THE SINFULNESS OF SIN.

SERMON II

ROMANS 7:9.
For I was alive without the law once; but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.

            WE HAVE seen, in the former discourse, that man can find no happiness in the creature: I will in the next place show, that he can find no happiness in himself; it is neither about him, nor within him: In the creature, nothing but vanity and vexation; in himself, nothing but sin and death. The Apostle, in these words, sets forth three things:—I. The state of sin, " Sin revived." 2. The guilt of sin, " I died," or found myself to be a condemned man, in the state of perdition. 3. The evidence and conviction of both, " When the commandment came:" Which words imply a conviction, and that from the SPIRIT.

            (1.) A conviction; for they infer a conclusion extremely contradictory to the conclusions in which ST. PAUL formerly rested. ST. PAUL'S former conclusion was, " I was alive;" but " when the commandment came," the conclusion was extremely contrary: " I died."

            (2.) It was a spiritual conviction, for ST. PAUL was never literally without the Law; but the veil, till this time, was before his eyes: He is now made to understand the Law in its native sense and compass; the law is spiritual, (ver. 14,) and he is enabled to discern it spiritually. Natural men have their principles vitiated, their faculties bound, that they cannot understand spiritual things, till GOD has as it were implanted a new understanding in them, framed the heart to attend, and set it at liberty to see the glory of GOD with open face.

            To understand the words, we must note:

            First, That there is an opposition between those two clauses in the text, " Once," and, " When the command­ment came." The opposition stands thus: " Once," in my state of unregeneration, " I was without the Law;" but when the LORD began to reveal his will, then he gave me an eye to understand it in its native and proper compass. Before, he had it in the letter, but after, it came in its own spiritual shape; and there is some emphasis in the word came, denoting a vital, moving, penetrative power, which the Law had by " the Spirit of Life," and which before it had not, as it was "a dead letter."

            Secondly, We must note the opposition between the two estates of ST. PAUL. In the First he was " alive," and that in two respects; alive in his performances, able, as he conceived, to perform " the righteousness of the law without blame;" (Phil. 3:6;) alive in his presumptions, selfjustifications, conceits of righteousness and salvation. (Acts 26:9; Phil. 3:7.) In the Second estate, " sin revived;" I found that that was but a benumbedness, and " I died," had experience of the falseness and miseries of my pre­sumptions. Here is the state of sin, " sin revived;" the guilt of sin, I died;" the conviction of it, by the SPIRIT bringing the spiritual sense of the commandment, and writ­ing it in the heart of a man, and so pulling him away from his own conclusion.

            The doctrines then which I shall insist on are these two: —I. The SPIRIT, by the commandment, convinceth a man to be in the state of sin. 2: The SPIRIT, by the com­mandment, convinceth a man to be in the state of death because of sin.

            I. To convince a man that he is in the state of sin, is, to make a man so to set his own seal to this truth, that he is a sinner, as that withal he shall feel within himself the quality of that estate, in humility and selfabhorrency; and so not in expression only, but in experience, not in word, but in truth, load and charge himself with all the noisomeness and venom, with all the malignity and frowardness that his nature and person abound with, even as the waves of the sea with mire and dirt; and thereupon justify Almighty GOD, when he does charge him with all this, yea, if he should condemn him for it.

            Now we are to show two things:1. That a mere natu­ral light will never thus far convince man:2. That the SPIRIT by the commandment doth.

            1. Some things nature is sufficient to teach: GOD may be felt and found out, in some sense, by those that ignorantly worship him. Nature does convince men that they are not so good as they should be: The Law is written in the hearts of those that know nothing of the letter of it: Idle­ness, bestiality, lying, luxury, the Cretan Poet could condemn in his own countrymen. But these remnants of nature in the hearts of men, are but like the blazes and glimmerings of a candle in the socket; there is much dark­ness mingled with them. Nature cannot throughly con­vince.

            (1.) Because it does not carry a man to the root, ADAM'S sin, the corrupted seeds of a fleshly mind, reason, conscience, will. Mere nature will never teach a man to feel the weight and curse of a sin committed above five thousand years before he was born, to feel the spirits of sin running in his blood, and sprouting out of his nature into his life, one unclean thing out of another; to mourn for that filthiness which he contracted in his conception. ST. PAUL confesseth that this could not be learned without the Law.

            (2.) Because it does not carry a man to the rule, which is the written Law, in that mighty wilderness which the Prophet Davin found it. Nature cannot look upon so bright a thing, but through veils and glasses of its own.  Evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light," cannot endure a thorough scrutiny, lest it should be reproved. When a man looks on the Law through the mist of his own lusts, he cannot but wrest it to his own way. ST. PETER gives two reasons of it, because such are * (2 Pet. 3:16.) [1 ] Unlearned men, namely, in the mystery of GODliness, have not been taught of GOD " what the truth is in" JESUS; till that time a man will never put off his lusts, but defend them, and rather make crooked the rule, coin distinctions and evasions upon the Law itself, than judge himself and give glory to GOD. [2.] Fickle, unstable men, men apt to be " tossed up and dawn like empty clouds with every blast, never rooted nor grounded in the love of the truth, unsteadfast in the covenant of GOD," and therefore altogether undisposed " to continue in, or hold fast the truth."

            (3.) Because it does not drive us out of ourselves for a remedy. The sublimest philosophy that ever was, did never teach a man to deny himself, but to build up his house with the old ruins, to fetch stones and materials out of the wonted quarry. Humiliation, confusion, shame, selfabhorrency, to be vile in our own eyes, to be nothing within ourselves, to be willing to own the vengeance of Almighty GOD, and to judge ourselves, to justify him that may condemn us, and be witnesses against ourselves, are virtues known only in the Book of GOD, and which the learned philosophers would have esteemed both irrational and pusillanimous things.

            (4.) Because natural judgment is so thoroughly distorted and infatuated, as to count " evil good, and good evil, light darkness, and darkness light;" to persuade a man that he is in " a right way, when the end thereof will be the ways of death;" that he is " rich and in need of nothing," when in the mean time he is " miserable, poor, blind, and naked."

            Lastly, Because nature in particular men never knew, nor had experience of a better estate; and therefore must needs be ignorant of the full image of GOD, in which it was created, and unto which it ought still to be conformable. As a man born in a dungeon is unable to conceive the state of a palace; as the child of a nobleman, stolen away and brought up by some lewd beggar, cannot conceive or suspect the honor of his blood; so utterly unable is corrupted nature, that has been borne in a womb of ignorance, bred in a hell of uncleanness, enthralled from the beginning to the Prince of darkness, to conceive or convince a man of that most holy condition in which he was created.

            2. Now since nature cannot thus convince, the SPIRIT in the commandment must. We have no inward principles but these two. We grant there is a difference to be made between the illumination and renovation of the SPIRIT; men may be enlightened, and yet not sanctified: Yet it is cer­tain too, that it is impossible to know sin in that hatefulness which is in it, with such a knowledge as begets detestation of it, or to know divine things with such a knowledge as is commensurate to them, but that knowledge must work admiration, delight, love. This conviction then of sin, the SPIRIT worketh:—1. By revealing the rule. 2. By open­ing the condition of the state of sin. 3. By giving an heart to understand all, or by shaping and framing the heart to the word, and so mingling them both together.

The Apostle says, that "by the commandment sin re­vived:" By the life of sin, I understand the strength of it; and that is twofold: A strength to condemn, and a strength to operate, or work in a man obedience to itself: A strength to hold a man fast, and to carry him its own way. It is a LORD, and so has the strength of power to command; and it is an Husband, and so has the strength of love, to per­suade and prevail.

            First, It is a LORD and Master, in which respect it has these ties upon us:

            I. A covenant; there is a virtual bargain between lust and a sinner: (Isaiah 28:15:) We make promise of " serving and obeying sin;" (John 8:34; Rom. 6:16;) and that returneth unto us "the wages of iniquity, and the pleasures of sin." (2 Pet. 2:15; Heb. 11:25.)

            2. Love to it, as to a bountiful and beneficial LORD. Sin exerciseth authority over us, and yet we account it our benefactor. (Hos. 2:5, 12, 13; Job 20:12, 13.)

            3. An easy service; the work of sin is natural, the in­struments all ready at hand, the helpers and fellowservants many, to teach, to encourage, to hasten and lead on in the broad way.

            4. In sin itself there is a great strength to enforce men to its service: (1.) It is edged with malice against the soul, armed with weapons to fight against it, and enmity is a great whetstone to valor. (2.) It is attended with fleshly wis­dom, supported with stratagems and deceits, heartened and set on by the assistance of SATAN and the world. (Eph. 4:22; Heb. 3:13.) (3.) It has a judicature in the heart, it governs by a law, it sends forth lusts and temptations like so many edicts into the soul; and when we object the law of GOD against the service that is required, then as that Persian King, who could not find out a law to warrant the particular which he would have done, found out another, that he might do what he would; so sin, when it has no reason to alledge, yet it has selfwill, that is, all laws in one.

Secondly, Sin is an Husband; (Rom. 7:1, 5;) and so it has the power of love, which, the wise man says, "is as strong as death," that will have no denial when it comes. ST. PAUL tells us, there is " a constraining power in love." (2 Cor. 5:14.) Who stronger than SAMSON, and who weaker than a woman? Yet by love she overcame him, whom all the Philistines were unable to deal with. Now as between a man and a strumpet, so between lust and the heart, there are first certain cursed dalliances and trea­ties; by alluring temptations, the heart is drawn away from the sight of GOD and his law, and enticed, and then fol­lows the accomplishment of uncleanness. This in the general is that life or strength of sin here spoken of.

            We are next to observe, that the ground of all this is the law: " The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law." (1 Car. 15:56; 1 John 3:4.) From the law it is that sin has both strength to condemn and to command us, or " have dominion over us." ( Rom. 6:14.)

            Now the law gives life or strength to sin three ways:

            First, By the curse and obligation of it, binding the soul with the guilt of sin unto the judgment of the great day. Every sinner has the sentence of death passed upon him already, and in part executed. " He that believeth not, is condemned already, the wrath of GOD abideth on him." All men come into the world with the wrath of GOD like a talent of lead upon their soul, and it may all be poured out within one hour upon them; there is but a span between them and judgment. In which interim, (1.) The law stops the mouth of a sinner, shuts him in, and holds him fast, under the guilt of his sin. (2.) It passes sentence upon his soul, sealing the assurance of condemnation and wrath to come. (3.) It beginneth even to put that sentence in execution, with the "spirit of bondage and of fear," shaking the conscience, wounding the spirit, and scorching the heart with the preapprehensions of hell, making the soul see some portion of that tempest which hangeth over it, rising out of that sea of sin which is in his life and nature, (as the Prophet's servant did the cloud,) and so terrifying the soul with "a certain fearful expectation of judgment." Thus the law strengthens sin, by putting into it a condemning power.

