What these sins are, and how much it | mating the different degrees of guilt, reconcerneth us all to avoid them, I shall gard must always be had to the nature endeavor to show in the sequel of this dis- of the temptation; for, according to the course; and, as my text is a prayer, I strength of that, the pride or perverseness shall conclude with some directions for of the sinner is proportionally diminished; the help of those who are willing to make especially if it appear that he did not go it their own prayer, and wish to offer it forth to meet the temptation, but was reup with acceptance and success. ally overtaken by it, in the proper sense of that word, and hurried along with its violence, before his mind could have freedom or leisure to reflect and reason upon the matter.

not."

norance;

By presumptuous sins, we are to understand something different from those unavoidable failings, on account of which it is said, that "there is not a just man upon earth, who doeth good, and sinneth Perfection in holiness is not the attainment of our present state; the best offend in many things; and "if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. There are some sins done through ig. and this circumstance, how great soever the offence may be in its own nature, doth certainly render the case of the offender more pitiable. We find "the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus," pleading this argument for mercy to his murderers; "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." St. "Paul obtained mercy, who was before a blasphemer, a persecutor, and injurious, because he did it ignorantly." And the Judge himself hath assured us, (Luke xii. 48.) that "the servant who knew not his Lord's will, and did commit things worth of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes."

Having premised these distinctions, we shall now be able to discover, with greater ease and certainty, those peculiar ingredients which render sin presumptuous.

Knowledge is the first. This, as I have already hinted, must lie at the root of every presumptuous sin. He is rather unfortunate than faulty, who, by mistake or accident, hurteth one in the dark; but he who doth it in broad day, and with his eyes open, betrays malevolence, or wicked intention, which doth not admit of any extenuation. It was this that rendered the unbelieving Jews altogether inexcusable, according to the declaration of our Saviour, (John xv. 22.) "If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin; but now they have no cloak for their sin." Knowledge then being supposed as an essential ingredient.

The sin becomes more presumptuous when it is the fruit of deliberation and contrivance; when the person ruminates and plots, and lays schemes for executing his criminal designs. Such a transgressor is described, (Prov. vi. 14.) "Frowardness is in his heart, he deviseth mischief continually ;" and again, (Psalm xxxvi. 4.) "He deviseth mischief upon his bed; he setteth himself in a way that is not good; he abhorreth not evil."

There are other sins into which men are hurried by sudden and violent temptation, which the apostle, writing to the Galatians, calls " being overtaken in a fault,” (Gal. vi. 1.,)" outwitted, as it were, and taken by surprise. In this case, he exhorts the brethren to restore such an one in the spirit of meekness;" and the argument he useth is very remarkable; The presumption is farther heightened, "considering thyself, lest thou also be when obstinacy is added to knowledge tempted." It farther dserves our notice, and deliberation; when the transgressor that the persons to whom the exhortation" holdeth fast his iniquity, and will not let is addressed are supposed to be "spirit- it go," but rusheth forward in his wicked ual;" yet even to these he recommends course, even as the horse rusheth into compassion and tenderness, because the battle." Such was the temper which the violence of the temptation might, in like Jews expressed in their answer to Jerecircumstances, have overcome themselves. miah, (Jerem. xliv. 16.) "As for the word "Men do not despise a thief," said the which thou hast spoken to us in the name wise king of Israel, "if he steal to satis of the Lord, we will not hearken unto fy his soul when he is hungry." In esti- thee, but will certainly do whatsoever

thing goeth forth out of our own mouth." | this alleviation can be pleaded; let this

And to this obstinacy the epithet of presumptuous is directly applied, (Deut. i. 43.) where Moses saith, "I spake unto you, but ye would not hear, but rebelled against the commandment of the Lord, and went presumptuously up into the hill."

first act be supposed involuntary, the ef fect of some sudden disorder in the mind; what becomes of the next? that must necessarily be presumptuous; for the repetition of so unnatural a sin may be easily prevented, if the person hath a real abhorrence of it, and useth any efforts to guard against it. But, alas! how many are there who swear alike, whether they be angry or well pleased; who imprecate damnation upon themselves out of mere wantonness, and make such horrid oaths

Again, if the warnings and reproofs of men be accompanied with the remonstrances of conscience, and enforced by the motions of the Holy Spirit, these give a yet deeper tincture to the sinner's presumption, and render his obstinacy still more criminal. With such guilt were the Jew-a principal part of their familiar converish rulers directly charged by the first martyr Stephen, (Acts vii. 51.) "Ye stiffnecked, and uncircumcised in heart and in ear, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost; as your fathers did, so do ye.'

