obeyed; they did abominable Works, and did no good, and this is to corrupt their Way, Pfal. xiv. 1. &c. We need not inftance this longer in this People, we ourselves are a fufficient Proof of it. and his People. If ye were to paint out to the Life a Heathen People, you needed no other Image or Pattern to copy at but this fame Description of this People. It is this that makes Mofes in the Preface turn to the Heavens and Earth, and call,We may make this Song our own, We them to hear his Song. And Isaiah be ginneth his Preaching thus, Hear Heavens, and give Ear, O Earth, &c. A ftrange Thing it must be, that fenfelefs Creatures are called to wonder at. It must surpass all the Wonders and Prodigies of Nature and Art; and what is that? I have nourifbed and brought up Children, and they bave rebelled against me, &c. If we confider what this People feemed once to be, and thought themselves to be, we may easily know how they corrupted themselves. If ye look on them at one Time, Exod. xix. 8. and Deut. v. 27. ye would call them Children. There was never a fairer Undertaking of Obedience than this, All that the Lord bath Spoken, we will do; fo that the Lord commends them for fpeaking well, Ver. 28, They have well faid all that they have spoken, Ver. 29. O that there were fuch an Heart in them. But compare all this People's Practice with this Profeffion, and you shall find it exceeding contrary; they indeed corrupted themselves, tho' they got Warning to take heed of it: Take ye therefore good beed unto your felves, left ye corrupt yourselves, Deut. iv. 15, 16. But alas, it was within them that destroyed them; there was not fucha Heart in them as to hear and obey; but they undertake, being ignorant of their owu deceitful Hearts, which were defperately wicked. And therefore, behold what Corruption enfued and followed upon fuch a profeffed Refolution; they never Looner promised Obedience, but they dif bave corrupted ourselves. Once we had a fair Shew of Zeal for God, of Love and Defire of Reformation of Life, many folemn Undertakings were that we should amend our Ways and Doings: But what is the Fruit of all? Alas, we have corrupted ourselves more nor they. Ifrael promised, but we vowed and fwore to the moft High Reformation and Amendment of Life in our Converfations and Callings. Lay this Rule to our Practices, and are we not a perverse and crooked Generation? Oh! that we were more affected with our Corruptions, and were more fenfible of them; then we could not chufe but mourn for our own and the Land's departing from God. Did not every Man vow and fwear to the most high God to endeavour Reformation of his Life, even a perfonal Reformation? But alas, where is it? He that is filthy is filthy ftill; nay, which is worse, the evil Man waxeth worse and worfe: There is a great Noife of 1 publick Reformation of Ordinances and Worship; but alas, the Deformation of Life and Practice outcries all that Noife. Nay, certainly all that is done in the Publick, muft come to no Account before God, fince our Practices outcry it. Publick Reformation is Abomination, where' perfonal Corruptions do not ceafe. This made the Jews folemn Days hateful, their Hands were full of Blood, Ifa. i. All that ye have spent on the Publick will never be reckoned, fince ye will not confecrate your Lives to God, will not give your Lufts up to him. Ye are his Ene Enemies in the nean Time, tho' you account yourselves Religion's Friends. I beseech you confider your Ways; would any of us have thought to have feen fuch Profanity, mocking of Godliness, and Ignorance in Scotland in fo short a Time? Nay, 'tis to be feared that the Day is not far off, when ye will corrupt yourselves, and do abominable Things; yea, defile yourselves as ill as the Nations that know not God. Every Man ufeth to impute his Faults to something befide himself: Ere Men take with their own Iniquity, they will charge God that gave no more Grace: But if Men knew themselves, they would deduce their Corruption and Destruction both from one Fountain, that is, from themselves. Ignorance of ourselves maketh us oft undertake fair, and promife fo well on our own Head. What was the Fountain of this People's Corruption, and apoftatizing from their Profeffions? The Lord hints at it, Deut. v. 25, &c. Ob that they bad fuch a Heart. Alas, poor People, ye know not yourselves, that fpeak fo well, I know thee better than thou doft thyself; I will declare unto thee thy own Thought; thou haft not fuch a Heart as to do what thou fayeft; there is a defperate wicked Heart within thee, that will deftroy thee by lying unto thee. If thou knewest this Fountain of origina' Corruption, thou would defpair of doing, and fay, I cannot ferve the Lord. Now here is the Fountain of the Land's Corruption this Day: Why is our Way corrupted? Because our Hearts within were not cleanfed, and because they were not known. If we had dried up the Fountain, the Streams had ceafed: But we did only damm it up, and cut off fome Streams for a Seafon: We fet up our Refolutions and Purposes as an Hedge to hold it in; but the Sea of the Heart's Iniquity, that is above all Things, hath overflowed it, and defiled our Way more than