            Secondly, By the irritation of the law. " Sin took occa­sion," says the Apostle, "by the law," and so "by the commandment became exceeding sinful." (Rom. 7:8.) When lust finds itself universally restrained, meets with death and hell at every turn, can have no subterfuge nor evasion from the rigour of the law; then like a river that is stopped, it riseth and foameth, and rebels against the law of the mind, and fetcheth in all its force and opposition to rescue itself from that sword which heweth it in pieces. And thus the law is said to strengthen sin, not out of the inten­tion of the law, but by accident, exciting and provoking that strength which was in sin before, though undiscerned, and less operative. For as the presence of an enemy does actuate and call forth that malice which lay habitually in the heart before; so the purity of the law presenting itself to concupiscence which lay before undisturbed and waylay­ing the lust of the heart, that it may have no passage, does provoke that habitual fierceness and rebellion which was in it before, to lay about on all sides for its own safety.

            Thirdly, By the conviction and manifestation of the law, laying open the wideness of sin to the conscience. Man naturally is full of pride and selflove, apt to think well of his spiritual estate upon presumptions and principles of his own; and though many profess to expect salvation from CHRIST only, yet inasmuch as they will be in CHRIST no way but their own, that shows that still they rest in themselves for salvation. This was the Apostle's case, when " he lived after the strictest sect of the Pharisees; sin was dead," he esteemed himself blameless; but " when the com­mandment came," it discovered its own spiritualness, and the carnalness of all his performances, removed his glosses and prejudices, opened the inordinateness of natural concupis­cence, showed how the least atom does spot the soul, the smallest omission. qualify for hell, make the conscience see those infinite sparkles and swarms of lust that rise out of the heart, and that GOD is all eye to see, and all fire to consume every unclean thing; that the smallest sins that are, require CHRIST'S blood to wash them out; then he began to be convinced that he was all this while under the hold of sin, that his conscience was yet under the paw of the lion. Thus we see, that unto the law belongs the con­viction of sin, and that in the whole compass of evil that is in it.

            Three hateful evils are in sin: Aberration from Golfs image, obnoxiousness to his wrath, and rejection from his presence; stain, guilt, and misery, which is the product or issue of the former. Now the law is such a rule as can measure and set forth all this evil; it is " holy, just, and good." (Ram 7:12.) " Holy," fit to conform us to the image of GOD; " just," fit to arm us against the wrath of GOD; and "good," fit to present us unto the presence and fruition of GOD. According to this complete pattern was man created; an universal rectitude in his nature, light and beauty in his mind, conformity in his will, subjection in his appetites, serviceableness in his body, peace and happi­ness in his whole being. But man, being exactly sensible of the excellency of his estate, gave an easy ear to the first temptation, which laid before him a hope and project of improving it; and so believing SATAN's lie, and embracing a shadow, he fell from the substance which before he had, and contracted the hellish and horrid image of that tempter which had thus deceived him.

            Having thus considered in general, how the law may be said to revive sin, by the obligation, irritation, and convic­tion of it: We will in the next place look into those par­ticular species of sin, which the SPIRIT in the commandment does convince men of. Wherein I shall insist at large only upon that sin which is the subject of this whole chapter, and principally aimed at by the Apostle in my text, namely, those evils which he folded up in our original concupis­cence.

            Here then First, the SPIRIT by the law entitleth us to ADAM'S sin, as a derivation from the root to the branches, as poison is carried from the fountain to the cistern, as the children of traitors have their blood tainted with their fathers' treason, and the children of bondslaves are under their parents' condition. We were all one in ADAM, and with him: In him legally, in regard of the covenant between GOD and him: We were in him parties in that covenant, had interest in the mercy, and were liable to the curse which belonged to the breach of that covenant; and in him naturally, and therefore unavoidably subject to all that bondage and burden which the human nature contracted in his fall. And though there be risen up a sect of men, who deny the sin of ADAM to be our sin, or any way so by GOD accounted, yet certain it is, that before PELAGHJS did vex the churches, never any man denied the guilt of ADAM'S sin (and guilt is inseparable from the sin itself.) to belong to all his posterity.

            This then is the first charge of the SPIRIT upon us, par­ticipation with ADAM in his sin. And inasmuch as that commandment to ADAM was the primitive law, so justly required, so easily observed, therefore exceeding great must needs be the transgression of it. Pride, ambition, rebellion, infidelity, ingratitude, idolatry, concupiscence,theft, apostasy, unnatural affection, violation of covenant, and an universal renunciation of GOD's mercy promised: These, and the like, were those ingredients which com­pounded that sin, in the committing whereof we are all sharers, because ADAM'S person was the fountain of ours, and ADAM'S will the representative of ours.

            The second charge is touching universal corruption, which has in it two great evils. First, A general defect of all righteousness and holiness, in which we were at first created; and Secondly, An inherent pravity, evil dispo­sition, propension to all mischief, antipathy and aversion from all good, which the Scripture calls the " flesh," the " wisdom of the flesh," the " body of sin," " earthly members," the " law of the members." And this is an evil, of the thorough malignity whereof no man can be so sensibly and distinctly convinced, as in the evidence of that conviction to cry out against it with such strange, strong, and bitter complaint as ST. PAUL doth, till his understanding be by CHRIST opened to conceive the spiritual­ness, penetration, and compass of that holy law, which measureth the very bottom of every action, and condemneth as well the original as the acts of sin. And hence it is that many men plead for this sin, as only an evil of nature, rather troublesome than sinful. It will not be, therefore, amiss to open what it is to be in the state of original sin, and what evils they are which the commandment does so discover in that sin, to make a man feel the burden of his own nature, (as the Prophet speaks,) " abhor himself," and never open his mouth any more, either proudly to justify himself, or foolishly to charge GOD; but to admire and adore that mercy which is pleased to save, and that power which is able to cure so unclean a thing.

            First, Consider the universality of this sin, and that manifold. First, Universality of times, from ADAM to Mosrs, even when the law of creation was much defaced, and they that sinned did not sin after the similitude of ADAM, against the clear revelation of GOD's pure and holy will: For that I take to be the meaning of the Apostle in these words, " Until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed where there is no law." Though the Law seemed quite extinct between ADAM and MOSES in the wicked of the world, and with it sin, because sin has no strength where there is no law; though men had not any such legible characters of GOD’s will in their nature as ADAM had at first, and therefore did not sill after the similitude of his prevarication; yet even from ADAM to MOSES did sin reign over all them,. even the sin of ADAM, and the lust which that sin’contracted. And if sin reigned from ADAM to MOSES, in that time of igno­rance, when the law of not lusting was quite extinct out of the minds of men, much more from MOSES after; for the Law entered by MOSES, that sin might abound, that is, that the concupiscence which reigned without conviction before, during the ignorance of the original law, might, by the new edition and publication of that law, be known to be sinful, and thereby become more exceeding sinful to those who should be thus convinced of it; that so the exceeding sinfulness of sin might serve both the sooner to compel men to come to CHRIST, and the grace of Cxxisr might thereby appear to be more exceeding gracious: For the Law was revived, and promulgated anew, merely with relation to CHRIST and the Gospel; and, therefore, the Apostle says, " It was added and ordained by angels in hand of a Mediator;" or by the ministry of the Mediator.          

            Where there are three reasons to show GOD’s evangelical purpose in the publication of the Law anew:

            1. It was not published alone, but as an additament, with relation to the evangelical promise, which was made before.

            2. The service of angels or messengers; which shows that, in the Law, GOD did send from heaven anew to instruct men, and therein to take care of them, and prepare them for salvation; for " angels minister" for that purpose, " that men might be heirs of salvation."

            3. The ministry of a mediator, namely, MOSES, whowas mediator in the Law, with reference whereunto CHftiST is called " Mediator of a better covenant," and was faithful as MOSES.

            Now, where there is a Mediator appointed, therein GOD declares his purpose to enter anew into a treaty with men, and to bring them to terms of agreement and reconciliation with him. Men were rebels against GOD, held under the sentence of death and vengeance; they are in darkness, know not whither they go, are well pleased with their own estate, give no heed to any that would call them out. For this reason, because GOD is willing to pull men out of the fire, he sends first MOSES, armed with thunder and bright­ness, which cannot be endured, (for the shining of MOSES's face, which the people could not abide, denotes the exceed­ing purity and brightness of the Law, which no sinner is able, with peace, to look on,) and he shows them whither they are hastening, namely, to eternal death; and, like the angel that met BALAAM in the narrow way, shuts them in, that either they must turn back, or else be destroyed. And in this fright and anguish, CHRIST, the " Mediator of a better covenant," presents himself as a sanctuary and refuge from the condemnation of the Law.

Secondly, There is universality of men, and in men universality of parts: All men and every part of man shut under the guilt of this sin. Both these the Apostle proves at large, " Jews, Gentiles, all under sin, none righteous, no, not one; all gone out of the way, altogether become unprofitable, none that does good, no, not one: Every mouth must be stopped, all the world must be guilty before GOD; all have sinned and come short, or are destitute, of his glory. GOD has concluded all in unbelief; the Scripture has shut up all under sin:" This shows the universality of persons. The Apostle adds, " Their throat is, an open sepulchre, with their tongues they have used deceit, the poison of asps is under their lips, their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness, their feet swift to shed blood; destruction and unhappiness are in their ways, and the way of peace they have not known; there is no fear of God before their eyes." These particulars are enough to make up an induction, and so to infer an universality of parts. Every purpose, desire, imagination, is evil, only evil, con­tinually evil. Original sin is an entire body, an old man, (which word noteth not the impotency or defects, but the wisdom, cunning, full growth of that sin in us,) and, in this man, every member is earthly, sensual, and devilish. As there is chaff about every corn in’a field, saltness in every drop of water that is in the sea, bitterness in every branch of wormwood; so is there sin in every faculty of man.

