as the â—â—n you would wash by it Secondly the uncleannesse of mens practice maketh unclean performances unclean hands make unclean prayers Isai 1. 15. When men go on in sin and use their members as instruments of unrighteousnesse against God and guiltinesse is above their head unrepented of and unpardoned then whatever the members act for God in religious Duties it must be also abominable for will God take prayers from such a mouth thaâ— cursing cometh out of Isai 3. 10 11 12 Shall sweet water come out of one Fountain with bitter Or can a Fig Tree bear both Thistles and Graps Certainly profane Conversation must make unclean profession And therefore your coming to the Church and Ordinances your praying in your Families or such like must of necessity be defiled since out of the same mouth cometh cursing railing lying filthy speeches Your tongues are so often imployed in Gods dishonour to blaspheme his Name to slander your Neighbours to reproach the Saints that all your prayers must be of the same stamp and al 's bitter as the other stream of your actions When you stretch forth your hands to make many prayers to take the Bread and Wine shall not God hide his Face from such hands as are unclean with many abominations some murdering some abusing their Neighbours some Sabbath-breaking some filthinesse how oft have your hands and feet served you to evil turns And therefore your good turns will never come in remembrance Nay believe it you cannot be heard of God while you cover any offence And this I may say in general even to the Saints any known sin given way to and intertained without controlment without wrestling against it hindereth the acceptation of your solemn approaches If your heart regard iniquity shall God hear Ps 66. 18. No believe it the least sin that you may judge at first venial and then give it toleration and indulgence shall separat between Gods Face and you Your prayers are abomination because of such an idol perked up in the heart beside God that getteth the Honour and Worship due to him and God must answer you according to it Ezek. 19. 1 3 4. God will not be enquired of such as give allowance to sin Ezek. 14. 2 3 4. And on the other hand no sin how great and hainous soever can hinder Gods gracious acceptation when Souls fly unto Jesus and turn their back upon sin or giveth it no heart allowance And to the multitude I say all that you do or touch in a Duty must be defiled because your whole way is unclean Hag. 2. 12 13 14. Think you to sin all the week thorow and worship God on the Sabbath will you lie swear commit adultery rail and curse and come and stand before me saith the Lord No certainly you cannot be accepted And will you hate reformation in your lives and yet take his Covenant in your mouth and call your selves by his Name Christians And shall not God challenge you for that al 's much as for your swearing and cursing and lying c. Indeed the Lord putteth all in one Roll and you need not please your selves in such things Psal 50. 16. Jer. 7. 9 10. For it is all one to you to go to Tavern to drink and come to the Sermon to blaspheme Gods Name and call on it because the profanity of the one defileth the other and the holiness of the other cannot make you holy Thirdly the natural mans performances want the uprightness reality and sincerity that is required it is but a painted Tomb full of rottenness within it is but a shadow without substance for he wanteth the spiritual part of worship which God careth for who will be worshiped in spirit and truth Joh. 4. 23. Now what is it that the most part of you can speak of but an outside of some few duties soon numbered You hear the preaching and your hearts wander about your business You hear and are not so much affected as you would be to hear some old story or fable told you A stage play acted before this generation would move them more then the Gospel doth So that Christ may take up this Lamentation We have piped to you and you have not danâ—ed lamented to you and you have not mourned You use to tell over some words in your prayers and are not so serious in any approach to God as in twenty other things of the world Whatever you plead of your hearts rightness and have recourse to it when your conversation cannot defend you yet your hearts are the worst of all and have no uprightness towards God for you know that what Duties you go about it is not from an inward principle but from Education or Custome or constraint Are you upright when you are forced for fear of censure to come here or to pray at home Is that sincerity and spiritual worship And for the more polished and refined professors you have this moth in your performances and this flea to make your Oyntment to stink that you do much to be seen of men therefore what little fervour of spirit is in secret Duties There you may measure your altitude