wounded Spirit who can bear This is most insupportable when the Sting and Remorse of the Mind is from the Sense of Guilt for then God appears an Enemy righteous and severe and who can encounter with offended Omnipotence Such is the sharpness of his Sword and the weight of his Hand that every Stroke is deadly inward Satan the cruel Enemy of Souls exasperates the Wound He discovers and charges Sin upon the Conscience with all its killing Aggravations and conceals the Divine Mercy the only Lenitive and healing Balm to the wounded Spirit What Visions of Horror what Spectacles of Fear what Scenes of Sorrow are presented to the distracted Mind by the Prince of Darkness And which heightens the Misery Man is a worse Enemy to himself than Satan he falls upon his own Sword and destroys himself Whatever he sees or hears afflicts him whatever he thinks torments him The guilty Conscience turns the Sun into Darkness and the Moon into Blood the precious Promises of the Gospel that assure Favour and Pardon to returning and relenting Sinners are turn'd into Arguments of Despair by reflecting upon the abuse and provocation of Mercy and that the Advocate in God's Bosom is become the Accuser Doleful State beyond the Conception of all but those who are plung'd into it How often do they run to the Grave for Sanctuary and seek for Death as a Deliverance Yet all these Anxieties and Terrors are but the beginning of Sorrows for the full and terrible Recompences of Sin shall follow the Eternal Judgment pronounc'd against the Wicked at the last Day 'T is true the Sentence of the Law is past against the Sinner in this present State and Temporal Evils are the Effects of it but that Sentence is revokable at Death the Sentence is ratified by the Judg upon every impenitent Sinner 't is decisive of his State and involves him under Punishment for ever But the full Execution of Judgment shall not be till the publick general Sentence pronounc'd by the everlasting Judg before the whole World It exceeds the compass of created Thoughts to understand fully the direful Effects of Sin in the Eternal State For who knows the Power of God's Wrath The Scripture represents the Punishment in Expressions that may instruct the Mind and terrify the Imagination that may work upon the Principles of Reason and Sense by which Men are naturally and strongly moved 1. Sinners shall be excluded from Communion with the blessed God in Heaven in whose Presence is Fulness of Joy and at whose Right-hand are Pleasures for evermore In the clear and transforming Vision of his Glory and the intimate and indissolvable Union with him by Love consists the Perfection and Satisfaction of the immortal Soul The Felicity resulting from it is so entire and eternal as God is great and true who has so often promis'd it to his Saints Now Sin separates lost Souls for ever from the reviving Presence of God Who can declare the Extent and Degrees of that Evil for an Evil rises in proportion to the Good of which it deprives us it must therefore follow that Celestial Blessedness being transcendent the Exclusion from it is proportionably evil And as the Felicity of the Saints results both from the direct Possession of Heaven and from comparison with the contrary State so the Misery of the Damned arises both from the Thoughts of lost Happiness and from the lasting Pain that torments them But it may be replied If this be the utmost Evil that is consequent to Sin the threatning of it is not likely to deter but few from pleasing their corrupt Appetites for carnal Men have such gross Apprehensions and vitiated Affections that they are careless of Spiritual Glory and Joy They cannot taste and see how good the Lord is nay the Divine Presence would be a Torment to them For as Light is the most pleasant Quality in the World to the sound Eye so 't is very afflicting and painful to the Eye when corrupted by a Suffusion of Humours To this a clear Answer may be given In the next State where the Wicked shall for ever be without those sensual Objects which here deceive and delight them their Apprehensions will be changed they shall understand what a Happiness the Fruition of the blessed God is and what a Misery to be uncapable of enjoying him and expell'd from the Celestial Paradise Our Saviour tells the Infidel Jews There shall be weeping and gnashing of Teeth when ye shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets in the Kingdom of God and you your selves shut out How will they pine with Envy at the sight of that Triumphant Felicity of which they shall never be Partakers Depart from me will be as terrible a part of the Judgment as Eternal Fire 2. God's Justice is not satisfied in depriving them of Heaven but inflicts the most heavy Punishment upon Sense and Conscience in the Damned for as the Soul and Body in their State of Union in this Life were both guilty the one as the Guide the other as the Instrument of Sin so 't is equal when re-united they should feel the Penal Effects of it The Scripture represents both to our Capacity by