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serve that there is some difference. As in harvest ordinarily there is an increase; he that sows a peck, may haply reap a quarter;-so the hypocrite here sows wind, but he reaps a whirlwind; he sowed vanity, but he shall reap fury :-for the fury of the Lord is compared to a whirlwind. God will not be honoured with a lie: "Shall a man lie for God?" This argument the apostle useth to prove the resurrection ; because "else," saith he, we are found false witnesses of God:" and God doth not stand in need of false witnesses to justify his power or glory. "Why takest thou my word into thy mouth, seeing thou hatest to be reformed?" We read", that in one of the states of Greece, if a scandalous man had lighted upon any wholesome counsel for the honour and advantage of the country, yet the commonweal rejected it as from him, and would not be beholding to an infamous and branded person. And surely Almighty God can as little endure to be honoured by wicked men, or to have his name and truth by them usurped in a false profession. When the Devil, who useth to be the father of lies, would needs confess the truth of Christ, "I know who thou art, even Jesus the Son of the living God;" we find our Saviour as well rebuking him for his confession, as, at other times, for his temptations because, when the Devil speaks a lie, he speaks 'de suo,' he doth that which becomes him: but when he speaks the truth, and glorifies God, he doth that which is improper for his place and station, (for "who shall praise thee in the pit?") he speaks then 'de alieno,' of that which is none of his own; and then he is not a liar only by professing that which he hates, but a thief too. And surely, when men take upon them the name of Christ, and a show of religion, and yet deny the power' thereof,-they are not only liars in professing a false love, but thieves too in usurping an interest in Christ, which indeed they have not; and are like to have no happier success with God, (who cannot be mocked) than false pretenders have with men, who, under assumed titles of princes deceased, have laid claim to kingdoms. God will deal with such men, as we read that Tiberius dealt with a base pretender to a crown; when, after

с

y 1 Cor. xv.

b Psa!. lxxxviii. 11.

z Psal. 1. 16, 17.

¿vóŋoe wây tò OÚvтayμa.

a A. Gellius, Noct. Attic. 1. 18. c. iii. Ολον τὸ σῶμα σκληρότερόν τε καὶ δουλόφανες καταμαθών, Joseph. de Bello Judaico, 1. 2. cap. v.

long examination, he could not catch the impostor tripping in his tale, at last he consulted with the habit and shape of his body; and finding there not the delicacy and softness of a prince, but the brawniness and servile fashion of a mechanick, he startled the man with so unexpected a trial, and so wrung from him a confession of the truth. And, surely, just so God will deal with such men, as usurp a claim unto his kingdom, and prevaricated with his name; he will not take them on their own words, or empty professions, but examine their hands if he find them hardened in the service of sin, he will then stop their mouth with their own hand, and make themselves the argument of their own conviction.

Thirdly, The power of pious and virtuous education; for many men have their manners, as the collier had his faith, merely by tradition, and upon credit from their forefathers. So St. Paul, before his conversion, lived, as touching the law, unblameably in his own esteem, because he had been a Pharisee of the Pharisees. Many times we may observe amongst men, that contrariety of affections proceeds from causes homogeneal and uniform, and that the same temper and disposition of mind will serve to produce effects in appearance contrary. When two men contend with much violence to maintain two different opinions, it may easily be discerned by a judicious stander-by, that it is the same love of victory, the same contentious constitution of spirit, which did foster those extreme discourses; and many times men would not be at such distance in tenets, if they did not too much concur in the pride and vain-glory of an opinionative mind. And surely so it is in matters of religion and practice; many times courses, extremely opposite, are embraced out of the self-same uniform frame and temper of spirit. A humour pertinaciously to adhere to the ways, which a man hath been bred in, may, upon contrary educations, produce contrary effects, and yet the principal reason be the same; as it is the same vigour and virtue of the earth, which from different seeds, put into it, produceth different fruits. So then, a man may abstain from many evils, and do many good things, merely out of respect to

d Christi nomen induere, et non per Christi viam pergere, quid aliud est quam prævaricatio divini nominis? Cypr. de zelo et livore.

their breeding, out of a native ingenuity, and fair opinion of their fathers' piety, without any such experimental and convincing evidence of the truth, or spiritual and holy love of the goodness, by which the true members of Christ are moved unto the same observances.

Fourthly, The legal and affrighted power which is in the Word, when it is set on by a skilful Master of the Assemblies. For though nothing but the evangelical virtue of the Word begets true and spiritual obedience, yet outward conformity may be fashioned by the terror of it. As nothing but vital, seminal, and fleshly principles can organize a living and true man; yet the strokes and violence of hammers and other instruments, being moderated by the hand of a cunning worker, can fashion the shape of a man in a dead stone. As Ahab was humbled by the Word in some degree, when yet he was not converted by it.

e

Fifthly, The power of a natural illightened conscience, either awakened by some heavy affliction, or affrighted with the fear of judgment, or, at best, assisted with a temper of generousness and ingenuity, a certain nobleness of disposition, which can by no means endure to be condemned by its own witness, nor to adventure on courses which do directly thwart the practical principles to which they subscribe. For, as I observed before, many men, who will not do good obedientially with faith in the power, with submission to the will, with aim at the glory of him that commands it, will yet do it rationally, out of the conviction and evidence of their own principles. And this the apostlef calls "a doing by nature the things contained in the law," and a "being a law to a man's self." Now though this may carry a man far, yet it cannot pull down the kingdom of sin in him; and that for these reasons: First, it doth not subdue all sin,-all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, and so perfect holiness in the fear of God. Drive a swine out of one dirty way, and he will presently into another, because it was not his disposition, but his fear which turned him aside. Where there are many of a royal race, though hundreds be destroyed, yet if any one that can prove his descent, do remain

e Ne in iis, in quibus obtemperant, obsequuntur. Salv. lib. iii. f Rom. ii. 14. g 2 Cor. vii. 1.

alive, the title and sovereignty runs into him, (as we see in the slaughter which Athaliah made): so is sin; if any one be left to exercise power over the conscience without control, the kingdom over a man's soul belongs unto that sin. Secondly, Though it were possible (which yet cannot be supposed) for a natural conscience to restrain and kill all the children of sin, yet it cannot rip up, nor make barren the womb of sin, that is, lust and concupiscence, in which the reign of sin is founded. Nature cannot discover, much less can it bewail or subdue it. As long as there is a Devil to cast in the seeds of temptations, and lusts to cherish, form, quicken, ripen them,-impossible it is but sin must have an offspring to reign over the soul of man. Thirdly, All the proficiencies of Nature cannot make a man's endeavours good before God; though they may serve to excuse a man to himself, yet not unto God. "If one bear holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, and with his skirt doth touch flesh, shall it be clean?" saith the Lord in the propheti: "And the priest answered, No. But if one who is unclean by a dead body, touch any of these, shall it be unclean? And the priest answered, It shall be unclean. So is this people, and so is this nation before me, saith the Lord, and so are all the works of their hands before me; they are unclean." They think, because they are the seed of Abraham, and dwell in the land of promise, and have my worship, and oracles, and sacrifices, not in their hearts, but only in their lips and hands, which are but the skirts of the soul, that therefore doubtless they are clean; but whatever they are before themselves, in their own eyes and estimation, -yet before me, neither the privilege of their persons, Abraham's seed,-nor the privilege of their nation, the Land of Promise, nor the privilege of their mere outward obedience, the works of their hands,-nor the privilege of their ceremonies and worship, that which they offer before me,— can do them any good; but they, and all they do, is unclean in my sight. Offerings and sacrifices in themselves were holy things; but yet unto them, saith the Lord, to a revolting and disobedient people, they shall be "as the bread of mourners,” that is, unclean. And the prophets' elsewhere

h 2 Chr. xxii. 23. 21, 22. Jer. vi. 20.

i Hag. ii. 11, 14.

k Hos. ix. 4.

I Amos v.

intimate the reason; "I hate, I despise your feast-days, I will not smell in your solemn assemblies: though you offer me your meat-offerings, I will not accept them; neither will I regard the peace-offerings of your fat beasts. Your burntofferings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifice sweet unto me." Though the things be done, by God's institution, yet the evil performance of them makes them ours; that is, sinful and unclean. Mercy itself without faith, which ought to be the root of all obedience, is a sinful mercy; mercy in the thing, but sin to the man.

Sixthly, The sway and bias of self-love", and particular ends. When a man's disposition looks one way, and his ends carry him another, that motion is ever a sinful motion; because though it be suitable in outward conformity to the rule, yet it is a dead motion,-like that of poppets or inanimate bodies, which have no principle of motion in themselves, but are carried about by the spring or weight which hangs unto them (for a man's ends are but his weights): and so the obedience which comes from them, is but a dead obedience, which the apostle makes the attribute of sinful works, and St. James', of a diabolical faith. The act of Jehu, in rooting out the house of Ahab, and the priests of Baal, was a right zealous action in itself, and by God commanded; but it was a mere murder, as it was by Jehu executed, because he intended not the extirpation of idolatry, but only the erecting and establishing of his own throne. To preach the word, is in itself a most excellent work; yet to some there is a reward' for it, to others only a dispensation,' as the apostle' distinguisheth; and he gives us, as there, so elsewhere, the reasons of it, drawn from the several ends of men; "Some preach Christ out of envy; and others, out of good will." To give good counsel, for the prevention of approaching danger, is a work of a noble and charitable disposition, as we see in Jonathan towards David': but in Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, who dissuaded Amos" from preaching at the court, because of the king's displeasure,

Vestra dicit quæ secundum libidinem suam, non secundum religionem Dei celebrando, sua jam, non Dei, fecerant. Tert. cont. Marc. 1. 2. cap. 22. n Vitium est infidelitate misereri. Aug. o Heb. vi. 14. P Jam. ii. 17. 42 Kings ix. 6, 7. t1 Sam. xix. 2, xx. 37, 42.

r 2 Cor. ix. 17. u Amos vii. 10, 13.

s Phil. i. 15.