sation. If any who hear me are guilty in this manner, let me prevail with them to pause for a little, till they have seriously considered what they are doing. It cost the Redeemer much to purchase salvation But the sin becomes presumptuous in for you, not only prayers, but blood too: the highest degree, when, besides the re- and dare you pray that your souls may monstrances of conscience, and the striv- have no share in it? This is the height ings of the Holy Spirit, God, by some of madness: Damnation is easily obtained; awful dispensations of his Providence, you need not pray for it; if you apply not hedgeth up the sinner's way as with the remedy, you perish of course: but it thorns," and yet he will break through. is not so easy to be saved; and must not Upon this account a distinguished brand these imprecations, which you have just of infamy is set upon Ahaz in the sacred cause to fear are recorded against you, history; of whom it is said, (2 Chron. increase the difficulty, and remove you xxviii. 22.) "In the time of his dis- farther from the road of mercy ? Think tress did he trespass yet more against the of this, O sinners! before it be too late, Lord;" to which it is subjoined, with a and speedily forsake this presumptuous sin. peculiar emphasis, "This is that king Ahaz," that obstinate, that incorrigible offender, who stands on record as an awful beacon, for a warning to all succeeding generations. These, I apprehend, are the principal ingredients which render sin presumptuous.

Perjury is still more inexcusable, as it cannot even borrow the pretext of passion or suprise, but is a cool, deliberate act of the most daring impiety. The person who swears in judgment has not only abundance of leisure to consider what he is about to say, but the very manner of And from this description it will ap-administering an oath, in all the courts I pear, there are some sins which must al-know, has something in it peculiarly solways be presumptuous, and do not admit emn and awful, on purpose, no doubt, to of any palliation. stir up conscience to perform its office, and to oblige it to be faithful. Nay, Nay, the very words of an oath in judgment, express an immediate appeal to the Searcher of hearts, in the tremendous character of final Judge; and conseqently imply, not only the person's consent to accept damnation as the punishment of his falsehood, if he shall conceal or deny what he knows to be the truth, but even a formal and solemn adjuration of God to inflict damnation upon him; which is the highest degree of presumption that can possibly

Profane swearing is evidently of this kind. It hath no claim to pleasure, and as little to profit; the swearer seems to be wicked from pure malice, merely for the sake of being wicked. In vain do men plead provocation; for injure them who will, surely God doth them no injury; and if a fellow creature offend them, that can never afford them a reason for affronting their Creator, who is continually doing them good. Besides, it is only one instance of profane swearing for which even

be imagined.

But though perjury be a be guilty, that they may not waste their lie with peculiar aggravations; yet there precious time in seeking after excuses to can be no lies of whatever kind which are defend them against the heavy charge of not presumptuous in one degree or other, presumption, but may, without a moment's inasmuch as they always require some ex- delay, humble themselves in the presence ercise of invention to make them, and of that God whom they have so grievoususually a great deal more to support their | ly offended, imploring his pardoning mercredit, and to keep them in countenance cy for what is past, and his powerful grace after they are made. to restrain them for the future.

Theft must in every case be presumptuous; it is a work of time which requires much thought and cunning to adjust the plan of operation, and no less address and conduct in carrying it into execution. Besides, the thief has many restraints to break through, not only the inward conviction of the wrong done to his neighbor, but the fears of a discovery likewise, and that disgrace and punishment with which it will certainly be attended.

The great importance of his restraint to us all, or how much it concerneth us to be kept back from every presumptuous sin, was the second thing I proposed to illustrate. And this will appear from two considerations.

1st. That such sins are most heinous in their nature; and, 2dly, most pernicious in their effects and consequences.