in former Times. Ye thought upon no other Thing, but that presently ye would be all changed Reople, and would reform without more ado. And thus it is with you in all your publick Repentances. But alas, you know not yourfelves; it is still within you which will yet corrupt you; and it was within us that hath undone us. We were too con. fident of ourselves, and it is no Wonder that the Lord fuffer us to prove ourselves, that we may know what is in our Heart. Now therefore, fince ye have fo often tried it, I beseech you follow not fuch a Way again. Ye are called to deny your felves, and to follow Chrift; and this is a great Part of it, that ye may never expect for any Good within yourselves,or the helping of any Evil. In me is tby Help found. Look to the Fountain of Life, Jefus Chrift, and despair of your own Hearts, for they are defperately wicked, fo wicked, that if ye knew them, ye would defpair of them, and give them over to another Hand, who can create a new Heart within you. Ye use to im pute your Back-flidings to the Times, to Temptations, to Company, and fuch like.. This is the Way that Men fhift the Challenges of Sin: The Drunkard puts it on his Companion, the Servant on his Ma fter that led him wrong, the People put Rulers in the Fault, and abfolve themfelves, and Rulers put one another in the Wrong, and abfolve themselves. But alas! all of us are ignorant of ourselves: It is not Times nor Temptations that corrupt us, but ourselves. No Man is tempted (faith James), of God, but every Man is tempted when he is drawn. away of bis own Luft and enticed James a little Leaven leaveneth the whole Lump, and all followeth: And then he that corrupted himself, is ready to corrupt others. Children that are Corrup ters, Ifa. i. 4. Every one by his Example corrupts another; and by corrupting others, they again corrupt themfelves more. O! how infectious an Evil is Sin, of a peftilentious Nature: And truly our Hearts are more ready to receive fuch Impreffions, than either a World, or a Devil is to make them. James i. 14. Temptation were no Temptation, if our Hearts were not wicked Hearts. Nay, many of us are ready to tempt Temptations, to provoke the Devil to Temptations: We caft ourselves open to Temptations. Temptation finds Luft within, and Luft within is the Mother to conceive Sin, if Temptation be the Father. Times do not bring Evils along with them, they do but difcover what was hid before: All the Evils and Corruptions you now fee among us, where were they in the Day of our first Love, when we were as a loving and beloved Child? Have all these rifen up of late. No certainly, all that you have seen and found were before, tho' they did not ap-quity? Is not this Ifrael, whose Transpear: Before they were in the Root, now you fee the Fruit. All the Apoftacy and Profanity that hath been vented in these Days, it was all fhut up within the Corners of Men's Hearts at the Beginning: Time and Temptation hath but uncovered the Heart, and made the Infide out, hath but opened a Sluice to let out this Sea of Corruption. "Tis not bred fince, but seen since. Now fo it is with us; we have corrupted ourselves, and fo we corrupt ourfelves ftill more. Backfliding cometh on as gray Hairs, here and there, and is not perceived by Beholders. Nemo repente fit turpiffimus. No Man becometh worst at first. There are many Steps between that and good. Corruption comes on Men's Way as in Fruits, fome one Part beginneth to alter, and then it groweth worfe, and putrifieth and corrupteth the reft of the Parts. An Apple rots not all at once; fo it is with us: Men begin at Leifure, but they run Poft or all be .done. In fome one Step of our Way we take Liberty, and think to keep the rest clean; but when that Part is corrupted, Their Spot is not] Why doth the Lord take Pleasure to reckon their Sins," to defcribe fo abominable a People. Is not this Jacob in whom he faw no Ini greffions are not known? Certainly if this People would have charged themselves fo, he would not have done it. He loves to forget, when we remember our Sins: But he must remember them when we forget them. What is the Lord's great Controverfy with Men? Here it is, how can ye fay or think that ye are not polluted? Or if ye take with fuch a general, yet, why is not the Conviction of your Sin and Mifery fo deeply engraven, as to purfue you out of all Hope of Remedy in yourfelves, Jer. ii. 21, 23. And therefore is thine Iniquity marked before me, faith the Lord. God hath determined not to wrong his Justice. If Men fhould go away unpunished and unjudged both, where were his Righteouf nefs? If there were no Record of Mens Tranfgreffions, were he a righteous Judge? Therefore, thofe who do not judge themselves, must leave Judgment to him: For once the Mouth of all Flefb muft be stopped, and all become Guilty before God. Why pleads the Lord with Man? Becaufe Man fays I am Innocent, I have not finned, his Anger will turn away, away, Jer. ii. 35. Will any fpeak fo in Terms? No indeed, but the Lord confructs fo of the moft Part, because they do more confider the Wrongs done to them, nor their own Wrongs done to God. All Men confess the general, that they are Sinners; but who fearches and tries his Way to find out Particulars; and in as far as ye do not charge yourfelves with particular Guiltinefs, until ye be afraid of his Anger, as long as the Confideration of your Sins is fo fuperficial and fhallow, that ye apprehend no Danger of Wrath, or Immunity from it, certainly God will plead with you. Juftice muft fo far be glorified, as once to conclude you under the Sentence of Death; If ye do it not now, then ye leave God to be your Judge and Party.. But if any Man fhall take with his Guiltinefs, till his Mouth be ftopped, and condemn himself in God's Sight. I fay, Mercy and Grace in God must not be wronged; be that judges himself shall not be judged of the Lord. What a fair Offer is this to you all? The Lord offers to you, if will in Time be your own Judges, I will refign my Judgment to you: If ye will but in Earneft pafs the Sentence, I will neither pass it nor execute it. If ye come to the Mediator Chrift Jefus, to escape from the Wrath of a Judge, you shall meet with a reconciled Father, and with fuch Love in him as fhall hide a Multitude of Offences. O the Depth and Heighth, and Breadth of that Love! Well then, it shall be a Sea to caft your Offences into, that fhall drown them. Had not his People many Spots? Is there any Man can fay, bave cleansed my Heart from Iniquity? No, not one. Yet behold, he fees no Spots in his People: He doth not make them his People because spotlefs, but he ye feeth them fpotlefs, because he makes them his People. There is no Covering that can hide Men's Uncleanness from his piercing Eye, but one, even Jefus Chrift his Righteousness: And bleft is be whofe Sins are covered. If this Covering were spread over the Mouth of all Hell, then Hell fhould have a Covering from his Eyes. If ye therefore ftrip yourselves naked of your own Pretences and Leaves, and think not yourself fecure under any created Shelter; if ye hide not your Iniquity, then it fhall be hid indeed: Here is a Covering that shall hide it from his Eyes. There is no Spot fo heinous, none fo ingrained, but the Blood of Jefus can wash it as perfectly out, as if it had never been, Ifa. xvi. 17. Tho' your Spots were fuch as are not incident to his Children, yet this Blood cleanfes from one and all, it is of an infinite Nature. But tho' it be fo, that the Blood of Chrift cleanfeth from all Sin, that there is a Fountain opened in the House of David for Sin and for Uncleanness, for Sin and Separation, for fuch hainous Offences as may separate People even from the Congregation of the Lord's People. Yet there are fome Sins, fome Spots that ordinarily his People are not des filed with, and in this Refpect they may be called boly and undefiled in the Way. There are fome Marks and Characters of unregenerated Men, fo legible and exprefs, that we may even read from Men's Converfation, that they are not the Children of God. Tho' the Blood of Christ wash from all, yet the Child of God ordinarily is kept from fome Kind of Spots, fo that if a Man fhall be spotted with them, 'tis no marvel he queftion if he be a Child or not. There are two, which I think fo grofs and unclean Spots, that I cannot conceive how a Soul washen by Tit Jefus can he love the Father: He that hates Jefus Chrift can be defiled with them: one is, a Courfe of Profanity: The common Walk of the Multitude is fo grofs and profane, fo void of God and Godlinefs, that it witne ffeth to their Face that they are not the Sons of God: He that is born of God finneth not: He maketh not Sin his Way and Trade to walk into, and please himself into. What are the moft Part of you, I pray you? Is Your Spot like the Spot of his Children? Do not ye declare your Sin as Sodom, ye Drunkards, who wallow in it daily, and tho' ye profefs Repentance, yet never amend? Ye who have a Cuftom of fwearing and blafpheming his holy Name, do not ye carry in your Forehead a Spot that is not like his Children? The Child of God may fall in many Particulars, but it is not the Spot of a Child to continue in them, to add Drunkenness to Thirst, and yet to dream of efcaping Wrath. I pray you confider it, for it is of great Moment. Do ye carry fuch a black Mark, the Devil's Mark? O! do not think yourselves fafe. May not this perfuade you? Do but compare yourselves in your Converfe and Walk with an Heathen without the Church; fet afide your publick Profeffion of coming to the Church, and hearing the Word, and Church Privileges: And is there Difference vifible between you and them? Many of you pray no more in Secret, or in your Families, nor they: Ye curfe and fwear as they, ye are covetous and worldly as they; and, if ye can, do but draw a Line of Difference; and if yeclared manifeft Character of a Child of cannot, then I ask what are ye? Is not this the Spot of Baftards? Another Spot is, Hatred of Godliness and the Godly: This is indeed the most lively Image of the Devil: bo bates bis Brother is of the Devil. He that hates the Son the Devil to it, to hate Godliness in others. There were fome Hope of you, if ye held it in Reverence and Eftimation where ye faw it. There are many others Spots not incident to his Children, as this, that Men will not take with their |