            1. Look into the mind, you shall find it full of vanity, wasting and wearying itself in childish impertinent notions; full of ignorance and darkness; no man knows, nay, no man has so much knowledge as to inquire or seek after GOD in that way where he will be found: Nay more, when GOD breaks in upon the mind, by some notable testimony from his creatures, judgments, or providence, yet they like it not, they hold it down, they reduce themselves back again to foolish hearts, to reprobate and undiscerning minds, as naturally as hot water returns to its former cold­ness. Full of curiosity, rash unprofitable inquiries, foolish and unlearned questions, profane babblings, strife of words, perverse disputes, all the fruits of corrupt. minds: Full of pride and contradiction against the truth, oppositions of science, that is, setting up of philosophy and vain deceits, imaginations, fleshly reasonings against the SPIRIT and truth which is in JESUS: Full of, domestic principles, fleshly wisdom, human inventions, contrivances, superinducements upon the precious foundation, of rules and methods of its own to serve GOD and come to happiness: Full of inconstancy, and roving swarms of empty and foolish thoughts, slipperiness, and unstableness in all good motions.

            2. Look into the conscience, you shall find it full of insensibleness. The Apostle says of the Gentiles, that they were past feeling; and of the apostates in the latter times, that they " had their consciences seared with a hot iron." Which things, though they be spoken of an habi­tual hardness, which grows upon men by a custom of sin, yet it is originally in the conscience at first, and does not so much come into it as grow out of it. As that branch, which at first shooting out is flexible and tender, grows at last, even by its own disposition, into a hard and stubborn bough; as those parts of the nail next the flesh, which are at first softer than the rest, yet do of themselves grow to that hardness which is in the rest; so the consciences of children have the seeds of that insensibility in them, which makes them at last deaf to every charm, and secure against all the thunder that is threatened against them Full of impurity and disobedience, dead unsavory works: Full of false and absurd excusations and accusations; fearing where there is no cause of fear; and acquitting where there is great cause of fear, as ST. PAUL here did.

            3. Look into the heart, and you shall find a very hell of uncleanness, full of deep and unsearchable deceit and wickedness, full of hardness: No sins, no judgments, no mercies, no allurements, no hopes, no fears, no instructions able to startle, to awaken, to melt, or shape it to a better image, without the immediate omnipotency of that GOD which melts the mountains: Full of impenitency; not led by the very patience and longsuffering of GOD, not allured by the invitations and intreaties of GOD to return to him, not persuaded by the fruitlessness and emptiness of all sinful lusts to forsake them: Full of folly, it is bound up, rivetted fast into the heart of a child, and therefrom childish folly grows up to wise and sober folly, till the heart be changed into a cell of darkness: Full of mad­ness and rage. Madness is in the hearts of men while they live; all the creatures in the world are not able to cure it: Full of infidelity: A heart that departs from GOD, undervalues his precious promises, and mistrusts his power. In one word, full of pollution and uncleanness; that forge where all sins are framed in secret intents, desires, pur­poses, lusts, and from whence it springs forth into the life, the flames of it breaking out into the tongue, and into every other member, in adulteries, murders, thefts, blasphemies, and every wicked word and work.

            4. Look into the will, and you shall find it, (1.) Full of disability to any good; it cannot hearken, nor be subject unto the law of GOD. But there may be weakness where yet there is a good will; yet not so here. It is, (2.) Full of loathing and aversation; it cannot endure to hear or see any thing that is good, casts it behind the back, and turns away the shoulder from it. But there may be a particular loathing of a thing, out of some distemper, and not out of antipathy. A man may loathe the sight of that in a disease which, at another time, he loves: But the will does not sometimes loathe and sometimes love. But, (3.) It is full of enmity against that which is good; it looks upon it as a base thing, and so it scorns it; and it looks on it as an adverse thing, and so it sets up resolutions to withstand it; and it looks upon it as an unprofitable thing, and so slights and neglects it. But enmity is seldom so rooted but that it may be overcome, and a reconciliation wrought. Not so here; the fleshly will may be cru­cified; it will never be reconciled: For, (4.) It is full of obstinacy and contrariety, which is a twisted enmity (as I may so speak) which cannot be broken. One contrary may expel another, but it can never reconcile it. The flesh will never give over the combat, nor forbear its con­tumacy and resolution to persist in evil.

            5. Look into the memory, and you shall find it very unfaithful to retain good, very tenacious to hold any evil. It is like a leaking vessel, lets out all that is pure, and retains nothing but mud and dregs.

            6. Look into the whole man, and you shall find him full of perturbation and disorder. A man cannot trust any member he has alone without JoB's covenant, without DAVID'S bridle to keep it in. If you have occasion to use thine eye, take heed unto it; it is full of the seeds of adul­tery, pride, envy, wrath, covetousness; there are lusts of the eye. If to use thy tongue, trust it not alone, set a door before thy lips; there is an hell within thee, that can

set it all on fire; there is blasphemy, cursings, revilings, clamors, bitterness, crimson, hellish, and fiery abomina­tions in that little member. If to use thy hands or feet, look unto them; there are seeds of more sins, theft, bri­bery, murder, adultery, (what not?) than there are joints or sinews in those members. If to use thine ear, be slow to hear, take heed how you hear; it is easily open to vanity, lies, slanders, and false doctrines. Thus we see, how universal a corruption original sin is; therefore, in Scripture, the whole man is called flesh, because when we are carnal, we walk as men; as our SAVIOR says of the Devil, " when he speaks a lie, he speaketh of his own," according to his own nature; so when men walk after the flesh, they work of their own, they walk according to themselves. For " of ourselves we can do nothing," as the Apostle speaks, but only sin: When we do any good, it is " by the grace of GOD;" but lusts, which are the fountain of evil, are all our own. GOD gave the Heathen over to the lusts of their own hearts: " Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed." So then, we are all over flesh; the mind is a fleshly mind, the will a fleshly will, the affections and lusts all fleshly: So that, as the Apostle says of the body, " many members, but one body;" so we of original sin, many lusts, but one body: Therefore, the Apostle calls it, xar' EE'oxrw, in the singular number, sin; upon which, excellent is the obser­vation, Plus est tollere peccatunr quam peccata: It is more difficult to root out this single sin, than to overcome many actual.

            Secondly, Consider the closeness and adherency of this sin. It cleaves as fast to our nature as blackness to the skin of an Ethiopian. In the Apostle it is, for this reason, called ,*, an encompassing sin; a sin that does easily possess, and closely cleave to, all our members and faculties. A man may as easily shake off the skin from his back, as rid himself of this evil inhabitant.

            Thirdly, Consider the great: contagion and pestilential malignity which is in this sin, which does not only cleave inseparably to our nature, but derives venom upon every action that comes from us. For though we do not say, that the good works of the regenerate are sins, and so hateful to GOD, as our adversaries belie and misreport us; for that were to reproach the SPIRIT and the Grace of CHRIST, by which they are wrought: Yet this we affirm constantly, unto the best work that is done by the concurrence of our faculties, such a viciousness does adhere, that GOD may justly charge us for defiling the grace he gave. When­soever you art going about any good, this evil will be present with thee, to derive a deadness, a damp, a dullness, an indisposedness upon all thy services, and iniquity upon thy holiest things, which you stand in need of a priest to bear for thee, (Exod. 28:38,) and to remove from thee. This is that which, in thy prayers, deadens thy zeal, fervency, humiliation, selfabhorrence, thy impor­tunity, faith, and close attention; this, like an evil savour, mingleth with thy sacrifice, casteth in impertinent thoughts, wrong ends, makes thee rest in the work done, and never inquire after the truth of thine own heart, or Goes bless­ing and success to thy services.

            Fourthly, Consider the fruitfulness of it; it is both male and female, as I may so speak, within itself; both the tempter, and the seed, and the womb, and the midwife. Suppose it possible for a man to be separated from the contagions and allurements of all other wicked men, kept out of the reach of SATAN'S suggestions, nay, to converse in the midst of the most renowned saints that are; yet that man has enough in himself, and would quickly discover it, to beget, to conceive, to bring forth, to multiply, to cone summate actual sins. " Who has heard such a thing, who has seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day?" says the Prophet: Yet consider how suddenly this sin brings forth. When you see in your children their sin show itself, before their hair or their teeth, vanity, pride, frowardness, selflove, revenge, and the like, then think upon your own infancy, and bewail

            ADAM'S image so soon in yourselves, and yours in your children.’ I have seen,' says ST. AUGUSTINE,’ a suck­ing infant, that was not able to articulate a word, look with a countenance even pale for envy, upon his fellowsucklings that shared with him in the same milk;' upon which con­sideration, the holy man breaks forth into this pious com­plaint, Ubi Domine, quando Domine? Where was the place, O LORD; when was the time, O LORD, that I have been an innocent creature? Again, consider how continu­ally it brings forth, even every day, (Gen. 6:5,) or all the day long, as fast as the fire sparkles. Consider farther, how desperately it breaketh forth: When you seest a man wallow like a beast in his own vomit, dart out blasphemies against Heaven, revile the Gospel of salvation, tear the blessed name of GOD in pieces, with hideous oaths; CAIN murdering his brdther, JUDAS betraying his Master, ANA­NIAS lying to the HOLY GHOST, LUCIAN mocking the LORD JESUS as a crucified impostor, JULIAN darting up his blood against heaven in hatred of CHRIST, the Scribes and Pharisees blaspheming the HOLY SPIRIT; then reflect on thyself, and consider, that this is thine own image, that you past the same root of bitterness in thyself, if the grace of GOD did not prevent thee. " As face answers unto face in water," renders the same shape, lineaments, proportion, " so the heart of man to man;" every man may in another man's heart see the complete image of his own. We are all naturally cast in one mould, all equally partake the same degrees of original lusts, our hearts equally by nature fruit­ful in evil. If then we proceed not to the same excess of not with other men, we must not attribute it to ourselves, or any thing in our nature, but only to the free and blessed influences of the grace of CHRIST and his Spirit. Yet again consider, how unexpectedly it will break forth. " Is thy servant a dog, that he should do this great thing? To dash children in pieces, and to rip up women with child?" It was the speech of HAZAEL to ELISHA the Prophet. As if he should have said, I must cease to be a man, I must put off all the principles of humanity, I must change natures with fierce and bloody creatures, before I can do such facts as these: " Is thy servant a dog?" Yes, and worse than a dog; when pride, ambition, the probabilities and promises of a kingdom shall enliven and rouse up that ori­ginal inhumanity that is in a man, he will then be not a dog only, but a wolf and a lion. " I will not deny thee, I will die for thee; though all should be offended because of thee, yet I will never be offended:" These were the words of a great disciple. Alas! PETER, you knows not thine own heart: It is but like a quiet sea; when the wind, the temptation, shall blow, you wilt quickly find an alteration; thy tide will turn, and an ebb of thy zeal will follow. O! in such examples learn thyself, and fear thyself. The Dis­ciples could say, " Master, is it I" that shall betray thee? PETER did not ask, Master, is it Jonx nor Joins', Mas­ter, is it THOMAS?; but every one,’€ Is it I?" True indeed, I have a deceitful heart, a revolting flesh, a traitor in my bosom: It may as soon be I as another man. " If any one fall, restore him with the spirit of meekness," says the Apostle, " considering thyself;" that is, Do not rejoice against thy brother, nor insult over him, do not despise him in thine heart, nor exalt thyself; you art of the same mould, you have the same principles with him; that Gm) which has forsaken him, may forsake thee; that tempta­tion which has overcome him, may happen unto thee; that enemy which has sifted him, may winnow thee; and therefore in his fall learn compassion" towards him and jealousy to thyself: " Restore him, and consider thyself."