1st. They are most heinous in their nature. The language of the proud sinner The same may be said of "whore- is, Who is Lord over me? He either dismongers and adulterers, whom God will owns the authority of God, or bids him judge." For though such transgressors defiance, and provokes him to jealousy, as commonly plead the violence of tempta- if he were stronger than he. Thus it is tion; yet, as I have already observed, this written. (Numbers xv. 3.) The soul by itself cannot excuse from presumption that doeth aught presumptuously, reunless the temptation be so sudden and proacheth the Lord; reproacheth his surprising, that it gives the person no lei- knowledge, as if God was ignorant of his sure to exercise his reason; which I am wickedness; or his justice and truth, as if persuaded is seldom or never the case. he would not punish it; or his power, as if These works of darkness are usually gone he could not. And what horrid impiety about with greater caution and secrecy is this! O sinners, think of it: your than are consistent with mere passion; so known wilful sins cannot possibly be vinthat reason hath been employed, though dicated from this charge; all I have now in a wrong way: and this is one of those said, and a great deal more, shall be ingredients that render sin presumptuous. made good against you at last, when God We may likewise say of drunkenness, shall enter into judgment with your souls.. that in the most cases it is presumptuous. It is vain for you to plead that you do not It is an excess which one can scarcely be directly intend these things. I verily be surprised into, unless the liquor be mixed lieve you think so; for, proud and stub with some pernicious drug, or hath some born as you are, I am confident that you peculiar quality with which he is utterly dare not utter such blasphemies before. unacquainted. But this, I suppose, is a God, nor even avow them to your own. case that rarely happens. It usually takes hearts. But doth it follow from thence, some time before a person be intoxicated; that you are not chargeable with them.? and drunkenness comes on by such gradu- The fallacy of this reasoning can easily beal advances, that one hath sufficient op- detected. Tell us, do you intend your portunity to observe its approach, and to own damnation? I need not wait for an make his escape, if he is not otherwise answer; I am sure you do not. Pray, determined. then, what meaning have you at all? You. wilfully transgress the laws of God, but you do not intend to be punished for it: on the contrary, you shudder at the prospect of suffering, and would certainly oppose it with all your might. This is one

So that all these sins are evidently presumptuous; and as they are too commonly practised among us, I thought it my duty to mention them in particular, for the sake of those who know themselves to

side. On the other hand, you say, that |
you have no direct intention to injure or
insult the majesty of God; you mean no
prejudice to his authority; nor to any of
his perfections, his wisdom, holiness, jus-
tice, or almighty power. Can any body
reconcile these two opposites? You are
unwilling to be miserable; and yet you
are willing that God should possess those
tremendous attributes, by the exercise of
which you must be made miserable. This
is a flat contradiction. The case is plain,
whether you perceive it or not; you would
certainly dethrone God if you could; you
would reverse his laws, or disarm his
power, that you might follow your inclina-

tions without fear or control: And this is
the disposition of every presumptuous
sinner, though perhaps his heart may be
so hard and unfeeling as not to perceive
it. These remarks may suffice to show,
of what a heinous nature presumptuous
sins are. I added, in the

2d place, That they are likewise most pernicious in their effects and consequen

ces.

tence God lays an inhibition, if I may so speak, upon every thing that might either restrain or reclaim the offender; he withdraws his despised grace, and suffers him to wallow in that filthiness he hath chosen, till the fire that is not quenched shall awaken him to a fruitless, despairing conviction of his folly.

But as this judgment is, in a peculiar manner, "God's strange work," to which he never proceeds till all reclaiming methods have been tried and baffled; let us suppose, if you please, that the sinner bcgins to awaken out of his lethargy; yet how dismal must the effects of his presumptuous sins be, even in this case? Oh! what horror will the remembrance of them raise in his mind? How will they discourage him in his addresses for mercy, to that God whom he hath so imprudently af fronted and defied to his face? How will they damp his expectations of pardon, when God sets them all in battle array before him, and conscience takes hold of that dreadful sentence against the presumptuous transgressor, (Numbers xv. 31.) "Because he hath despised the word of the Lord, and hath broken his commandment; that soul shall be utterly cut off; his iniquity shall be upon him?" If so good a man as Heman was obliged to cry out, "While I suf fer thy terrors I am distracted;" what must be the condition of the newly awakened, presumptuous sinner?

Every wilful sin hardens the heart, and renders it less penetrable than it was before; one conviction overcome, makes way for the conquest of another, and that of a third, and so on; the sinner by degrees waxeth stout against God, till at length every bond that should restrain him is broken asunder, and his heart becomes "fully set in him to do evil." This is Nay, let us suppose, that God hath the natural effect of presumptuous sinning: spoken peace to his soul, and given him conscience being often violated, grows cal-reason to hope that his iniquities are forlous and insensible, or, in the language of given; yet these sins of presumption alScripture, "seared as with a hot iron;" so ways leave behind them the scars of those that it not only loseth its authority, but gashes which they made upon the heart: in great measure its feeling also, and suf- and as deep bodily wounds, even after they fers the sinner to rush forward in his have been closed, are apt to ache upon a wicked course without check or remorse. change of weather; so any variation in the But this is not all: These presumptu-person's lot that is capable of being conous sins have not only a hardening influence upon the heart, but they likewise provoke God to inflict a judicial hardness upon it, which of all his judgments is by far the most terrible; for this, as it were, seals up the sinner to final condemnation, and renders his recovery not only difficult, but utterly impossible. Ephraim is joined to his idols," saith God; "let him alone: " he is obstinately bent upon idolatry, give him no disturbance. By this awful sen

