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ruined all. Now that ye may know what you are, and what little Reafon you have to be pleased with your felves, and abfolve your felves as ye do, I fhall unbowel that Iniquity unto you. First, There was in it an open Banner displayed against God: When the fovereign Lord had enjoined his Creature fuch a Teftimony of his Homage and Loyalty, and that fo eafy to be performed, and fuch as not a whit could abate from his Happinets, what open Rebellion was it to refufe it? It was a cafting off the fovereign Dominion of God, than which nothing can be more heinous, as if the Clay fhould refufe to ferve the Potter's Pleasure, and therefore

when that one knew that the Weight of all his Pofterity hung upon him, it might have made him very circumfpect, knowing of how great Moment his Carriage was. But certainly we muft look a little higher than fuch Reafons, there was a glorious Purpose of God's predominant in this, elfe there was no natural Neceffity of imputing Adam's Sin to the Children not yet born, or propagating it to the Children. He that brought a holy One and undefiled out of a Virgin who was defiled, could have brought all others clean out of unclean Parents: But there is a higher Counsel about it, the Lord would have all Men fubject to his Judgment, all Men once guilty, once in antis eminently and signally stiled Difobediequal State of Mifery, to illuftrate that fpecial Grace fhewed in Chrift the more, and demonftrate his Power and Wrath upon others. That which concerns us moft, is to believe this, that Sin hath over fpread all; and to have the lively ImprefGions of this, were of more Moment to true Religion, than many Difcourfes upon it. I had rather you went Home not curfing Adam, or murmuring against the moft High, but bemoaning your felves for your wretched Eftate, than be able to give Reafons for the general Imputation and Propagation of Sin. You all fee it is, and therefore you should rather mourn for it, than ask why it is.

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ence, as having nothing in it but the pure naked Nature of Difobedience; no Difficulty to excufe it, for it was moft eafy; no Pleasure to plead for it, for there were as good Fruit befide,and a World of them; no Neceffity to extenuate it; fo that you can fee nothing in it, but the ugly Face of Diföbedience and Rebellion, ver. 19. Whereby Man draweth himself from his Allegiance due to his Maker, and shaketh off the Yoke in reproach of the moft High." Next, You may behold the vile and abominable Face of Ingratitude and Unthankfulnefs in it; and truly Heathens have fo abhorred Unthankfulness towards Men, that they could not digeft the Reproach of There is Sin entered in the World by it. Ingratum fi dixeris, omnia dixeris : Imputation, and alfo by Propagation. If you call me unthankful, you may call Adam's firft Sin and heinous Tranfgreffi- me any Thing, or all Things; 'tis a Comon is charged upon all his Pofterity, and pend of all Vices; 'tis even Iniquity grown imputed unto them, even unto them who to Maturity and Ripenefs: But that fuck bave not finned according to the Simili-a Fruit fhould grow out of fuch a holy and tude of Adam's Tranfgreffion, that is actually as he did. Infants whom you call Innocents (and indeed fo they are in re fpect of you who are come to Age) yet they are guilty before God of that Sin that

good Soil, fo well dreffed and manured by the Lord, was a Wonder. Lord what was Man that thou fo magnified him, and made bim a little lower than the Angels? That thou put all Things fubT

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deny the true God, and yet would be a God it felf; For the Foor ftool to lift up. it felf thus, what an Indignity was it? And indeed this wretched Aim at so high an Eftate, hath thrown us down as low as Hell. You fee then how injurious this Tranfgreffion was to God. There was Difobedience and Rebellion in it, which denies his Dominion and Supremacy, there was Unthankfulness in it,denying his Goodnets and Bounty, there was Unbelief in it, contradicting his Truth and Faithfulness, and finally, Pride oppofing it felf to all that is in God, reaching up to his very Crown of Majefty to take it off. You fee then what you are guilty of, in being guilty of Adam's Tranfgreffion; many of you flatter your felves in your own Eyes, that you have not done much Evil, and you will juftifie your felves in your Comparifons with others: But I beseech you confider this, though you had never done perfonaily Good or Evil, here that which drowned the World in Mifery is your Sin, and charged upon you; you are guilty of that which ruined all Mankind, and makes the Creation fubject to Vanity and Corruption. O if ye believed this, you would find more need of the fecond Adam than you do. O how precious would this Righteoufnefs and Obedience be to you, if you had rightly apprehended your Intereft in the firft Man's Difobedience.