            Fifthly, Consider the temptations that arise from this sin, the daily and hourly solicitations wherewith it setteth upon the soul, to unsettle it in good, and dispose it to evil, SATAN is emphatically in the Scripture called a tempter; and yet as if his were but false temptations, ST. JAMES says, that " a man is tempted by his own lusts, when he is drawn away and enticed." First, Drawn away from Go]) out of his sight and presence, and then solicited unto evil, either evil simply, or evil concomitantly, in doing good duties formally, blindly, unzealously, inconstantly, unspiritually. If a man shoot an arrow against a rock, it may be broken, but it cannot enter: No more can SATAN'S temp­tations prevail against the soul, without something within to give them admittance. Therefore, though he tempted CHRIST, yet he prevailed not; and our SAVIOUR gives the reason, " He has nothing in me," nothing to receive his darts: But now in us the flesh holds treacherous compli­ancy with SATAN and the world, and is ready to let them in at every assault. This is a great part of the cunning of wicked angels, to engage a man's own concupiscence to their party. For there must be the conception of the heart, as well as the temptation of SATAN in order to the production of a sinful act. Temptations may vex, but they cannot corrupt us without our own sinful en­tertainment. Bq,t here is the misery; SATAN knows how our tide stands, he searcheth out our dispositions, and therefore sorteth his temptations, and taketh ingredients of our own temper with them to sweeten them; as AGRIP­PINA, when she poisoned her husband CLAUDIUS, tempered the poison in the meat which he most delighted in. One man has lust and wit, SATAN tempteth him to scorn and slight the"humility of the ways of GOD, and the simplicity of the Gospel; another has lust and money, SATAN temp­teth him to pride and oppression, and trust in his strong tower; another has lust and poverty, SATAN tempteth him to murmuring, discontent, rebellion; another has lust and youth, SATAN tempteth him to vanity and intemper­ance; another has lust and learning, SATAN tempteth hint to vainglory and ambition. There is in all of us much need of spiritual wisdom to observe where we he most ob­noxious, where SATAN Both most plant his forces and direct his attempts, and ever to apply our strongest watch, our most importunate prayers to the gaps which he most open to those Iusts in our nature which are most predominant.

            Sixthly, Consider the war and rebellion of this sin: The flesh lusteth against the Spirit; fleshly lusts war against the soul:" Which passages are not so to be understood, as if, when lust does fight, it fights against nothing but the SPIRIT; but that we shall have hourly experience of this traitor in our bosom; and whensoever we go about any spiritual work, this evil will fight against us. And this war is not at a distance, but it is an intimate contrariety of the same part, like the combat between heat and cold in the same water; no room nor space to entertain a treaty, or to shift and evade the conflict. The same soul that commands obedience, does itself resist it. In the same mind the wis­dom of the flesh, which is sensual and devilish, fighteth against the wisdom of the SPIRIT, which is meek and peaceable. In the same will, a delight in the law of GOD, and yet a countermotion to the law of sin. In the same understanding, a light of the Gospel, and yet many relics of human principles and fleshly reasonings; much ignorance of the purity, excellency, and beauty of the ways of GOD. In the same heart, sensibleness of sin, and yet much secret fraud and prevarication, hardness and disapprehension of sin and wrath. In the same affections, fear of GOD and fear of men, trust in GOD and doubting of his favor.

            " LORD, I believe, help you mine unbelief," was the cry of the poor man in the Gospel, and such must be the com­plaints of us: LORD, I will, help you mine unwilling­ness! LORD, I hear thee, help you my deafness! LORD, I remember thee, help you my forgetfulness! LORD, I press towards thee, help you my weariness! LORD, I re­joice in thee, help you my heaviness! LORD, I desire to have more fellowship with thee, help you my strangeness! LORD, I love and delight in thy law, help you my failings! The thief on the cross was a perfect emblem of the sin of our nature; he was nailed hand and foot, destined unto death, utterly disabled from any of his wonted outrages; and yet that only part which was a little loose, flies out in reproaching CAESAR: Our old man, by the mercy of GOD, is upon the cross, destined to death, disabled from the ex­ercise of that wonted violence and dominion which it used; and yet so long as there is any life or strength left in him, he sets it all on work to revile that blessed Spirit which is cone so near him. A man in setting himself to hear God's word, begins to attend and relish the things that are spoken as matters which, in good earnest, concern his peace, begins to see a beauty in GOD’s service, an excellency in GOD’s law, which he considered not before, resolves hereafter to love, believe, prize it more than he had ever done; presently the flesh sets up her reasoning, her perverse dis­putes, her own principles, her shame, her worldliness, her want of leisure, her secular contentments, and so resists the SPIRIT of GOD, and rejects his counsel. But yet, (beloved,) as in a pyramid, the higher you go, the less compass still you find the body to be of, and yet not without the curiosity and diligence of him that framed it; so in a Christian man's resurrection, and conversation with CHRIST, the nearer he comes to CHRIST the smaller still his corruptions will be, and yet not without much spiritual industry and Christian art. A Christian is like a flame, the higher it ascends the more thin, purified, and azure it is; but yet it is a flame in green wood, that wants perpetual blowing and encourage­ment. A man sets himself with resolution of spirit to set forward the honor of GOD, in questioning, in discovering, in punishing (within the compass of his own calling and warrant) the abuses of the times, in countenancing, in rewarding, in abetting and supporting truth and righteous­ness: His flesh presently interposeth, his quiet, his security, his relations, his interests, his hopes, his fears, his depen­dencies, his credit, his profit; these blunt his edge, upbraid him with impoliticness, with a sullen disposition against men and manners; and thus put I know not what illfavored colours upon a good face. In a word, good is before me, the glory, the service, the ways of Gon: I see it, but I cannot love it; I will, but I cannot do it; I do it, but I cannot finish it; I will, but yet I rebel; I follow, but yet I fall; I press forward, and yet I faint and flag; I wrestle, and yet I halt; I crucify my lusts, and yet they revile me; I watch my heart, and yet it runs away from me. GOD was at first the author of nothing but peace within me; what envious man has sowed this war in my bowels? Let the Apostle answer this question, says S'r. AUUUSTINE: " By one man sin entered into the world." Seventhly, Consider the wisdom, the policies, the un­searchableness of this sin. The Scripture calls it, " the wisdom of the flesh;" " earthly, sensual, devilish wisdom;" " wisdom to do evil;" " reasonings," " strong holds," " imaginations," " high thoughts:" And all this wisdom is employed to deceive the soul; therefore is fleshly wisdom called by ST. JAMES devilish, because it has the Devil's end, to draw away men from GOD, and to entice and beguile them.’Therefore, in Scripture, the heart of man is said to be " deceitful and unsearchable," and lusts are called " deceiveable lusts, and the deceitfulness of sin." ST. PAUL has a heap of words to express this serpentine quality of sin, by a togging," or " cheating," cO cunning," " craftiness," " methods," " deceit." (Eph. 4:14.) But a man may be very wise and very mischievous, and yet, for all this, no great hurt done by him, because he may be unwilling to take the pains, like him in the Historian that was innocent, not out of good nature, but laziness. Therefore, this deceit of sin is actuated and set on work with very strong desires and universal lusting: The Apostle calls them not lusts only, but wills or resolutions of the flesh and of the mind itself. Hence, that which SOLOMON says of the King's heart, is true of that fleshly King in every man's bosom; it is unsearchable, a gulf, a hell of sinful profoundness; policies to keep from good, policies to poison and pervert good, policies to make good unseason­able, policies to bring to evil, policies to keep in evil, poli­cies to maintain, justify, extenuate evil, policies to make men rest in false principles, policies to gloss and corrupt true principles, policies on the right hand for superstition, and flattering of GOD with willworship, policies on the left hand for open profaneness. Infinite are the windings and labyrinths of the heart of man, the counsels of the flesh, to establish the kingdom of sin in itself; infinite those wiles and principles that hold up the throne of the Princeof this world.

            What man is there who will not, in profession, be ready to spit at the name of SATAN, and to defy him and the works of his kingdom? And yet what man is there in whose bosom SATAN has not a counciltable, by which he worketh effectually the designs of his own kingdom? The more time any man will spend to make himself acquainted with himself, the more light of GOD’s light he will set up in his heart; the more he will beg of GOD to reveal the secrets of his evil nature unto him, to make him see that abundance of the heart, that treasure of the heart, that hell of the heart, that magazine of sin and temptation which is there; the more with the prodigal he comes unto himself, and views that evil heart and bitter root which is in him, certainly the more confusion and abhorrency will there be of himself; the more adoration of that boundless mercy, of that bottomless purity, which is able to pierce into every corner of so unsearchable a pit, able to cleanse every hole and dungeon, and to enlarge it into a fit receptacle for the Prince of glory. When men have their own ways revealed unto them, (which is ever done by GOD’s Spirit,) then must they needs be confounded, and be loathsome in their own sight, and never open their mouths any more, nor hold up their faces, or stand before GOD with their wonted pre­sumptions.

            Eighthly, Consider the strength and power of sin, to command, to execute, to bring about whatever it has projected for the advancement of SATAN'S kingdom. It has the power of a King, it reigns in our members; and a law without strength is no law, for laws are made to bind and hold men fast; and, therefore, the Apostle calls lust a law, because it commands, and holds under all our mem­bers to the obedience of it.

            In the wicked it has an absoluteness, an universal and uncontrolled power. (1.) They cannot but sin, they can dig nothing but sin; " without faith it is impossible to please GOD; and to the impure and unclean, every thing is unclean." His mercies cruel, his prayers abomination, his offerings the sacrifice of fools. (2.) If they seem to forsake any sin, it is not out of hatred to that as a sin, " For he that said, You shall not commit adultery, said also, You shall not kill;" but it is because they prefer others before it. A man's heart may be so taken up with the pursuit of some HERODIAS, some darling lust, as that others may seem neglected; when the truth is, the heart that plays the adulterer with any sin, does indeed hate none. (S.) If by the power of the word, they be frighted from the sin they most love, yet lust will carry them to it again, as a sow returneth to the mire. (4.) If they should be so terrified away, that they durst never actually return; yet even lust will make them wallow in speculative uncleanness, their thoughts, their delights, their longings, would still hanker the other way. (5.) This sin as it keeps men in love with all sin, so it keeps most off from all good duties. it is a chain upon all our faculties, an irongate, that keeps out any good thought, or poisons it when it comes in.