strued into a token of God's anger, will recall to his memory those pardoned iniquities, and make them a fresh occasion of grief and anguish to his doubting, perplexed soul.

Besides, though pardon secures against final condemnation, yet sins of this kind are seldom remitted without some visible testimony of God's displeasure. What calamities befell the author of this psalm, even after the prophet had intimated to

Will

him, that "the Lord had put away his sin?" in his punishment, but even obliged him, His daughter ravished; the incestuous as you have heard, by a solemn exercise brother slain; Absalom invades both his of repentance, which is left upon record throne and his bed; the bulk of his sub for the use of the church, to publish his jects desert him; and he himself, accom- confession of it to all succeeding generapanied with a few remaining friends, is tions. Have you no apprehension that driven into the wilderness, and hard put something of a similar kind may befall to it to shift for his life. And though yourselves? Cannot God disclose your David was chargeable with many failings, secret sins if he pleaseth? And have you and some of them gross enough, yet in the not cause to fear that he will do it, from character which the inspired historian hath what he said to David: "Thou didst it given of him, they are all passed over in si- secretly; but I will do this thing before lence, except his complicated guilt in all Israel, and before the sun?" the matter of Uriah; but that is express- God show greater tenderness to your rely mentioned, and left as a blot upon the putation than to that of the man accordname of this great and good man, to deter ing to his own heart? May he not, in his others from such deliberate and presump-righteous displeasure, permit that lust, tuous sins; for thus it is written (1 Kings which you presumptuously cherish in your xv. 5.) “David did that which was right bosom, to grow so strong, that all your in the eyes of the Lord, and turned not cunning shall not be able to keep it withaside from any thing that he commanded in bounds? and then it will fly abroad, him all the days of his life, save only in and become public of course. I beg you the matter of Uriah the Hittite." Nay, may attend to this: I confess it is a moDavid with his own hand hath recorded tive of the lowest kind; but low as it is, his guilt in the 51st Psalm, where to this you ought at least to take its aid, till you day he professes his shame and sorrow, get a relish for others of a more ingenuous and will continue to do so as long as God and spiritual nature. shall have a church upon earth. When Consider, farther, what inward torment these things are attended to, the im- you must one day feel: at present, perportance of being kept back from pre-haps, conscience is asleep; but it shall sumptuous sins must appear to us in the strongest and most affecting light.

not always sleep: affliction may awaken it; the approach of death most probably Let me now address those whose con- will; and then "shall your fear come as sciences bear witness, that they have often desolation, and your destruction as a transgressed in this manner, and are liv- whirlwind: distress and anguish shall then ing perhaps at this very time in the habit- come upon you;" for in that awful season, ual indulgence of some presumptuous sin." the Lord shall give thee a trembling Have you seriously considered the danger heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of you are exposed to? David's case, which mind. David's case, which mind. And thy life shall hang in doubt I just now mentioned, suggests to me one before thee, and thou shalt fear day and argument that may possibly have weight night, and shalt have none assurance of with you. Some of you, perhaps, are sly thy life. In the morning thou shalt say, offenders; so cunning in your way, that Would God it were even; and at even the world hath not found you out. But, thou shalt say, Would God it were mornsay, would it not give you pain to think, ing, for the fear of thine heart wherewith that one day you should be discovered? thou shalt fear, and for the sight of thine Now, what assurance have you that this eyes which thou shalt see." Or if this shall never happen? David, I suppose, seem not misery enough, look forward a conducted his criminal pursuit with as little farther to the tremendous issue: much address and secrecy as you can do; "Who can dwell with devouring flames? and after it had lain buried for the space who can lie down in everlasting burnings?" of nine months, I am persuaded he was as Yet this, O sinners, must be your portion, fearless of a discovery as you presently are: if you live and die in rebellion against yet God detected him in an extraordinary God. The sweetness of sin passeth quickmanner, and not only made his sin visible ly away, but the sting of it is perpetual: