minus That in which a Man Offends may be a greater or a less thing ipsum autem Peccare quoquo te verteris unum est But the Offending the Sinning it self is ever one and the same thing And this amounts to what was now said That considering Sins as Transgressions of the Divine Laws so all are alike But considering them according to various Circumstances some may be Comparatively small or much less than others Some are committed with less of the Will than others and those Men fall into upon a Surprize and before they are aware are nothing so great in that respect as those which are committed with Deliberation I mean upon Supposition that a naughty Custom doth not occasion the Inadvertency There are those who profane the Sacred Name of God by rash Oaths and by taking it into their Mouths lightly and wantonly and when reproved profess they were not aware they did so But this is no Extenuation of their Fault because such insensibility can proceed from no other Cause than Mens having acquired a wretched Habit of so making bold with and abusing God's Name through their Minds being void of any awful Sense of His Glorious Majesty Some Sins are committed against less Light and Knowledge than others and Sins against greater actual Knowledge or better Means of Knowledge are in that respect the Greater Sins and therefore our Lord hath assigned the greater Punishment to them Mat. 10.15 The greater Obligations and the more Mercies Men sin against the greater are their Sins upon that Account The more of Disingenuity and hateful Ingratitude there is in sins the more Hainous and Provoking are they Sins are greater or less according
A SERMON Preached before the QUEEN AT WHITE-HALL On Sunday MARCH 22. 1690 1. By EDWARD FOWLER D. D. Chaplain in Ordinary to Their Majesties Published by Her Maiesties Special Command LONDON Printed by T. M. for Ric. Chiswel at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church Yard 1691. Dr. FOWLER 's SERMON Preached before THE QUEEN March 22. 1690 1. A SERMON Preach'd before the QUEEN Iames 2.10 For whosoever shall keep the whole Law and yet offend in one Point he is guilty of all THERE are several Passages of our Saviour and his Apostles which at the first hearing do sound very harshly and seem to savour of over-great Severity that upon due Consideration are found to have nothing in them but what is highly Reasonable To omit others this Text is one of those Passages and many no doubt have been startled at it and been ready to say as the Disciples of our Saviour did upon another Occasion This is an hard saying who can hear it For can this Doctrine be true that whosoever shall keep the whole Law and yet offend in one Point is guilty of all and we be in the mean time dealt with according to the Gentleness and Clemency of a Covenant of Grace Is this the GOSPEL we talk so much of Is this the Glad-Tydings which our Saviour hath brought us We find none so bad we read nothing so sad in all the Old Testament The worst Passage there is and that is bad enough Cursed is he that continueth not in all that is written in the Law to do it It is no where there said that he who is never so careful to observe the whole Law if he chance to transgress in any one Point shall be look't upon as a Transgressour of all the Commandments and dealt with like such a one That other Saying is a very terrible one but this is much more terrible If this be so we may well Repeat that other Question of the Disciples Who then can be saved In many things we offend all if therefore he who keepeth the whole Law and yet offends in one Point be guilty of all how Desperate must the Case not onely of the Generality needs be but of every Individual Person I must confess that these Words may well Confound us and fill us with Amazement were they to be understood in the severest Sense they are capable of but we are certain they are not so to be understood and therefore that the fore-mentioned Paraphrase upon them is by no means a true one And the Context sheweth that this is the plain Meaning of them viz. Upon Supposition that a Man were careful to observe all the Laws of God but one his living in the Breach of that one shall be so far from being connived at upon the Account of his Obedience to all the rest that he shall be lyable to the Punishment which is due to the Transgression of the whole Law That is the same Punishment for kind not for degree there being nothing more plainly revealed than that the more and the greater Sins Men are guilty of the greater and severer shall be their Punishment And in saying that such a one shall have the same Punishment for kind I mean that which consisteth in being forever Banished from the Presence of God and which is called Eternal Death Now the Reasonableness of this Assertion of our Apostle thus understood may be fully made to appear by these following Considerations First He who refuseth Obedience to any One