THE CHRISTIAN'S FAMILY LIBRARY No. II. HALYBURTON'S WORKS. COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME. i 1 ^i ti-.. EiU' iT.l'itai ScoU Wasg' llY?l^®f MAlL^BWIEl'©!^ PUBLISHED BY BLACKIE & S0¥ fTLASGC^\\^ THE WORKS REV. THOMAS HALYBURTON; CONTAINING, THE GREAT CONCERN OF SALVATION- TREATISE ON NATURAL AND REVEALED RELIGION- COMIM UNION SERMONS— AND MEMOIRS, AN ESSAY ON HIS LIFE AND W R I TI N G S REV. ROBERT BURNS, D. D. P A I S L E Y. COftlPLETE IN ONE VOLUME. GLASGOW: BLACKIE AND SON, 8, EAST CLYDE STREET, AND 5, SOUTH COLLEGE STREET, EDINBURGH; \V. CURRY, JUN. & CO., DUBLIN; AND SIMPKIN & MARSHALL, LONDON. MDCCCXXXIII. C:LASr.()\V : GFOROK BRUOK>IAN, PHINTER, MIIAHHH. MDCCLXXXUl. PUBLfSHERS' PREFACE. The Publishers have much pleasure in laying before the public, as the second of their series of tlie Christian Library, the first complete edition of the works of Halyburton. The works of this justly celebrated man have endeared his memory to all those who have at heart the interest of true and undefiled religion — from the rare combination they exhibit of Christian humility and devotion, and acute reasoning powers exercised in liis defence of Christia- nity. His writings present to our view an admirable specimen of sound doctrine, accuracy of reasoning, and sublime, vital, and practical views of the gospel of our Saviour ; and his life, as recorded by himself in these pages, displays great spirituality of feeling, the elevated experience of an enlightened mind, and tlie application of knowledge on religious subjects to his heart and his liabits. His religion was not of that speculative kind which rests contented with theory, nor of that philosophical description which is satisfied with the mere performance of social duties ; he knew, felt, and exhibited the necessity of regeneration, or the sanctify- ing influence of the Spirit of Christ, to fit us to become the chil- dren of God. The learning and talent he displayed, in his advo- cacy of the cause of truth against the erroneous notions of several deists of his day, abundantly prove the futility of the notions of those who imagine, that high intellectual attainments are incom- patible with what the world calls enthusiasm in religion. The learned editor's excellent preface contains a very just appreciation of the merits of Halyburton, and will abundantly repay a careful and attentive perusal. To render this edition more generally use- ful, a translation has been given of the Latin and Greek quota- tions frequently occurring throughout the work, and which, though now uncommon, were very usually introduced into public addiesses in Halyburton's day. The Publishers trust that the author's " testimony to the truth of the gospel and the power of godliness, given with a living pen and with dying lips," may be instrumental in producing in many " the hope of eternal life, whicli God, that cannot lie, promised befoie the world began." CONTENTS. Introductory Essay, . . . ix THE GREAT CONCERN OF SALVATION. Recommendation, . . . I Preface, ..... 3 Introductory Sermon, . . .7 Part I. — A discovery of man's natural state, or, tlip^-Tuilty sinner convicted, • . 21 Part II. — Man's recovery l)y faith in Christ ; or the convinced sinner's case and cure, . 81 Part III.— The Christian's duty, with re- spect to buth personal and family religion, . 193 N.ATURAL AND REVEALED RELIGION. Epistle of Recommendation, . . 251 Prefaces, ..... 255 Introduction, . . . .262 Chap. I Rise, occasion, and progress of Deism, in England, the opinions of the deiats, and the dificrent sorts ot tliem, . 273 Chap. II. — Mortal Deists who, and what judgment to be made of them and their sentiments, .... 285 Chap. III. — Conti'oversy betwixt us and the immortal deists stated and cleared, . 288 Chap. IV. — Proof of the iusutRciency of na- tural religion, 1st, from the insufficiency of its discoveries of a Deity, . . £93 Chap. V. — 2nd, From its defectiveness in di- recting as to the worship of God, . 30G Chap. VI — 3rd, From its defectiveness in dis. covering wherein man's happiness lies, . 310 Cliap. VII. — 1th, From not affording a sufli. cient rule of duty, .... 321 Chap. VIII— 5th, From its defects as to suf- cient motives for enforcing obedience, . 329 Chap. IX.— Cth, From its insufficiency in discovering the origin of sin . .334 Chap. X. — 7th, From its inability to disco, verthe means of obtaining pardon of sin, or to show that it is attainable, . . 3U Sect. I.— Wherein the importance of the dif- ficulty is stated, .... 314 Sect II.— Showing the darkness of the light of nature as to pardon, . . . 3jl Sect. III.— Wherein it is inquired whether repentance is sufficient to atone for sin, how far the light of nature enables to it, wnat assurance nature's light gives of pardon upon repentance, . . 350 Pago. . 393 . 405 . 413 . 417 4-25 . 441 Digression. — A short digression concerning God's government of the heath!>n world. Chap. XI. — 8th, Insufficiency of natural re- ligion to eradicate our inclinations to sin, or subdue its power. Chap. XII — 9th, Concluded from a general view of the experience of the world. Chap. XIII. — A transition to the deists' pleas fur their opinion, and particular notice of the articles to which they reduce their catholic religion, &c. Chap. XIV. — Whether Herbert has proved that his five articles did universally nbtain, Chap. XV. — Proof that Herbert's five articles did not universally obtain. Chap. XVI. — General considerations proving that many of the best things Avhich are to be met with in the heathens, were not the discoveries of the light of nature, but came from tradition, . . 452 Chap. XVII — What Herbert's opinion was as to the sufficiency of his articles, and some retlections, showing how foolish and ridiculous the pretences of the deists to their sufficiency are, . . . 456 Chap. XVIII — Answer to some of the prin- cipal arguments of the deists for the sufficiency of natural religion, . . 464 Chap. XIX.— Herbert's reasons for publish- ing his books in defence of deism exa- mined and found weak, . . . 475 Chap. XX — Queries ofl'eredby Herbert and Blount, for proving the sufficiency of their five articles examined, • . 481 CONCERNING THE NATURE OF FAITH. Chap. I — General remarks cor.cerningknow- ledge,faith, and particularly divine faith, and that both as to the faculty and act- ings thereof, .... 505 Chap. II. — Nature of that faith, which in duty we are obliged to give to the word of God, our obligation to, and our abi- lity for answering our duty, . . 507 Chap. Ill — The ground, or the formal rea- son, whereon faith assents to the Scrip- tures; opinion of the rationalists about it, and particularly as stated by Mr Locke on the Human Understanding, . 510 WHETHER REGENERATION OR JUS- TIFICATION HAS THE PRECEDEN- CY IN THE ORDER OF NATURE, . M7 CONTENTS. NATURE OK GOD'S ACT OF JUSTI- FICATION, . . . 5^9 COMMUNION SERMONS. Preface, ..... .WJ Sermim I — 1 ho Lnrd's feast, or, the enter- taiimipiits (if God's liouse opened, . 570 Sermon II — Christ crucified ; or the wisdom and power of God in him rendering the gospel call eftectual, . ■ . 581 Sermon III.— Divine manifestations; with their ends and advantages issuing in Christian obedience and establishment, . 5S!) Sermon IV — The frame of a gracious soul in view of communion with Christ, . COl Sermon V — Christ the beauty and safety of believers, ..... 615 Sermon VI — Faith's views of the glory of God; or the triumpti of Faith, . .633 TWO SEIIMONS IMUCACHEU ON OCCASION OF THE DEATH OF A FRIEND, . . 045 MEMOIRS. Preface, .... 673 Short account of the Rev. Thomas Halyburton, . . . 677 Part I.— Introduction— the state of matters with me from the time of my birth, till I was about ten years of age, . .681 Part II — Rise, progress, interruption, re- vivals, and issues, of the Lord's strivings with me, during the ten or eleven ensu. ing years of ray life, from May 1685, to August, 1696, .... 6S6 Chap. I— First rise of ray concern about re. ligion, its results, revivals, and other occurrences relating thereto, for the first two years of this time, . - .lb Chap. 11 — Revival of convictions, their ef- fects, progress, issues, and interruptions, from the close of 1687, to 1690, or 1691, when I went from Perth to stay at Ed- inburgh, ..... 689 Chap. Ill — Increase of my conviclinns, dur- ing my stay at Edinburgh, from harvest, 1690-91, till May 1693, and the vain refuges to which I betook myself for relief, . C93 Chap. IV. — Progress of the Lord's work, the straits I was reduced to, and the courses I took for relief, from May 1693, when I left Edinburgh, till I went tfj the f iniily of Werayss, August 1690, Part III — Progress of the Lord's work, for abiiut three years ensuing, from August 1096, to June 109!); the dreadful strait to which I was at List brought, with ray deliverance, and the state of matters with me for some time after this, . Chap. I. — Progress of my convictiims, temp- tations, and vain reliefs, from the time I went to the Werayss, till I was at the List brought to this utmost extremity, Chap. II Relief I got about the close of January, 1698, and the state of matters thereon, .... Chap. Ill — Pleasure of my case at this time, mistakes I was still under, sad efl'ects of them, and way of their discovery, . Chap. IV — Strugglings with indwellinprsin, its victories, the causes of tliem on my part, and God's goodness with respect to this trial. Chap. V — Exercise about the guilt of sin, the means of obtaining pardon, and the intimation thereof. Chap. VI. — My exercises about the being of God, and showing the way of my re- lief from this temptation. Chap. VII — How I came to be satisfied that the Scriptures are the word of God, and how temptati(ms, in reference to them, were repelled, Chap. VIII — Issue of some other tempta- tions with which I had been exercised, and the relief I obtained, with respect to them, from the Lord, Part IV — His ordination to the holy mini- stry, and his conduct therein, Chap. I — Licenced to preach the gospid. Chap. II — On his entering on the ministry at Ceres, Chap. III. — Of his management in the work of the ministry. Chap. IV — His judgment concerning seve- ral cases, especially with respect to his own exercise and practice. Chap. V — Of his marriage and conduct in his family. Chap. VI —Of his entering on the profession of divinity. Some of his last words, on his death-bed. 757 757 759 760 76t 771 779 780 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. There are two extremes into which professing Christians of the present day are very apt to fall. While one class adopt a system of doctrinal senti- ments without any practical regard to their influence on the heart and on the life J another satisfy themselves with the simple performance of social duties. Into the religious scheme of the former, there enter few, if any, of those lioly aflfections, and little of that sublime practical virtue -wliich the gospel requires. Into the scheme of the latter, there enter few of the leading principles of the Christian revelation, and a very small portion of that spirituahty of sentiment and of feeling, which constitutes the very essence of vital godliness. The religion of both is alike cold and inefficient. Doc- trinal truth must indeed lie at the very foundation of all true piety ; and no man can cultivate the spirit and practise the duties of religion, witljout a clear and scriptural knowledge of the truths of God. But it ought never to be forgotten, that the doctrines of the gospel are all highly prac- tical in their tendency, and that we cannot be said to hold them at all, if we " hold tliem in unrighteousness.'' We lose sight of their great original design. We pervert them to our own selfish and unholy purposes ; and in so doing, we evince an alienation from the love of the truth as it is in Jesus. The religion whicli terminates in tlieory, and that which satisfies itself "With the performance of social duties, are alike remote from the holy sys- tem of the Bible. The one fills the mind with notions, and inflates it with intellectual pride ; the other gratifies the selfish conceit of personal vir- tue, while it sets aside all the great principles of real godliness. The one Jays hold of those truths which are designed and fitted to operate as incen- tives to holiness, but it fails to carry tliem out to their legitimate applica- tions : the other satisfies itself witli a part of religion in place of the whole, and separates the love of our neighbour from the love of God. In both, the grand features of true godliness are overlooked. Cold mental abstrac- tions are substituted in place of vital practical principles ; and the morality of a Sene(^a and an Epictetus is set forth as a counterpart to tliat of Christ and his apostles. There is reason to fear lest tlie style of public instruction, whicli many '' INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. preacliers of the gospel have of late years adopted, sliould tend to encour- age these low and defective views of real religion. We allude to that species of pulpit address which speaks to the understanding alone ; which exhibits religious trutli in the form of logical discussion and well-arranged argument ; and which sacrifices unction and pathetic appeal for the sake of minute accuracy and elegant diction. Popular discourses are tlius made to assume the form of philosophical dissertations ; and the aim of the preacher seems to be to convince rather than to persuade. Now, it is per- fectly true, that the man whose province it is to plead for God and for truth, ought to address the judgment and the rational powers ; and if he fails to do so, he is in danger of substituting empty declamation iji place of solid and scriptural instruction. Let it, however, be remembered, that in the present day we have more to do with practical infidelity than with abso- lute ignorance ; and that the reason why religion is at so low an ebb amongst us, may be traced rather to disinclination of heart than to scepti- cal heterodoxy. The preacher of truth must state, illustrate, and vindicate its claims on the understanding and the judgment ; but he has only accom- plished one half of his office if he seeks not to secure for it a safe and per- manent lodgment in the conscience and the heart. With this twofold end in view, he must unite warmth of address with clearness of statement ; impassioned appeals to the conscience, with sound arguments to the under- standing ; and the direct application of motives, with their perspicuous exhibition in theory. We cannot conceive a greater danger to which the souls of men are exposed, than when the hearers of the gospel are left to infer the safety of their state from the soundness of their creed. The doc- trinal articles of a theological system are one thing ; the vital principles of the same system applied to the heart and to the habits, are quite another. It is the part of abstract discussion to analyse and establish the doctrinal articles ; it belongs to hortatory and pastoral theology to unfold and apply the practical principles. If we confine ourselves to the work of analysis and explanation, we are in extreme hazard of tempting men to measure their progress in the Christian life by the clearness of their apprehensions, rather than by the moral amelioration of their habits. Theory may thus take place of solid and steady principle. A barren orthodoxy of senti- ment may thus be confounded with practical submission to the entire and undivided scheme of grace. The doctrine of regeneration may thus be readily embraced as scriptural and true, while the very men who thus em- brace it as an article in their creed, may practically shrink from the solemn decision of the Saviour—" Ye tmist be born again !" We apprehend that the difference between evangelical preaching, and that which is called moderate or legal, does not, when fairly and fully brought out, resolve itself into the mere technical distinctions which ard IXTUODUCTORY ESSAY. xi markeJ by the terms orlhodoxy and hclerodoxij. It is peifiClly possible to construct a scheme of doctrine in all respects scriptural, while there may be notliing in it tliat is calculated to give offence to the carnal mind or to rouse the sleeping conscience. The fashion of the present day is rather favourable than otherwise to such orthodox exhibitions of Christianity ; and hence it is, that few, comparatively, propound from our pulpits tlie dogmas of Pela- gian or Socinian heresy. Only allow to religion the province of tlie under- standing alone, and it makes little difference whether it shall be regaled with the realities of truth, or Avith the figments of error. If speculation is all that is aimed at, the love of it may be gratified by statements that are substantially sound, as well as by the creations of mere fancy. Abstracted from t'le practical tendency of tlie doctrines of evangelical truth, there is nothing in their theoretical exhibition that is peculiarly calculated to excite the determined opposition of the carnal mind ; and so long as nothing is designed beyond a simple expose of them as materials of thinking, " the offence of the cross " will neither be very violent nor very long continued. The real cause of that enmity which the "natural man" cherishes and expresses towards the things of God, is to be found in the holy, humbling, heart-searching, and self-annihilating tendency of the gospel of the grace of God ; and the essential difference between evangelical and moderate preaching, consists in the prominence which is given by the one to the scriptural doctrine of conversion, compared with the absolute reticence of the other on this cardinal principle of Christianity. Even the self-denying doctrine of imputed righteousness will not excite very virulent hostility on the part of corrupted men, so long as it is not exhibited in connexion with the absolute necessity of a radical and universal change of sentiment and of character, before we can " enter into the kingdom of heaven." It is the doctrine of free, sovereign, and regenerating grace? enlightening tlie mental eye, and changing the current of the heaj*t's affections, convincing the man of his absolute nothingness in the sight of God, and of his utter desti- tution of all godliness — awakening him to a sense of his sin and danger, and prompting him to cry out with holy anxiety of spirit, " What shall I do to be saved :" it is this spiritual and practical view of the Christian remedy for man's moral diseases, together with the tone of deep seriousness and impcissioned fervour with which it is proclaimed, that rouses the hos- tility of men, and leads them to characterize, evangelical preaching as wild and enthusiastic. We may preach orthodox doctrine according to our standards, as long and as clearly as we please ; and provided we only discuss and reason with the calm composure of the intellectual philosopher, no offence will be given or taken. It is not so much the mere statement of truth that give^ offence, as the manner in which the truth is applied. It is not the appeal to the understanding that will irritate ; it is rather the xii INTRODUCTORY KSSAY- attempt to ])robe tlie conscience. It is not the gf-neral exhibition of certain pecuhar opinions that rouses indignation ; it is rather the minute and searching application of principles to insulated individuals. Tliis it is that constitutes the life and soul of practical experimental preacliing ; and to this the '"' hard" and " desperately wicked heart " of unrenewed man will ever be sternly opposed. Bishop Maltby, a very learned, but very heterodox divine of the church of England, has told us in one of his sermons, that " the offence of the cross " is a thing totally unknown in these halcyon days. " Since,'' says he, " it is no longer discreditable to profess our faitli in Christ, we cannot incur the hazard of opposing or offending our nearest and dearest connexions. A man no longer encounters foes among his own household : he is not obliged to renounce the regard and affection of his family because he be- lieves in Christ ; and therefore tlie warning wliich our Lord found it neces- sary to give in those days and in tliat country, has no meanings if applied literally in our own." The " warning " alluded to by the preacher is con- tained in these affecting words of him who " spake as never man spake :" — " Whosoever doth not bear his cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple." Of this warning the reverend divine has been pleased to affirm that " it has no meaning " if applied to modern times. In other words, the believer has in these days and in this beloved land, nothing in the way of a " cross " or trial to bear, arising out of the profession lie makes as a follower of Jesus. It is worthy of remark, that the terms of the- statement, even as made originally by our blessed Lord himself, were figurative. It was not literalli/ true of every individual believer in those times, that he had to bear the cross in the same manner as his blessed Lord did bear it, when he went up to the scene of his ignominious and cruel death. The ex- pression was obviously designed to forewarn tlie followers of Jesus of the trials they might be called to endure, in consequence of their embracing the gospel ; and the test of their sincerity is, the readiness with which they " denied themselves," and submitted to the persecutions which awaited them. True it is, that the profession of the gospel does not now expose to trials of precisely the same kind, or the same degree of severity. Tlie arm of secular persecution is not now stretched out against the liumble followers of the Lamb. We dwell under the fostering wing of a mild and tolerant ad- ministration. Cliristianity is " part and parcel" of the constitution of the country. Its institutes have been incorporated with the civil statutes of the realm ; and while legal provision has been made for the due celebration of its ordinances throughout the length and the breadth of the land, every man, whether availing himself of that provision or not, is permitted " to sit under his vine and fig-tree, none daring to make liim afraid." INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. Xiii Still we demur to the assertion, that tlie Christian believer has tiow " no cross" to bear. " The carnal mind " is still " enmity against God ;" and *' he that Nvould be the friend of the world must be the enemy of God." A cold and formal profession of the faitli of Christ may indeed consist with perfect immunity from every thing approaching to persecution ; and the piety which never obtrudes itself on spectators, and which operates no change whatever on the customs and manners of its professors, may be allowed to peiss along with perfect security. But what shall we say of the contempt and ridicule with which vital godliness is so frequently met, both in the higher and in the inferior walks of life ? And what shall we say of the bitterness of that zeal which, in the bosom of a worldly-minded family, is strenuously directed against the humble and modest but ardent piety of one or more of its members, who, by the grace of God, may have begun to mani- fest " another spirit ?" And what shall we say of the frigid indifference or the determined hostility witli which any direct allusion to the God who made us, or the Saviour who redeemed us by his blood, is met in the senate house of our country, or in the high places of the land V And what shall we say of the spirit of reckless animosity with which the public journals and the daily vehicles of intelligence are in the habit of assailing those worthy men, who stand up boldly for the purity of the Sabbath and the freedom of the slave ? Is there no persecution here ? nothing of the nature of a " cross" which the generous mind must bear ? no practical demonstration of the fact that real godliness and strict morality are still the objects of scorn and ridicule to the men of this present world ? The world knows and " loves Us own ;" and the religion which is pleased with things as they are, and which ventures not beyond the magic circle of this world's occupations, and pleasures, and interests, will run no very imminent risk of incurring the " world's dread laugh." Such a religion