and your life And O how wearisome how lifeless are secret approaches you would not have many errands to God if you thought no body looked upon you And for spirituality it is a Mystery in all mens practice Who directeth his Duty to Gods Glory If you get some flash of liberty you have your desire But who misseth Gods presence in Duties which a world will approve Who go mourning as without the Sun even when you have the Sun-shine of Ordinances and walketh in the light of them And fourthly though your performances had uprightness of heart going alongs and much affection in them yet all are filthy because of want of Faith in Jesus Christ When you make your Duties a covering of your sins and think to satisfy Gods Justice for the rest of your faults by doing some point of your Duty then it cannot choose but be polluted in his sight And this very thing was the cause of Gods rejecting the Jews righteousness even because they did not look to the end of the Mystery Christ Jesus Did not pull by the vail of Ceremonies to see the Immaculat Lamb of God slain for sin And therefore doth the Lord so quarrel with them as if he had never commanded them to do such things Isai 1. 12 13. Who hath required these things at your hands bring no more vain oblations all is Abomination Even as God should say to you when you come to the Church who required you to come Who commanded you to come to hear the Preaching What have you to do to pray What warrand have you to communicat All your Praying Hearing Communicating is Abomination who commanded you to do these things Would you not think it a foolish Question You would soon answer that God himself commanded you and will he not let us do his bidding Indeed this
and a resolution of amending this then is all your covering and ornament something done by you as many will make the wings of two good works stretch themselves out so far as to cover and hide a multitude of offences between them Therefore I declare in the Lord Jesus his Name unto you whose Conscience must go alongs in the acknowledgment and owning of your case that you have covered your selves with your own righteousnesse that you have taken as filthy rags to cover your nakednesse and sin with as your sins are and so you have made an addition to your uncleanness you are more unclean by your prayers and repentance then before And so God is of more pure eyes then to look graciously on such as you are You have gone about to establish your own righteousnesse and hath not known the righteousnesse of God and so you have come short of it you are yet persons in a state of enmity God is your Judge you are rebels It concerns you much to heed this well to judge of your own actions and persons as God judgeth of them for if God shall judge one way and you judge another way you may be far mistaken in the end If you have so good an opinion of your selves and your duties that you can plead interest in God for them and absolve your selves from such grounds And if God have not the same judgement but rather think as evil of your prayers as of your cursing and abhor the thing that satisfieth you will it not be dreadful in the end For his judgement shall stand and you will succumb in judgement since you crossed Gods mind Therefore we would have you solidly drink in this principle of Religion That man is so unclean and God so abhorreth him that whatever he doth or can do it cannot make him righteous that no good action can make him acceptable and take away the uncleanness of the evil actions and that any sinful action taketh away all the cleanness of the good actions Once believe this If I should sweat out my life in serving God and never rise off my knees If I should give my body to the fire for the truth If I should melt away in tears for sin all this is but filthy raggs and I can never be accepted of God for all that but the matter of my condemnation groweth If I justifie my self my own mouth proves me perverse God needeth no more but my good deeds to condemn me for in all justice And therefore it is a thing impossible I will never put forth a hand or open a mouth upon that account any more I will serve God because it is my duty but life I will not expect by my service when I have done all it is wholly mercy that I am accepted my good works shall never come in remembrance I resolve to be found not having my own righteousnesse I will appear among the ungodly sinners as one that hath no righteousnesse that I may be justified only by faith in Jesus Christ I say drink in this truth and let it settle in your hearts and then we would hear numbers cry O what shall I do to be saved Now as for you who have fled unto Christs righteousnesse only have cast away your own as dung and dross as filthy raggs as you have done right in the point of Justification judge so likewise after it We would exhort you to judge so of