that which is not bread, and labour for that which satisfieth not ";" when men change their glory for that which doth 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 9. Our Saviour assures us, that it is no valuable price to get the whole world by sin. And St. Austin hath assured us, that the salvation of the world, if possible, ought not to be procured by but an officious lie. But now how many times do we sin even for bare and dishonourable ends! lie for a farthing, swear for a compliment, swagger for a fashion, flatter for a preferment, murder for a revenge, 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 two-fold; an active scandal to misguide them; or a passive scandal to grieve them'; and begets in them jealousies and suspicions against our persons and professions. Scandal to the wicked; and that two-fold 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 doth 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 hath to God's acknowledged 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 a Hell must it be to a soul in Hell to recount, 'So many sabbaths God reached forth his Word unto me, so many sermons he knocked at my door, and beseeched me to be reconciled; he wooed me in his Word; allured me by his promises; expected me in much patience; enriched me 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

n Isa. lv. 2. o Jer. ii. 11, 13. P Hos. viii. 7. 9 Isa. xxx. 5. Rom. vi. 21. Aug. de mendac. ad Consentium. s Gal. ii. 14. 1 Cor. viii. 10. t Rom. v. 15. * Ezek. xvi. 51, 54.

u 2 Sam. xii. 14. 2 Cor. vi. 3, 4. 1 Pet. ii. 13.

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. God might have cut me off in the womb, and made me there a brand of Hell, as I was, by nature, a child of wrath: he might have brought me forth into the world out of the pale of his visible church, or into a corrupted synagogue, or into a place full of ignorance, atheism, and profaneness; but he hath cast my lot into a beautiful place, and given me a goodly heritage and now he requires nothing of me, but to do justly, and work righteousness, and walk humbly before God; and I requite evil for good, to the hurt of mine own soul.'

Ninthly, The manner of committing those sins is full of life too. Peradventure they are kings, have a court and regiment in my heart; at best they will be tyrants in me; they have been committed with much strength, power, service, attendance, with obstinacy, frowardness, perseverance; without such sense, sorrow, or apprehension, as things of so great a guiltiness did require.

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, uncomfortableness do shew themselves! How much flesh and spirit! 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 vain-glory in the honour of God! 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 of 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, doth convince men, that they are in the state of sin, both original and actual.

The next thing proposed was to shew,-What kind of con

dition or estate the state of sin is.—And here are two things principally remarkable: First, it is an estate of most extreme impotency and disability unto any good: Secondly, of most extreme enmity against the holiness and ways of God.

f

b

First, It is an estate of impotency and disability to any good. Paul, in his pharisaical condition, thought himself able to live without blame ; but when the commandment came, he found all his former moralities to have been but dung. Our natural estate is "without any strength";" so weak, that it makes "the law itself weak a," as unable to do the works of a spiritual, as a dead man of natural, life; for we are by nature "dead in sin "," and "held under by it." And this is a woeful aggravation of the state of sin, that a man lies in mischief, as a carcase in rottenness and dishonour, without any power to deliver himself. 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." All men are, by nature, strangers to the life of God, and foreigners from his households; able without him to do nothing, no more than a branch is to bear any fruit, when it is cut off from the "In me," fellowship of the root which would quicken it". saith the apostle, " that is, in my flesh, there dwelleth no good thing." A man is unable to break through the debt of the law, or his subjection to death and bondage, as a beast to shake off his yoke, or a dead man his funeral clothes'. In one word, so great is this impotency which is in us by sin, that we are not sufficient "to think a good thing":" not able to understand a good thing, nor to comprehend the light when it shines upon us". 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 they cannot hearken P." Our whole man unable to obey; the "carnal mind is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be."

VOL. 1.

y Phil. iii. 6. z Rom. v. 6. a Rom. viii. 3. d1 Joh. v. 19. e Joh. v. 25. f Ephes. iv. 18. i Rom. vii. 18. k Acts xv. 10. 1 Joh. xi. 44. Joh. i. 5. o Mat. xii. 34. P Jer. vi. 10. P

b Ephes. ii. 1. 8 Ephes. ii. 19. m 2 Cor. iii. 5. 9 Rom. viii. 7.

c Rom. vii. 6. h Joh. xv. 4, 5. n1 Cor. ii. 14.

The reasons hereof are these: First, Our universal, both natural and personal, impurity. We are, by nature, all flesh, children of the old Adam': children of God's wrath: and so long it is impossible we should do any thing to please God; for they that are in the flesh, "cannot please God'." A man must first be "renewed in his mind," before he can so much as make proof of what will be acceptable unto God". This natural impurity in our persons, is the ground of all impurity in our works: "for unto the unclean, every thing is unclean:" and all the fruit of an evil tree is evil fruit. And St. Paul gives the reason of it, Because our fruit should be fruit unto God, and fruit unto holiness": whereas these works of 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.

Secondly, Our natural enmity. The best performance of wicked men is but expv dupov, the gift of an enemy, and the sacrifice of fools. It proceedeth not from love, which is the bond of perfection,—that which keepeth all other requisite ingredients of good works together; which is the fulfilling of the law;' and the principle of obedience; and all willing service and conformity to Godd; and ever proceedeth from the spirit of Christ; for, by nature, we are enemies.

Thirdly, 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 doth 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;" we are "created in Christ unto good works k;" we must be one with him, before we can be sanctified1:" and this is the reason, why faith sanctifies and purifies the heart m; and, by consequence, the whole man, (for when the fountain was cleansed, all the waters were sweet ";) because faith is the bond, which fastens us unto Christ.

Fourthly, Our natural ignorance and folly. For the state

of sin is ever an ignorant estate; "Evil men understand not judgment P." The usual style that the Scripture gives sinners, even the best of sinners, those who keep themselves virgins, and escape many of the pollutions of the world, as Saint Peter speaks, is "fools';" though they know many things, yet they "know nothing as they ought to know." Now the root of our well pleasing is "Wisdom and spiritual knowledge';" that is it which makes us walk worthy of the Lord, and fruitful in good works. Whereas want of understanding is that, which makes us altogether unprofitable, that we do no good".

And now what a cutting consideration should this be to a man to consider, "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 dishonour 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 God is it that suffers me to cumber the ground, and doth not presently cast me into the fire; that suffers me, like a noisome weed, to poison the air, and choke 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 labour 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. For this is a thing, which God much delights. in, when a creature doth glorify him actively, by living unto him. He will not lose his glory by any creature, but fetch it out at last; but when the creature operates out of itself to God's end, and carries God's intention through its own work, then is he most honoured and delighted. "Herein," saith Christ, "is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit:" and herein did Christ "glorify his Father, in finishing the work which he gave him to do"." What an encouragement should this be for those, who have hitherto lived in the lusts of the flesh,-to come over to Christ and his righteousness; and for others

P Prov. xxviii. 5. q 2 Pet. ii. * Col. i. 9, 10. u Rom. iii. 11, 12.

20.

r Matth. xxv. 2.

* Ezek. xv. 4. y Joh. xv. 8.

s1 Cor. viii. 2.

z Joh. xvii. 4.