lunary under his Feet, and exalted him above them! For that Creature, chofen and felected from among all, to be his Minion, to stand in his Prefence, adorned and beautified with fuch Gifts and Graces, magnified with fuch glorious Privileges, made according to the most excellent Pattern, His own image, to forget all, and forget fo, foon; and when he had fuch a fpacious Garden to make ufe of (as is fuppofed to make up the third Part of the Earth) to eat of no Fruit but that which was forbidden, there is no fuch monftrous Ingratitude can be imagined as here was acted. But then confider the two Fountains from which this flowed, Unbelief and Pride, and you shall find it the heavieft Sin in the World; Unbelief of his Word and Threatring; firft he was brought to queftion it, and doubt of it, and then to deny it. A Word fo folemnJy and particularly told him by the Truth it felf, that ever a Queftion of it could arife in his Mind or get Entry, what elfe was it than to impute Iniquity to the Holy One? And that Iniquity or Falfhood and Lying, which his Nature most abhors? What was it to blafpheme the moft high and faithful God, by hearkning to the Suggeftions of his Enemy, and credit them more than the Threatnings of God? To give the very flat Contradiction to God, we fball not die; and to affent fo hearuly to Satan's Slanders and Reproaches of God. But befides this Imputation, there is And this Unbelief opened a Door to Am- much more propagated unto all, and that bition and Pride, the moft facris In- is a total Corruption and Depravation of gredient of all, which is moft oppofite to Nature in Soul and Body, whereby Man God, and unto which he most oppofed is utterly indifpofed, difabled, and made himself from the Beginning. You shall be oppofite unto all that is truly and spirituallike Godr was he not happy enough ally Good, and wholly inclined to all Evil, ready, and, according to God's Image? and that continually, which is commonly Nay, but this evil Principle would anfe called Original Sin; a total Averfenels up to the Throne of God, and fit down in from God, and from all Goodness, an Anhis ftead. Pride hath Atheism in it, totipathy again thefe Ways of Holiness, and

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a.Propenfion and ftrong Impulfe towards
Evil, even as a Stone moves downwards.
This Poifon and Contagion of Sin entering
into the World, hath infected all, and gone
through all the. Members; neither is it any
wonder it be fo, when this Leprofy hath
defiled the Walls and Roof of the Houfe,
I mean, hath made the Creation fubject to
Vanity and Corruption; it is no wonder
that it fpread Abroad in his Iffue, and
makes all unclean like himself. And truly
this is it which moft abafes Man's Nature,
and being feen, would moft humble Men;
yea, till this be difcerned, no Man can be
indeed humbled, he will never apprehend
himself fo bad as he is, but still imagine
fome Excellency in himself, till he-fee
himfelf in this Glafs. You talk of good
Natures, and good Difpofitions, but in
our Flefb (faith the Apoftle) dwells no
good Thing, the Seeds of all Wickedness
are in every one of us, and 'tis the-Good-
nefs of God for preferving of human Soci-
ety, that they are reftrained and kept
down in any from the groffeft Out-break
ings. They know not themselves, who
know any Good of themfelves, and they
know not themselves, who either are in
Admiration at, or in Bitterness or Con-
tempt against other Sinners, whofe Sins are
manifeft to all. This were the only way
to profit by looking on their Evils, if we
could ftraight-way retire within and be-
hold the Root of that in our felves, the
Fountain of it within us, and fo grow in
Loathing not of thefe Perfons, but of hu-
man Nature, and in fuitable Thoughts of
our felves and others, and might wonder
at the Goodness and undeferved Bounty of
the Lord, that passes an Act of Restraint
upon our Corruption, and damms it
up. Oh! that we could learn to loath
our felves in other Mens Evils! Thus we
might reap good out of the evil, and pre-