your best actions that are the fruits of the Spirit judge so of them as you have a hand in them All our righteousness Mark Isaiah a holy Prophet joyneth himself in with the multitude And the truth is the more holiness the more humility and self-abasing for what is holiness I pray you but self-denial the abasing of the creature and exalting of Christ Jesus This is the Cross that the Saints must all bear Deny your self and follow me Grace doth not swell men above others it is gifts such as Knowledge that puffeth up Charity or Love puffeth not up Men are naturally high-minded for pride was the first sin of Adam and grace cometh to level men to make the high mountains valleys for Christs Chariot It maketh men stoop low to enter the door of the Kingdome Therefore if you have attained any measure beyond others if you would prove it real grace and holinesse do not exalt your selves above others be not high minded come down and sit among the ungodly among the unclean and let not grace given diminish the low estimation of your self in your self There is a growing that is but a fancy and mens conceit when men grow above Ordinances above other Christians and can see none or few Christians but themselves such a growth is not real it s but fancy it s but swelling and wind and must be pricked to let it out A holy Prophet came in among an unclean people he did not say Stand by I am bolier then thou Such a man as can find no Christian about him even though to the judgement of all others they seek God more then he such a man hath not real solid grace his holiness is profane holiness and proud holiness for true holiness is humble holiness and in honour prâ—ferreth others There is a great fault among those who have fled to Christs righteousness in Justification that they use to come full from duties as a stomach from a honey comb Oft times we make our liberty and access to God the ground of our acceptation and according to the ebbings and flowings of our inherent righteousness so doth the faith and confidence of Justification ebb and flow Christians this ought not to be In so doing you make your own righteousness your righteousness before God for when the unsatisfaction in the point of duty maketh you question your interest so often is not the satisfaction of your minds in duties made the ground of your pleading interest Give you liberty and access you can believe any thing remove it and you can believe nothing Certainly this is a sandy foundation you ought to build nothing on performances you should be as vile in your own eyes and think your nakedness as open when you come nearest God when you have most liveliness as when he hideth his face duty withereth will filthy raggs be your ornament No Christians be more acquaint with the unspotted righteousness of the Immaculat Lamb of God and find as great necessity of covering your cleanest duties with it as your foulest faults and thus shall you be kept still humble and vile in your own eyes and have continual imployment for Christ Jesus your best estate should not puff you up and your worst estate should not cast you down Therefore be much in the search of the filthiness of your holy actions This were a spiritual study a noble discovery to unbowel your duties to divide them and give unto God what is Gods and take unto your selves what is your own The discovery of filthiness in them
whole But so also his work of providence is perfect Divine wisdom hath framed and contrived all and it cannot be better If any thing seem imperfect in it self yet it is perfect in relation to his glorious ends he directs it unto and so would we look on all the works among us â—f any thing seemed a spot and disgrace of the creation certainly the sin of men and Angels Nay but even that is so ordered by his holy soveraignty that in relation to his Majesty it may be called a perfect work If ye do but consider what a glorious high Throne he hath erected to himself for justice and judgement to be the habitation of it and mercy and truth to go before it upon the ruins of defaced man what a Theater of Justice he hath erected upon the Angels falls ye would call it as perfect a work as is in the world His work is one in the world subordinate to one great design of manifesting his own glorious justice and mercy omnipotency and wisdom Now what do ye see of it but parcels though ye comprehend all your time in one thought yet certainly ye cannot judge it aright for it is but one work that all the several buildings and castings down all the several dispensations of his providence from the beginning to the end make up and when we think upon these disjoyned limit our consideration within the bounds of our own time can we rightly apprehend it Nay which is worse we use to have no more within the compasse of our thought but some present thing and how much more do we err then What beauty what perfection can such a small part have But it s present to him who beholds with a glance all these parts though succeeding in many generations he sees it altogether joyns the end with the beginning sees the first mould the first foundation-stone and the last compleating all flowing from himself and returning thither and ending in himself He hath made an interchange in nature which might teach us the night alone hath no beauty nay but it beautifies the day Your darkest hours and tempests publick and personal are they perfect works Yes certainly if ye compound them with your Sun-shines and calms several colours make Pictures beautiful the one is as needful as the other And if ye did consider your profit more then your honour and pleasure ye would say so He doth not model his works according to our fancy to please us but our good to profit us and he is wiser then we and so then it is the most perfect work in it self that possibly displeaseth us most Therefore ye would judge of his dealing by another rule nor your satisfaction for please you and perish you If he spared the rod he should hate us indeed fond love is real hatred Christians if ye would judge his works by his word and not by your sense by your well and not by your will certainly ye would say as the men did of Christ he hath done all well the world would discover to you a perfection even in imperfection a perfection in infirmities that ye should not only rejoyce in them but glory in them most gladly therefore will I glory c. saith Paul Are infirmities a perfect work Or is the suffering of Paul to be buffetted and tempted a perfect work What comfort is in it Yes much infirmities alone are infirmities indeed nay buâ— infirmities in me and strength in Jesus weaknesse in me and strength dwelling in me these make up one perfect work that could as little want the infirmities as the strength the glory of God and our well and consolation require the one as well as the other it could not be compleat without any of them What do ye think of the times now are Englands apostacy and Irelands desolation perfect works That great work of Reformation that seemed to be above our shoulders it 's now razed to the ground and the very foundations removed Iâ— deformation a perfect work Certainly if wâ— look on these things in the Scriptures light and consider them in relation to him who is the chief builder and doth in heaven and earth what he pleaseth that deformation is a perfecâ— work though not a perfect reformation thougâ— we could not inform you of the perfection of it yet the general might silence us all this shall be no misse no marr in the end His work at the end of accompts shall appear so compleat as iâ— it had never had interruption He is wise anâ— knows what he doth if this were not for his glory and his peoples good certainly it should noâ— be Was not the peoples wandering in thâ— wildernesse 40. years a most strange work â— longer interruption of the expected and beguâ— voyage out of Egypt What humane reasoâ— would have styled this work with perfection â— Did they not often murmure against it yet Moses calls this a perfect work also What if thâ— Lord be diging the ground deeper in England that the foundation may be the surer What iâ— he be on a work of judgement filling the cup of many deluded blasphemers that he may have another cup of wrath prepared What if this be his great purpose to execute vengeance upon a prophane generation that will not abide the very name and form of godlinesse by these who pretend to the name of it as their honour What if the Lord hath defaced all that this Kingdom was instrumental in building of in England that he alone may have the glory in a second Temple more glorious Many things there may be in his mind and he is in one mind and who can turn him and what his soul desireth even that he doth and this may be enough to satisfie us He sees and knows all his works from the beginning and without all controversie he hath provided it so that the reproach of his Name shall be made up with the more shining of his glory and the afflictions of his people shall be compensed with songs of deliverance May ye not give him so much credit as ye would give to a skilful man in his own Trade Ye know it is his Name Excellent in counsel and wonderful in working then take his work expound it according to his Word and not your apprehension It may be his vvork appears not excellent nay but if ye knevv his counsel ye vvould think it so His vvonderful counsel makes all his vvorks excellent and therefore do not take upon you to judge his vvorks unlesse ye could vvade the depth of his counsels else ye declare your selves to be both ignorant and presumptuous There is a time to build and a time to cast down a time for every thing saith the vvise man novv I say he knovvs the time and season he does every thing in his time If ye come by a Work-man that is casting dovvn a house that in your appearance seems good vvould ye condemn him presently No but stay till ye see vvhat