of the Divine Laws may as truly be said to Contemn the Divine Authority as if he lived in the breach of all Men in wilfully Disobeying any One Law do put as true an Affront upon the Law-Giver tho' not so High a one as they do in Disobeying all This Reason St. Iames gives in the Words next following for what he affirms in the Text For he that said do not Commit Adultery said also do not Kill now if thou Commit no Adultery yet if thou kill thou art become a Transgressour of the Law That is it is the same Law-Giver who hath forbidden Adultery and Murther and His Authority is as truly Contemned in Transgressing one as both of these Laws Every deliberate Act of Disobedience is flat Rebellion and so for forth a Renouncing of God's right to Govern us It is a virtual denial of His Authority to Prescribe any Laws to us and lays a foundation for Universal Disobedience For if God Almighty's Soveraignty be Disacknowledg'd in any One Instance it may as well be so in all other The same Reason that leads to the Violation of one Law doth Enervate and render invalid all other Laws Again Secondly He who willfully Disobeys any One of the Divine Laws is no Sincere Observer of any of the rest For whosoever allows himself in any one Act of Disobedience hath no True Love either for God or Goodness but it is necessary to the Sincerity of Obedience that it proceed from that Love which hath both these for its Objects That it proceed from Love to God and which is indeed Materially the same Love to Goodness Goodness Or Universal Righteousness Purity and Benignity being that upon the account of which God Almighty is a Lovely Being Now it is Evident that those who live in any Disobedience to God do not Love Him They love him not according to the Scripture-Notion of Loving God because whatsoever that is for the sake of which we can find in our hearts to Disobey Him must needs be valued and Esteemed above Him And the Scripture-Notion of Loving God is the Esteeming Him above and Preferring Him before all Creatures He who hath No true Love for God may Obey Him in many instances as the poor Pagans Worship the Devil out of a Slavish Fear and Dread of Him He may Obey him too as a meer Mercenary I mean for the good things of this Life and a Sensual kind of Happiness in the Other But this Obedience is far from being Genuine or the true Evangelical Obedience as is Easy to shew And again it is no less apparent that the Love of Virtue and true Goodness is inconsistent with harbouring any thing in our breasts that is contrary there to Thirdly He who lives in disobedience to any One Law of God as he Obeys none Sincerely so is he prepared to break all other Laws and that in the grossest manner whensoever forceable Temptations may assault him For if the Divine Authority can't prevail with a Man to Abstain from this or that Sin how is it to be Expected it should Restrain him from Other Sins when he may happen to be incited to them by alike strong and Violent Temptations Such a one may forbear not a few sins while he is not at all or not very violently set upon by a tempter but if God should once suffer him to be sharply encountred either from without or from within it is not hard to divine what Success such Temptations would have upon
be in every thing obeyed or at least that their Servants should endeavour to obey them in all things God will say another day to the Partially Obedient These things ought you to have done and not to have left the other undone But how came it to be ever imagined that God will be put off with a Partiall Obedience The mischief is those who live not in Open Sins the world not seeing farther hath a good Opinion of them and therefore they will please themselves with a Conceit that God Almighty hath the same Or it may be their own Party will applaud those things in them which are far from being Praise-worthy But let us not be deceived God is not mocked as men are nor will He flatter us as men do Let no man deceive us nor let us deceive ourselves with vain words or thoughts for for the sake of whatsoever Sins we will not part with be they what they will the wrath of God will fall upon us except it be diverted by timely Repentance that is by timely Reformation Was the Pharisee accepted of God because he could say God I thank thee that I am not as other men are Extortioners Unjust Adulterers or even as this Publican We know he was not for tho' he was free from the Sins of many others yet was he a Pharisee still There were Secret and less Observed Sins which he allowed himself in and therefore that Publican he so despised being a true Penitent went away Iustified before him IV. Methinks those who make none or but very little Conscience of their ways and dare to live in open Sins should not be able to forbear being mightily Concerned at what hath been said For as the Apostle saith If the Righteous scarcely be saved or have such a Portion of Misery