Ninthly, Consider the madness of this sin. " The heart of a man, " says SOLOMON, " is full of evil, and madness in his heart." Insania is a general word, and has two species of madness in it; madness or unsoundness in passions, which is furor, rage and fierceness; and madness or unsoundness in the intellectuals, which is amentia, or folly, or being out of one's right mind. And both these are in original sin.

            I. It is full of fierceness, rage, precipitancy, whenever it sets itself on work; the driving thereof is, like the driving of JEHU, very furious. This disposition the HOLY GHOST takes notice of often in the nature of wicked men, that they are implacable men, whom no bounds, nor limits, nor covenants will restrain or keep in order: And again, fierce, headstrong, violent, rash, they know not where nor when to stop. Therefore the Scripture compares it to a breaking forth, or violent eruption, like that of fire out of an oven. Men flatter themselves in their sins, and think when they have gone thus or thus far, theywill then give over; but sin can never find a centre to rest in, a fit place to stop at. These are but like the foolish con­ceits of children, who, not being able to discern the deception of their own senses, and seeing the heavens in the horizon seem to touch the earth, resolve to go to the place where they conceive them to meet, and there to handle and play with the stars; but when they are come thither, they find the distance to be still the same: So is it with the foolish, hearts of men; they conceive, after so much gain, or honor, or pleasure, I shall have my fill, and will then give over; but as long as the fountain within is not stopped, the pur­suits of lusts will be as violent at last as at first.

The heart is as strongly set upon its own sin, as any creature is upon its own motion. " They set their hearts," says the Prophet, " on their iniquities." " The heart of the sons of men," says SOLOMON, "'is fully set in them to do evil." As impossible it is for lust to stop itself, as for the sea to give over swelling, or the fire devouring the matter that is before it. The man possessed with a legion of devils is a notable emblem of man's sinfulness of nature: For indeed sin makes a man of the Devil's blood: " Ye are the children of your father the Devil." (John 8:44.) He is conversant with nothing but death, dead works, dead com­panions: Death the service, and death the wages. He is full of hideous affections, he tears his own soul; the pre­sence of CHRIST is horrible to him, and if he worship him, it is out of terror, and not out of love: His name may well be called legion, for the swarms, the strength, the war of lusts in the heart: It is a torment to lust to come out of a man, and to a man to be dispossessed of his lusts; there will be a pain at the parting of sin, the unclean spirit will tear when he must come out: But in this principally he was the picture of our evil nature, in that he was exceeding fierce and untameable; no man durst pass by him, no chains were strong enough to hold him: And this is the character of wicked men, to break bands and cords asunder, and to be their own LORDs.

            And this should teach us to keep the stricter watch over our own hearts; (since many occasions may throw us into the like distemper; since the sin of our nature is but like a sleeping lion, or at best like a wounded lion; any thing that awakens and vexeth it, begets rage and fury;) to be the more circumspect over ourselves, and the more jealous of our own passions, in those particular cases especially wherein the fire is most apt to kindle.

            (1.) When you art in disputation engaged upon a just quarrel to vindicate the truth of GOD, look unto thy heart, set a watch over thy tongue, beware of wildfire in thy zeal, take heed of this madness of thine evil nature. Much advantage the Devil may get even by"disputations for the truth. When men dispute against those that oppose themselves, as the Disciples against the Samaritans, with thunder and fire from heaven, with railing speeches, such as the " angel thirst not give unto SATAN himself; " when men forget theApostle's rule, "to instruct those that oppose themselves with meekness, and to restore those that are fallen with the spirit of meekness;" when tongue shall be sharpened against tongue, and pen poisoned against pen; when pamphlets shall come forth with more teeth to bite, than arguments to convince; this is a way to betray the truth and to do the Devil service under GOD's colors.

            (2.) When you art upon any civil controversy, or debate for matter of right, look to thy heart, take heed of that seed of madness which lies lurking in it, lest, upon occasion of lawful controversy, there break out rage and revenge upon the persons of one another. Much perturbation of mind, revengeful and circumventing projects show themselves under the colour of legal debatements; such a frowardness and rage lies in the natures of men, that without much caution and watchfulness it will be blown up into a flame.

            (3.) In differences upon private conversation, look to your hearts, give not the reins to anger or displeasure, to suspi­cions or misconstructions of your neighbors' persons or courses: Give not the water passage, no not a little. An­ger is the kernel and seed of malice; if it be let he long in the heart, that is so fertile a soil, and SATAN so diligent a waterer of his own plants, that it will quickly grow up into a knotty and stubborn hatred. We read of hatreds which have run in the blood, and have been entailed, hereditary malice, as the Historian calls it; hatreds which have survived the parties, and discovered themselves in their very funerals; hatreds which men have bound upon their posterity by oaths, as AMILCAR took a solemn oath of HANNIBAL, that he should be an irreconcileable enemy to Rome. And what do all such expressions import, but that there is a boundless frenzy in the flesh of men, a fierceness which no law can tame, and that there is enough of it in good men, to break out into implacable affections, if grace, and prayer, and watchfulness do not prevent it.

            (4.) In afflictions, pains of body, temptations of spirit, abridgment of estate, trials in reputation and favor, look to thy heart, take heed of these seeds of rage and madness which are in thee. Never more time to look to thy wounds; to repair thy bulwarks, than when a tempest is upon thy sea. Have you seen a beast break his teeth upon the chain that binds him, or a dog pour out his revenge upon the stone that hurt him: Then have you seen some dark shadows of that fierceness and fury, that is apt to rise out of the hearts of men, when GOD's hand lies close upon them.

            For a remedy or prevention hereof keep in thy sight the history of thy sins, make them as heinous to thine own view, as they are in their own nature: The way not to rage against afflictions, is to know ourselves aright; that will make us confess unto GOD with EZRA, let our calami­ties be what they will, " that the LORD has punished us less than our iniquities have deserved." The way to bear the hand of GOD with patience, and with acceptance, is to confess our sins, and to be humbled for them. " If their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they accept of the punishment of their iniquities," says the LORD; noting thus much, that the sight of our sin, and humiliation for it, makes a man willing to submit to Golfs chastisements: " Wherefore does a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins? " There are three strong reasons together, why we ought not to murmur in our afflictions.

            [1.] We are men; and what an impudence is it for the clay to swell against the potter, that formed it, and com­plain, Why have you made me thus?

            [2.] We are sinners, and the punishments we suffer are our own, the wages of our iniquities; and what a madness is it to complain against the justice of our Judge!

            [3.] We are living men; and therefore GOD has pun­ished us less than our sins deserve: " For the wages of sin is death;" and what ingratitude is it to repine at merciful and moderate punishments? But yet such is the froward­ness of our nature, that we are apt thus to murmur: What is the cure and remedy of this evil affection? Let us search and try our ways, " says the church, " and turn to the LORD our GOD." The more we grow acquainted with our sinful estate and marvelous provocations, with the pa­tience. and promises of GOD, the more he shall justify GOD, and wait upon him, the more.we shall judge ourselves less than the least of GOD’s mercies and forbearances. " I will bear the indignation of the LORD," says the church again in the same case; I will not repine and murmur at his dealing with me, I will acknowledge that righteousness belongeth unto him, and confusion unto me: And the ground of this resolution is the sense of sin, " because I have sinned against him." I have wearied, and grieved, and vexed him with my sins, without any zeal or tenderness of his glory; but he has visited me in judgment, and not in fury; in wrath he has remembered mercy, and not con­sumed me, as he might have done; " he has not dealt with me after my sins, nor rewarded me according to mine

iniquities."

            (5) And Lastly. In the ministry of the word, when thy bosomsin is met with, and the plague of thy heart discov­ered, when the edge of the sword enters to the quick, sacrificeth thee, crucifleth thy lusts, cuts off thy earthly members, ransacks thy concience, and shows thee the inside of thy foul soul; here by all means look to thy heart; never so likely a time for madness and fierce opposition to set up itself, as when a man is driven into a corner and cannot fly. Sinners are all cowards, and cannot abide the scrutiny of the word, but would fain turn their backs upon it, not only out of scorn, but out of fear too.

            Many a sturdy sinner will seem to contemn the word, as a ruie, foolish thing, to scorn the persons, companies, discourses of faithful Ministers, as of despicable or schis­matical fellows: But the truth is, (and they in their own consciences know it too,) that though there be indeed much stoutness, yet there is more cowardice: Scorn is the pre­tence, but fear is the reason; they cannot endure to be dis­quieted and galled: As a wounded horse curvets and pranceth; at first sight a man would think it pride and mettle, but the truth is, it is pain and smart that causes it. Well then, sinners are all cowards, and would fain fly; but even cowards themselves, when they are shut in and surrounded, will fight with more fierceness than other men. And this now is the property of the word, " to shut men in." " The Scripture," says the Apostle, "has shut up all under sin." (Gal. 3:22.) And we shall ever find, that the deeper the con­viction has been, the more likewise has been the prejudice, and the fiercer the opposition against the word. In the meeting of two contrary streams, if one prevail not to overrule the other, there must needs arise a mighty noise and rage iri the conflict: So it is in the strife between the SPIRIT of GOD in the word, and the current of a man's own corruptions: The greater strength and manifestation of the Spirit the word has in it, and the fewer corners and chinks it leaves for sin to escape at, the more fierce must needs the opposition be, if the word be not prevalent enough to turn the current. Let us therefore beware, whatever. we do, of rebelling against the warnings which are given us out of the word. " It is hard to kick against the pricks:" There is no overcoming of Golfs Spirit: A man may fall upon the stone, but he shall be broken by it; if he be so strong, and lift so hard as to move the stone, it shall fall upon him, and grind him to powder. Answer to GOD's severest calls, even then when they make us tremble, as ST. PAUL did, " LORD, what wilt you have me do?" Even when the word affrights thee, yet give this honor to it, not to reject it, nor fly from it, nor to smother and suppress it, but endure it to search thee, and submit thyself to it. This is a notable way to abate the original madness which is in thy heart.