strange how untoward and froward we are a perverse generation we do not believe his Threatnings but fancie we receive his Promises or else believeing his Threatnings we question his Promises But know this for a truth his last Word is more weighty and the unbelief of it is most dangerous Ye have not keeped his Commands and so the curse is come upon you do ye believe that If ye do then the Gospel speakes unto you The God of Truth hath one word more He that believes shall be saved notwithstanding of all his breaking of the Law if ye do not set your Seal to this also then ye say he is not a God of Truth ye say he is a liar And as for you who have committed your Souls to him as to a faithful keeper and acquiesced unto his Word of Promise for Salvation think how unsutable it is for you to distrust him in other lesser things Ye have the promise of this life whoever hath the Promises of the life to come Therefore do not make him a liar in these He is a God of Truth and will let you want no good thing Say to the righteous it shall he well with him what ever be Let Heaven and Earth mix through other yet ye may be as Mount Sion unmoved in the midst of many floods because of the Promises Without iniquity who doubts of that say ye What needs this be added who charges him with iniquity or sin Nay but stay and consider and you shall find great weight in this It is true none dare charge him openly or speak in expresse terms against his Holinesse yet if we judge of our own and others practices and dispositions as the Lord useth to construct of them if we resolve our murmurings impatience self-absolutions and excuses to hold off convictions into plain language if we would translate them into a Scripture-style certainly it will be found that the most part of men if not all use to impute iniquity to God and accuse him rather then take with accusations laid against themselves And therefore the Lord useth to go to Law with his people he who is the Judge of the world that cannot do unrighteously he who is the potter and we all the clay yet he so far condescends to us for convincing us as sometimes to refer the controversie between him and his people to other creatures as Micah 6. 12. He calls the mountains and the foundations of the earth to judge between him and his people and sometimes he appeals unto their own consciences and is content though judge to stand and be judged by these who were guilty as vers 3 and Jer. 2. vers 5 and 31. All this supposes that when the Lord would endeavour to convince them of iniquity they did rather recriminat and took not with their own faults This is a truth generally acknowledged by all He who is the judge of the world doth no iniquity But O! that ye considered it till the meditation of it were engraven on your Spirits the seal of Gods holinesse that ye might fear before him and never call him to accompt for his matters Who can say I have purged my heart from iniquity Among men the holiest are defiled with it and so are all their actions But here is one that ye may give him an implicit faith so to speak he is a God of truth and can speak no lie be does no iniquity and cannot do wrong to any man Would there be so much impatience amongst you and fretting against his dispensations if ye believed this solidly Would ye repine against his holy and just wayes were it not to charge God with iniquity Your murmuring and grudging at his dispensations is with child of blasphemies and he who can search the reins sees it and constructs so of it You say by interpretation that if ye had the government of your own matters or of Kingdoms ye would order them better then he doth how difficult a thing is it to perswade men to take with their own iniquity O how many excuses and pretences how many extenuations are used that this conviction may not pierce deeply But all this speaks so much blasphemy that iniquity is in God Ye cannot take with your own iniquities but ye charge his Majesty with iniquity Just and right is he Is this any new thing was it not said already that he is without iniquity and his wayes judgement But alas how ignorant are we of God and slow of heart to conceive him as he is therefore is there line upon line and precept upon precept and name upon name if it be possible that at length we may apprehend God as he is Alas our knowledge is but ignorance our light darknesse while it is shut up in the corner of our mind and shines not into the heart and hath no influence on our practice And the truth is the belief of divine truths is almost no more but a not contradicting them we do not seriously think of them as either to consent to them or deny them Is there any consideration amongst us