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vent more in our felves. But the looking upon grofs Provocations as Singulari ties, makes them more general, because every Man does not charge hunself with the Corruption that is in all thefe, but prefers himself to another; therefore are Reins loofed to Corruption, and a Sluice opened, that it may come out, that he who would not fee his own Image in anothers Face, may behold it in the Glafs of his own Abominations. There is no Point lefs believed than this, though gene rally confeffed, that Man is dead in Sins and Trefpaffes, and impotent to help himself. You will hardly take with Wickednefs when you confefs Weakness, as if Nature were only fick, but not dead, hurt but not killed; therefore it is that fo many do abide in themselves, and trufting to their own good Purposes and Refolutions, and Endeavours, do think to pacify God and help themfelves out of their Mifery. But, O look again, and look in upon your felves in the Glafs of the Word, and there is no doubt, but you will ftraightway be filled with Confufion of Face, and be, altogether fpoiled of good Confidence and Hope, as you call it: You will find your felf plunged in a Pit of Misery, and all Strength gone, and none on the right Hand or the left to help you; and then, and not till then, will the fecond Adam's Hand ftretched out for help be feasonable.

That which next follows is, that which is the Companion of Sin infeparably. Death bath past upon all, and that by Sin. Adam's once Difobedience opened a Port for all Sin to enter upon Mankind, and Sin cannot enter without this Companion Death Sin goes before, and Death follows on the back of it, and these fuit one another, as the Work and the Wages, as the Tree and the Fruit, they have a

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Fitnefs one to another: Sowing to Cot ruption reaps an anfwerable Harveft, to wit, Corruption. Sowing to the Wind, and reaping the Whirl-wind, how fuitable are they? That Men may know how evil and bitter a Thing Sin. is, he makes this the Fruit of it in his firft Law and Sanction given out to Men, he joins them infeparably, Sin and Death, Sin and Wrath, Sin and a Curfe.

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By Death is not only meant bodily Death, which is the Separation of the Soul from the Body, but firft the Spiritual Death of the Soul, confifting in a Separation of the Soul from God's bleffed en ightening, enlivening and comforting Countenance. Man's true Life, wherein he differs from Beafts, confifts in the right Afpect of God upon his Sout, in his Walking with God, and keeping Communion with him; all Things befides this, are but common and bafe, and this was cut off; his Comfort, his Joy and Peace in God extinct, God became terrible to his Confcience, and therefore Man did flie and was afraid, when he heard his Voice in the Garden. Sin being interpofed between God and the Soul, cut off all the Influence of Heaven. Hence arifes Darkness of Mind, Hardness of Heart, Delufions, vile Affections, Horrors of Confcience. Look what Difference is between a living Creature and a dead Carcafe, fo much is between Adam's Soul upright, living in God, and Adam's Soul feparated from God by Sin. Then upon the outward Man the Curfe redounds, the Body becomes mortal which had been incorruptible, 'tis now like a befieged City; now fome outter Forts are gained by Diseases, now by Pains and Torments, the outward Walls of the Body are at length overcome; and when Life hath fled into a Caftle within the City, the Heart, that is at laft of all