            2. As there is furor in madness, so there is amentia too; a distemper in the intellectuals, as well as in the passions: Every man that is throughly mad, is a fool too; and therefore the same original word is translated in one place mad­ness, (Luke 6:11,) and in another place folly. (2 Tim. 3:9.) This distemper is twofold; either it is an uni­versal privation and defect of reason, or at the least it is an unstayedness, a slipperiness of reason: And these are very deep in the nature of a man. Folly is bound up in the heart of a child; and, in spiritual things, we are all children.

            1. There is an universal ignorance and inconsiderateness of spiritual things in the nature of man; he takes less notice of his condition than the very brute beasts. " The ox knows his owner, and the ass his master's crib; but Israel does not know, my people does not consider." And for this reason it is that we shall observe that frequent apos­trophe of GOD in the Prophets, when he had wearied himself with crying to a deaf and rebellious people, he turns his speech, and pleads before dumb and inanimate creatures: " Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth:" Nothing so far from the voice of the Prophet as the heavens, nothing so dull and impenetrable as the earth; and yet the heavens likelier to hear, the earth likelier to attend, than the obdurate sinners. " Hear, O ye mountains, the LORD's controversy, and ye strong foundations of the earth:" Nothing in the earth so immovable as the mountains, nothing in the mountains so impenetrable as the founda­tions of the mountains, and yet these are made more sen­sible of GOD’s pleadings and controversies, than the people whom it concerned. The creatures groan (as the Apostlespeaks) under the burden and vanity of the sins of men; and men themselves, upon whom sin lies with a far heavier burden, boast, and glory, and rejoice in it. Of ourselves we have no understanding, but are foolish and sottish, as the Prophet speaks; we see nothing but by the light and the understanding which is given unto us, we cannot have so much as a right thought of goodness.

            The Apostle does notably express this universal blindness which is in our nature. " Walk not as other Gentiles, in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding dark­ened, being alienated from the life of GOD," or from a Godly life, " through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart." (1.) Their minds are vain; the mind is the seat of principles, of truths; but, says he, their minds are destitute of all divine and spiritual principles. (2.) Their understanding (asavola) " is dark­ened:" The understanding, or dianoetical faculty, is the seat of conclusions, and that is unable to deduce from spi­ritual principles (if there were any in their minds) such divine conclusions as they are apt to beget: So though they know GOD, (which is a principle,) yet this principle was vain in them; for they conceived of his glory basely, by the similitude of fourfooted beasts and creeping things; they conceived him an idle GOD, as the Epicures; or a GOD subject to fate and necessity, as the Stoics; or a sinful, im­pure GOD, that by his example made uncleanness religious. One wav or other they became vain in their imaginations of him.

            But Secondly, Though they knew him, yet the conclu­sions which they deduced from that principle, that he was to be worshipped, were utterly unworthy his Majesty: They worshipped him ignorantly, superstitiously, not as became GOD; " they changed his truth into a lie."

            Thirdly, Suppose their principles to be sound, their con­clusions from those principles to be natural and proper; yet all this is but speculation, they still are without the end of all this spiritual prudence, their hearts were blinded. The heart is the seat of knowledge practical; that by the principles of the mind, and the conclusions of the understand­ing, does regulate the conversation; but that was unable, yea, averse from any such knowledge, for " they held the truth of GOD in unrighteousness, they did not like to retain GOD in their knowledge," they served the lusts of their own hearts, were given up to vile affections, were filled with all unrighteousness, and had pleasure in evil works, even when they did things which they knew deserved death, and pro­voked judgment: This is that universal defect which is in us by nature.

            Here then, when we are not able to conceive the LORD's purpose in his word, though of itself it be all light; when we find it is too excellent for us, let us learn to bewail that evil concupiscence of our nature, which still fills our understandings with mists, and puts a veil before our faces. The whole Book of Grin is a precious mine, full of unsearcha­ble treasures, and of all wisdom; there is no refuse in it, nothing which is not of great moment, and worthy of spe­cial observation; and therefore much are we still to bewail the unfaithfulness of our memories and understandings, which retain so little, and understand less than they retain.

            2. Consider the slipperiness and inconsistency of natural reason in spiritual things: It can never stay upon an holy notion; and this is another kind of madness. Madmen will make an hundred relations, but their reason cannot stand still, nor go through with any, but roves from one thing to another, and joins together notions of several sub­jects, like a rope of sand; some few lucid intervals they may haply have, but they quickly return to their frensies. This is the condition of our nature; let a man enter upon any holy thoughts, the flesh will quickly cast in other sug­gestions to make him weary and faint. Therefore it was that DAVID prayed, " Unite my heart to fear thy name." This was the business of PAUL and BARNABAS to the saints, to exhort them that " with purpose of heart they would cleave unto GOD." And hence that phrase of Scripture, " to join a man's self unto Gen," and " to lay fast hold upon him."

            Lastly, Consider the propagation of this sin; which may well be called an old man, because it dies not, but passes over from one generation to another. A man's actual sins are personal, and therefore they begin and end in himself; but original sin is natural, and therefore with the nature it passes over from a man to his posterity.

            And in this wretched inheritance, which ADAM left to all his posterity, we are to note this mischief in the First place: There is no partition, but it is left whole to every child of ADAM; all have it, and yet every one has it all too. So that as philosophers say of the reasonable soul,’ That it is whole in the whole, and whole in every part;' so we may say of original concupiscence, it is all in mankind, and all in every particular man. There is no law of partition, for one man to have the lusts of the eye, another the lusts of the tongue; but’every man has every lust ori­ginally as full as all men together have it.        

            Secondly, We are to note a great difference further be­tween the soul and sin in this regard; though all the soul be in every member, as well as in the whole body, yet it is not in the same manner and excellency in the part as in the whole. For it is in the whole to all the purposes of life, sense and motion; but in the parts, the whole soul serves but for some special businesses. All the soul is in the eye, and all in the ear, but not in either to all purposes; for it sees only in the eye, and hears only in the ear: But origi­nal sin is all in every man, and serves in every man to all purposes; not in one man only to commit ad­ultery,’in another idolatry, in another murder, but in every man it serves to commit sin against all the law, to break every one of GOD’s commandments. It seems im­possible for the same thing to belong wholly to sundry men, in regard to all the purposes for which it serves: But such an ample propriety has every man to original sin, that he holds it all, and to all purposes for which it serves. And these are two great aggravations of this sinful inheritance: That it comes whole unto every man, and that every man has it unto all the purposes for which it serves.

            Thirdly, It is to be observed, that in original sin (as in all other) there are two things, sinfulness, and guilt, or liableness to punishment. And though the former of these remain, yet every man that repenteth and believeth, has the latter taken away. But now this is the calamity; though a man have the guilt of his sin taken off from his person by the benefit of his own faith, yet still both the sinfulness and the guilt passes over to his posterity by derivation from him. For the former, the case is most evident: " What­soever is born of flesh is flesh; no man can bring a clean thing out of an unclean; an evil root must bring forth evil branches, a bitter fountain corrupt streams." And it is as certain for the latter, that though guilt and punishment may be remitted to the father, yet from him it may be transmitted to his child. Every parent is the channel of death to his posterity. Toticm genus de suo semine iufec­tum, sure etiam damnationis traducem fait, says TERTunLIAN; ADAM did diffuse and propagate damnation to all mankind. Neither is it any injustice that from a cursed root should proceed branches fit for nothing but the fire. As a Jew that was circumcised, brought forth an uncircum­cised son; as clean corn sowed comes up with chaff and stubble; so is it with the best that are, their graces concur not to natural generation, and therefore from them is nothing naturally propagated. And since the nature of sin passes to posterity, even when the guilt thereof is remitted in the parent, needs must the guilt thereof pass too, till by grace it he done away.

            Fourthly, Original sin is both a sin and a punishment of sin. For it is an absurd conceit of some, who make it an impossibility for the same thing to be both a sin and punish­ment. When a prodigal spends all his money upon un­cleanness, is not this man's poverty both his sin and his punishment? When a drunkard brings diseases on his body, is not this man's impotency both his sin and his pu­nishment? Indeed sin cannot rightly be called an inflicted punishment; for GOD does not put it into any man; yet it no way implies contradiction, but rather abundantly magnilies the justice and wisdom of Almighty GOD, to say that he can order sin to be a punishment to itself: So that in the derivation of this sin, we have unto us propagated the very " wrath of GOD." It is like AARON's rod; on our part, a branch that buddeth unto iniquity, and on GOD's part, a serpent that stingeth unto death. So that ADAM is. a twofold cause of this sin in his posterity: A merito­rious cause he did deserve it by prevarication, as it was a punishment; and an efficient cause, he does derive it by contagion, as it is a sin. And this is aL wretchedness of this sin, that it is not only a means to bring the wrath of GOD upon us, but is also some part of the wrath of GOD in us, and so is as it were the earnest and firstfruits of damnation. Not as if it were by GOD infused into our nature, (for we have it put into us no other way but by seminal contagion and propagation from ADAM;) but GOD seeing man throw away that original righteousness which he, at the first, put into him, and appointing hint to be the head and foundation of all mankind, not only in nature, but in regard of legal proceeding, withheld from him and his seed, that gift which was freely by him in the creation bestowed, and wilfully by ADAM in the fall re­jected; and adjudged this misery to him, that he should pass over to all his posterity the immediate fruit of his pre­varication, which was original sin, contracted by his own default, and as it were issuing out of his wilful disobedience upon him, because they all were in him interested as in their head and father in that first transgression. Thus have I at large opened those many great evils which this sin has in it, that life of concupiscence which the Apostle here speaketh of. I cannot say of it, as the Roman epi­tomizes of his history, In brevi tabella totam ejus imaginem amplexus sum; that, in a small compass, I have comprised the whole image of old ADAM; but rather clean contrary, In amply tabula non dimidiam ejus imaginem amplexus sum: The half of this sin has not all this while been described unto you.

            This doctrine of original sin does direct us in our humiliations for sin, shows us whither we should rise in judging ourselves, even as high as our corrupt nature. " Let not any man say," says ST. JAMES, "that he was tempted of GOD." I shall go further: Let no man say of himself, by way of excuse, I was tempted of SATAN, or of the world.  And who can deal with such enemies? Who can withstand such strong solicitations? Let not any man resolve his sins into any other original than his own lusts. Our per­dition is totally of ourselves; we are assaulted by many enemies; but it is one only that overcometh us, even our own flesh. If there were the same mind in us as in CHRIST, SATAN could find no more in us to mingle his temptations withal, than he did in him; they would be equally sue­cessless But this is his greatest advantage, that he has our evil nature to help him, and hold intelligence with him. And therefore we must rise as high as that in our humiliations for sin; and it will make us thoroughly hum­ble, because thereby sin is made altogether our own, when we attribute it not to casualties, or accidental miscarriages, but to our nature; as DAVID did, "In sin was I shaped, and in iniquity did my mother conceive me." It was not any accident, or external temptation, which was the root and ground of these my sins, but "I was a transgressor from the womb:" I had the seeds of adultery and murder sown in my very nature, and from thence did they break forth in my life. When men shall consider, that in their whole frame there is an universal indisposition to any good, and a forwardness to all evil, that all their principles are vitiated, and their faculties out of joint, that they are in the womb as cockatrice' eggs, and in the conception a seed of vipers, more odious in the pure eyes of GOD, than toads or serpents are in ours; this will keep men in more caution against sin, and in more humiliation for it.