now of Gods justice and righteousnesse though it be frequently spoken of And what advantage shall ye have if ye do not consider them O how hard is it to perswade mens hearts of this that God is just and will by no means acquit the guilty there are so many delusions drunk in in mens hearts contrary to his truth Let no man deceive you be not deceived with vain words know ye not saith our Apostle these are strange prefaces would ye not think the point of truth subtile that there needed so much prefacing unto and yet what is it even that which all men grant Gods wrath comes on the children of disobedience but alas few men consider but deceive themselves with dreams of escaping it though men know it yet they know it not for they walk as if they knew no such thing Alwayes however this is of little moment to affect our spirits now yet in the day that God shall set your iniquities before your face and set his justice also before your eyes O how sad and serious a thing will it be then If these two verses were ingraven on our hearts Gods justice and holinesse our corruption and vilenesse I think there would be other thoughts among us then there are SERMON IV. Deut. 32. 5. They have corrupted themselves their spot is not the spot of his Children c. WE doubt this people would take well with such a description of themselves as Moses gives It might seem strange to us that God should have chosen such a people out of all the nations of the earth and they to be so rebellious and perverse if our own experience did not teach us how free his choise is and how long-suffering he is and constant in his choise His people are called to a conformity with himself Be ye holy for I am holy Lev. ch 19. and 20. and to a difformity and separation from
ingredient in thy Cup of Judgment for it is the greatest Aggravation of thy sin for through it Gods Name is Blasphemed If they had not known they had not had sin Pagans sin is no sin in respect of Christians If ye consider Christs Sermon Matth. 11. Ye will say Isaiah is a meak and moderate man in regard of him Isaiah calls them people of Gomorrah but Christ will have them worse and their Judgment more intolerable then theirs And that not only the profane of them but the civil and Religious like who believed not in him VVell then here is the advantage ye get of your Name of Christianity of your priviledge of hearing his VVord dayly Ye who never ponder it to tremble at it or to rejoyce in it who cannot be moved either to joy or grief for Spiritual things Neither Law nor Gospel moves the most part of you I say here is all your gain ye shall receive a reward with Gentiles and Pagans Yea ye shall be in a worse case nor they in the Day of the Lord. The civil Christian shall be worse then the profane Turke and ye shall not then boast that ye were Christians but shall desire that ye had dwelt in the place where the Gospel had never been preached It is a Character of the Nations that they call not on God and of Heathen Families that they pray not to him Jer. 10. 25. And wrath must be poured on them VVhat then are the most part of you Ye neither bow a Knee in secret nor in your Families to God your time is otherwayes employed ye have no leisure to pray twice or thrice a day alone except when ye put on your Cloathes ye utter some ordinary bâ—blings Ye cannot be driven to Family worship shall not God rank you in Judgement with these Heathen Families Or shall it not be more tolerable for them nor for you And are not the most part of you every one given to Covetousnesse your heart and eye after it seeking Gain and Advantage more then the Kingdome of Heaven Doth not every one of you as you have power in your hand oppresse one another wrong one another Now our end in speaking thus to you is not to drive you to desparation No indeed but as there was a word of the Lord sent to such by Isaiah so we bring a word unto you That which ruines you is your carnal confidence Ye are presumptuous as this people and cryes the Temple of the Lord the VVork of the Lord c. as if these would save you Know therefore that all these will never cover you in the day of wrath Know there is a necessity to make peace with God and your righteousnesse must exceed the righteousnesse of a profession and external priviledges and duties or else ye shall be as far from the Kingdome of Heaven as Sodom and Gomorrah VVe speak of Rulers sins that ye may mourn for them lest ye be Judged with them If ye do not mourn for them in secret know that they are your sins Ye are Companions with them Many fret grudge and cry out against Oppression but who weeps in secret Who prayes and deprecats Gods wrath least it come upon them And while it is so The Oppression of Rulelers becomes the sin of the oppressed themselves Hear the Word of the Lord It were a suitable preparation for any Word that is spoken to make it take imprâ—ssion if it were looked on as the Word of the Lord and Law of our God And truely no man can hâ—ar aright unlesse he hear it so Why doth not this Word of the Lord return with more Fruit Why doth not men tremble or rejoyce at it Certainly because it is not received as Gods Word There is a practical Heresie in our hearts which rather may be called Atheism VVe do not believe the Scriptures I do not say men call it in question but I say ye believe them not It is one thing to believe with the heart another thing not to doubt of it Ye doubt not of it not because ye do indeed believe it but because ye do not at all consider it It is one thing to confesse with the Mouth and another thing to believe with the Heart For ye confesse the Scriptures to be Gods VVord not because ye believe them but because ye have received such a Tradition from your Fathers have heard it from the womb unquestioned Oh that this were engraven on your Heart thaâ— these Commands these Curses these Promises are Divine Truthes the VVords and thâ— Oath of the Holy One. If every word oâ— Truth came stamped with his Authority and were received in the Name of God himself what influence would it have on the Spirits and the practices of men This would be a great Reformer would Reform more in a Moneth then Church and Staâ—e hath done these many Years VVhy are Rulers and People not Converted and Healed for all that is spoken Here it is Who believes our report VVho believes that our report is thy own Testimony O Lord When Ministers threaten you in Gods Name if his Authority were stamped on the Threatning if men did seriously apprehend it were Gods own Voice would they not tremble When the Gospel and the joyful Sound comes forth if ye apprehended that same Authority upon it which ye who are Convinced believes in the Law would ye not be comforted Finally I may fay it is this point of Atheisme of Inconsideration and Brutishnesse that destroys the multitude makes all Means Ineffectual to them and retards the progresse of Christians Men do not consider that this word is the word of the Eternal and True and Faithful God and that not one Jot of it will faill Here is a Poynt of Reformation I would put you to If ye mind indeed to Reform let this enter into your Hearts and sink down that the Law and Gospel is the Word of God and resolve to come and hear Preachings so as the Voice of Jesus Christ the true and faithful witnesse If ye do not take it so now yet God will Judge you so at the end He that despiseth you despiseth me and he that hears not you heares not me If ye thought ye had to do with God every Sabbath would ye come so carelesly and be so stupid and inconsiderate before the Judge of all the Earth But ye will find in the end that it was God whom ye knew not SERMON IX Isai 1. 11. To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to me saith the Lord c. THis is the Word he calls them to hear and a strange Word Isaiah asks what means your sacrifices God will not have them I think the people would say in their own hearts what means the Prophet What would the Lord be at Do we any thing but what he Commanded us Is he angry at us for Obeying him What means this Word Is he not repealing the Statute and Ordinance he had made in Israel If
Law from him will not acknowledge his Law but as it were spitteth in his Face and establisheth another God There is no punishment so evil that God will not own as his work and declare himself to be the Author of it but only sin his Soul abhorreth it his Holy Will is against it he will have no fellowship with it It is so contrary to him contradicteth his Will debaseth his Authority despiseth his Soveraignty vilipendeth his Truth There is a kind of infinitness in it Nothing can express it but it self no name worse then it self to set it out The Apostle can get no other Epithet to it Rom. 17. 13. Sinful sin so that it cometh in most direct opposition unto God All that is in God is God himself and there is no Name can express him sufficiently If you say God you say more then can be exprest by many thousand other words So is it here sin is purely sin God is purely Good and Holy without mixture Holiness it self Sin is simply evil without mixture unholiness it self Whatever is in it is sin is uncleanness Sin is an infinit wrong and an infinit and boundless filthiness because of the infinit Person wronged it is an Offence of infinit Majesty and the Person wronged aggravateth the Offence If it be simply contrary to infinit Holiness it must be in that respect infinit unholinesse and uncleannesse Thirdly look upon the sad Effects and Consequences of sin how Miserable how Ruinous it hath made man and all the Creation and how vile must it be First Look on mans Native Beauty and Excellency how Beautiful a Creature But sin hath cast him down from the top of his Excellency Sin made Adam of a Friend an Enemy of a Courtier with God an open Rebel was not mans Soul of more price nor all the world so that nothing can exchange it Yet hath sin de based it and prostitute it to all vile filthy pleasures hath made the Immortal Spirit dwell on the Dunghil feed on Ashes catch vanities lying vanities pour out it self to them serve all the Creatures where as it should have made them servants yea a slave to his own greatest enemy to the ground he treadeth upon O what a degenerat Plant It was a noble Vine once in Paradise but sin hath made it a wild one to bring forth sour Graps What is there in all the world could defile a man Mat. 15. 20. Nothing that goeth out or cometh in but sin that proceedeth out of the heart Man was all Light his Judgment shined in to his Affections and thorow all the Man But sin hath made all Darknesse closed up the poor captive Understanding hath built up a thick Wall of grosse corrupted Affections about it so that Light can neither get in nor out The Soul was like a clear running Fountain which yielded fresh clear streams of holy Inclinations Desires Affections Actions and emptied it self in the Sea of Immense Majesty from which these Streams first flowed But now it is a standing putrified Puddle that casteth a vile stinck round about and hath no issue towards God Man was a Glorious Creature fit to be Lord over the work of Gods own Hands and therefore had Gods Image in a special manner Holinesse and Righteousnesse Gods Nature a peece of Divinity was stamped on man which outshined all Created Perfections The Sun might blush when it looked on him For what was material Glory to the Glory of Holinesse and Beauty of Gods Image But sin hath robbed poor man of this Glorious Image hath defaced man marred all his Glory put on an hellish likenesse on him Holinesse only putteth the differenc between Angels in Heaven and Devils in Hell And sin only hath made the difference between Adam in Paradise and sinners on the cursed ground Rom. 3. 23. Secondly sin hath so redounded through man unto all the Creation that it hath defiled it and made it corruptible and subject to vanity Rom. 8. 20. c. So that this is a spot in all the Creatures Face that man hath sinned and used all as weapons of unrighteousnesse so that now the Creature groaneth to be delivered Thirdly It hath brought on all the Misery that is come on man or that is to come It hath brought on Death and Damnation as its wages and the Curse of the Eternal God Gal. 3. 13. Rom. 6. 23. How odious then an evil must it be that hath so much evil in it yea all evil in the bosome of it Hell is not evil in respect of sin for sin deserveth Hell it hath ruined man and made all the beautiful order of the Creation to change Fourthly It separateth man from God which is worst of all And this is included in the Text We are all as an unclean thing or man as a leprous man set apart because of pollution that may not come to the Temple or worship God so hath iniquity separated between God and us Isai 59. 2. And O how sad a Divorcement is this it maketh men without God in the world in whom we live and move and have our beeing in whose favour is life and at whose right hand are pleasures for evermore Now poor man is made Miserable deprived of his Felicity which only consisted in enjoyment of God Sin as a thick partition Wall is come in between Enimity also is come in and divideth old friends Eph. 2. 14 15 16 17. And now no heavenly or comfortable Influence can break thorow The Night of Darknesse is begun which must prove everlasting except the partition Wall be removed all must wither and decay as without the Sun Fifthly Look on the Price paid for sin on the cleansing that washeth it away and you may see unspeakeable deformity and vilenesse in it The Redemption of the Soul is precious Silver and Gold and precious Stones will not do it that would be utterly contemned What saith God presumptuous sinner will thou give me a farthimg in payment of a summ which all the world sold at the dearest would not discharge Psal 49 7 8. 1 Pet. 1. 18. It is no corruptible thing but the blood of the son of God O what must the Debt be when the price is so infinit The Son of God must dy Nay It is not sacrifice or offering lo I come to do thy will it is Christ himself that is the Ransom Psal 40. 6 7. And it is not much Sope or Nitre it is not much repentance and tears that will wash away this filthinesse No it is of a deeper dy it is crimson ingrained filthiness Jer. 2. 22. And Isai 1. 6. Blood of bulls and goats cannot do it but only the blood of the immaculat Lamb offered up by himself Heb. 10. 4 5. the blood of him who by the eternal Spirit offered up himself without spot unto God Heb. 9. 14. What must sin be that must have such a Fountain opened for it It must be strange uncleannesse when the Blood of Christ only can cleanse