the Worm that never dies and the Fire that shall never be quenched and by the destroying of Body and Soul in Hell-Fire Sinners shall then be tormented wherein they were most delighted they shall be invested with those Objects that will cause the most dolorous Perceptions in their sensitive Faculties The Lake of Fire and Brimstone the Blackness of Darkness are words of a terrible Signification and intended to awaken Sinners to fly from the Wrath to come But no words can fully reveal the terrible Ingredients of their Misery the Punishment will be in proportion to the Glory of God's Majesty that is dishonour'd and provok'd by Sin and extent of his Power And as the Soul was the Principal and the Body but an Accessary in the Works of Sin so it s capacious Faculties will be far more tormented than the more limited Faculties of the outward Senses The fiery Attributes of God shall be transmitted through the Glass of Conscience and concenter'd upon damned Spirits the Fire without them is not so tormenting as this Fire within them How will the tormenting Passions be inflam'd What Rancor Reluctance and Rage against the Power above that sentenc'd them to Hell What Impatience and Indignation against themselves for their wilful Sins the just Cause of it How will they curse their Creation and wish their utter Extinction as the final Remedy of their Misery But all their ardent Wishes are in vain for the Guilt of Sin will never be expiated nor God so far reconcil'd as to annihilate them As long as there is Justice in Heaven and Fire in Hell as long as God and Eternity shall continue they must suffer these Torments which the Strength and Patience of an Angel cannot bear one hour From hence we may infer what
Reason and in Accord among themselves there was a perfect Peace but Sin has raised an intestine War in Man's Breast The Law of the Members rebels against the Law of the Mind for there is no Man so prodigiously wicked and spoil'd of his Primitive Endowments but still there remains some Principles of Morality in the Mind so that his Conscience discovers and condemns the Vices he allows and practises which makes the Sinner uneasy to himself and mixes Vinegar with his Wine Besides since the Passions are disbanded into what Confusion is Man fallen How various how violent are they and often repugnant to one another How often do we change their Habits and Scenes in a day Sometimes we are vainly merry and then as vainly sad sometimes desirous and then averse and with respect to ourselves sometimes pleased sometimes vex'd sometimes amiable and sometimes odious we are more mutable than the Planet that is the Emblem of Inconstancy How often do Clouds of Melancholy darken the bright Serenity of the Spirit and cast a dreadful Gloom over it How oft do Storms of Passion disturb its Tranquillity The Breast of Man that was the Temple of Peace is become a Den of Dragons every exorbitant Affection tears and torments him 'T is true this is also a penal Effect from Divine Justice There is no Peace saith my God to the Wickd With which that Saying of St. Austin is consonant Jussit Domine sic est omnis inordinatus affectus est sibi poena 3. Sin has broke our Agreement with one another When there was a regular Consent between the superiour and lower Faculties in all Men they were in Unity among themselves for they were perfectly alike But the tumultuous and tyrannical Passions have engaged them in mortal Enmity 'T is the account St. James gives From whence come Wars and Fightings among you Come they not hence even of your Lusts that war in your Members Sin kindles and blows the Fire of Discord in Families Cities Kingdoms Sin is the Fury that brings a smoaking Firebrand from Hell and sets the World into Combustion Ambition Avarice the greedy Desires of Rule and Revenge have made the World a Stage of not feigned but the most bloody Tragedies In this Men are not like but worse than the Beasts for the fiercest Beasts of Africa or Hyrcania have a respect for their own Likeness tho they devour others yet they spare those of their own kind but Men are so degenerate as to be most cruel against their Brethren These are some of the Evils that proceed from Sin as their natural Cause And from hence 't is evident that Sin makes Men miserable were there no Hell of Torment to receive them in the next State Secondly I will consider the Evils consequent to Sin as the Penal Effects of the Sentence against Sin of Divine Justice that decrees it and Divine Power that inflicts it and in these the Sinner is often an active Instrument of his own Misery 1. The Fall of the Angels is the first and most terrible Punishment of Sin God spared not the Angels that sinned but cast them down to Hell reserved in Chains of Darkness to Judgment How are they fallen from what height of Glory and Felicity into bottomless Perdition How are they continually rack'd and tormented with the Remembrance of their lost Happiness If a thousand of the prime Nobility of a Nation were executed in a day by the Sentence of a righteous