belieged fo ftraitly, and ftormed fo violently, that it muft render unto Death upon any Terms, the Body of Man is even a Seminary of a World of Difeafes and Grievances, that if Men could look uponit aright, they might fee the Sentence of Death every Day performed. Then how many Evils in Eftate, in Friends and Relations, in Imployments, which being conidered by Heathens, hath made them praife the dead more than the living, but him not yet born moft of all, because the prefent Life is nothing elfe but a Valley of Mifery and Tears, a Sea of Troubles, where one Wave continually prevents another, and comes on like Job's Meffengers; before one fpeaks out his woful Tidings, another comes with fuch like, or worse.But that which is the Sum and Accomplishment of God's Curfe and Man's Mifery, is that Death to come, eternal Death, not Death fimply, but an everlasting Destruction from the Prefence of the Lord, and the Glory of his Power: An infinite Lofs, because the Lofs of fuch a glorious Life in the Enjoyment of God's Prefence; and an infinite Hurt and Torment befide,and both Eternal. Now this is what we would lay before you, you are under fuch an heavy Sentence from the Womb, a Sentence of the Almighty, adjudging you for Adam's Guilt, and your own,, to all the Mifery in this World, and the next; to all the Treafures of Wrath that are heaped up against the Day of Wrath; and Arange it is, how we can live in Peace and not be troubled in Mind, who have fo great and formidable a Party. Be perfwaded, O be perfwaded, that there fhall not one Jot of this be removed, it must be fulfilled in you or your Cautioner. And why then is a Saviour offered, a City of Refuge opened, and fecure Sinners will not flie imo it? But as for as many as have the

inward dreadful Apprehenfion of this Wrath to come, and know not what to do, know, that to you is Jefus Chrift preached, the fecond Adam a quickning Spirit, and in that Confideration better than the firft, not only a living Soul himself, but a Spirit to quicken you who are dead in Sins, one who hath undertaken for you and will hold you faft: Adam who should have kept us, loft himself. Chrift in a manner

loft himself to fave us : And as by Adam's Disobedience all this Sin and Mifery hath abounded on Man, know, that the fecond Adam his Obedience and Righteoufnefs is of greater Vertue and Efficacy to fare and in ftead of Sin to reftore "Righteouf nefs, and in ftead of Death to give Life: Therefore you may come to him,and you fhall be more furely kept than before.

› Tim. i. 15. This is a faithful Saying, and worthy of all Acceptation, that Jefus Chrift came into the World to fave Simmers.

Fall Doctrines that ever were pub

truly apprehended, I do not think, but it

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Souls. Man being plunged into fuch a deep Pit of Mifery, Sin and Death having overflowed the whole World, and this being feen and acknowledged by a Sinner, certainly the next Queftion in order of Nature is this, hath God left all to perish in this Eftate? Is there any Remedy provided for Sin and Mifery? And this will be indeed the Query of a felf-condemned Sinner. Now there is a Plank after this broken Ship, there is an Anfwer fweet and fatisfactory to this Queftion: Jefus Chrift came into the World to fave Sinners.

is the choifeft, as you fee the very Preface prefixed to it imports; And truly, as it is the most excellent in it felf, it could not but be sweet unto us, if we had received into the Heart the Belief of our own Wretchednefs and Mifery. I do not know a more fovereign Cordial for a fainting Soul, than this faithful Saying, That Jefus Chrift came into the World 10 fave Sinners. And therefore we are moft willing to dwell on this Subject, and to inculcate it often upon you,that without him you are undone and soft, and in Him you may be faved. I profefs, all other Subjects, (howfoever they might be more pleafing to fome Hearers) are unpleasant and unfavoury to me. This is that we fhould once learn, and ever be learning to know him that came to fave us, and comely and fimply, that this is the Remedy of 10 him.

We laboured to fhew unto you the State of Sin and Mifery that Adam's frft Tranfgreffion hath fubjected all Mankind unte, which if it were really and

We shall not expatiate into many Notions about this, or multiply many Bran ches of this. The Matter is plain and fimple, and we defire to hold it out plain

Sin and Mifery. When none could be found on the right Hand or left Hand, here a Saviour from Heaven comes down from above, whence no Good could be expected, because a good God was.

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