            Lastly, From the consideration of this sin, we should be exhorted into these needful duties:

            1. To much jealousy against ourselves, not to trust any of our faculties alone, not to be too confident upon pre­sumptions, or experiences of our own strength. Jos wouldnot trust his eyes without a covenant, nor Davin his mouth without a bridle; so strangely and unexpectedly will nature break out, if it feel itself a little loose, as may cost a man many a cry and tear to set himself right again. Though a lion seem never so tame, though the seas seem never so calm, give them no passage, keep on the chain, look still to the bulwarks, for there is a rage in them which cannot be tamed. Venture not on any temptation, be not confi­dent of any grace received, so as to slacken your wonted zeal; count not yourselves to have apprehended any thing, forget that which is behind, press forward to the prize that is before you; and ever suspect the treachery of your own hearts: " Keep thine heart," says SOLOMON, " with all diligence," never let thine eye be off from it, hide the word and the Spirit always in it, to' watch it; for there is an adulterer ever at hand to steal it away. Therefore the LORD would have the Israelites to bind ribbons upon their fringes, and the law on the posts of their doors, that by those visible remembrances their minds might be taken off from vanities, and the obedience of the law more revived within them. And SoLonroN, alluding to that custom, shows the use and the fruits of it: " Bind them," says he, "continually upon thine heart, and tie them about thy neck; when you sleep it shall keep thee, when you awakest it shall talk with thee." In all thy ways and con­ditions, it shall be thy safeguard, thy companion, And thy comfort.

            2. To war and contention against so strong and so close an enemy. Our flesh is our Esau, our elder brother, and we must ever be wrestling with it. The fleshand the spirit are contraries, one will ever be on the prevailing side: And the flesh is never weary to improve its own part; therefore the spirit must be as studious and importunate for the kingdom of CHRIST.

            3. To patience and constancy in this spiritual combat. We are beset and compassed about with our corruptions; there is need of "patience to run the race that is set before us," to do the whole will of GOD, to drive forward a backsliding and revolting heart through so many turnings and temptations: And therefore to encourage us unto patience, we must not seek ourselves in ourselves, nor fix upon the measure and proportion of our former graces, but run to our faith, and hold fast our confidence, which will make us hope above hope, and be strong when we are weak. We must look unto JESUS, and consider, First, His grace, which is sufficient for us; Secondly, His power, which has already begun faith and a good work in us; Thirdly, His promise, which is to finish it for us; Fourthly, His compassion and assistance; he is our second, ready to come in in any danger, and undertake the quarrel; Fifthly, His example, he passed through the like contradiction of sinners, as we do of lusts; Sixthly, His nearness, he is at the door, it is yet " but a little while, and he that shall come, will come, and will not tarry:" Lastly, His performances already. First, He maketh the combat every day easier than before. " The house of DAVID is stronger and stronger, and the house of SAUL weaker and weaker." And Secondly, As in all other afflictions, so in this especially, he giveth unto us a peaceable fruit of righteousness, after we have been exercised in it.

            But you will say, These are good encouragements to him that knows how to do this work; but how shall I, that am ignorant and impotent, know how to suppress so strong an enemy with patience or constancy? To this I answer, First, Consider wherein mainly the strength of lust lies, and then apply your prevention and opposition accord­ingly.

            The strength of lust is in these particulars:

            1. Its wisdom and cunning craftiness, whereby it lies in wait for every advantage to set forward its own end.

            2. Its suggestions, persuasions, flatteries, dalliances with the soul, which, like the smiles of an harlot, allure the heart to condescend to some practice with it: For the suggestion quickly begets delight, and delight as easily grows into consent; and when the will, like the masterfort, is taken, the inferior members cannot stand out.

            3. Its promises and presumptions, its threatenings and affrightments: For hopes and fears are the edge of temp­tation. Lust seldom or never prevails, till it can propose wages and pleasures of iniquity.

            4. Its laws and edicts, whereby it publisheth its will; and that either under the show of reason, (for sin has certain maxims and principles of corrupted reason, which it takes for indubitable, wherewith to countenance its tyrannical commands,) or else under the shape of exigen­cies and inevitableness, which may serve to warrant those commands that are otherwise destitute even of the colour of reason.

            5. Its violence and importunity; for sin is so wilful, that when it cannot find a law to warrant that which it requires, yet it will make a law to command what it will; and it will beset and pursue, and importune the soul, and take no denial.

            6. Its provisions, those subsidiary aids and materials of lust which it fetcheth from abroad, those things of the world with which the heart committeth adultery; for the world is the armoury and storehouse of lust.

            Lastly, Its instruments, which willingly execute the will of sin, and yield themselves up as weapons in the war: In these things principally does the strength of lust con­sist. Having thus discovered wherein the strength of lust lies, set yourselves against it in these particulars:

            1. For the wisdom and deceit of lust: (1.) Set up a spiritual wisdom, which may discover and defeat the pro­jects of the flesh: CHRIST'S teaching is the only way to put off the old man, and to be renewed in the spirit of the mind. (2.) Mutual exhortation is a great help against the deceitfulness of sin: " Exhort one another while it is called today, lest any of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin." (3.) Receive the truth with love; for lies and de­lusion are the doom of those men who receive not the love of truth, that they might be saved.

            2. For the persuasions and suggestions of lust, entertain no treaty, have no commerce with it, be not in its company alone, let it not draw thee away, sit not in council with it; if it prevail to get our ear, and make us listen unto it, it will easily proceed further. Therefore as soon as lust stirs and offers to persuade thee, start away from it, " come not nigh the door of a strange woman's house:" Though the first allurements seem modest, yet if the serpent get in his head, he will easily draw in the rest of his body.

            3. For the promises and threats of lusts: (1.) Believe them not; for lust is a tempter, and it is given to all tempters to be liars too. When GOD has said one thing, let no arguments make thee believe the contrary. " If an angel from heaven," says the Apostle, "preach any other Gospel, let him be accursed." We know what it cost the man of GOD, when he gave credit to the old Prophet of Bethel, though pretending an angel's warrant, to go back and eat with him, contrary to the commandment which he had received before. (2.) Get an interest in better pro­mises, (for all the promises of the flesh, if they should be performed, will perish with a man,) learn to rest upon GOD’s allsufficiency, see thyself rich enough in his ways; there are more riches in the persecutions, much more in the promises and performances of GOD, than in all the trea­sures of Egypt.

            4. For the law of lust, set up the law of the Spirit of life in thy heart. It is a royal law, and a law of liberty; whereas lust is a law of death and bondage; and where the SPIRIT comes, a man shall be " set free from the law of sin and death." Keep thyself always at home in the presence of CHRIST, under the government of thy husband, and that will dash all intruders and adulterers out of countenance. Take heed of quenching, grieving, stifling the SPIRIT; cherish the motions thereof, stir up and kindle the gifts of GOD in thee; labor by them to grow more in grace, and to have nearer communion with Goo: The riper the corn grows, the looser will the chaff be; and the more a man grows in grace, with the more ease will his corruptions be shaken off.

            5. When lust is violent and importunate. First, Be you importunate with GOD against it. Secondly, When you art pursued, keep not lust's counsels, but seek remedy from some wise and Christian friend by disclosing thy case to him: Sin loves not to be betrayed or complained on; confession of sin, to those who will pray for a sinner, and not deride him, is a means to heal it. Thirdly, When you art in a more violent manner than usual as­saulted by sin, humble thyself in some peculiar manner before GOD, and the more sin cries for satisfaction, deny it and thyself the more. As Socomox says of children, so may I say of lusts, " Chastise and subdue thy lusts, and regard not their crying."

            6. Cut off the materials and provisions for lust, wean thyself from earthly affections; " love not the world, nor the things of the world;" desire not any thing to consume on thy lusts; pray for those things which are convenient for thee; turn thy heart from those things which are most likely to seduce thee; possess thy heart with a more spirit­ual and abiding treasure: He who looks steadfastly upon the light of the sun, will be able to see nothing below when he looks down; and surely, the more a man is affected with heaven, the less will he desire or delight in the world.

            Lastly, For the instruments of lusts, make a covenant with thy members, keep a government over them, bring them into subjection; above all, keep thy heart, establish the inward government; for nothing can be in thy body which is not first in the heart: Keep the first mover right, all other things, which have their motions thence, must needs be right too.

            Having thus opened at large the life and state of original sin, it remains in the Last place to show, how the SPIIIITby the commandment does convince and discover the life of actual sin: In omitting so much good, in committing so much evil, in swerving from the rule in the manner and measure of all our services. And this it does by making us see that great spiritualness and perfection, that precise, universal and constant conformity which the law requires in all we do. " Cursed is every one that abideth not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them." Perfection and perpetuity of obedience are the two things which the law requires. Suppose we it possible for a man to fulfil every tittle of the law in the whole compass of it, and that for his whole life together, one only particular, and that the smallest and most imperceptible deviation from it, being for one only time; yet so rigorous and inexorable is the law, that it seals that man under the wrath and curse of GOD. The heart cannot turn, the thoughts cannot rise, the affections cannot stir, the will cannot bend, but the law meets with it, either as a rule to measure, or as a judge to censure it: It penetrates the inmost thoughts, searcheth the bottom of all our actions, has a wideness in it which the heart of man cannot endure.

Let us in a few words consider some particular aggrava­tions of the life and state of actual sin, which the SPIRIT, by the word, will present unto us.

            First, In the least sin there is so much life and venom, as not all the strength of those millions of angels, one of whom was in one night able to slay so many thousand men, had been able to remove. More violence and injustice against GOD in a wandering thought, in an idle word, in an impertinent and unprofitable action, than the worth of the whole creation, though all the heavens were turned into one sun, and all the earth into one paradise, were able to expiate. Think,we as slightly of it as we will, swallow it without fear, live in it without sense, commit it without remorse; yet be we assured, that the guilt of every one of our least sins being upon CHRIST, did wring out those pro­digious drops of sweat, did express those strong cries, did pour in those woeful ingredients into the cup which he drank, which made him, who had more strength than all the angels of heaven, shrink and draw back, and pray against the work of his own mercy, and decline the business of his own coming.