King we should conclude their Crimes to be atrocious innumerable Angels dignified with the Titles of Dominions and Principalities were expell'd from Heaven their native Seat and the Sanctuary of Life and are dead to all the joyful Operations of the intellectual Nature and only alive to Everlasting Pain One Sin of Pride or Envy brought this terrible Vengeance from whence we may infer how provoking Sin is to the holy God We read of King Uzziah that upon his Presumption to offer Incense he was struck with a Leprosy and the Priests thrust him out and himself hasted to go out of the Temple a Representation of the Punishment of the Angels by Presumption they were struck with a Leprosy and justly expelled from the Celestial Temple and not being able to sustain the Terrors of the Divine Majesty they fled from his Presence 'T is said God cast them down and they left their own Habitation 2. Consider the Penal Effects of Sin with respect to Man They are comprehended in the Sentence of Death the first and second Death threaten'd to deter Adam from transgressing the Law In the first Creation Man while innocent was immortal for altho his Body was compounded of jarring Elements that had a natural Tendency to Dissolution yet the Soul was endowed with such Vertue as to imbalm the Body alive and to preserve it from the least degree of Putrefaction But when Man by his voluntary Sin was separated from the Fountain of Life the Soul lost its derivative Life from God and the active Life infused by its Union into the Body It cannot preserve the natural Life beyond its limited Term. A righteous Retaliation Thus the Apostle tells us Sin came into the World and Death by Sin Even Infants who never committed Sin die having been conceived in Sin And Death brought in its Retinue Evils so numerous and various that their kinds are more than words to name and distinguish them Man that is born of a Woman is of few days and full of Trouble at his Birth he enters into a Labyrinth of Thorns this miserable World and his Life is a continual turning in it he cannot escape being sometimes prick'd and torn and at going out of it his Soul is rent from the Embraces of the Body 'T is as possible to tell the number of the Waves in a tempestuous Sea as to recount all the tormenting Passions of the Soul all the Diseases of the Body which far exceed in number all the unhappy Parts wherein they are seated What an afflicting Object would it be to hear all the mournful Lamentations all the piercing Complaints all the deep Groans from the miserable in this present State What a prospect of Terror to see Death in its various Shapes by Famine by Fire by Sword and by wasting or painful Diseases triumphant over all Mankind What a sight of Woe to have all the Graves and Charnel-houses open'd and so many loathsom Carcases or heaps of dry naked Bones the Trophies of Death expos'd to view Such are the afflicting and the destructive Effects of Sin For Wickedness burns as a Fire it devours the Briars and Thorns Besides other Miseries in this Life sometimes the Terrors of an accusing Conscience seize upon Men which of all Evils are most heavy and overwhelming Solomon who understood the Frame of Humane Nature tells us The Spirit of a Man can bear his Infirmity that is the Mind fortified by Principles of moral Counsel and Constancy can endure the Assault of external Evils but a
defers his Anger and loads them with his Benefits every day What is more astonishing than the Riches of his Goodness unless it be the perverse Abuse of it by Sinners to harden themselves in their Impieties But altho his Clemency delays the Punishment the Sacredness and Constancy of his Justice will not forget it when Patience has had its perfect work Justice shall have a solemn Triumph in the final Destruction of impenitent unreformed Sinners 3. The Consideration of the Evil of Sin so great in it self and pernicious to us heightens our Obligations to the Divine Mercy in saving us from our Sins and an everlasting Hell the just Punishment of them Our Loss was unvaluable our Misery extream and without infinite Mercy we had been under an unremediable necessity of sinning and suffering for ever God saw us in this wretched and desperate State and his Eye affected his Heart in his Pity he redeemed and restored us This is the clearest Testimony of pure Goodness for God did not want external Glory who is infinitely happy in his own Perfections he could when Man revolted from his Duty have created a new World of innocent Creatures for infinite Power is not spent nor lessened by finite Productions but his undeserved and undesired Mercy appeared in our Salvation The way of accomplishing it renders Mercy more illustrious for to glorify his Justice and preserve the Honour of his Holiness unblemish'd he laid upon his Son the Iniquity of us all This was Love that passeth all Understanding Our Saviour speaks of it with Admiration God so loved the World and hated Sin that he gave his only begotten Son to die for it that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting Life And how dear are our Engagements to Jesus Christ The Judg would not release the Guilty without a Ransom nor the Surety without Satisfaction and the Son of God most compassionately and willingly gave his precious Blood to obtain our Deliverance If his Perfections were not most amiable and ravishing yet that he died for us should infinitely endear him to us To those who believe he is precious to those who have felt their undone Condition and that by his Merits and Mediation are restored to the Favour of God he is eminently precious Who can break the Constraints of such Love If there be a spark of Reason or a grain of unfeigned Faith in us We must judg that if one died for all then all were dead and those that live should live to his Glory who died for their Salvation Add to this that in the Sufferings of Christ there is the clearest Demonstration of the Evil of Sin and how hateful it is to God if we consider the Dignity of his Person the Greatness of his Sufferings and the innocent Recoilings of his Human Nature from such fearful Sufferings He was the Eternal Son of God the Heir of his Father's Love and Glory the Lord of Angels he suffered in his Body the most ignominious and painful Death being nail'd to the Cross in the sight of the World The Sufferings of his Soul were incomparably more afflicting For tho heavenly meek he endured the Derision and cruel Violence of his Enemies with a silent Patience yet in the dark Eclipse of his Father's Countenance in the desolate state of his Soul the Lamb of God opened his Mouth in that mournful Complaint My God my God why hast thou forsaken me His innocent Nature did so recoil from those fearful Sufferings that with repeated Ardency of Affection he deprecated that bitter Cup Abba Father all things are possible to Thee let this Cup pass me He address'd to the Divine Power and Love the Attributes that relieve the Miserable yet he drank off the Dregs of the Cup of God's Wrath. Now we may from hence conclude how great an Evil Sin is that could not be expiated by a meaner Sacrifice than the offering up the Soul of Christ to atone incensed Justice and no lower a Price than the Blood of the Son of God the most unvaluable Treasure could ransom Men who were devoted to Destruction 4. The Consideration of the Evil of Sin in it self and to us should excite us with a holy Circumspection to keep our selves from being defiled with it 'T is our indispensable Duty our transcendent Interest to obey the Divine Law entirely and constantly The Tempter cannot present any Motives that to a rectified Mind are sufficient to induce a Consent to Sin and offend God Let the Scales be even and put into one all the Delights of the Senses all the Pleasures and Honours of the World which are the Elements of Carnal Felicity how light are they against the Enjoyment of the blessed God in Glory Will the Gain of this perishing World compensate the loss of the Soul and Salvation for ever If there were any possible Comparison between empty deluding Vanities and Celestial Happiness the Choice would be more difficult and the Mistake less culpable but they vanish into nothing in the Comparison so that to commit the least Sin that makes us liable to the forfeiture of Heaven for the Pleasures of Sin that are but for a season is Madness in that degree that no words can express Suppose the Tempter inspires his Rage into his Slaves and tries to constrain us to Sin by Persecution how unreasonable is it to be dismayed at the Threatnings of Men who must die and who can only touch the Body and to despise the Terrors of the Lord who lives for ever and can punish for ever Methinks we should look upon the perverted raging World as a Swarm of angry Flies that may disquiet but cannot hurt us Socrates when unrighteously prosecuted to Death said of his Enemies with a Courage becoming the Breast of a Christian They may kill me but cannot hurt me How should these Considerations raise in us an invincible Resolution and Reluctancy against the Tempter in all his Approaches and Addresses to us And that we may so resist him as to cause his flight from us let us imitate the excellent Saint whose Example is set before us 1. By possessing the Soul with a lively and solemn Sense of God's Presence who is the Inspector and Judg of all our Actions Joseph repell'd the Temptation with this powerful Thought How shall I sin against God The Fear of the Lord is clean 't is a watchful Sentinel that resists Temptations without and suppresses Corruptions within 'T is like the Cherubim plac'd with a flaming Sword in Paradise to prevent the Re-entry of Adam when guilty and polluted For this end we must by frequent and serious Considerations represent the Divine Being and Glory in our Minds that there may be a gracious Constitution of Soul this will be our Preservative from Sin for altho the habitual Thoughts of God are not always in act yet upon a Temptation they are presently excited and appear in the view of Conscience and are effectual to make us reject the