in this life where shall the Wicked and Ungodly appear We may say if those who are seemingly Righteous or have a regard to most of God's Laws not heartily Endeavouring to Obey them all shall fall short of Salvation what shall become of such as are apparently and in the Eye of the World Wicked and Ungodly Prophane and Debauched people are Vniversally acknowledged to be Objects of the Divine displeasure and therefore whatsoever vain hopes those who are not guilty of the Crimes which speak men such may have of the goodness of their State one would presume that these could have no Temptation to hope well of themselves while they Continue impenitent and Unreformed Some mens Sins saith St. Paul are Open before hand going before to judgment and some they follow after Some mens Sins are so Conspicuous that they may be pronounc't to be in the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity in this life The Sins of others are more secret the judgment of whom is to be reserved to the Great Day But alas such is the nature of Sin that the Greatest Sinners are least Sensible of their Danger None shall be more forward than they to perswade themselves of God's Pardon Especially if after a Wretched life they can but make a good End as the Phrase is that is be sorry for their Sins for fear of Hell when they can Sin no longer and Call upon their Saviour at the last Gasp. But if the Hopes of a man who can't be prevailed with to be intirely Obedient be Vain and Groundless then the Hopes of such Sinners as these must needs be do I say vain too they must be Mad Hopes What is the Hope of the Hypocrite when God taketh away his Soul Said Upright Iob And therefore what Hope can those have who to that time have lived dissolutely and been Open Violators of Gods Laws And now I shall shut up this Discourse with seriously Applying my self to those who dare not run with the now mentioned sort of Sinners to their Excess of Riot but yet Harbour in their Breasts some Secret Sins still I beseech you think well of the words of our Text which taken in the most Candid Sense may well scare You also may throughly Convince you of the Absolute Necessity of Intire Obedience And that you may be effectually perswaded of it First Consider how wonderfully you are Obliged to your infinitely Good God in that He hath through Christ declared Himself so Exceedingly willing to pardon all Sins not allowed and liv'd in Can you be so Foolish and Ill-natured as thus to requite the Lord Is it not matter of Unspeakable Thankfulness that God will be Reconciled to Sinners upon any Terms possible and can we desire He should be upon more Reasonable Terms If thou Lord shouldst mark iniquities O Lord who shall stand But there is forgiveness with Thee that thou maist be feared This is the use we ought to make of the goodness of God and His readiness to forgive and 't is an Argument of an intolerably bad Temper not to be induced to fear to Offend Him by the Consideration hereof Seeing God is pleased to assure us of His Pardon thro' the Sacrifice of His Son so we will do what lyeth in us for the time to come to please Him He is as Gracious to us as we can Reasonably wish He would be With what Face then can we desire to persist longer in any one instance of Disobedience There is no Honest Soul but thinks it extremely too much that He sometimes Trangresseth against his will and before he is aware and his Weaknesses and Infirmities do very heartily afflict him then surely if we are sincere we shall not indure to add Wickednesses to our Weaknesses nor Deliberate Presumptuous Sins to those of Infirmity It will grieve us at heart that we find our selves constrained to beg Pardon so often for Weaknesses so far shall we be from making through Wilfulness or Carelesness more work for Repentance Secondly Consider how Gracious God hath been to you in continuing His Restraining Grace whereby you have been kept from Scandalous Sins whereas He hath had most just Provocations to leave you to your selves in regard of your allowance of secret ones Many fearful Examples there have been of those who have been thus punish't for their Hypocrisy and playing fast-and-loose with God Obeying Him in some things and making bold with Him in others And 't is Gods infinite Mercy that you are not yet in the Number of such Examples While any Corrupt Affection is gratified by us we are Prepared as hath been shewed to Close with the very worst of Temptations when so ever we may be violently assaulted by them Now it is only the good Providence and Grace of God which hath hitherto kept off such Temptations and the Wicked One not flinging the most fiery darts he hath in his Quiver at us is wholly to be imputed to the Divine Restraints But how soon we may be Abandoned by the Divine Providence to the Rage and Fury of that Roaring Lyon which goeth up and down seeking to devour us we cannot tell but have Cause still to be