            Secondly, If the least of my sins could do thus, O whata guilt is there in the greatest sin, which my life has been defiled with! If my atoms be mountains, O what heart is able to comprehend the vastness of my mountainous sins! If there be so much life in my impertinent thoughts, how much rage and fury is there in my rebellious thoughts; in my thoughts of gall and bitterness; in my speculative adulteries; in my covetous, worldly, froward, haughty, hateful imaginations; in my contempt of GOD, reproaching of his word, smothering of his motions, quenching of his Spirit, rebelling against his grace! If every vain word be a flame that can kindle the fire of hell about mine ears, O what vollies of brimstone, what mountains of wrath will be darted upon my wretched soul, for tearing the glorious and terrible name of the great GOD with my cursed oaths, my crimson and fiery execrations! What will become of stinking, dirty, carrion communication? Of lies, and railings, and bitterness; the persecutions, adulteries, and murders of the tongue, when but the idleness and unpro­fitableness of the tongue is not able to endure this con­suming fire!

            Thirdly, If one great sin, nay, one small sin be so full of life, as not all the strength, nay, not all the deaths of all the angels in heaven could have expiated, O how shall I stand before an army of sin! So many which I know of myself, swarms of thoughts, throngs of sinful words, sands of evil actions, every one as heavy and as great as a mountain, able to take up, if they were put into bodies, all the vast chasm between earth and heaven, and fill all the spaces of nature with darkness and confusion! And how infinite more secret ones are there, which I know not by myself! How many atoms and streams of dust does a beam of the sun, shining into a room, discover, which were before imperceptible! How many sinful secrets are there. in my heart, which, though the light of mine own conscience cannot discover, are yet written in Golfs account, and sealed up amongst his treasures; and shall, at the day of the revelation of all things, be produced against me, like so many lions and devils to fly upon me!

            Fourthly, If the number of them can thus amaze, what shall the root of them do?  Committed out of ignorance in the midst of light, out of knowledge against the evidence of conscience, out of presumption of pardon, abusing the mercies of GOD to the purposes of SATAN, not knowing that his goodness should have led me to repentance out of stubbornness against the discipline, out of enmity against the goodness, out of gall and bitterness of spirit against the power and purity of GOD’s holy law!

            Fifthly, Not the root only, but the circumstances too, add much to the life that is in sin. If every man would single out some notable sins of his life, and see how many sins one sin containeth, even as one flower many leaves, and one pomegranate many kernels, it could not but be a notable means of humbling us for sin.

            Sixthly, Not evil circumstances only, but unprofitable ends add much to the life of sin: When men " spend money for that which is not bread, and labor for that which satisfieth not:" When men " change their glory for that which does not profit; forsake the fountain, and hew out broken cisterns which will hold no water:" Sow nothing but wind, and reap nothing but shame and re­proach. Our SAVIOR assures us, that it is no valuable prize to get the whole world by sin. But how many times do we sin, even for base and dishonorable ends! he for a farthing, swear for a compliment, flatter for a preferment, pawn our souls, which are more worth than the whole frame of nature, for a very trifle!

            Seventhly, All this evil hitherto stays at home, but the great scandal that comes of sin adds much to the life of it, the perniciousness and offence of the example to others. Scandal to the weak, and that twofold; an active scandal to misguide them, (Gal. 2:14; 1 Cor. 8:1O,) or a passive scandal to grieve them, (Rom. 14:15,) and beget in them jealousies and suspicions against our persons and profes­sions. Scandal to the wicked, and that twofold also; the one giving them occasion to blaspheme that holy name and profession which we bear; the other hardening and encouraging, comforting and justifying them by our evil example.

            Eighthly, The evil does not reach to men only, but the scandal and indignity overspreads the Gospel: A great part of the life of sin is drawn from the several respects it has to GOD’s known will. When we sin not only against the law of nature in our hearts, but against the written law; not only against the truth, but against the mercy and SPIRIT of GOD too; this must be an heavy aggravation. O what an hell must it be to a soul in hell to recount, So many Sabbaths GOD reached forth his word unto me, in so many Sermons he knocked at my door, and besought me to be reconciled; he wooed me in his word, allured me by his promises, expected me in much patience, enriched inc with the liberty of his own precious oracles, reached forth his blood to wash me, poured forth his tears over me; but against all this I have stopped the ear, and pulled away the shoulder, and hardened the heart, and received all this grace in vain; and, notwithstanding all the rain which fell upon me, continued barren still!

            Lastly, In good duties, (whereas grace should be ever quick and operative, make us conformable to our Head, walk worthy of our high calling, and as becometh GODli­ness, as men that have learned and received CHRIST,) how much unprofitableness and unspiritualness, distractions, formality, want of relish, failings, intermissions, deadness, show themselves! How much wantonness with grace! How much of the world with the word! How much of the week in the sabbath! How much of the bag or barn in the temple! How much superstition with the worship! How much security with the fear! How much vainglory in the honor of Gon! In one word, how much of myself, and, therefore, how much of my sin, in all my services and duties which I perform! These, and a world the like aggravations, serve to lay open the life of actual sins.

            Thus have I, at large, opened the first of the three things proposed, namely, that the SPIRIT, by opening the rule, does convince men that they are in the state of sin, both original and actual.  The next thing proposed was to show, What kind of condition the state of sin is. And here are two things principally remarkable:1. It is an estate of extreme impotency and disability to any good. 2. Of most extreme enmity against the holiness and ways of GOD.

            1. It is an estate of impotency and disability to any good. PAUL, in his Pharisaical condition, thought himself able to live without blame; (Phil. 3:6;) but when the commandment came, he found all his former moralities to have been but dung. Our natural estate is " without any strength," (Rom. 5:6,) so weak, that it makes " the law itself weak," (Rom. 8:3,) as unable to do the work of a spiritual, as a dead man of natural life; for we are by nature " dead in sin." (Ephes. 2:1.) He that raised up LAZARUS out of the grave, must, by his own voice, raise us up from sin: " The dead shall hear the voice of the Son of Man, and they that hear shall live." (John 5:25.) All men are, by nature, strangers to the life of GOD, (Ephes. 4:18,) and foreigners from his household; (Ephes. 2:19;) able without him to do nothing, no more than a branch is to bear any fruit, when it is cut off from the root which would quicken it. In one word, so great is this impotency which is in us by sin, that we are not sufficient " to think a good thing," (2 Cor. 3:5,) not able to understand a good thing, nor to comprehend the light when it shines upon us. (1. Cor. 2:14; Job 1:5.) Our tongues unable to speak a good word: " How can ye, being evil, speak good things?" Our ears unable to hear a good word: " To whom shall I speak and give warning that they may hear? Behold their ear is uncircumcised, and that they cannot hearken." (Jer. 6:1O.) Our whole man unable to obey: " The carnal mind is not subject to the law of GOD, neither indeed can be."

            The reasons hereof are these: (1.) Our universal both natural and personal Impurity. We are by nature all flesh, children of the old ADAM. (John 3:6.) Children of Golfs wrath, (Ephes. 2:3,) and so long it is impossible we should do any thing to please GOD; for " they that are in the flesh cannot please Gan:" (Rom. 8:8:) A man must first be renewed in his mind, before he can so much as make proof of what will be acceptable unto Grin. (Rom. 12:2.) This natural impurity in our persons is the ground of all impurity in our works: " For unto the unclean every thing is unclean;" (Tit. 1:15;) and all the fruit of an evil tree is evil fruit; (Matt. 7:18;) and ST. PAUL gives the reason of it, because " our fruit should be fruit unto GOD," (Rout. 7:4,) " and fruit unto holiness." (Rom. 6:22.) Whereas these works in natural men do neither begin in GOD, nor look towards him, nor tend unto him; GOD is neither the principle, nor the object, nor the end of them.

            (2.) Our natural enmity: The best performance of wicked men is but the gift of an enemy, and the sacrifice of fools. It proceeds not from love which is the bond of perfection, that which keepeth all other ingredients of good works together, (Col. 3:14,) which is the " fulfilling of the law," (Rom. 13:8,) and the principle of obedience and all willing service and conformity to GOD, (Gal. 5:6; John 14:15,) and ever proceeds from the Spirit of CHn rsT; (Gal. 5:22;) for by nature we are enemies. (Rom. 5:1O.)

            (3.) Our natural infidelity, for the state of sin is an estate of unbelief: " The SPIRIT shall convince the world of sin, because they believe not." Now infidelity does utterly disable men to please GOD; without faith it is impossible to please him: " There can no good work be done but in CHRIST;" we are " sanctified in CHRIST," (1 Cor. 1:2;) we are " created in CHRIST unto good works," (Eph. 2:1O,) we must be " one with him before we can be sanctified;" (Heb. 2:11;) and this is the reason why faith sanctifies and purifies the heart, and by consequence the whole man, (for when the fountain was cleansed all the waters were sweet, 2 Kings 2:21,) because faith is the bond which fastens us unto CHRIST.

             (4.) Our natural ignorance and folly, for the state of sin is ever an ignorant estate. The usual style that the Scrip­ture gives sinners, even the best of sinners, is fools; though they know many things, yet they " know nothing as they ought to know." (1 Cor. 8:2.) Now the root of our wellpleasing is " wisdom and spiritual knowledge." (Col. 1:9, 1O.) That is it which makes us walk worthy of the LoRn, and fruitful in good works. Whereas, want of understanding is that which makes us altogether unprofit­able, that we do no good. (Rom. 3:11, 12.)

            And now what a cutting consideration should this be: GOD made me for his use, that I should be his servant to do his will, and I am utterly unfit for any services, save those which dishonor him, like the wood of the vine, utterly unuseful and unmeet for any work! What, then, should I expect, but to be cast out, as a vessel in which is no pleasure? If I am altogether barren and of no use, what a wonderful patience of Gun is it that suffers me to cumber the ground, and does not presently cast me into the fire; that suffers me, like a noisome weed, to poison the air, and choak the growth of better things? If I drink in the rain, and bring forth nothing but thorns, how near must I needs be unto cursing! And this conviction should make men labor to have place in CHRIST, because thereby they shall be enabled to please GOD, and, in some measure, to bring that glory to him for which they were made. What an encouragement should this be for those who have hitherto lived in the lust of the flesh, to come over to CHRIST and his righteousness; and for others to go on with patience through all difficulties, because, in so doing, they work to that end for which they were made; they live to GOD