may suit the meridian of Dr Maltby, and his accommodating followers ; but such a religion will do little to make head against the growing vices of the age. It may be " peaceable," but it is not " pure." In such books as those of professor Halyburton we meet with much of that which has been denominated, not unaptly, experbnenlal religion. Enlightened and judicious Christians whose views have not been perverted by modern philosophy, and who have not yet forsaken the " old land- marks" nor the " old paths," know very well wliat is designated by the terms. Experimental religion they consider as the only true practical religion — well grounded in principle, and sturdy in its opposition to all that is unholy ; and they are inclined to look upon whatever falls short of it in the light of frivolous speculation or concealed infidelity. There are others, liowever, and these, there is too good reason to believe, by far the majority amongst us, who confound experimental religion with fanaticism and mental ddu- c XIV INTUODUCTOItY F'-SSAY. sion. Ilnnce, we need not be surprised at finding it made tlie butt of an unsparing and relentless ridicule. Tliose wlio venture to defend it, as well as those who are considered as its Jiapless subjects or victims, are field up to public scorn, either as designing hypocrites, or as beings removed by a very few degrees from the region of the fatuous. But as " ridicule is not" always " the test of truth," and as the Almighty has been pleased to give us a perfect standard by whicli every opinion as well as every habit and practice may be tried, let us endeavour to ascertain what may be the claims of this phenomenon called experimental religion, to be held up to the cruelty and scorn of the " rallunalist." I. We would enquire, then, in the outset — What may be meant by experi- mental religion? Is it not fi'equently misunderstood ? Are not the terms often grievously misapplied ? And is it not of vast moment in every such inquiry, to attempt at least a careful separation between the chaflf and the wheat ? As there is no subject either in religion or in morals, on which erroneous ideas have not been held under the guise of truth, we need not be surprised if such ideas have been at different periods entertained with respect to the nature of experimental religion. Some there are who suppose it to consist in a certain supernatural intercourse with Deity ; the perception at tlie moment of a celestial influx of grace into the soul ; sensible illapses of the spirit ; and spiritual exercises of soul, altogether inconsistent with the oidi- nary rules which regulate the government of heaven. Others suppose it to consist in certain agitations of the animal frame, hastily mistaken for tlie touches of seraphic influence ; in the changes which take place in the state of the feelings and passions, occasioned, it is supposed, by causes approach- ing to the miraculous ; and in the observation of common occurrences, mistaken for extraordinary interpositions of Providence. Again, the terms have been applied to designate the feelings and Jiabits wliich may have been acquired by profound speculations on matters which lie far beyond the range of the Imman intellect ; and a peculiar species of sensations of Avliich no one except the actual participant can form any idea. While such false conceptions as these are entertained on this subject, need we wonder that it should be made the butt of ridicule ; and that the elevated experiences of enlightened Christian believers should be thus exposed to the imminent danger of ranking with the flights of Madame Guyon, and the dreams of Emanuel Swedenborg ? But what is really experimental religion ? It is neither more nor less than the practical application of the great truths of religion to the particu- lar cases of individuals. It is, in other words, the practical efiicacy of Christian doctrine exemplified in the heart and on the life. It is Chris- tianity brought home to " men's business and bosoms." For example, INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. ^'' religion calls on us to acknowledge, as founded on plain matter of fact, the doctrine of human depravity in general : it becomes experimental religion, when this doctrine is felt to be true, from our own personal experience. We may believe that there is salvation only through the merits of the Redeemer ; and we may rejoice in the assurance tliat all who come unto God through him shall obtain everlasting life : we believe it experimentally^ when we are individually humbled under a heartfelt sense of our utter inability to save ourselves ; and when our own convictions of the absolute nothingness of our own resources respond to the dictates of God's infallible word. Christ hath promised the aid of his grace to renew, to sanctify, to comfort, and to guide ; it is the province of experimental religion to cher- ish the sense of our need of grace, to hunger and thirst after righteous- ness, and to be earnest and persevering in prayer for the influences of the Holy Spirit. AVe descant on the infinite value of Christianity as a source of pure and satisfying spiritual comfort ; experimental religion consists in the personal enjoyment of this spiritual comfort. The Scriptures describe the Christian life as a " race " in which we must run so as to obtain ; as a " fight," in which we must strenuously contend against spiritual enemies ; in short, as a course of unceasing moral and spiritual exertion : sincerely and perseveringly to " run the race set before us ;" to enter on the spiri- tual combat and to continue in it ; to discharge the duties of personal and relative obligation in the spirit of humble dependence on God, and ardent attachment to his service ; — this is experimental religion. To speculate on religion as a system of sublime truths, and as a powerful means of intellec- tual and spiritual improvement, is to know it as a science : we reduce it to experiment, only when we bring it into contact with our habitual concep- tions of things, and when we adopt it as the supreme guide of ordinary conduct. In one word ; the principle on which experimental religion rests, is simply this, that Christianity should not only be knoAvn, and understood, and believed, but also felt, and enjoyed, and practically applied. II. There is nothing in experimental religion, as thus viewed, wliich is at variance with the unbiassed dictates of right reason. If the doctrines and principles of Christianity be reasonable in themselves, their application to the great and salutary purposes of real life cannot surely be unreasonable. If human nature be really depraved, is it irrational to feel and to lament, that we, individually, and as forming part of the common corrupted mass, are indeed partakers of the common depravity, and that therefore we ought, in the language of the prophet, to " mourn, each family apart, and each soul apart ?" If religious truth be indeed a source of consolation ; is it unrea- sonable to expect, and actually to realize this consolation ? If Clirist per- mits and cordially invites us to hope in the mercy of his Father, through the atonement and gracious intercession of himself, as our great High Priest ; is XVI INTRODUCTOllY ESSAY. it unreasonable that w« should " rejoice" in this hope ; and that under its influence we should seek to " purify ourselves, even as he is pure ?" If the life of the Christian be indeed a race — a pilgrimage journey through the wilderness of this world, — a moral campaign from which death only can re- lease us — where is the absurdity of supposing that Christians may occasion- ally faint on their journey, or be wounded by their spiritual enemies ; and that, in consequence of these casualties, much of what is known by the name of Christian eocpericnce should be acquired and treasured up for future and eflicient service ? The principles of a science are generally supposed to acquire additional evidence and illustration, from their being able to stand the test of rigid and repeated experiment ; why should reli- gion be the only science in which experiment shall be exploded ? Can it be on any ground irrational and unphilosophieal to seek for proofs of the truth, and excellence, and suitableness of Christian doctrine, from the actual experience of men, and from its well authenticated results on human char- acter and life ? The irrationality is all on the other side. The opponents of experimental religion do not avowedly explode the claims of religious truth to a cool and successful vindication ; they rather boast of tlieir hav- ing taken it out of the hands of unskilful defenders. But then they defend its claims simply as truth, and they estimate its merits by a standard exclu- sively intellectual. They maintain the importance of religion ; but it is reli- gion in the abstract sense ; religion considered as a matter of scientific discussion ; religion, as held to be too ethereal in its essence, and too recon- dite in its speculative researches, to be trusted for common and every day usage, in tlie hands of such creatures as the mass of mankind are found to be. They occasionally, and when the humour serves, introduce us into a para- dise of delicious products ; but when we venture to put forth our hands to grasp the fascinating sweets, a voice of stern prohibition is heard — " touch not, taste not, handle not I" Can any thing be more unreasonable than thus to acknowledge and to applaud the general truths of religion, but to reject their practical efficiency and their personal application ? to defend religion as a science, but to deny to it all intercourse with the feelings, and the prospects, and the ordinary pursuits of men ? On this principle, the shadow is indeed retained, but the substance is irretrievably gone. An altar is reared, and the sacrifice may be spread out upon its summit ; but where is the sacred fire, and where the hallowed incense that ascends in silent majesty to heaven ? III. Is there any thing in experimental religion that is inconsistent with the holy, and gracious, and all-perfect character of Jehovah ? That Jehovali should reveal to his creatures, rational, immortal, and accountable, truths which possess a certain degree of moral efficacy ; which are intended to operate powerfully on the feelings and the ailections of INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. xvii men ; to excite certain agreeable emotions ; and to produce certain valua- ble practical effects; — is surely not inconsistent either with his natural or his moral attributes. Indeed, it would be far more difficult to vindicate the Divine character from the charge of inconsistency, on the supposition that truths had been revealed which possess no moral efficacy ; which address themselves exclusively to the intellect of men ; and which are designed to termiaate in speculation. Truths of this abstract and refined character adapt themselves full well to beings endowed with intelligence alone, but they will not suit the nature of such a complex being as man. Where, on this supposition, would be the argument in favour of Christianity from its admirable adaptation to man's original constitution, and to the place which he holds in the universe of God ? But it may be supposed not so easy to reconcile with our best concep- tions of the Divine character, that acknowledged principle in experimental religion, which implies a certain kind of spiritual intercourse between God and the soul of the believer. The advocates of experimental religion do maintain, that God communicates his grace to men ; that he inspires ihem with the enraptured feeling of spiritual consolation ; that he conde- scends to hold fellowship with them in the holy exercises of sanctified affection ; that believers are constantly under the gracious superintendance of Jeho- vah ; and are, by the discipline of his providence and grace, gradually attuned to the temper and the bliss of heaven. If any objection can be made to this view of the case, the force of the objection bears not against experi- mental religion in particular, but against the doctrine of divine influence in general. If, in the world of nature, a present Deity is " ever seen and ever felt," in conducting, by a mysterious but real efficiency, the hidden pro- cesses of vegetable and animal life, shall we deem it the part of reason and of wisdom to place the moral and the spiritual worlds beyond the range of an influence similar in power, but wisely adapted to the very different subjects on which it is found to operate? And if we allow that a certain spiritual influence is exerted by God on the minds of men, through the medium of religious truth addressed to the understanding and the heart, shall we hesitate to allow that this influence is exerted for the purpose of implanting and cherishing holy principles, of animating virtuous feelings, and of inspiring spiritual joy ? It must be granted that the doctrine of divine influence in general, and this specific modification of it, do alike imply the doctrine of a special Providence. But is there any thing inconsis- tent with the moral character of God in the supposition, that, while he exer- cises a general and a particular Providence over the world, he should exer- cise a special Providence towards the church which he hath chosen as his *' resting place ?" that while he confers temporal blessings on all men indis- criminately, in the course of his lioly and gracious Providence, he should XVIII INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. confer spiritual blessings of a pnculiar kind on liisown people in parliriilar ? llial while lie liolds a condescending' intercourse with all creatures in the way of preservation and protection, he should hold with good men and with (he denizens of immortality, an intercourse of a nobler and more hea- venly character, for the purpose of preserving alive the spark of spiritual life, of administering consolation, and defending from invisible foes ? It is of importance to remark, that prior to, and independent of, revelation and experience, it is quite beyond our power to tell what it may or may not be consistent with the Divine character to do, in regard to these modes of com- munication with our world and its inhabitants. We may traverse the wide fields of the intellectual world, but we shall not find one decisive argument to prove it inconsistent with the attributes of God, that he should hold spe- cial intercourse with good men, through the medium of the truths and ordinances of religion. The subject is confessedly one that lies far beyond our reacli. All our information regarding it arises from the written word j and if the voice of nature, even among the blinded heathen, is for one mo- ment to be listened to for a response, that response will be in perfect unison with the dictates of inspiration : for, by the teachers of virtue among the ancients, all real excellence of character was ascribed to the influence of Deity, and the virtues which were inscribed on characters of ideal greatness were linked with the dignities and the bliss of a celestial fellowship. I should question much the title of that system of theology to be reckoned either philosophically just, or practically influential, which would go to destroy that beautiful analogy which obtains between the doctrine of Divine influence, and the constitution and course of nature. God hath constructed the grand machine of the material universe ; hath arranged in beautiful harmony its varied parts ; and hath subjected the whole to the control of certain laws ; but God hath not seen meet to withdraw himself from the works of his hands, or to resign the beautiful machine of things to a general and undefined legislative control, Onr God is not like the deity of Epicurus, or the Brahma of Hindooism ; removed at an aAvful distance from tlie productions of his own hand, and dwelling in a state of absolute quiescence and sublime indiflference to all that is. " Our God is in the heavens ; and he doeth wliat pleaseth him in the heavens, and in the earth, and in all deep places." All is under his control. The revolutions of the seasons, and the rise and fall of empires, are alike the subjects of his regard ; and without him " not even a sparrow can fall to the ground." Analogy leads us to expect the same presence and the same agency in the operations of the spiritual kingdom ; and this analogy, the scheme which excludes Di- vine influence on tlie soul of man, tends directly to interrupt and to destroy. It deprives man of the noblest of all motives to sacred diligence in duty. INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. XIX that, namely, vliirli an apostle derives from God's ability and willingness to " work in us both to will and to do." It restrains us within the limits of a region comparatively cold and uninviting. It places an impassable barrier in the way of our access to that " temple of the living God "^ on earth, whose mansions are blest with the residence of the " eternal Spirit," and whose worshippers are gladdened with his hallowed inspirations. IV. There is nothing in experimental religion that is inconsistent with plain and real facts as illustrative of the moral government of God in other instances. Every pursuit, mental or moral, Jias a particular tendency. Every trutli which the mind perceives, every event which happens in tlie course of Providence, has some influence, in a greater or in a less degree beneficial or hurtful. Is this analogy disturbed by supposing, that the truths of religion, the facts which Christianity records, and the holy views which it presents, should also possess and exercise a potent influence over tiie mind ? The experience of all those who have been accustomed to intellectual and moral pursuits, bears witness to the same truth ; and supports, by analogy, the reasonableness of experimental religion. In searching for truth, the philosopher enjoys a high mental satisfaction. Every new discovery gives delight to his mind ; and the difficulties with which he is called to struggle, only quicken his ardour in pursuit. Who can tell the delight which the astronomer feels in counting the heavenly bodies, calculating their distances, exploring the orbits in which they move, and pointing out the laws by which they are regulated ? What rapture, approaching to enthusiasm, on the discovery of a new star ; on the obser- vation of a comet in its first approach to our globe ; or even on a fortunate conjecture respecting the matter of which its shining train is composed ? What emotions, think you, fill the soul of a mathematician, while occu- pied in solving a difficult problem, or in constructing a beautiful proposi- tion ? The feelings of all these men, if disclosed, would appear altogether ridiculous to those who cannot enter into them. Shall we then confine all mental and moral pleasures, all high wrought pulsations of soul, all entlui- siastic ardour, (if enthusiasm must needs be supposed,) to the breasts of the speculative few ? Is there no portion to be dealt out to the humble Chris- tian in the retired walks of life, whose secular views, perhaps, rise not above the village where his first breath was drawn, but whose spiritual prospects expand with the immensity of the universe ? Shall Archimedes, when he had accidentally discovered tlie method of calculating the quantity of alloy in a golden crown, be permitted with impunity, and without any question as to his understanding, to run through the streets of Syracuse, exclaiming, in all the wantonness of philosophic joy, iC^/iKu, ivnr.Ku, " I have found it ! I have found it ! ' — And shall the Christian be branded with the XX INTROnUCTOllY ESSAY. insignia of enlliusiasrn and madness, because lie speaks of a "joy tliat iq unspeakable and full of glory ;" because, for a season, he seems to be ovtjr- j)owered with tlie sublime raptures of a pure and an elevated devotion ; and because he lays claim to a happiness with which a " stranger intermed- dleth not." To change the scene. If there be particular occeisions on which even the lover of science is filled with melancholy forebodings, when he beliolds the clouds of ignorance and of error which encircle or surcharge the intellectual horizon ; need we wonder, if, in tlie Christian hfe, there should be seasons when, amid the perplexing influences of an evil heart within, and the " abounding of iniquity " without, good men may walk in sadness, and go mourning without the sun ? The truth is, those only oppose and ridicule experimental religion, who have no spiritual discern- ment, no spiritual taste, no spiritual desires. " The way of peace is above to the righteous." " The life of a believer is hid with Christ in God." " The world knowetk not the sons of God, because it knew not him," who is emphatically and in a distinctive and peculiar sense — " God's own son." V. The reality of experimental religion is attested beyond all question, by the testimony and example of the greatest and best of men in all ages. Look to the character of the saints of God as exhibited in the unerring page of God's own word. Were they strangers to experimental religion ? Did they rest satisfied with cold and barren abstractions ? Were they kept at an awful distance from the region oi feelings because they trembled at the charge of enthusiasm, or were afraid of being " righteous overmuch?" What a variety of emotions agitated the soul of David ! What elevation of spirit at one time, and depression at another ! What hallowed delight in communion with God ! What earnest desires after loftier spiritual attain- ments! " There be many that say, Who will show us any good ? Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon me. Thou hast put glad- ness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased." " Why art thou cast down, O my soul ! and why art thou dis- quieted in me ? hope thou in God ; for I shall yet praise him for tJie help of his countenance." " 0 my God, my soul is cast down within me ; there- fore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Ammonites, and from the hill Mizar. Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy water- spouts : all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me. Yet the Lord will command his loving-kindness in the daytime, and in the night his song shall be with me ; and my prayer unto the God of my life." " 0 send out thy light and thy truth ; let them lead me ; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles : then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy." " As the hart panteth after the water- brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, 0 God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God : when shall I come and appear before God !" " O INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. xxi God, thou art my God ; early will I seek thee; my soul thirsteth for thee ; my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is ; to see thy power and thy glory, so as I liave seen thee in the sanctuary." " My soul breaketh for the longing it hath for thy commandments at all times." — Is there nothing of the language and the feeling of experience in all this ? and do the ■svriters of the New Testament adopt a different strain ? Read the history and the writings of the apostle Paul. Through these channels enter his breast, and contemplate the features of spiritual religion, as exemplified in him. Did he know nothing experimentally of the " peace which passeth all understanding," and the "joy which is unspeakable and full of glory ?" Did he remain in the posture of a stoic, and the victim of all the apathy and deadness of " simple intellect," when he contemplated the " height and the depth, the breadth and the length," of the love of the Redeemer, " which passeth all knowledge?" And did the " great mys- tery of godliness," " God manifest in the flesh," excite no higher emotion in his soul than the examination of a problem in mathematics, or a theory of pure abstraction ? We have only to read his Epistles, and those of his fellow-apostles Peter and John, to mark the striking contrast betwixt their holy illustrations of divine truth, and the cold speculations and barren generalities of some modern theologians. Moreover, we might search the liistory of the church, and bring forward from its closely-studded pages a " great cloud of witnesses" to the reality and importance of experimental religion. Men of talents very various, and of sentiments on lesser matters not less various, and men of very different temperament in regard to ani- mal constitution, combine in asserting, that religion is an internal thing ; that it is a matter of personal experience ; that it is alike removed from tlie ravings of the visionary on the one hand, and the frigid speculations of the mere moralist on the other. We appeal to the Fathers of the Protes- tant churches, and we ask, if there was nothing experimental in that system of faith, of hope, and of holiness, which enabled them to brave death in its most awful forms, and to sing even in the midst of flames ? W^e appeal to the Christian world, as it is even in these degenerate days, and we ask the really religious of every country and of every clime, if there be nothing experimental in that religion which enables its votaries to stand erect in the flood of tribulation, and to smile even in the vale of death ? We ap- peal to the church-triumpliant in heaven, and we ask, if there is nothing experimental in those feelings which express themselves in such ascriptions as these : " Worthy the Lamb that was slain, to receive power, and riches, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. Salvation to our God, who sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb for ever and ever?" That experimental religion is not at all inconsistent witli the possession and the displav of intellect, in its highest advances, may be inferred from d XXII INTHODUCTORY ESSAY. the plain matter of fact, that tlie same man wliose " Memoirs" have so frequently been charged with the rankest enthusiasm, was the author of a most learned and comprehensive reply to the deistical scheme of the cele- brated Lord Herbert of Cherbury. Mr Halyburton's book on the " In- sufficiency of Natural Religion, and the Necessity of Revelation," was oc- casioned by the publication of certain Treatises, written by that sceptical no- bleman with the avowed object of setting aside the pretensions of all " parti- cular religions," as lie termed them ; and, resting the claims of religion at large on the basis of nature alone. His Lordship reduced all the essential arti- cles of religion to five ; the unity of God, the reasonableness of divine wor- sliip, the obligations of piety and virtue, the sufficiency of repentance for par- don, and a state of rewards and punishments after death. He attempted io show, that these doctrines had been recognized in every age and in every country as the common faith of mankind, and that any thing beyond the circle which bounds them is unnecessary, and even pernicious. It will be obvious to the most careless observer, that the above catalogue compre- hends, with a single exception, the whole faith of the Socinian ; and it is edifying just to notice the very near approximation which the faith of the deist and of the followers of the fratres Poloni make to eacli other. The single exception we allude to is the article relative to the divine mission of Christ ; and this, upon the principles of the rationalist, becomes a matter of very trivial importance the moment that the disciple of Lord Herbert conscientiously declares, that he has already acquired all that is essential to the system of both parties, from separate and independent sources ; even from that liglit which comes directly to us from heaven, and which shines not through the contracted medium of any one "particular" religion. In his reply to the scheme of Lord Herbert, Mr Halyburton sets him- self largely and distinctly to show, that the light of nature is extremely de- fective, even with respect to the discoveries of a Deity, and the worship that is to be rendered to him : with respect to the question of man's true hap- piness, the rule of duty, and the motives to obedience ; and that it is unable to discover the means of obtaining pardon for sin, or to eradicate incli- nations to sin, and subdue its power. He appeals to reason, to testimony, to matter of fact, and to the general experience of the world. He afterwards considers distinctly the articles to which Lord Herbert reduces his Catholic religion, and explodes the evidence which he advances in favour of their universality. He takes up the arguments of Mr Blount and Mr Gildon on the same subject, and gives to them in succession a fair and solid refu- tation. It was in France and Italy that the new scheme of Deism, as it was then called, for the first time reared its head, about the beginning of the seven- teenth centujy. The men who patronized it were, generally speaking, INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. XXlii distinguished for learning-, ingenuity, and sparkling wit. They wrote after the model of the new philosophers, who scorned that philosophical slavery which former ages had been under to Aristotle. Their appeal was to reason ; and it is not to be wondered at, that their plain and plausible statements and arguments should have produced on tliinking minds a powerfully-favourable impression, in countries where the dominant system was one of priestcraft, superstition, and folly. Nearly about the same time, some novel opinions began to be entertained and published in Holland, a country which has ever been considered as pretty safely removed from the region of religious Quixotism and romance. These novelties were rapidly thrown into a form very near akin to Socinianism, " which," says Mr Halyburton, " is but a remove from Deism." It was not long before these new opinions took footing in England, and, to use the language of the professor, " they began to be embraced and countenanced by some topping churchmen ; who, forgetful of their own articles, homilies, and subscrip- tions, carefully maintained and zealously propagated this new divinity." It appears that at the period in question, the Jesuits of Rome were sus- pected of having had a deep concern in disseminating those opinions. Rusliworth, in his " Collections," repeatedly notices tlie boasting of the Je- suits, " that they had planted such a drug in England as would soon purge out the northern heresy."* " Once make men Atheists," it has been shrewdly and solidly remarked, " and it will be easy to turn them into Papists." Those who observe what is passing around us in the present day, will not fail to notice a striking parallel with the above case in our own experience. The unnatural and monstrous alliance betwixt infidelity and Romanism ; betwixt the men who plead for the most extravagant licen- tiousness of opinion, on the one hand, and the men who would subjugate every mind and every sentiment to the Procrustes' sway of the Vatican, on the other ; is one of the most ominous peculiarities of the present times. The phenomenon as it appears tiotv may be explained on the same princi- ple which the Jesuit avowed two centuries ago. Any thing that will crush tJie "northern heresy" of Protestantism, or sap its foundations, must be acceptable to that church whicii has never been wanting in its practical application of the principle, that " the end sanctifies the means." Dr Leland, in noticing the work of Mr Halyburton, whom he properly terms " a learned and pious author," remarks, that " the narrowness of his notions on some points hath prejudiced some persons against his work, and hindered them from regarding and considering it so much as it de- serves." The author of that invaluable work, the " View of DeLstical Writers," was, like our author, " a learned and pious divine ;" but, while * Vol i. \). 475, and Letter by a Jesuit, p. 62, ib. XX !v INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. the " learning" of tli« two was alike profound and extensive, tlie " piety'' of the one was of a different cast, and nurtured in a different school, from that of the other. The "piety" of Halyburton was that of a lieart deeply exercised, and of a conscience ever tenderly alive to the sensibilities of spiritual feeling. Leland was a man of powerful and commanding intel- lect, and the bulwarks of Zion may well boast of having such a defender ; but his feelings were not deeply interested in the cause which he so ably maintained, and liis practical contexture and habits wanted exceedingly the seasoning of an evangelical spirit. It need not surprise us, then, to find, that, in the estimate of a liberal Protestant, Halyburton should have been considered as a man of rather " narrow notions." He flourished at a time •when his country had been, for a succession of years, tutored in the school of libertinism and Popery combined, and when his much-loved church had learned, from sad experience, wliat her children might expect from the sad union of a low standard of doctrine with the high and persecuting claims of a dominant hierarchy. He appreciated aright the vast importance of a strict and unbending adherence to the grand peculiarities of " tlie faitli once delivered unto the saints ;" while he practically denounced, as anti- cliristian, the modish speculations of " pliilosophical Christians." He justly attached far more importance than Dr Leland would have done to the points at issue betwixt the Episcopalians and Presbyterians of the period, though no man was more ready to do honour to the conscientious and consistent adherent of any form of ecclesiastical sway. He had not learned as yet that Episcopacy had any peculiar claims on Scotland and on Scotsmen for the choice blessings she had conferred ; nor had he learned, that " Presbyterianism was a religion unfit for a gentleman." That style of preaching, then so much in vogue in England, which substituted hea- then morality in place of the gospel of Christ, had no charms for him ; and if this learned defender of the faith was really a man of " narrow notions," it must, at any rate, be allowed to him, that he wanted not capacity to " give a reason" for adopting and maintaining them. " After men," says he, " once were taught that the controverted doctrines of religion were not necessary to salvation, and that all that was necessary thereto, was to be referred to, and comprehended under, morality, and that there was no need of regeneration, or the sanctifying influence of the Spirit of Christ, in order to the performance of our duty ; it is easy to see how slight the difference was to be accounted between a Christian and an honest moral heathen. And if any small temptation offered, how natural was it for men to judge, that the hazard was not great to step over from Cliristianity to Deism, which is Paganism a la mode T^ TIiB learned and pious clergymen of the church of Scotland, whose testimonials in favour of Mr Halyburton's work are so creditable to them- INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. XXV selves and to liim, were not men of " narrow notions," and yet they were not the patrons of a cold and generalized theology. After stating their high sense of the importance and necessity of the work, they thus express themselves : — " We, therefore, wishing and hoping that these posthumous labours of the reverend author may, through the blessing of God, prove useful and profitable for promoting and confirming the serious and unbi- assed reader in the true Christian faith, do earnestly recommend to him the diligent perusal of them, and him, in using of them, to the grace of God for tliat effect." Here the grace of God is recognised as specially neces- sary to produce a conviction of the truth, and the design of the study of the evidences of Christianity is clearly recognised as of a practical and ex- perimental character. The men who thus recommend the work were among the truest and best of the members of the cliurch of Scotland in the beginning of last century ; and no man whose opinion is worth a straw will feel himself disgraced by standing on the same platform with the tliree principals, Carstairs, Wisheart, and Haddow, or with professor Hamilton of Edinburgh. A late eminent minister among the Dissenters in England, Dr Edward Williams, in his " Christian Preacher," has concurred with these able men in attesting the work as one " of great solidity and worth." The late excellent Mr Newton of London, in writing to Mr Scott, the distinguished author of the Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, and the " Force of Truth," thus expresses himself in regard to the work on Na- tural and Revealed Religion, and generally with respect to the other writings of the same author. " I set a high value," says lie, " on this book of Halyburton's, so that, unless I could replace it with another, I know not if I would part with it for its weight in gold. The first and largest treatise is, in my judgment, a masterpiece ; but I would chiefly wisli you to peruse the essay " Concerning Faith," towards the close of the book. I need not beg of you to read it carefuUy, and to read it all. The importance of the subject, its immediate connexion with your inquiries, and the accuracy of the reasoning, will render my request unnecessary. I cannot style him a very elegant writer ; and, being a Scotsman, lie abounds in the Scottish idiom. But you will prefer truth to ornament. I long to hear your opinion of it. It seems to me so adapted to some things that have passed between us, as if written on purpose."* The same ex- cellent a«t!ior, in writing to another friend, the Rev. Mr R , re- garding the Supralapsarian and the Sublapsarian schemes, thus remarks : " At the close of Halyburton's " Insufficiency of Natural Religion," he has an inquiry into the nature of Regeneration and Justification, wherein he proposes a scheme in which, if I mistake not, the moderate of both parties might safely unite."f The late Dr Thomas Gibbons of London, * Cardiphonia, Vol. I. Letter II. to Mr Scott. f Ibul. Vol. IL XXVI INTRODUCTORY KSSAY. author of the " Memoirs of Eminently Pious Women," and otlier useful works, has recorded his opinion of our autlior, in a few lines, not remarka- ble, indeed, for their harmonious versification, but containing an important statement of fact : " Sht'jith'il ill cflestial armour, ami lifLiiig higli The sword, inviiicibU-, of truth divine, See Halyburton on the mounds, tlie camp Of Deism rush, and triuiiipli o'er its powi rs I'j: But there are men— of learning and piety too — who limit not their ap- probation of Halyburton's works to the learning and the talent which bis work against the Deists displays. Mr Bridges, in his most excellent work on the " Christian Ministry," refers to the " Memoirs" of Halyburton, as giving the most graphical delineations of the diversified desires of the mind in conviction of sin ; and Mr Jones, in his " Christian Biography," has said of Mr Halyburton, that "his last words are among the richest trea- sures which piety ever bequeathed to the church ; and the letters which he dictated on his dying bed, are specimens of his unparalleled devotion and concern for the welfare of others." Dr Isaac Watts — no mean man, cer- tainly— has written prefaces to most of Mr Halyburton's works, and he thus expresses his sentiments regarding him : " Besides his solid learning, his clear and penetrating judgment, his acute reasoning, his eminent piety, and other excellent endowments, there was one thing I could not but highly value in his converse, that, according to the apostle's advice, Epii. iv. 29, what ' proceeded out of his mouth was good, to the use of edifying, which might minister grace to the hearers :' so that T may truly say, I was sel- dom in his company, but it was mine own fault if I was not edified." " The author and subject of this narrative," says he, speaking of his Me- moirs, " was a man of great piety, bright natural parts, studious learning, and uncommon penetration and judgment, as sufficiently appears in his other writings ; yet there is such a vein of humiliiy and honesty, that runs through every page, that you may see the secret workings of his thoughts through his holy language." " Here we find reason and learning giving their testimony to the gospel, and to the power of godliness, with a living pen and with dying lips." Of the Memoirs it has been justly said, " that scarcely is there a position which was ever taken up by the enmity of man against the mercy of his Maker, but was occupied by him, and resolutely maintained, till it was driven from under him ; and scarcely, we should X " Tiie Christian Minister,"' a poem, by Gibbons. INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. xxvii think, can a ' refuge of lies ' be entered by those wlio came after liim, but was previously entered by him, and made his resting place, till he found it to be no slielter. In short, the history of his advance towards Christianity, solely in its direction, so full of incident, and so frequently obstructed by relapses, witli tlie repose which he tasted on his arrival at it, and the growth of character in his after-years, all opening upon us so graphically, so richly interwoven with scriptural references, and coming in so aptly on our past or present experience, is a treasury of instruction which ought by no means to be shut up from the present generation.''* It is not an unpromising symptom of the theological taste of the present age, that the writings of such men as Owen, and Baxter, and Howe, and Halyburton, and Edwards, are rising in demand. These are the masters in our Israel. They wield the sword of the Spirit with masculine skill ; and just in proportion as we tread in their footsteps, and plead the same cause with them, may we expect the blessing of heaven to shine upon our efforts. It is not necessary that we imitate them in their peculiarities of a style and phraseology which belong to an age that is gone by ; but it is necessary that we imitate them in adherence to those eternal truths, which no age can antiquate, and which no revolutions in the church can change. Amid the diversities of opinion, truth remains the same ; and a church which is built on the " foundation of apostles and prophets," with Jesus Christ as its " chief corner-stone," has the pledge of heaven in its favour. If it falls, it must be because " Ichabod" has been previously inscribed on its ruined battlements. If its standards and its discipline are doomed to rank among the things wliich have been, it will be because tlie " spirit of the fathers" has not " turned to the children." If our heavens shall become as brass, and our earth hard as iron, it is because we have grieved the Holy Spirit ; " and therefore he liatli turned to be our enemy, and fought against us." Mr Halyburton flourished at a period when tlie church of Scotland had just emerged from the darkness of that gloomy night of persecution which had settled around iier for the long space of nearly thirty years. He was not properly one of the Covenanters ; but he had drunk deeply into their spirit — a spirit of uncompromising adherence to the cause of truth, and unflinching fidelity to the league of the faithful. His parents had shared of the cup of suffering. His earliest and strongest attachments were formed in the school of adversity ; and he entered on the service of the church with all the ardour of a mind tutored by experience. The labours in which he engaged as a pastoral superintendent of one of the parishes of his native district, together with liis known learning, his commanding talents, and his decided piety, recommended him as a fit person to be the instructor * Young's Essay, introductory to Halyburtor.'s NFemoirs, p. 39. xxviii INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. of the " sons of the prophets," in one of the seminaries of the Scottish Israel ; and he began his career in the theological ciiair at St Andrews, under tlie most promising auspices. It pleased the great Head of the church to spare him only a short time to edify the church in that important station. In the lapse of two years, he v/as called from the labours and anxieties of the church-militant on earth, to the rest and the glories of the church-triumphant in heaven. His life, though short, spoke volumes ; and his death-bed scene addressed survivers in language more solemn, and Avith an energy more pungent, than the living voice could command. R. B. Pafsley, Oct. it, 1832. RECOMMENDATION. The author of these discourses has discovered to the world, a bright genius, strong reason, and solid learning, in the treatise which he has published against the Deists, wherein he has carried the war into their quarters, has beat the infidels at their own weapons, and triumphs over them in their own camp. The Memoirs of his Life, and the Secret Transactions between God and his Soul, copied from his private papers, sufficiently manifest his ac- quaintance with the inward and vital part of religion, and his deep in- sight into the affairs of sin and grace. Now, where such natural ingenuity, and such learned endowments, are sanctified by such a variety of rich experiences, and attended with such a train of Christian graces, what a glorious composition must all these make I And how well furnished must such a man be for the ser- vice of God, and for the salvation of men ! The title-page gives you a short, but true account, of the substance of this book ; and the preface informs you in what manner the author lias pursued and handled those solemn and most important subjects. I have perused a great part of this treatise, and I can boldly say, that the preface gives an honourable, but a just account of the performance, and leaves very little for me to add by way of recommendation ; and this also can be only necessary to those who have had no opportunity of ac- quaintance with the author, or his works. I would first take notice of this character of it, that it is written much in the strain of some of the best of our English sermons in the last age, when the pulpits did not affect politeness and indolence, but spoke thunder to the secure conscience, and made the hearers feel the terrors of the Lord ; when the preachers applied the grace of the gospel to souls that were wounded by the law, in a more skilful and successful manner than has been generally practised in later years. This treatise seems to be written in the power and spirit of that day. when stupid souls were convinced in multitudes, and sinners were led by troops into the paths of salvation, by faith in the Son of God ; when conversions were numerous, and the power of godliness was almost as common as the stricter forms of it are now-a-days. In the work of convincing secure sinners, young and old, the author has suited his addresses to every character of mankind, and hath shown him- self a workman that need not to be ashamed. There may happen now and then a single thought or expression, that may be conceived too strongly, or pushed too far, under the warm influence of his zeal. But let it be remembered, that these were his popidar discourses, prepared weekly A RECOMMENDATION. for the use of his parish, unlaboured, unpolished, and undesigned for the view of the public ; yet, such as they are, they contain more useful thoughts for the real benefit of souls, than any of the polite and well fashioned discourses that obtain too mnch of modern applause. In this handling the doctrine of faith in Christ, his sentiments are very conformable to those of the pious and venerable Dr John Owen : his own Christian expei-iences seem to have been in some part moulded and formed by the practical and spiritual writings of that great man ; who, in the matters of experimental godliness, was, in my esteem, one of the prime writers of the last age, if not superior to them all. Nor does my veneration of him arise from the honour that Divine Providence has done me, in appointing me his successor, in the pastoral oflBce to the same church of Christ ; but from the sensible benefit which I have often received from his writings, and that before I was ever acquainted with the people to whom he ministered. And wherever I see the breathings of the same spirit, they secretly influence me to favour such a writer, and refresli my early reverence for that great man. I confess his style was long and intricate ; and herein this author has the advantage of him, whose language is plain and condescending, popular and easy ! so that I dare venture to recommend this work to the perusal even of the mean- est souls, who are willing to concern themselves in this world about their salvation in the next. The Third Part of this treatise is very proper to awaken sleepy Chris- tians to life, and vigour, and activity, as well as to direct the new con- vert how he may shape and square his conduct to the glorj"^ of saving grace, and to inform him what he should do for that God who has done so much for him. I hope it will be of use also to raise up the dying power of family religion, and set many a master of the housel^ld upon inquiry, what they have done to promote the power of godliness among those that are under their care. I would take the freedom particularly to recommend this discourse to be distributed by Christians who have a tender concern for the souls of their children, or any other dear relatives or friends. If the work of grace be already begun upon their hearts, by the blessing of God, this may help to promote and advance it with power and glory ; but if they are yet in ignorance and darkness, unawakened and thoughtless of their eternal concerns, I would more especially propose this book to be given them ; and may it be attended with the divine influences of the Spirit, that the author, who is now dead, may yet speak in these sermons, to the salvation of many who are yet living I Amen. I. ^\'atts. London, / Nov. 7. 1721. i PREFACE. ^VERE it not to answer the expectation of readers, and comply with the custom of writers, the following' book might be ventured out to the world, without either preface, introduction, or recommendation, the very title-page containing enough to entitle it to a careful and candid reading and perusal. The worth and credit of the author, is sufficiently established among such as have any taste of piety or learning. By the history of his life, which has met with very good acceptance, it appears that he was a man of God, one whom he had set apart for himself. How distinct and pointed was he in observing the Lord's way and work, in bringing him to himself! And where can we see a bright- er example, in those latter days of the world, of the humbling exercises and comfortable enjoyment of Christians, than in the author ? How exciting and edifying is it, to see how close he walked with God in his secret intercourse with him, in his domestic relations, and family devotions, in his public and ministerial work, and his conversation be- fore the world, " setting the Lord always before him, and acknowledg- ing him in all his ways !" May we not then expect something very well worth our while, in the performance of one of such a character ? One that had the contents of the book written upon his own heart, before he preached them to his people, and was a living and lively witness and example of the great and grave truths now exhibited to public view. However little this part of his character may take with the multitude, yet those truly serious, who valued him while living, and have an hon- our for his memory when dead, will, no doubt, take pleasure to see how the great purposes in the book were managed by such an excellent hand ; and the brethren that were concerned in the publishing of it, can, with a good deal of assurance, say, that the experience, upon perusing, will answer the expectations raised, of meeting with a spirit of seriousness and piety breathing in it, and a great deal of solid judgment and distinct thought ; and, in some incident questions, not uncurious, there is suffi- cient evidence of his penetration, and what may be very agreeable and taking to them who set up for something above what is vulgar. Tliere is nothing in it mean, or unworthy of a grave, judicious, and learned author : if any thing look that way, it is where the necessity of the matter, and capacity of those he dealt with, required it, *' becom- ing all things to all men ;" particularly when dealing with children, it was fit to do it as near their own terms as possible : for to suit matter to the design we have, and to the conditions of those we deal with, is no argument of the want, but of the strength of judgment. He was excellently fitted and enriched with talents, for every post Providence called him to, having filled and adorned the Doctor's chair 4 PREFACE. as Professor of Divinity, as well as the pul])it, while pastor to a Christian flock. But though there had been less to say for the author, the contents of the book deserve a fair hearing-, and a serious perusal ; why ? it is the Great (Concern, it is not a trifle, it is not an amusement ; no, it is of the last consequence to us, to know these things. Many live unconcerned, and love to do so ; it may be, the very title shall be with such an ar- gument against reading ; there is little hope of fixing such so long as to read the book, or so deep as to do it seriously, and with due concern : and no wonder, when those, so indifferent about the great concerns of eternity and their'precious souls, suffer the scripture oracles to lie by them, without due, frequent, and serious inquiry into them. Here is presented to the view of Christians, and those who would indeed be such, what, by the blessing of God, may be very entertaining, edifying, and useful. The first fruits of his labours, in tbe sermon next after his ordination, printed as an introduction to the book, shows how much his work was at heart, and under what concern he was, to prepare the people for en- tertaining and improving his ministry and message, and to approve him- self to God, in the discharge and delivery thereof. In the First Part, the state of nature is represented as a state of sin, misery, and wrath, in the most pungent, affecting, and convincing terms imaginable ; where the guilty sinner is closely pursued into all the turns and stages of life, and convicted of sin : in each and all of them, sin is represented as odious and abominable, as exceeding sinful. It is laid open in such glasses, and with such aggravations, as it is hard to avoid the conviction of it, but where natural hardness is increased, by the malignant influence of Satan, whose great design and strength lies in keeping all in peace. The divine resentments against sin, wrath, and judgment, upon sin- ners, are likewise set forth in such a manner, as cannot easily miss to raise terror in the consciences of the guilty : present wrath in the direful effects of it, wrath to come in the extent and extremity of it, are held forth in such a lively manner, as must raise the gratitude of those hap- pily delivered from it, and bids very fair to alarm and awaken those yet under it, to escape and flee for their lives. Then, upon supposition of conviction of sin and guilt, in the Second Part, the exercises of the convinced sinner are opened up most distinct- ly and judiciously, in their nature, rise, workings and degrees, and in such a feeling manner as may easily persuade one, that he has, in this matter, copied over his own experience : and it is some degree of satis- faction to one in this condition, to have one going before them, and to think that their guide has trodden the same path. With what tenderness and compassion doth he touch the cases of the distressed ! while yet, with faitid'nlness and freedom, he opens up the mistakes and deceits, both in the workings and issue of convictions, ap- proving himself an interpreter, one among a thousand. Those who by the Spirit are convinced of sin, will know how to put a value upon a piece so suitable to their case ; and those awakened and convinced are led by a skilful hand, to the centre of rest for wearied souls, by the way of faith and believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, which gives occasion for PREFACE. 5 opening up the mystery of faith in its nature, acts, and properties, con- comitants, and consequences, which will be found very useful for in- forming the less knowing, confirming the weak, and comforting the strong believer. And what can be of greater importance for us to know, than the only way of escaping wrath to come, and being delivered from the curse and condemnation of the law, of being united to Christ, and being found in him, upon which he becomes our righteousness and strength, whereby we are entitled to the great salvation ? Of which salvation the author treats as the great encouragement of believing ; and this is the one thing necessary ; for, " What is a man profited, if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul ?" This sal- vation is set forth in Scripture-light, accounted for in its parts and pro- perties, at a good length : and as this is of the last consequence to all, so it must be the delight of those that have it at heart. If thou art convinced and awakened, and brought to a concern about salvation, if brought to the jailor's case, thou wilt welcome the help of- fered, and readily attend to the answer of the apostle to his question : for what can be more proper and pertinent to the case of such, than the true way to escape the misery of a natural state, and attain the felicity of a gracious one ? These, as they will not spare, so they will not repent, the pains of reading these sheets. Such as are by grace engaged to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and are a people saved of the Lord, will have it at heart, what to do for God ; they will set themselves, in the strength of grace, to all the duties of religion, whereby God may be glorified, and their faith justified, and their begun salvation promoted : all which good designs are answered in the Third Part of the book. And this gives an account of personal religion, of the service of God, how we must enter into it, and persevere in it ; and what more useful piece of knowledge is there, than how we may do service to, and keep up our com- munion with God ? Here our first transactions and after-walk are point- edly and piously directed. Here also family-religion is opened in its parts, the foundations of it fixed, and the practice of it enforced with powerful arguments, and suit- able directions for people's walking in their house, and the proper duties of the several relatives in a family ; which, if duly observed, would turn houses into churches ; and that is very necessary when family-devotion is declining and like to wear out. A public religion comes also under consideration in this Part, or a public spirit ; whence the thing is recommended, and yet cautioned with great wisdom and judgment, to prevent people's going out of their sphere, and beyond their line. The order, subordination, and mutual dependencies and relations of personal, domestic, and public religion, are nicely stated, and judiciously discovered, and proper caveats entered against beginning at the wrong end, as seldom missing to end either in apostasy or division ; which can- not be but very useful in the present juncture, when divisions so much abound, and dividing inclinations are so much aloft. In a word, there is no part of the book, but what is of high import- ance and great usefulness; which, joined with the established character 6 PREFACE. and reputation of the author, entitles it to a kind reception, and ^ln{i perusal. As these were the main prompters of the publishing the book, so they may be reckoned sufficient arguments for a careful reading and im- provement of it, now when published. It comes out with very little alteration, even as to words, as they stood in the manuscript, partly because it did not much need it, and partly out of veneration for the author, whose pulpit skill and style was so gener- ally acceptable ; yet it is not to be supposed, but if it had received a finishing stroke from his own hand, for the press, it might have appeared more beautiful ; though even under this want, it will be found, that neither method nor style is disagreeable, though popular, and just as prepared and delivered to his people. May all that have encouraged the design of publishing the book, meet with the double reward of edification to their own souls, and seeing it do much good to others. We live in a time when all helps and advan- tages need to be improved, for awakening secure sinners, and bringing them under soul-uptaking inquiries about salvation, and stirring up Christians to the universal practice of piety and godliness. And as the book has a plain tendency to these ends, go on and read it, and digest and apply it, begging that God may effectually bless and prosper it to those good ends for which it is designed. AN INTRODUCTORY SERMOX. / ask therefore Jbr what intent ye have sent for me ? — Acts x. 29. Waving the formality of an introduction, I shall lay before you a few- remarks for clearing the occasion of the apostle's using this question, and the reason why we have made choice of this text at this time, for the subject of this discourse. And, 1. This chapter contains a large and particular account of one Cor- nelius, a Roman centurion, or captain of a hundred soldiers, his con- version to Christianity. 2. Cornelius, though by birth a Roman, was of the Jewish religion, a proselyte. Those who of other nations embraced the true religion, associating themselves to the Jews, were called proselytes ; and they ■were either such as joined with the Jews in the whole rites of their re- ligion, being circumcised as were the Jews ; or such as adhered to the substantials of their religion, but remained uncircunicised. The former sort were called proselytes of righteousness, or of the covenant ; the latter, proselytes of the gate. Interpreters seem to agree, that Cor- nelius was a proselyte of the gate, one who owned the substance of re- ligion, but remained uncircumcised, and did not join in the whole of their worship. 3. This captain was a true convert before this discovery of the gospel came to him by the apostle : he was accepted of God, and therefore was not to be accounted unclean. Now, none save those who are converted can be accepted : for " they that are in the flesh cannot please God ; and without faith it is impossible to please him ; for he that comes to him must believe that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him," Heb. xi. 6. Wherefore, 4. He, no doubt, leaned upon the promised Messiah, Jesus Christ, for his acceptance with God ; since '' none can come to the Father but by him," who is " the way, the truth, and the life," and who only can guide sinners in their approaches to God. 5. God being a rewarder of such as diligently seek him, did reward this man's faith and obedience with the gospel-revelation of his Son Jesus Christ, whence he came to understand, that the Messiah he looked for was already come. His prayers and alms-deeds are said to come up for a memorial before God ; not as if there had been any thing of merit in what was done or attained to, but to encourage others, and to discover the riches of God's bounty, in rewarding freely, according to his rich 8 AN INTRODUCTORY SERMON. f^race, the diligent improvement of light with greater degrees of light and life ; and this reward is not of debt, but of rich and sovereign grace. 6. This saint, waiting for the consolation of Israel, has a vision from God, bidding him send for the apostle Peter; whence we may learn, that God has a great respect for his own institutions. The gospel-min- istry is of divine appointment; and therefore the Lord refers Cornelius to it, though it had been no less easy to have discovered Christ to him in the vision. 7. Peter had a vision to the same purpose, removing such objections as might make him scruple : whence we may remark, that when the Lord designs good to a people, by a minister, he gives both the people clear- ness to call and the minister clearness to come ; though not in such an extraordinary manner as this here made use of. 8. When the apostle, in compliance with Cornelius's call, and God's call, or rather the Lord's joining in the same call with him, comes to the place where he was, the first question he puts to him is that which we have read to you ; " J ask therefore for what intent ye have sent for me ?" and this he doth, notwithstanding lie had got some account of this from the servants who were sent for him by Cornelius. The words are in themselves plain ; and therefore we shall not offer any explication of them, but lay before you this doctrine, which is pal- pably contained in them. DocT. — " A faithful gospel-minister, coming among a people upon their call, will be very desirous to know what their designs for calling him were :" " I ask therefore for what intent ye have sent for me ?" In discoursing this point, we shall inquire, I. What designs a people should have in calling a gospel-minister. II. What way they should evidence these to be their designs. III. Make some inquiry into the reasons of the doctrine. And, lastly, apply the whole. I. To begin with the first of these. The designs a people should have in calling a gospel-minister ; they are many. We shall endeavour to reduce them to a few. And, 1. A people should, in calling a gospel-minister, design to hear from him the whole counsel of God, in reference to their eternal salvation. This is the great business of gospel-ministers, to declare the whole counsel of God to those to whom they come, to keep nothing back from them that may be of use to them. So their commission runs. Matt, xxviii. 19, 20. " Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost ; teaching them to observe all thing whatsoever I have commanded you ; and lo, I am with you always even unto the end of the world. Amen." And the great apostle of the Gentiles, in that famous farewell sermon of his to the church of Ephesus, which we have recorded. Acts xx. from ver. 17 and downwards, appeals to the conscience of that people, as to his faithfulness in fulfilling his commission in declaring to them the whole counsel of God, ver. 27. And in keeping back nothing that could be profitable to them, ver. 20. Whoever would approve himself a faithful gospel-minister, must take care faithfully to discover to his hearers their lost and undone state by nature ; that they are all become AN INTRODUCTORY SERMON. 9 guilty before God ; ami that there is no other way of their obtaining access to him but through Jesus Christ, who is made of God to tliem who believe, " wisdom, righteousness, sanctificatiou, and redemption." To these two doth the apostle refer the whole of that counsel of God, he shunned not to declare to the Ephesians, in that forecited scripture. Acts XX. 21. He testified to all persons, Jews and Greeks, repentance towards God (i. e. that they were guilty of such offences against God, as called for deep humiliation), and faith towards our Lord .Jesus Christ : that is, that there was no way of escaping the wrath of God, but tliat of closing with Christ by faith. This is the mater of the gospel : and Christ's servants are to make it their business faithfully to unfold the mind of God in reference to these two, man's state by nature, and what he may by grace be advanced to This is called, 1 Tim. v. 7. a " labouring in the word and doctrine." This preaching of the gospel takes in three things. I. A full pro- posal of the doctrine just now mentioned. Ministers nuist, without minch- ing the matter, plainly discover to men their lost state, and the impossi- bility of recovery any other way than by the gospel method, throuoh Jesus Christ, Acts xx. 21. 2. They must discover these things, not as their private sentiments, built upon some rational conclusions of their own drawing and framing, but as the word of God. It is the word of God they are to propose, and not tlieir own private opinions ; and it is the word of God hearers are to receive from them, 1 Thess. ii. 13. " For this cause also thank we God," saith the apostle, " without ceasing, because when ye received the word of God, which ye heard of us, ye re- ceived it not as the word of men, but, as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe." 3, This preach- ing of the word takes in not only a proposal of the word of God, but an authoritative declaration of it by virtue of a commission derived from God. " These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority,"' Tit. ii. 15. The word, in the first language, may be rend- ered command, with all command. Ministers are clothed with authority from God ; and in his name, by virtue of a commission received from him, they are to preach the gospel, and to speak the counsel of God, as being his mouth to the people, 1 Pet. iv. 11. This is the principal part of the minister's work; and therefore to hear the word of God from them in this manner, should be the great design of those who call a gospel- minister, that they may hear from them as the mouth of God, what by nature they are, and what through the grace of God in Christ Jesus they may be. But now, 2. When a people call a gospel-minister, they should design the regu- lar and orderly performance of the worship of God. This worsliip of God, as it is contradistinguished from the doctrine of the gospel, of which under the foi-mer head, consists principally in the administration of the sacx'aments and prayer ; public prayer, I mean, under which praises are comprehended, as belonging to, and always to be joined with it, according to our blessed Lord's appointment in that form, common- ly called the Lord's prayei", which concludes with thanksgiving. In Acts ii. 42. we have an account of the public worship of the church, which consists in preaching, there expressed by doctrine, and breaking of bread, that is, administering the sacrament of the Lord's supper, and B 10 AN INTRODUCTORY SERMON. prayers and praises. " And thoy," 8aith the Spirit of God speaking of the church, " continued in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in break! rile, will he careful to understand their design or intent in calling him. And, 1, This will be the desire of a gospel-minister, because a mistake in this matter will be of very dangerous consequence to the people. That people may be influenced by wrong and sinistrous ends and motives in this matter, is beyond all peradventure. They may design the " grati- fication of their itching ears" by the preacher's gifts, as the prophet Ezekiel's hearers did ; they may seek the gospel-ordinances for a charm as it were, that they may sit down and rest upon them, as many peoi)le do, like those with whom the prophet Jeremiab had to do, who said, " The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are these." Or they may design the strengthening of factions and parties ; or to get occasion to mock, as many do now in our days. These and the like sinistrous de- signs may a people go upon : and there can be nothing more prejudicial to a people than to be under the influence of such intentions ; since, past all peradventure, God will not sit with such an affront as is done him by tliis means, when that ordinance of the ministry, which he de- signed for the good of soids, and his glory, is prostitute, and made subservient to quite diff^erent, nay, opposite designs: and surely a faithful gospel-minister, who will have a tender regard to the salvation of liis people, cannot choose but be solicitous to understand that they are not in so dangerous a mistake. 2. The knowledge of this will be of great use to clear his call. It is a great evidence that God designs good to a people when they call a gos- pel-minister upon such designs ; and it cannot but go a great length towards his satisfaction as to God's calling him to Avork among them, in order to the compassing the great designs of his ministry. Wlien Peter got the account before spoken of from Cornelius, he is further confirm- ed as to the hand of God in his coming to him, in compliance with his desire. 3. If upon inquiry they be found to be such as we have mentioned, it will be a great comfort to him, in grappling with the diflicuJties he may meet with in the discharge of his duty. It will give a great deal of sa- tisfaction to him to know that those for whose sake he runs those hazards, and grapples with these difticulties, have the same aims, and are joining in the same design with him. In fine, the right management of his whole work depends very much upon his knowledge of his people's in- tentions ; and therefore it is no wonder to be incpiisitive into them, since by his acquaintance with these he may be capacitated to further both his own and their salvation. We might for improvement of this point, discourse to you at length of the necessity of a gospel-minister's inqxiiringinto his own designs in under- taking the charge of a people. The arguments made use of to discover the reasonableness of inquiring after the people's design, conclude no less strongly with respect to the minister's. We might likewise discourse to you of the way how he is to manifest the integrity and sincerity of his aims ; AN INTRODUCTORY SERMON. 15 but time will not allow us to enter upon these things, and you heard the minister's duty so fully and largely discoursed of within these few days, namely, at the ordination, that we judge it needless to enter upon that subject ; and therefore all the improvement we design, of wiiat has been said, shall be despatched in a short address to you of this con- gregation. You have called me to labour among you in the work of the gospel ; upon your call I have come ; I ask therefore to what intent sent ye for me ? What did ye design in this matter ? Was it to hear what God has to say to you, that God's worship may be ordered according to his own appointment, that you may be brought to acquaintance with Christ, or that you be established in his ways ? Were these and the like the de- signs you had in view ? AV^ere these the motives influenced you ? If you narrowly look into your own hearts, and make an impartial inquiry, you may readily come to understand what your aims have been ; and for your help, I would only in God's name, pose your consciences with a question or two, that may be of use. 1. Dare you, without heart-con- demning, as in the sight of God, say, tliat in calling a minister you had respect to the command of God. Was it duty that moved you, or did custom and your own ease influence you ? 2. Dare you hold up your face and say, that it was a taste of God's goodness in ordinances, that made you desire them, that you might grow thereby ? 3. Did this desire lead you much to the throne of grace to pray for a minister, that God might send you one "according to his own heart, that might feed you with know- ledge and understanding ?" 4. When you saw any prospect of the re- turn of your prayers, as to a gospel-ministry, were you careful to plead that the blessing might come along ? What say ye to these things ? Give God, give conscience justice ; let conscience speak freely, and tell whether things be so or not. They must either own, that there was not a regard to the command, that there was not a desire after the sincere milk of the word, occasioned by a taste of the Loi"d's goodness, that there was not that serious application to God by prayer, either for a minister, or for the blessing of the ordinance ; or that there was ; and this will cast you all into two classes. IaV, Those who have not been so employed in this matter, and consequently have not been acting for right ends. And, 2dl?/, Those who have been busied in duty, in the way just now mentioned. To each of these a word. And, l.y^. As for you who have not had a regard to your duty in this mat- ter, who have not been wrestling with God in prayer, that God might send you a minister with the fulness of the blessing of the gospel, to you we say, 1. Your designs are not such as God will approve of. Had they been such as we mentioned in the former part of this discourse, then surely they would have led you to earnest wrestling with God, for his direc- tions, who only can point to one that is meet to answer those blessed ends. 2. You are guilty of horrible wickedness. You have committed a great provocation, in calling a minister upon any other design. God de- signed them for the ends formerly mentioned, and no other; and your calling them upon other aims, is an endeavour to counteract God, prosti- tute his ordinance, and serve your lusts of that which God designed for his own glory. 16 AN INTRODUCTORY SERMON. 3. Whatever good others may g-et by the gospel, yon havo no reason to look for any. God may answer you according to the idols of your own hearts : and when he satisfies the soul of the liungry with good things, he may send leanness to you. When he gives a commission to the word to enligliten, convert, confirm, and strengthen others, you have reason to fear that it may have a comnQission to make you blind, deaf, and de.ad. 4. Repent therefore of this your wickedness, and pray God, if per- haps the thoughts of your heart may be forgiven you ; lie in the dust before God ; endeavour to get your hearts affected with your guilt, that you may be deeply humbled and abased before him whom you have provoked to anger. 5. Bring forth fruits meet for repentance. Let us know by your carriage that you are really penitent, and that now you have got the right designs in view ; and this you may do by a close attendance upon all the ordinances, by hearing and doing whatever is enjoined you of God, and by all the other ways mentioned in the doctrinal parts of this discourse. 6. And, lastly. Whether you hear or forbear, yet we tell you, the kingdom of God is come near unto you ; whatever you design, the Lord has given you a gospel-day ; and if our gospel be hid from you, it is because you are lost, the god of this world having blinded your eyes, that you should not discern the light of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ, who is the image of God. As to the second sort of persons, those who have been importunate \vith God, and have had an eye to his command in this work, to you we say, L This your conduct, past all peradventure, is no mean evidence of the sincerity of your good intentions; and this is certainly matter of thankfulness, and is moreover a ground to hope, that the Lord may not altogether frustrate your desires. 2. Do not think your work is over. Wrestle, plead strongly with God for the blessing of gospel-ordinances ; whoever plants or waters, it is only God that gives the increase ; and therefore if you mean to grow under the means, be instant in prayer for the blessing on them ; plead that God may not send leanness to your souls, while he provides plenty of spiritual provision for you. 3. Beware of sitting down upon gospel privileges. You may, if you do so, lose what you have wrought, and justly bring the sincerity of your aims in question. There is nothing more ordinary, than upsitting of this sort. Persons, who it may be would say, O had they a gospel- dispensation ! how glad would they be, how carefully would they im- prove it ; and yet when they get what they seek, their improvement is in no measure answerable to their resolutions. Take heed of, and guard against this. 4. Let there be a suitable care to evidence your sincerity in this mat- ter, by the whole of your deportment. If you turn careless in attend- ing ox'dinances, if you hear, but do not, if you neglect your own work, and be wanting to yourselves in this matter, then who will believe your sincerity ? who can believe it ? your own consciences will accuse you ; and " if your hearts condemn you, God is greater than your hearts, and knows all things," 1 John iii. 20. AN INTRODUCTORY SERMON. 17 5. If you find that the Lord has made endeavours successful, take care that you sacrifice not to your own net, and burn incense to your drag. God is a holy and a jealous God, and will not be mocked ; and if you begin to rob him of his glory, he will get him glory in such a way as may lay you low, and make you smart severely for your own folly. 6. If the Lord give you the gospel-light, then walk in the light while you have it. Carry like children of the light and of the day, work out the work of your salvation with fear and trembling : for none of us can tell how soon our gospel -day may be gone, and the night succeed wherein none can work. We shall conclude this discourse with a few general advices to all of you. Would you have our ministry made successful ? would you obtain the real advantage of gospel-ordinances, and have our meetings such as may be matter of rejoicing both to you and me in the day of the Lord ? then we entreat, beseech, nay, and obtest you by the mercies of God, in the bowels of our Lord Jesus Christ, as you would have your own soids and ours to be saved. L Pray for us. As a minister is indispensably obliged to mind his people before God, and to carry them ever upon his heart, so are they obliged to pray for their minister : " Pray for us," says the apostle, Heb. xiii. 18. "for we trust we have a good conscience in all things, willing to live honestly." To give weight to this advice, I shall lay before you a few considerations. And, (1.) Consider, ministers are not suflBcient of themselves for this work ; the work is great, weighty, and important, and the difficulties are many ; and who is sufficient for it ? Sure ministers are not ; for if the apostle said with justice of himself, " That he was not of himself sufficient to think any thing as he ought," 2 Cor. iii. 5. then much more may gospel- ministers now-a-days own it to be so with them ; and therefore aU their sufficiency is only of God, from whom suitable and needful supplies should be sought. (2.) Consider that in their plenty and fulness you shall have plenty. They are indispensably obliged to lay out what they receive for you, to spend and be spent in the work and service of your faith : and therefore it is your interest that they abound, since it is for your sake they labour ; and the more so, if you be instrumental by your prayers, in procuring advantages and supplies for them. (3.) Consider, that they are exposed to great hazards for your sake, and therefore you are to contribute your utmost to their assistance this way, wherein you may be most helpful to them. They being made watch- men, do thereby become the butt of Satan's malice ; and the more faith- ful they are, the more will he oppose them, and seek their ruin. The enemy's principal design is sure to be against the watchman, because he prevents the surprising of his people by Satan, at least it is his business to do so ; and therefore no stone will be left unturned, in order to his ruin. 1. Satan will endeavour to lay him asleep, and make him turn secure, that he may neglect his post. 2. If he miss of this, he will en- deavour to fill him with disturbance and fear, that so he may be diverted from his duty, and made to quit his post. Or, 3. He will ply his cor- ruptions, that he may, by attending to them, and striving against them take him off from, or discourage him in his opposition to those of others. c 18 AN INTRODUCTORY SERMON. 4. He will endeavour to blind his eyes by false appearances, that so he may give false alarms : and this will weaken his credit, and make, people not believe his warnings. .5. He will endeavour to amuse him with great appearances of danger where there is none ; that his eyes may turn off from those .^lings which may really endanger his flock. And, 6. He will endeavour to beget and cherish jealousies betwixt his people and him, whereby his warnings will be less regarded, and his hands be weak- ened, and his heart be discouraged. 7. If these fail, he will endeavour to get him removed ; if he see the gospel like to prove successful, then he will take care to find out ways to oblige the watchman to remove from his post. And, 8. If he fail of this, he will endeavour to kill him, either by multiplying troubles and griefs, or else by more direct methods, employing his emissaries and servants to take away his life ; and this, by God's permission, for the punishment of a people's sins, has proven suc- cessful. Sui-ely these and a great many more methods, used by Satan, the wicked world, pretended friends, and their own corruptions, against the ministers of the gospel, and all upon the people's account, should make them careful in praying to God in their behalf, that they may be saved from the attempts of all their spiritual adversaries, and may be made to grow in graces and gifts. Pray for much grace to your minis- ter, that he may persuade, as knowing the terrors of the Lord ; that he may deal tenderly with you, as having himself had acquaintance with soul-sickness on account of sin ; that he may take you to Jesus safely, as having himself been with him ; that he may comfort you with the consolations wherewith he has been comforted of God. In fine, that he may speak, because he himself has not only believed, but experienced the work of grace upon his own soul, as one that has tasted that sin is an evil and bitter thing, and has found that Christ is useful, is sufficient, is precious ; and that he may pray acceptably for you, as one who has found acceptance in his own behalf. Pray likewise for gifts to him, knowledge in the mystery of God, and of Christ, and of faith : that he may have much spiritual wisdom, zeal, boldness, and courage, to fit him for his work ; and withal, that the Lord may give a door of utterance. (4.) Consider, that a careful attendance to your duty, in holding up your minister's case, will be a great mean to promote love, mutual love, betwixt you and him ; and this Avill help to break Satan's engines. No- thing contributes more to the furtherance and success of one's ministry in a place, than much love, mutual kindness betwixt a minister and people ; and no love so useful this way, as that which vents itself in pray- er for one another, and is cherished by this means. But, 2. I entreat you may carefully attend ordinances, public, private, and secret ; and catechising as the Lord shall give occasion. This will make us cheerfully go about these duties, if we see you studying to make advan- tage of them : this will be profitable to you ; it will discourage our ene- mies ; it will rejoice our heart, and be a credit to religion. 3. Any advantage you receive, be sure that ye attribute it entirely to God; beware of placing it to the minister's account, who is only the in- strument; if you rob God of the glory, and give it to the instrument, you may by this provoke the Lord to blast your minister, and to with- draw from him his presence ; which will soon make you see, that it is not the minister that can do any thing. Give God his due, and so ac- AN INTRODUCTORY SERMON. 19 count of us as the servants of Christ, and the stewards of the mysteries of the gospel ; and when ye get any good hy it, put it all to God's ac- count ; bless him for it ; and let the instrument have an interest in your affections and prayers, that he may be further useful to you and others. 4. Once more, and we have done. Do not count us your enemies, if we tell you the truth ; we must by any means be free, in laying open your sins, and in carrying home the conviction of them to your conscien- ces ; nor dare we gratify any, by holding our peace in this matter ; for if we please men, then are we not the servants of Christ ; and if any soul die in its sin by our silence, then we bring the blood of souls upon our own heads, and hazard our own souls. We are obliged, by the manifestation of the truth, to commend ourselves to consciences ; and if the more we love, the less we are loved, then God will i-equire it at your hands. But whether you will hear, or whether you forbear, we must, as we shall give answer to the great Shepherd of the sheep, deal plainly with you. Consider but that one scripture. Lev. xix. 17. and ye will see reproof to be an act of great love, and that the neglect of it in God's account is hatred : " Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart. Thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him ;" or, as the last clause may be rendered. That thou bear not sin for him. Now, if you follow these advices, and if there be a single eye to God, and close dependence upon him, both in minister and people, mu- tual love and helpfulness, and a joiut endeavour to promote the great design of the ministry, the glory of God in our o\^Ti salvation, then our labour shall not be in vain, but shall be blessed with increase, aud God, even our God, shall bless us. THE GREAT CONCERN SALVATION. PART I. A DISCOVERY OF MAN'S NATURAL STATE; OR, THE GUILTY SINNER CONVICTED. For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" — Rom. iii. 23. Whoever considers his present condition, will soon see, that his great business and chief concern, lies in three important inquiries : " What have I done ?" Jer. viii. 6. " What shall I do to be saved ?" Acts xvi. 30. " What shall I render to the Lord ?" Psal. cxvi. 12. The answer of the first will make way for the second, and that will give occasion for the third. Though wise men have busied their heads, and toiled themselves with wearisome inquiries after happiness ; yet none of them could ever give men a satisfying answer to any one of these three queries. But what they by their wisdom could not do, that God, in his infinite wis- dom and unparalleled goodness has done, to the satisfaction of all rational inquirers, in the scriptures of truth. If it be inquired. What have we done ? our text answers, " All men have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." If the question be put. What shall we do to be saved? look Acts xvi. 31. and there we are bid " believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and we shall be saved." In fine, if we ask, ^V hat shall we render to the Lord for his matchless and unparalleled favour to us ? we may turn to Psal. cxvi. 13. and there we are told what to do, " I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord." And much to the same purpose is that of the prophet, JNIicah vi. 8. " He hath showed thee, O man, what is good : and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" The great concernment of gospel-ministers lies in the second inquiry. It is our principal business to persuade men and women to believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, to commend our blessed Maker to poor sinners. But since we come not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance, it is necessary we lay the foundation in a discovery of man's natural state. Before Ave offer Christ, we shall shou- you need him ; before we tender mercy, we shall endeavour to represent your misery ; before you be called to repentance, Me will show you are sinners 22 THE GUILTY SINNER CONVICTED. who 8tand in need of repentance. And upon this account we have made choice of" tlie words now read, which do offer a fair occasion for a dis- covery of your sin, and of your misery on that account. We shall not spend time in considerinj^ the connection of the words, which may perhaps fall more conveniently in our way. The text is a general assertion, in which all stand convicted of, and concluded under sin : for, The persons to whom sin is attributed, are not some single persons, to a seclusion of others, but all mankind. It is not some degenerate wretches in the heathen world ; but all, Jew and Gentile, rich and poor, high and low, who have sinned and come short of the glory of God. It is not asserted of them, that they may sin, that they are fallible, and if artfully plied by a temptation, may be taken off their feet ; but that they are already involved in the guilt of sin, and have thereby come short of the glory of God. The original word, which is here rendered come short, is emphatical ; it properly signifies to fall short of the mark one aims at, or to fall behind in a race, whereby the prize is lost. Man in his first estate was in a fair way for glory ; power he had to run the race, and the devil had no power to stop him in it ; he had not such weights as we now are clogged with, and yet he fell short of the glory of God ; i. e. he lost that glory in the enjoyment of God, which he had so good a prospect of ; he lost the image of God, which was his glory, given him of God, with all the consequential advantages of it. We need not di'aw any doctrine from the words ; they themselves do express that which we design to insist upon. DocT. " That all men and women, descending from Adam in an ordi- nary way, have sinned, and thereby come short of the glory of God." This doctrine, standing so clear in the words, supersedes any further proof; and therefore we shall not spend time in producing other scrip- tures asserting the same thing. Before we apply this truth, we shall, I. Premise a few propositions for clearing the way to the further ex- plication of this great and momentous truth. II. We shall inquire what sin formally implies. III. Mention a property or two of it. IV. Inquire into the import of this all in the text. V. Show what is implied in this expression. Come short of the glory of God. VI. Whence it is that all have sinned, and thereby come short of the glory of God. Now of each of these in order. And, I. We shall premise a few propositions for clearing the way to what we further design in the explication of this truth. The ist Proposition we offer to you is. That God is the absolute and in- dependent Sovereign of the world. Men do often usurp an absolute power over their subjects, and claim a blind and unlimited obedience ; but they had need take heed they do not invade God's right, and that which is his Sovereign prerogative. He, and he only, is absolute Lord THE GUILTY SINNER CONVICTED. 23 and King of the earth, as the Psalmist sings, in Psal. xlvii. 2. " The Lord most liigh is terrible ; he is a great King over all the earth." And indeed he alone is fit to manage so great a province ; forasmuch as there is " none among the gods like unto him^ neither are there any works like unto his," Psal. Ixxxvi. 8. His claim is founded upon the excel- lency of his nature, Jer.x. 6, 7. " Forasmuch as there is none like unto thee, O Lord, thou art great, and thy name is great in might, who Avould not fear thee, O King of nations ? For to thee doth it appertain, forasmuch as there is none like imto thee :" And upon his creation of all things, " The Lord is a great King above all gods. The sea is his, and he made it," Psal. xcv. 3, 5. " O Jacob and Israel, thou ai't my servant, I have found thee, thou art my servant, O Israel," Is. xliv. 21. In fine, his preservation of all things, and the manifold mercies he loads his creatures with, do give him the noblest title to absolute dominion ; and his glorious perfections of wisdom, power, holiness, and justice, do not only fit himforit, but make his sway desirable to all who understand their own interest. 2d, Take this proposition, God the absolute Sovereign of the world has prescribed laws to all his creatures, by which he governs them. Not to speak of these laws which he has given to the inanimate part of the crea- tion, he has prescribed men their work, he has given them his laws, where- by they are indispensibly obliged to live. " There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy," James i. 12. " The Lord is Judge, King, and Lawgiver," Is. xxxiii. 22. We are not in any thing left alto- gether arbitrary. He who has said to the sea, " Hitherto shalt thou come, and no farther," has dealt so likewise with man ; he has limited him on every hand by his holy laws, the incontestable statutes of heaven. We are obliged to eat, drink, sleep, converse, and do every thing by rule ; God has set us our bounds as to all these things, and thither should we come and no further. Indeed, these limits God has set us are not such as he sets to the waves of the tumultuous sea : no, he deals with us in a way suited to our nature ; he has set such limits as none can pass, till they act in direct contradiction to their very natures, till they abandon a due consideration of that wherein their greatest concern and chief- est interest lies ; as will appear plain enough from that which we offer in the, Sd place, for the clearing the way, That the great Lawgiver of the world has annexed rewards and punishments to those laws he has made. The authority of God is a tender point indeed. He has said, " he will not give his glory to another," and therefore he has taken care to guard the laws he has made with suitable rewards and punishments. God in- ' deed is not obliged to give man any further reward for his obedience, than what flows from the obedience itself, which is sufiicient to be a re- ward to itself : for " in keeping God's commands there is great reward," Ps. xix. 11. But such is his matchless and unbounded goodness, that he proposed no less reward of obedience than eternal life : a reward suitable not to man's obedience, which deserves no such thing, but to the bounty of the giver. On the other hand, again, he has annexed a dreadful penalty to his laws ; break them we may if we will ; for God has not made it impossible we should ; but if we do, then the heavy curse of God will follow us. " Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things Mritten in the book of the law to do them." The same mouth that pro- 24 THE GUILTY SINNER CONVICTED. nounced law, pronounces the curse, Gal. iii. 10. And we know, whom he curses they are cursed, and whom he blesseth they are blessed indeed. 4///, These laws, which God hath given us to walk by, have a fourfold property mentioned by the apostle, Kom. vii. 12. " Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, just, and good ;" and ver. 14. " We know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin." 1. We say it is holy ; the law of God is the exact transcript of the holy will of God. There is nothing in it disagreeable to, or unworthy of the holy God, who always acts like himself, and is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, or look upon sin. 2. It is just- It is the very measure of all justice among men. It is a law that gives God his due and man his : nay, man has no right or property in, or title to, any thing but from this law. What this makes his, is so, and no more can justly be claimed. 3. It is good. It is not a law made to gratify the lusts of an earth worm, it is not a law made without regard to the advantage of those who live under it : but God, in framing his law, has exactly considered Avhat might be for man's good, both in time and in eternity ; and has, in matchless goodness and infinite wisdom, ordered the matter so, that duty and interest go ever together, and a man can never act against his duty but he wrongs his real interest, even abstracting from the consideration of future rewards and punishments in another life. 4. The law is spirktial. It is not such a law as is prescribed by man, which only reaches the outward man ; no, it is spiritual, reaching to the soul and all its inward actings. It prescribes bounds to the spirits of men, obliging them to inward obedience and conformity to it in their motions, inclinations, and affections ; not a thought, nay, nor the circum- stance of a thought, but falls under this spiritual and extensive law, which made the Psalmist say, " I have seen an end of all perfection, but thy commandment is exceeding broad," Psal. cxix. 96. The way being thus cleared, we shall now, in the Second place, show you what sin is. Sin, which is here charged upon all, properly and formally imports, 1. A want of conformity to the law, of which we have been discours- ing. The law requires and enjoins duty. It obliges us not only to ac- tions so and so qualified, but to have a right principle of action ; it not only enjoins holy thoughts, holy words, and holy actions, but moreover it requires that the very frame and temper of our hearts be holy ; and when we fisill short of this, then we sin. That the law obliges us as to the frame of our heart, is plain, since it requires that the tree be good as well as the fruit ; that the worship and service we perform to God be with the whole strength, soul, and heart. 2. Sin imports a transgression of the law, for " sin is a transgression of the law," 1 John iii. 4. Indeed, when transgression is taken in a large sense, it comprehends all sin ; but it may be, and is frequently restricted to actual sins, and sins of commission : as the former branch of the description is to original sin, and sins of omission. Sin is an opposition to the law of God. God bids do, arise, work ; man trans- gresses, breaks the command, and sits still idle. God forbids such and such sinful actions, man does them in opposition to the command of God, -which flows from a contempt of God's authority ; so that we may say. THE GUILTY SINNER CONVICTED. 25 3. That every sin implies, in its formal nature, contempt of God, as that M-hich is its source. Sin flows from a secret enmity of heart against the Almighty, and therefore carries in it a high contempt of him. It may be, men are so blind that they cannot discei-n any such thing in it ; but God makes breaking the law, and despising or contemning the law, to be all one, Amos ii. 4. " Thus saith the Lord, For three trans- gressions of Judah, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment there- of, because they have despised the law of the Lord, and have not kept his commandments, and their lies caused them to err, after the which their fathers have walked." Sin in most men's eyes is a harmless thing ; but how far otherwise would it be if its nature were seen in a just light by the eye of faith ; if we saw it trampling upon God's authority, goodness, and holiness, and even endeavouring as it were to ungod him. But that ye may further understand what sin is, we shall, in the Third place, mention a twofold inseparable property or adjunct of sin, with which it is ever attended. And, L Sin is the defilement of the soul; sin is a filthy thing. The beauty, the glory of man, consists in his conformity to the holy and pure law of God, and in as far as he deviates from that, in so far is he defiled and polluted. Every sin hath a Satan in it, and robs the soul of its beauty, occasions a sort of loathsomeness, whereby, in the eyes of God, and even of itself, it becomes ugly and abominable ; it is the abominable thing which God hates, " Oh do not this abominable thing that I hate," saith the Lord, Jer. xliv. 4. The natural state of man is, upon the account of this filthiness, compared to a wretched infant that is cast out " in all its natural pollutions," Ezek. xvi and to every thing else that is filthy, to puddle, mire, and dirt, and to a menstruous cloth : but yet all of them are not sufficient to give a just idea of its filthiness. 2. Sin, as it is attended with filth, so it is attended with guilt. It makes the sinner guilty ; it obliges him to undergo the penalty which God hath annexed to his law ; it carries ever along with it a title to the curse of God. When the law of God is considered as that which re- presents his holiness and spotless purity, whereby it becomes the mea- sure and standard of all beauty, glory and purity to us ; then sin, as it stands opposed to it in this respect, is looked upon as a stain, a blot, a de- filement : but as the law of God carries on it the impression of his royal authority, the breach of it binds over to just punishment, for the repara- tion of the honour of that contemned authority. Thus we see what it is that all men are charged with. God here lays home to them a breach of the law, represents them as condemned and guilty, deformed and defiled creatures. " All men have sinned," every one has broken the holy, just, good, and spiritual law of the great Sove- reign of the world ; all are guilty of a contempt of his authority, all are defiled with that abominable thing which his soul hates. Lest any one should take occasion to clear himself, and say, O I am not the person spoki'n of, I never contemned God, I never defiled myself, and so I am not guilty of that which is charged upon mankind. Lest any should say, I am clean, God has put a bar upon this door, by extending the charge to all without exception. And so I come, in the, 26 THE GUILTY SINNER CONVICTED. Fourth place, to inquire into the import of this univf rsal particle all in my text ; and it imports, \sl. That persons of all ages are involved in the same common misery. Young and old have sinned. The suckling upon the breast, as well as the old man that is stooping into the grave. None need envy another. The old man needs not envy the innocency of the infant of days, for the youngest carries as much sin into the world as renders it ugly, deformed, and guilty. Indeed there are who have not sinned at the rate that others have done. Children have not sinned " after the similitude of Adam's transgression," Rom. v. 14. their age would not allow them ; but sin enough they have derived to them from Adam, to damn, to defile them. 2t^, Persons of all professions, Jew and Gentile, whatever their reli- gious profession be. The evil is not confined to those of one religion, but is extended to all : the apostle sums up all mankind, as to religion, under two heads, Jew and Gentile : and at large, in the foregoing part of this epistle, proves them both to be sinners. 3\'hat ! would he not be looked on as a very monster in nature, who would kill the man that was putting the meat in his mouth ? who would watch opportunities against one who had done him wonderful kindness? and this is exactly your case; you have sinned, and that against the God of your mercies. And therefore, 40 THE GUILTV' SINNER CONVICTED. (4,) Your sins are all acts of monstrous ing^ratitude, than which nothing worse can be laid to the charge of any man. It is a sin that makes a man worse than the beast of the field : " The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib." Isa. i. 3. "^i'he dullest of beasts know who do them kindnesses, and fawn, as it were, upon lliose that feed them ordinarily : but ye, O sinners ! have kicked and lift up the lieel against the God that has fed you all your life long, and so are guilty of the most horrid ingratitude. And do you thus requite tlie Lord, O foolish people and unwise ! But this is not all that may be said for aggravat- ing your wickedness in sinning against God. For, 3. You have done all this wickedness without any provocation. When subjects rebel against their sovereign, they have usually some shadow of excuse for the taking up arms against him ; but ye have none. What have ye to allege in your own defence, O criminals ? What iniquity, what fault have ye found in God, that ye have gone backward and for- saken his ways ? " Produce your cause, saith the Lord ; bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob," Isa. xli. 21. What have ye to offer in your justification ? Sure I am, the ordinary pretences Avhich are upon such occasions made use of, to justify a subtraction of obedience from the kings of the eai'th, will do you no service- (1.) You cannot, you dare not quarrel God's claim to the sovereignty of the world. What will, what can make it his due, if creation, preservation, benefits, and the supereminent excellencies of his nature, qualifying him as it were for so great a post, do not give a just claim ? And God has a right to the government of the world upon all these accounts. He made us, and not we ourselves : he is the mighty preserver of man ; he loads us daily with his benefits : and there is none like him to be his competitor. (2.) You cannot allege unjust laws. You cannot say that he has overstretched his prerogative, and withholden any part of that which was your unquestionable due. No. Who dare implead the Most High of injustice ? " Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" Are not his laws most just always ? and his judgments most righteous ? Is he not a God of truth, and without iniquity ? Sure he is. We boldly bid you a defiance to discover any thing unjust in that body of laws which God has given to the sons of men. Nor, (S.) Can ye allege the rigour of his laws, that he is an austere one, and has gone to the utmost he might M'ith you, exacting all that he possibly could. No ; he has consulted your good in the frame of his laws, and has con- trived them so, that every one who understands what he says, must own, that had mankind been at the making of them, they could not, by all their joint wit, have gone near to make them so exactly answer the design of the high God, his glory in the good of the creature, as he has done. 4. Nay, further, your sins have this aggravation, that they are com- mitted without any prospect of advantage, to countervail the damage you sustain. Could ye pretend, that you can by your disobedience gain some great thing, if it did not excuse you, it would make you to be pitied, as being overborne by a very great temptation. Bit this cannot, dare not be alleged : no ; you " spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labour for that which doth not profit." You can make no hand of it. You offend the God of your mercies without any THE GUILTY SINNER CONVICTED. 41 provocation, and that for a very trifle. He has not stood with you upon the greatest, and ye scruple the least points with him ; yea, for a trifle of pleasure, ye stand not to off'end him. Nay. 5. You sin, notwithstanding the interposition of the most solemn vows to the contrary ; and therefore we might have made this one of the in- gredients of sin, perjury. All of you who are now before the Lord, stand solemnly engaged to fear, and obey, and serve the Lord, all the days of your lives. When you were oft'ered to God in baptism, tlien you came under the vows of God ; and when you have given your presence in the public assemblies of God's people, since you came to age, ye have solemnly owned and ratified these vows ; and yet notwithstanding all tliese you have sinned against God, even your covenanted God ; and therefore there is perjury in all your sins. You have despised the oatli in breaking the covenant of your God. 6. AVhen you have sinned, and continue to sin against God, yet ye continue to profess fealty and subjection to him, and thereby add fearful liypocrisy and mockery to your wickedness ; like that profane people with whom the prophet Alalachi had to do, who dealt traitorously with God, wearied him by l«s wickedness, robbed him of his due, and yet as- serted their own innocency in all ; and this, throughout the whole of that book, is charged upon them as an aggravation of their guilt. Their pro- fession they still kept up, and challenged God to show wherein they had failed of their duty. Now, this is much your case ; your very appearance here carries in it such a challenge. Would ye come here without scru- ple, and so boldly rush into Gods presence, whom ye have oft'ended, were ye not at this with it, that ye judge God either knows not, or will not be oft'ended with what ye have done. Now, you have heard your charge opened. It is not, as we have said before, some petty misdemeanor that is libelled against you, but crimes as black as hell, atheism, idolatry, blasphemy, robbery, rebellion, and murder, and that against the God of your mercies, over the belly of a great many notable preventing means of grace, in spite of the most so- lemn vows to the contrary, without any shadow of provocation, any pros- pect of real advantage ; and all this, notwithstanding a great many pro- fessions to the contrary. Here is the sum and substance of your indictment, enough to make heaven and earth astonished, that God does not in fury fall upon us, and make an utter end of us. If every one saw his own concernment in this matter, liow would we be aftected ? it would make a strange work in this house. This, O sinners! is your charge: what have ye to answer to it? Plead ye guilty or not ? Sure I am, every soul in this house may say with Job in that 9th chapiter of his book and 20th verse, " If I jus^tify myself, mine own mouth sliall condemn me ; if I say I am perfect, it shall also prove me perverse." If you plead guilty, and take with the charge, what means this security we see Jimong you? " Is.it not a dread- ful thing to fall into the hands of the living God ?" Is it an easy thing to sufi'er the punishment due to such crimes. Sure none can say it is. But it may be, some of you may be ready to say, indeed we cannot deny ourselves to be sinners. God help us ; for we liave all siimed ; but indeed we never thought, nor can we yet think, that every sin hath in F 42 THE GUILTY SINNER CONVICTED. :ill these monstrous evils you have mentioned. God forbid we were all of us atheists, idolaters, blasphemers, robbers, murderers, and perjured rebels, as you have made us. No : we have indeed sinned, but our con- sciences did never accuse us of any such monstrous impieties as these are. To those who shall dare to say, or think so, we answer. (1) We do indeed believe, that many of your consciences did never accuse you of any such crimes. Many of you keep the eyes of conscience fast shut in ignorance. You fear to bring your deeds to the light of a well-informed conscience, lest they should be reproved. Others of you have sinned your consciences asleep, or rather you have abused them, so that they are either faint, that they cannot speak loud, or stupified, that they can- not speak at all. But all this will not prove your innocence as to the crimes alleged. Wherefore, (2.) Who has the juster estimate of sin, God or you ? Who knows best what malignity, what evil there is in its nature ? Surely God knows best what the honour of his own laws and authority is, and how far it is trampled upon by every sin. We are but of yesterday, and know nothing. (3.) Whose word, think ye, will stand, God's or yours ? God has by his woi'd represented no less to be in it, than we have said to be in it, and therefore there is no less in it. God will reckon so, and deal with you not according to the judg- ment ye make of sin, but that which he makes. We have made it ap- pear, from the word of God, that sin is such as we have represented it ; and if ye think more mildly of it, be doing, and behold the issue. Having thus opened to you your indictment, I shall now proceed. Secondly, to lead witnesses against you to prove the charge, accord- ing to the method we laid down for the management of this business, in our entry upon the improvement. But before we begin this work, we shall briefly obviate a difficulty that may be started against the whole of what we are to say under this head. To what purpose is it, may some say, to lead witnesses to prove a charge which is confessed ? Who denies this, that they are sinners ? every one will readily own so much : and therefore any thing that is said to prove such a thing seems perfectly lost. To this shortly we say, (1.) Though every body acknowledges that they are guilty, yet few, very few, believe to be true what they themselves are ready to say in this matter. We all own ourselves guilty of sin ; but were it believed, would not every eye be full of tears ? every heart full of fears ? Would not our knees, Belshazzar-like, beat one against another, every face gather paleness, and every mouth be full of that inquiry, " Men and brethren, what shall we do to be saved ?" Sure they would ; and that it is not so, is a clear and unquestionable proof that we do not really believe what we say. (2.) Were our only design to justify God in any mea- sure he has taken, or may take, to punish us, then indeed such an acknowledgment were sufficient to found a sentence of condemnation on, and to free God from any imputation of injustice in punishing them who acknowledge the crime ; but our design is of another sort ; we are to study to bring you to such a sense of your sin, as may put you to in- quire for a relief. And therefore, (3.) We are to use all methods which may in any measure contribute to the furtherance of this design ; we are to essay all ways to awaken you out of that security wherein you are like to sleep on, till you be entirely ruined, till there be no remedy or relief for you. THE GUILTY SINNER CONVICTED. 43 This prejudice being taken out of the way, we shall now proceed to lead the witnesses against you. We have laid the blackest of crimes to your charge, and we have the strongest evidence that you are guilty : for we can prove guilt upon you by witnesses, which may be compared with any, either as to capacity or integrity ; witnesses who are faithful in this matter, and will not lie, according to the character given by the wise man, Prov. xiv. 5. " A faithful witness will not lie." Witnesses they are who cannot be suspected of partial counsel, who never would have advised you to sin, and who take no pleasure in accusing you ; and therefore cannot be suspected of malice, or of any ill or invidious design against you, as were easy to make appear of every one of them whom we shall name. Take heed, therefore, we beseech you, to their testimony. The gravity and consequence of the matter, the quality of the witnesses, being the greatest in heaven or earth, and your concernment in the whole, do join in pleading for your attention. O criminals ! as your crimes are great, so is the evidence we bring against you great. For, 1*^, The Lord is witness against you. As he said of old to his peo- ple, in Jer. xxix. 23. so he says to you. Young and old of you, who are here present, you have sinned : " Even I know and am a witness, saith the Lord." God, who cannot lie, accuses you as guilty of sin : " And if we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us," 1 John i. 10. Here is a witness against you, O sinners ! to whose charge, I am sure, you have nothing to lay. Malice he purges himself of, Ezek. xxxiii. H. "As I live, saith the Lord, T have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live." Could it be any pleasure to him to ruin the work of his own hands ? No sure. 2dti/, Jesus Christ the eternal Son of God, the Amen and Faithful Witness, gives in evidence against you. — He came to bear witness to the truth ; and this was one of the great truths to which he bare witness, That all have sinned, and therefore are under a sentence of condemna- tion, which can no otherwise be repealed, but by believing on the name of the only-begotten Son of God, John iii. 18. " He that believeth on him, is not condemned : but he that believeth not, is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God." Christ's very name bears witness to this truth. He is called "Jesus, because he shall save his people from their sins," Matth. i. 21. — And how could he save them from their sins, had they none ? Sdlij, Guilty you are, for the Spirit of truth, John xiv. 17. calls you so. It is one of the offices of this glorious person of the ever-blessed Trinity, to convince the world of sin, John xvi. 8. " And when he is come, he will convince the world of sin." If this glorious witness woidd now speak, as sometimes he has done, we should then need no more witnesses. He would finish the evidence, and make it answer our de- sign. Thus we see, that there are three in heaven that bear record, and set to their seal to this great truth, the Father, Son, and Spirit. Now, sure we cannot refuse what they bear testimony to. Any crime, liowever great, is sufficiently proven by the concurring testimonies of two raen ; and, " if we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater," 1 John v. 9, But, 44) THE GUILTY SINNER CONVICTED. Alhly, God's deputy in your bosoms is a witness of this great but sad truth, that ye have all sinned. Ye are witnesses against yourselves, and have actually given testimony against yourselves in this matter : and that (1.) In your baptism. When you wei-e baptized, you did then own yourselves guilty ; for as " the whole need not the physician, but the sick," so the clean need not washing, but the defiled ; and he who washes owns himself defiled. (2.) Your attendance on gospel-ordinances is a testimony to this truth, that you have sinned ; for they all level at the salvation of sinners. (3.) The very name whereby you are called, is a testimony given to this truth. Christians you are called; and if any body should deny you to be so, you would take it very highly amiss, and look upon it as a notable indignity done you. Well, if ye be Christ- ians, that is, the people of Christ, then you are sinners ; for he came to "save his people from their sins," Matth. i. 21. (4.) Is there any among you that ever prayed for pardon of sin ? Sure, those who have not done so, deserve not the name of Christians ; and those who have done so, whether young or old, rich or poor, have borne witness against themselves in this matter. And there is one day, when your con- sciences, that may now either be silent, or obliged to speak so low that it can scarce well be heard, shall not only speak to make you hear it, bnt force you to speak this sad truth, so that others may hear it distinctly. But further, bthly, The scriptures bear witness against you, tfiat you have sinned. This is every where their voice. The book of God is full of this certain and sad truth. Look but forward to the 10th verse of this chapter, and thei'e you shall see a cloud of testimonies to this pui-pose. " As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one ; there is none that imder- standeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable, there is none that doth good, no, not one." Among all the race of Adam, the Scriptures of truth make not one exception ; and therefore ye are all guilty ; for " the scripture cannot be broken," John x. 3.5- Otthly, The ministers of the gospel bear witness against you, that yoii have sinned. This is our work, to be witnesses to the truths of God, of which this is one, that all have sinned ; and to this truth we give testimony. (1.) In that the very design of our office proclaims this truth, and asserts the undoubted certainty of it. What the design of our office is, the apostle in that 1 Tim. iv. 16, shortly tells us, it is to save ourselves and them who hear us. We, and ye who hear us, are sinners, because we need to be saved. An office set up for the saving of souls is a standing testimony and witness to the truth, that all have sinned ; and when a minister comes to any congregation, then it is one part of his business to bear witness for God, that all of them have sin- ned. (SL) We give a testimony to this great truth, that ye have sinned, in as far as we do proclaim to you, in God's name, and by the warrant of liis word, that ye have sinned, and thereby come short of the glory of God. (3.) We give a testimony to this great truth when we preach Christ to you ; for the whole gospel-i-evelation goes upon this supposi- tion, that all have sinned. When we offer you a Saviour, we assert that you are lost ; when we press you to employ a physician, we assert that you are sick ; when, in Christ's stead, we entreat and beseech you THE GUILTY SINNER CONVICTED. 46 to be reconciled to God, we declare you are enemies. In fine, when we proclaim to you remission of sins, we clearly give testimony against you, that ye are sinners, who stand in need of pardon. (4.) The issue of our work will prove you all sinners. One of two will infallibly be tlie issue of our work among you ; either we will obtain your consent to the blessed gospel-contrivance for the salvation of sinners, or we shall have a refusal given us ; and whatsoever way it go, we shall in the issue give in a testimony to this truth : if we obtain a favourable answer, then we must bear testimony, that you did receive Christ our Lord upon his own terms, and therefore were sinners ; if you reject the counsel of God against yourselves, then we must bear witness, that you are guilty of the greatest sin which any of the sons of Adam can be guilty of, unbe- lief; which makes God a liar, as the apostle John has it, 1 John v. 10 "He that believeth not God, hath made him a liar, because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son : and this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son." jNIore- over, lllily, The whole creation asserts this truth, that all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God : and consequently that part of it which ye use, asserts no less of you in particular. The apostle, Rom. viii. 22. tells us, that " the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain to- gether until now." These creatures you daily use, they groan. If your ears were not deafened by sin you might hear the groans of the ground you tread upon, of the food ye eat, and of the raiment ye put on. \V^ell, what is the matter ? M'hat occasions these groans ? The apostle tells us, in the 20th and 21st verse of that chapter, it is made subject to vanity, and to the bondage of corruption ; " for the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope ; because the creature itself shall also be delivered from the bondage of corruption, into the glorious liberty of the children of God." Here the apostle asserts, (1.) That " the creature is made subject to vanity ;" that is, is liable to be abused by men, to other ends than it was first designed for : it is subject to this vanity, of falling short of the design of its creation, which was the glory of God, and of being abused to his dishonour through the corruption of man. (2.) He asserts, that it was not willingly made subject to it. O shame ! the brute creatures condemn man. Man was willingly subject to vanity, did willingly de- sist from the prosecution of that which was the design of his creation. The rest of the creatures are passive in it ; it is a sort of force put upon them. It is a violence done to the creatures, when they are so abused to the service of sin : it is contrary to their very natures ; for they still continue according to the laws which God set them in the beginning. (3.) The only thing that makes them continue in being, when they are so abused by man, is the appointment of God. He continues them in being, not for this end, to be abused to a subserviency to the lusts of men, though they make this use of the goodness of God ; but that, by the continued effects of it, and proofs of undeserved kindness, he may lead them to repentance. (4.) The apostle asserts, that the creation shall be a sharer with the sons of God, in their glorious delivery from the bondage of corruption, that is, when the children of God, these who have received Christ, and by him power to become the sons of God, 46 THE GUILTY SINNER CONVICTED. shall be fully freed from the remainders of the guilt, power, and pollu- tion of sin, then the creature shall no more be used contrary to God's design in its creation, but shall, in the hand of the rational creature, again become an instrument for showing forth the glory of God, as it was at first designed to be. And to show the condition of the creature requires this, (5.) He in the 22d verse asserts, that the whole creation groaneth, that is, complains of its hard usage, of its being abused by men's sin, and he extends this to the whole creation, that there may be no access for any who use the creatures to free themselves of that which the complaint runs against, to wit, sin. How can any free himself of sin, while all his enjoyments witness against him, that he has sinned. O sinners ! the sun that shines upon you groans, that it must give light to a sinner, one who uses the light for an encouragement to sin against God. The ground you tread upon groans with the weight of sinners. The food that feeds you complains, that it must be so horribly perverted as to serve the lusts of a sinner, as to furnish one with strength to sin against God. See Hab. ii. 11. James v. 3. Qlldy, The judgments of God bear witness against you. As many rods as have ever been upon you, as many witnesses are there of this sad truth. The rod of God speaks ; for we are commanded to hear the rod, Micah vi. 9. " The Lord's voice crieth unto the city, and the man of wisdom shall see thy name : hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it." Every stroke that the hand of God lays upon us speaks ; and the first thing it says, is. Ye have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. For affliction doth not spring out of the ground, nor doth trouble arise out of the dust. And here we may boldly, with Eliphaz, Job iv. 7. challenge you to give one instance of any innocent who ever suffered the least wrong or trouble. " Remember, I pray thee," says he to Job, " who ever perished, being innocent ? or where were the righteous cut off?" as if he had said. Search the records of ancient times ; rub up thy memory, and give me but one instance of any person who suffered, and was not a sinner. I defy thee to give me one instance. Indeed he was out in the application of that unquestionable truth : for he did thence endeavour to infer that Job was a hypocrite. As to the application we are not concerned in it ; but for the truth itself, that we own, and challenge you to instance any. Our blessed Lord indeed was free of personal failings, but not so of imputed ones ; for the Lord " laid upon him the iniquities of us all, and he was wounded for our transgressions." And therefore his sufferings are noways inconsistent with this truth, that none suffer but sinners ; and therefore your sufferings are a proof, and do testify that ye have sinned ; for God doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men," Lam. iii. 33. He takes no pleasure in afflicting his own creatures ; but when he does it, it is for their sins. What God in his sovereignty may do, as to the punishing, or rather afflicting of an innocent creature, we shall not deteimine. Learned men have learnedly, I may say, played the fool, or trifled in debating on this point, the determination whereof makes nothing to edification, were it possible to determine it satisfyingly. If any should ask me. Can God punish or afflict an innocent creature? I would answer, (1.) That questions about what God can do are dangerous, and may for most part be forborne. (2.) Punish an innocent creature he cannot, for that presup- THE GUILTY SINNER CONVICTED. 47 poseth a fault. (3.) God in the first formation of his creatures, did set tlieni such a law for their rule, as did lead them directly to the highest perfection their natures were capable of : and they walking according to that rule, i. c. being innocent, it is hard to conceive how they could fall short, or in any measure swerve from the end. If it be still inquired. Whether God may not in his absolute sovereignty, pass over this, which seems to be the fixed and settled order of his conduct towards the crea- tures, and afflict them, or to sufi^er them to meet with inconveniences, while they hold close to the rule that God has set them ? If I say, any state the question thus : Then, (4.) I shall only propose another question to the inquirer, Can there possibly fall within the compass of God's knowledge, a design which will make it worthy of his infinite wisdom and goodness to do so, to break this law of nature, which is every way suited to his wisdom and goodness ? If he say, there may, then he is obliged to pro- duce it, which he will find hard enough to do : if be say not, then he de- termines the question in the negative, but dangerously enough : for who knows the infinitely wise designs which may fall within the compass of the thoughts of the omniscient God, whose ways and thoughts are as far above the thoughts of man, as the heavens are above the earth ? But whatever be in this nice debate, wherein we shall not inmix ourselves, the truth we have advanced is certain, that no instance can be given whei'ein God has afflicted those who have been absolutely free from sin, inherent or imputed : and therefore the rods of God are witnesses against you, that you have sinned. Speak, O sinners! did you never meet with an affliction in body or mind, in your persons or families, in yourselves or in your relations, young or old ? Who, or where is the man or woman that never had a cross ? I believe that person is scarce to be found in the woi'ld who hath no complaints, that is, who hath no crosses- Well then, as many crosses as ye have had, as many witnesses are there in giving in testimony against you, that ye have sinned. For no sinning, no suffering. 'dthly, In fine, to name no more witnesses Death, the king of terrors, is a witness against you, and gives testimony against all, that they have sinned : for " the wages of sin is death," Rom. vi. 23. It is only sin that gives death a power over you. If any of you can plead exemp- tion from death, then you may with some reason plead freedom from the charge we have laid figainst you ; but if not, then in vain will all pre- tences, shifts, and evasions be. It may be, now we shall not, no not by the testimony of all the famous witnesses we have led against you, bring you to a conviction of sin : but when Death, the king of terrors, begins his evidence, he will convince you ere he has done with you ; for he will send you where ye shall be convinced not much to your comfort. Death is a serjeant to the great King ; and when he takes you, arrests you, cites you anon to appear before the bar that is in the higher house, how will your hearts fail you then ? O sinners ! the sight of the grim messenger Death, of the executioner Satan, of the place of torment hell, and the awful solemnity of the Judge of the quick and the dead, will supersede any further proof, and will awaken the most sleepy conscient;e, wliich will then be, not only witness, but judge, and even executioner, to those who should not be able to plead an interest in Christ Jesus, who have never been convicted soundly of sin at the bar of the word. 48 THE GUILTY SINNEIl CONVICTED. Thus we have made good our charge against all and every one of you, by the testimony of a great many witnesses of unquestionable credit. It is therefore high time, O sinners! for you to bethink yourselves what ye shall answer when ye are reproved. Hitherto we have held in the general : we have charged sin upon you all, without fixing any particular sin upon any particular sorts of persons. Now we come to that which in the next place, we proposed in the management of this charge against you ; and that is. Thirdly, To make good the charge, by dealing particularly with the conscience of several sorts of persons among you, to bring you, if possible, to a sense of your sin. All who are in this house may be ranked, according to the apostle John's division, into children, young men, and fathers ; or into children, those of a middle age, and old persons. Under young men and women are comprehended all those, whether they have families or not, who are not come to declining years, who are yet in the flower of their strength and vigour. To each of them I would apply myself in a way of conviction, and endeavour to bring them to a sense of sin, and that even of parti- cular sins. But that I may proceed in this with the more clearness, I shall pre- mise a few things, which may clear the way to what we design upon this head. And, Ist, There are two great designs which every man should continually aim at, usefulness here, and happiness hereafter. We come not into the world, as some foolishly apprehend, to spend or pass our time, and no more of it. No ; God has cut us out our work. We are all obliged, in some one station or other, to lay out ourselves for the advancement of the glory of God in this world. Every one is furnished with endowments more or less. To some God has given an ample stock, many talents ; to some fewer ; and to some but one. All have received ; and if all do not employ their endowments, supposing they appear very inconsiderable, they will find it hard to answer for the misimprovenent. He who had but one talent, for his neglect of it had a dreadful doom pronounced against him, Matth. xxv. 30. " Cast ye the unprofitable servant into utter darkness ; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." We are not born to ourselves only, but to the world, and therefore we should design usefulness in it, and withal should take a due care of our own principal concern, the salvation of our souls. If he who provides not for his own family, has denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel, 1 Tim. v. 8. what must he be that provides not for his own soul? 29 1 Pet. ii. 1, " Wherefore, laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypo- crisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, as new-born babes, desire the sincere milk of the word that ye may grow thereby." One that would observe the ordinary converse of most part of people, would be ready to think, that either they never read or heard these laws, or that they never observed what they heard. Look to yourselves here, and observe your own ways, and O what sin will appear in them ? These three questions will discover almost innumerable sins every day ; and if one have so many, what will many days have ? Nay, how many sins in some months or years will you be guilty of. But, (4.) If we proceed to consider you as you are related to others, we will be sure to make further discoveries of sin in your carriage. All of you stand some one or more ways related to others : ye are either mas- ters or servants, parents or children, husbands or wives ; now every one of these relations have peculiar duties belonging to them, and lay those who contract such relations under peculiar obligations to walk according to the rules prescribed them of God ; and therefore we may and do sin, in walking contrary to these divine prescriptions. We shall not attempt to mention the particular sins you may be guilty of in your several re- lations ; this were a work that would almost be endless : therefore we shall only pitch upon some generals, which may discover to your con- sciences that ye sin in all of them. (1.) I say most of you do sin in con- tracting these relations. How few mastei-s dare say, that in the choice of their servants they went to God for counsel ? And how few masters can say, that ever they acknowledged God in the choice of theirservants. Nay, it may be, when ye have been anxiously desirous to have good ser- vants, even then ye have not been at the pains to consult God ; not minding that gracious direction that is given by the Spirit of God, Phil, iv. 6. " Be careful for nothing ; but in everything by prayer and suppli- cation, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God." Nay, is it not to be feared, that, in the choice of husbands and wives, few do inquire the mind of God ? Now I am sure, if ye deal impartial- ly with your own hearts, ye will find, that here ye have sinned, and have not acknowledged God in your ways. (2.) Do ye seek direction of God, how to carry in your relations ? I fear the consciences of many of you can tell that ye never are at pains to inquire in reference to the duties called for at your hands. Most are quick-sighted enough in observing the advantages and disadvantages that redound to their temporal concerns by these relations, but have never a serious thought of the duties called for at their hand ; and therefore herein ye may all in more or less find your- selves guilty. (3.) Do you make it your aim to promote the spiritual advan- tage of your relations ? Servants, do ye pray for your masters ? Masters, do ye pray for your servants, that ye may be acquainted with God's ways ? If not, surely ye sin ; for prayers are to be made for all, but in a special manner for those in whom we have so peculiar concernment. Nay, we fear, which is yet more sad, that there are not a few husbands and wives, parents and children, who pray not for one another. How sad is it to think, that there should, in these relations, be so much care for the oul- \vard man, and so little for the inward ? The parent will toil himself night and day before the child want bread, and, it may be, so will the child do for the parent ; ;>iid yot, it may he, never one of them spent an 60 THE GUILTY SINNER CONVICTED. hour in wrestling with God about one another's eternal salvation. Are there no consciences here this day accusing any of" sins in this matter ? Sure I am, there are here who have ground sufficient for accusation. (5.) We shall follow you to your closets, and there a little inquire what ye do. (1.) Whether take ye most time in the morning for adorning your souls, or for adorning your bodies ? 1 fear the soul gets the least part of your time ; nay, it may be, some of you will go abroad to your employments, and never bow a knee to God. Sure here is sin enough to sink you lower than the grave. (2.) If you do pray in secret, what leads you to it ? Is it conscience of duty ? Is it custom or some such principle as this ? I fearfewcan say, that when they go to prayer, they do it from a sincere respect to their duty ; and therefore, I fear, but few can justify themselves as to their design in the duty. (3.) When ye do pray, is it a burden to you ? Are ye soon weary of it, and glad when it is over and by hand as it were ? I fear most of your consciences can tell, that it is indeed so, that ye say of the service of God, what a burden is it to you. (4.) Once more I would ask you, what good get you by your prayers? Can ye ever say, that you were heard ? Can ye ever say, ye received grace for enabling you to the conscientious discharge of any duty ? Most part, I fear, can say no more of their prayers, but that they prayed, or rather have said words without any sense, either of the advantage of doing so, or of the need they stand in of the things they ask of God in prayer ; doth not conscience tell, that it is so with many of you. (6.) And lastly, I would come a little nearer for the discovery of your sinfulness. I have a question or two to put to you, in reference to your thoughts. And, (1.) I ask you. What thoughts are most numer- ous ? Whether spend ye most thoughts about your souls, or about your bodies ? about God, or about the world ? about other things that contribute nothing to your happiness, or about that which tends to the eternal security of your souls ? Here, if ye look in, you will find crowds of sins. (2.) What thoughts take ye most delight in ? If these be carnal and earthly, then such is your mind ; and " to be carnally mind- ed is death," Rom. viii. 6. (3.) What thoughts do ye allow your- selves in ? and to what sort of them do ye give way ? If these be not such as make for the glory of God, then here ye are found guilty before God. Now, we have done with you of a middle age. In what we have said for conviction, we have rather mentioned such things as are un- questionably sinful, than endeavoured to restrict ourselves to those sins that are peculiarly incident to our age. This we have willingly shunned, because it would have obliged us to spend almost as many sermons as there are different ways of life to which persons of this age do betake themselves. Before I proceed to the third sort of persons, I shall put a few questions to you. (1.) Though ye had been guilty of no more sins, save these which we charged not long ago upon children, would not these have been sufficient to have ruined you. (2.) What will your case be then, who have, over and above all these which we have now laid to your charge, and referred to your consciences for proof of what we have said ? (3.) When generals make you guilty of so many sins, what will particulars do ? When ye are found guilty so many ways in THE GUILTY SINNER CONVICTED. 61 your thoughts or words ; for example, what will be your case, when you are brought to particulars, if ye may sin by speaking idly, by speak- ing ill of others, what will it amount to when every particular idle word shall be charged upon you ? (4.) If every sin deserves the wrath of God, what will be the case of those who shall step into eternity laden with all these innumerable evils ? How many hells will their one hell have in it? Think, and think seriously, upon these things, and I believe ye will find it hard to rest satisfied, till ye understand how such vast debts may be discharged, and how ye shall answer when reproved for so many and so great offences. Think on these things, I say, and dwell upon the thoughts of them, till ye be made to see your own misery, and then the news of a Saviour will be welcome. I shall now proceed, in the third place, to speak to you who are old men. Ye whose faces speak your age, and tell that ye are quickly to be gone, we are now particularly to address ourselves to you, and to make good our charge of sin against you, from incontestable evidences and proofs. Give ear, therefore, old men and old women ; though you be posting off the stage, and, it may be, are within a few removes of eter- nity, yet ye have not perhaps duly considered your own state and con- dition : we must tell you, in God's name, ye have sinned, and come short of his glory. And, for proof of this, 1. We need go no further than your very faces. What has consum- ed your youthful beauty ? What has turned that smoothness, which in the days of your youth was, it may be, your own delight, and that of others, into these many wrinkles which now every one sees, and ye may feel ? Has not sin, or God upon the account of sin, done it ? " Thou hast filled me with wrinkles," says Job, " which is a witness against me, and my leanness rising up in me, beareth witness to my face," Job xvi. 8. If ye be not sinners, tell me, I pray, whence are the unsteady hands, the dim eyes, the mouldered teeth, that paleness of the visage, that approaches near to the colour of that mould into which a little hence ye are to be turned ? Are not all these things proofs of your guilt, and witnesses against you ? 2. Have ye not passed through childhood and youth ? and have not ye the sins done in these ages to count for ? What, how many, and how grievous they are, ye may in some measure understand from what has been discoursed on this head some days past. Now sure, if your con- sciences have been awake all the while, you might understand your con- cernment in these things, and how deeply guilty ye are though ye had no more to account for but these. It is accounted by the Spirit of God, to be one of the great miseries of the wicked, that they shall lie down in their graves with their bones full of the sins of their youth : " His bones are full of the sins of his youth, which shall lie down with him in the dust," Job XX. 11. These, though there were no more, will rot your bones, gnaw your hearts, and make you lose the repose which many times ye propose to yourselves in the grave. 3. Ye have had much time, and have, no doubt, lost much time. Many precious hours, and days, and years, are spent and gone, and no- thing, or nothing to purpose, done in them. And for evincing this, I shall put a few questions to you about the improvement of your time (I.) 62 THE GUILTY SINNER CONVICTED. What have ye done for God in it ? The great business ye came into tlie world for, the great design of your creation, was the advancement of the glory of God : " the Lord hath made all things for himself, and even the wicked for the day of evil," Prov. xvi. 4. Now, are there not old men and old women here, who have lived all their days, and dare not say, that to this very day they ever had a serious thought of advancing the glory of God ? To such we say, Ye have hitherto done nothing but sinned ; your whole life has been nothing but one continued tract of sin. As many thoughts, as many words, as many actions, so many sins. (2.) What have ye done for the church of God ? Every one is obliged to do something or other for the church, Psal. cxxii. 6, 7, 8. " Pray for the peace of Jerusalem ; they shall prosper that love thee. Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces. For my brethren and companions' sakes, I will now say, Peace be within thee : because of the house of the Lord our God I w^ill seek thy good." Now, are there not old men and old women here, who never shed one tear for the church of God, who never were concerned for its welfare. I fear there are not a i\'w here, even old people, who have seen many changes, but never had any concern for the church of God. If their private worldly concerns went well with them, it was all a matter to them what became of reli- gion : let it sink or swim, it was all one to them. Such are grievous sinners before the Lord. (3.) What have you done for your souls ? The Lord has given every one of us a great work to do. We have our salvation to work out with fear and trembling. He has given us a day to do it in ; and that day is to be followed with an evening wherein none can work. Now, what of this work is byhand ? Your day is almost spent : is it not the twilight with many of you already ? I fear, I fear, there are here old men, over whom the shadows of the everlasting even- ing is just ready to be stretched forth, who have their work yet to begin. O sad and mournful condition ! A great work to begin ! a work that hath cost many waking nights, and sore toil and labour for many years : and this ye have to begin now, when your day is almost gone, when your sun is setting, is, as it were, going in over the hill, and ready im- mediately to dump down, and leave you in eternal night? This case were enough even to rend a heart of stone, and to force tears from a rock, if duly considered. O ! what sin, what folly, what misery, is there here I 4. You have seen many providences, both such as were of a more public nature, and concerned the state of the church of God in general, and such as concerned yourselves more particularly. Now, here I again inquire, (L) What observations have ye made? The providences of God deserve to have a peculiar mark put upon them. " Remember that thou magnify his works which men behold," Job xxxvi. 24. is a com- mand of God that extends to all : and it is a grievous sin, for which we find a professing people heavily threatened, that they did not regard the L'trd's doings : " Wo unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them : and the harp and the viol, the tabret and the pipe, and wine are in their feasts : but they regard not the work of tlse Lord, neither consider the operation of his hands," Isa. v. 11, 12, Now, are there not providences lost, and therefore as many sins? (2.) What ex- II THE GUILTY SINNER CONVICTED. G3 periences have ye got ? Many providences afford many experiences ; and they who have managed them to advantage, have reaped notable advantages by them, for their confirmation in the ways of God ; and if ye have not done so, ye have as many sins as ye have lost experiences. (3.) Where have they left you ? nearer or further off from God than they found you? Every providence, mercy, or judgment, that has not brought you nearer to God, has carried you further from him ; and consequently therein he have sinned. O what multitudes of sins are here ! 3. As you are guilty by committing sins of your own, so you have contracted much guilt by seeing other men sin, when you have not been suitably exercised therewith. That we should be exercised with other men's sins, the scripture makes mention expressly. Now, that I may let you see how many ways ye have sinned here, I pose you upon it. (1.) You have seen many sins committed: what testimonies have ye given against them ? Every one that sees God dishonoured, should give a testimony for him, either by reproving sin, according to the di- rection of the apostle, Eph. v. 11. " Have no fellowship with the im- fruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them :" or, bv withdraw- ing from the society of such, according to the command of the Spirit of God, who bids us " go from the presence of a foolish man, when wo perceive not in him the lips of knowledge," Prov. xiv. 7. For some- times any other reproof, than by withdrawing, may be improper ; for the wise man forbids us to " reprove a scorner, lest he hate us," Prov. ix. 8. : or, if this cannot be got done, without the neglect of moral duties, there is yet another way we may give a testimony against sin ; and that is by a circumspect walk, evidencing a regard to God, a belief of his threatenings, and the advantage of religion. Thus Noah reproved or condemned the old world, Heb. x. 7. Now speak, old sinners, what testimonies of this sort have ye given against sin ? As many as ye have neglected, as many sins ye stand guilty of before the Lord. (2.) Ye have seen many sins ; how many tears have ye shed ? I fear there are here old men and old women, who never sighed, who never groaned or cried for all the abominations that they have seen committed in our land. It is our duty to mourn for the sins of others. There is a mark of preservation ordered to be put upon the foreheads of them that mourn for the sins of the land wherein they live, Ezek. ix. 4. " And the Lord said unto him (the man that had the wTiter's ink-horn by his side), Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh, and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof." And in the following verse, the destroying angel is commanded to spare neither old nor young, save only those who have that mark upon them. I fear there are hw mourners here, among those who have seen many and monstrous sins. I shall not now speak of the national abominations which you have seen : but I am sure there are few of you come to age, who have not heard many horrid oaths sworn : you have seen horrid villanies committed ; many dreadful provocations. Now, dare ye say with the Psalmist, in that 119th Psalm, ver. 53. "Horror hath'takeii hold of me, because transgressors keep not thy law." It may be, old hardened sinners think little of this sin ; yet God is brought in, as it 64 TIIK (iUILTY SINNER CONVICTED. were, wonderinfjf at it, in Jer. xxxvi. 24. when the roll containing Jere- miah's prophecies was burnt, it is noted as a wonderful, a monstrous wickedness, that they were not concerned, that they did not mourn : " Yet," says God, " they were not afraid, nor rent their garments, neitiier the king nor any of his servants, that heard all these words." I fear, even those who speak against sins of others, are guilty of them, by not mourning over them. (3.) You have seen many sins ; and how many prayers have ye put up for the pardon of them ? There is an express command to this purpose, 1 John v. 16. " If any man see his brother sin a sin, which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death." It may be, ye have con- demned others, and cried out upon them for their sins, while in the mean time ye are partakers with them, because of your not praying for them, according to this command. 6. I say to you, ye are great sinners, for ye have had many mercies, and I fear have abused mercies;. If I should begin here to recount par- ticular mercies, I might know where to begin, but scarce where to make an end. I shall only inquii-e at you, (1.) Do ye yet know the God of your mercies ? Hos. ii. 8. I fear many of you dare not say it. (2.) What improvement have ye made of them ? Has the goodness of God led you to repentance, as it should do ? Rom. ii. 4. (3.) Once more, I ask you, have you returned to the Lord, according to the mercies received ? Put but these three questions home to your own consciences, and I be- lieve they will discover many sins which ye never yet thought of. 7. Old sinners, ye have undergone many changes ; ye are far decayed. Then let me ask you, (1.) Are your souls renewed, as your outward man perishes ? I fear, 1 fear, there are few among you who are bring- ing forth fruit in old age, who, when others fade, are fat and fidl of sap. (2.) Has your love to sin decayed? If this change were to be observed, it were a great blessing; but I fear, that however strength may be failed so far that ye cannot fulfil your lusts as formerly, yet the old love to them remains. 8. Old sinners, ye have seen much of the world ; and here I ask you, are ye not guilty. (1.) By neglecting many discoveries of its vanity, which might have been of great use to you, if duly observed ? (2.) By retaining the same love to it, after many discoveries of its uncertainty and emptiness ? 9. Once more, and I have done with you. Old sinners, you have lived long, and death is at the door. God has given you much time to provide for it ; and I fear ye are guilty, extremely guilty, by not im- proving time. And for discovering your sin here, I shall lay a few- questions before you, and I plead that ye may lay them home to your own consciences. (1.) Are ye still content to die? It is the indispensable duty of all, to be content to comply with the will of God in this matter ; and upon a call, to be ready cheerfully to comply with the will of God as to death, the time and manner of it. Now, old sinners, are ye con- tent ? It may be, some of you will forwardly enough answer, that ye are content : but if ye say so, I ask you, (2 ) Are ye ready to die ? I fear some are content to die, who are not ready : some may, in a fit of discontent at the world, upon the back of some notable disappointment, be so well content to die, that they will lay hands upon themselves, who H THE GUILTY SINNER CONVICTED 65 are yet very far from being- ready to die. If ye pretend that ye are, then, for discovering the truth of what ye say, I inquire, (3.) Are your sins dying? A person whose sins are lively, he is nover ready to die. (4.) Are ye in Jesus Christ ? Those who are out of him are never ready to die. It is only those who are ready to " die in the Lord," Rev. xiv. 13. who are ready indeed to die. (5.) Is your pardon sealed ? Death will try you ; and if your pardon be not sealed, ye will find that ye are scarce ready to die. (6.) I put this one question more to you : Have you provided your lodgings? It is high time, when men's houses are falling, to be looking out for new lodgings. This tabernacle is ready to be dissolved : have ye a building of God, not made with hands, secured to yourselves ? God has given you time and means for doing all this ; and if ye have not done it, then you have sinned against the Lord, and against your own souls. Now, old sinners, if ye lay not to heart this warning, and lay not yourselves in the dust before God, for your sins, then this new warn- ing, among many others, will be a dreadful aggravation of your guilt. Consider your case in time, before it be too late. Are there not many who were not born for many years after you, and who it may be, are dead many years ago, and having wrought their work, have got a bles- sed immortality ? yet, it may be, to this day ye know not what shall be- come of your souls. Think, old sinners, is it not a wonder that God has given you this warning, after making light of so many ; and will it not be a cutting reflection, if ye sit a warning near to the twelfth hour ? Now, children, young men and fathers, old and young, I have, by an appeal to your own consciences, made good my charge against you, and fixed a great many particular sins upon you. I shall now proceed, Fourthly, To show what satisfaction that sovereign King, at whose instance, and in whose name, I have impleaded you, requires of all and every one of you. His justice, at any rate, must be satisfied. It is not congruous to reason, it is not congruous to the holiness, justice, and wisdom of the Lawgiver, that sin should escape impunished, and there- fore it is impossible it should pass without some signal and suitable re- mark of God's displeasure. He has declared positively in his word, he has confirmed it in his providence, that " though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not go unpunished," Prov. ix. 21. If angels and men should lay their hands and heads together, unite their wit and their power, they shall not preserve one sin from the marks of God's displeasure. Some signal and evident token of it will reach sin, wherever it is. There needs no proof of this, after what Christ has met with. And ye must lay your account with it, that this punishment will not be some petty inconsider- able one. It must be in some measure suited to the crimes ye stand im- pleaded of. It must, on the one hand, hold some proportion to the lu>li- ness and purity of that law you have broken ; to the majesty and autho rity of that God whose authority ye have trampled upon ; yea, it must hold some proportion to these several aggravations of your respective sins. Lay your account with it, sinners, escape you cannot his hands, who is every where. " Whither will ye go from his Spirit? whitlier will ye flee from his presence? If ye ascend up into heaven, he is there ; if ye make your bed in hell, behold he is there ; if ye take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the utmost parts of the sea, even there shall I 66 THE GUILTY SINNER CONVICTED. his hand lead thee, and his right liand shall hold thee. If ye say, Surely the darkness shall cover you, even the night shall he light ahout you ; for the darkness hideth not from him, hut the night shineth as the day : the darkness and the light are both alike to him," Psal. cxxxix. 7 — 12. "There is no darkness nor shadow of death, where the workers of iniqui- ty may hide themselves," Job xxxiv. 2;^. from his eye, or secure them- selves against the inquiry God will make, or the strokes that his almighty arm will inflict. Punished then sinners must be. And if ye ask, what satisfaction will he have of such sinners ? I answer, 1*^, He will have you punished in your estates, by a forfeiture of all. You invaded God's possession ; he will cast you out of yours. This is the ordinary punishment of rebellion ; and we have proven you guilty of rebellion of the worst sort. Man, when God made him, was master of a fair estate. The sons of men may now value themselves upon some petty tenements which many of them hold by no good right, as we shall see anon ; but none of them can vie possessions with Adam in innocency. He had a paradise replenished with all the rarities of inno- cent, of incorrupted nature, all the delicacies which the earth did yield before it lost its strength by that curse which man's disobedience brought it under, while it was impregnated by the blessing of God ; and as he had this in possession, so he had heaven in expectation, a noble and seemingly unfailing, prospect of a paradise above. This was Adam's estate ; and this should have been the estate of his posterity, his descend- ants : but all is forfeited by sin. Had Adam stood, he had then transmitted to us a goodly heritage, and none should have had reason to complain of his possession : but now we have by sin forfeited all ; we have no estate, no heritage. O sinnei's ! by your sin ye have lost the right to all your enjoyments here, and all prospect of any comfortable being hereafter. Adam, when he sinned, was banished out of paradise, and that was guarded against him. But ye will say, We are not forfeited ; for we enjoy houses, lands, meat, and clothing, and a great many other such things ; how can ye then say, that we lost all ? by what means get we these things ? I an- swer, (I.) A rebel sentenced to die is by the king allowed food, raiment, and other necessaries, for the sustenance of nature, till the time of the execution come ; just so God, for holy ends not now to be inquired into, liaving reprieved man for a while, suffers him to enjoy some such things, till he sees meet to put the sentence of death in execution, and thee the forfeiture will take place. (2.) We say, ye have no right to any enjoy- ment, save that just now mentioned. The grant whereby innocent man held all his possessions was the covenant of works : this was the ground of his security as to what he possessed, and the foundation of his hope as to what he further expected. Now, this covenant being broken by your sin, ye have no more right to any enjoyment. (3.) As ye have already lost the right and title, so ye have lost the sweetness of all your enjoyments. Ye toil and sweat, but ye are not satisfied : " What profit have ye of all your labour under the sun ?" It is not able to give you satisfaction. This we have at great length made appear in our lectures upon Ecclesiastes. (4.) To conclude, in a very little ye will be entirely de- prived of all. The day of the excution of the sentence draws on, when God will snatch all your enjoyments out of your hands. Now, indeed, some THE GUILTY SINNER CONVICTED. 67 liave more, and some have less, according' to the pleasure of the great Judge, who has allowed every one their portion till the day of execu- tion come, and then all will go. 2(//y, God, at' whose instance ye have been impeached of sin, will have satisfaction in the death of the offenders. God threatened death to Adam in paradise ; " In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die," or " dying thou shalt die," Gen. ii. 17 ; and " the soul (hat sinueth shall die," saith the Lord by the prophet, Ezck. xviii. 20. ; " for the wages of sin is death." This is not to be limited to a natural death ; no, but is of a huge extent. It takes in a threefold death, a death spiritual, natural, eternal. Man in innocency had a threefold life, either in possession or prospect. (1.) A spiritual life, which consisted in the union of his soul to God, in a measure suited to his present condition, and in the fitness of all his faculties and power for acting and doing what was well-pleasing unto God. (2,) A natural life, Avhich consist- ed in the union of soul and body. That lovely pair, his innocent soul and pure body, were matched together, and linked to one another, by a thought, surpassing art ; so that they had a most near alliance, being compacted into one person by a tie so strong, as to occasion a notable sympathy : and yet so secret, that no eye could ever see, no mind ever discover, this imperceptible chain. (3.) Man had then a fair prospect of eternal life, in a full and close union to God, never to admit of any interruption, or of any such interposition, as was between man and hiiu in this lower world. But now upon his sin, he lost all by virtue of the primitive threatening of death to the soul that sins. Answerably here- unto, God will have you punished with a threefold death. O sinners ! his heart will not pity you, his eye will not spare you. You are already condemned to die : " He that believeth not," that is, every sinner by nature, " is condemned already," says the Spirit of God. Nay more, ye are not only condemned already, O sinners I but moreover the execution is begun : the fire of God's wrath is already kindled against you ; there are some drops begun to fall, before the shower come that will entirely destroy you. (1.) You are spiritually dead. I speak to all of you who are not savingly changed by grace, being begotten again from the dead, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. You are dead in trespasses and sins, utterly unmeet to entertain communion and fellowship with God. As a dead man cannot speak, act, or exercise any vital power ; so neither can ye act any thing that is spiritually good, or well-pleasing to God. This is a heavy punishment, though as yet ye be not sensible of it. (2.) Natural death, that consists in the separation of the soul from the body, is already begun. Every disease that seizes upon our bodies is like the "posts that run to meet one another, to tell the king of Babylon that his city was taken at one end," Jer. li. 31. Every disease makes a breach in our walls, and tells that all will in a little fall down flat. Your very life is nothing else but a succession of dying : every day and hour wears away part of it : and so far as it is already spent, so far are ye already dead and buried. Diseases and natural decays do lay close siege, as it were, to your bodies, routing their guards, batter- ing the walls of your flesh, and forcing your souls to quit the outworks, and retire into the heart: and every minute, ye have reason to fear that ye may be taken in., and become a prev to death. In one wor<^ '^ nS THE OUILTY SINNKR ( ONVICTKlX sinners! ye arc tlie mark at which justice slioots its arrows. Do not ye see sometimes the arrow flee over your head, and slay some g^reat person, your superior ? Sometimes it ligiits at your feet, and kills a child or a servant, or those who are inferior ; sometimes it passeth by your left hand, and kills an enemy, at whose death possibly ye rejoice ; and anon it strikes the friend of your right hand ; and possibly the very next arrow may strike you dead, be ye young or old, eternally dead, and hurry you into hell. 3f//y, Your death will not do all ; this punishment reaches your hon- ours. Rebels are wont to have their honours torn : and so God has de- termined with respect to you, O sinners 1 INIan was in his first estate advanced to a high dignity, he was the friend as well as subject of God ; and he was his deputy in this lower world, as the Psalmist tells us : "thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field, the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea," Psalm viii. 5 — 8. Thus was he crowned with glory and honour : but now, O sinners ! the sentence is passed against all the race of sinful Adam : thus saith the Lord, " Remove the diadem, and take off the crown from the head of sinners." The crown is fallen indeed from your head. Now, tell me, O sinners ! do not you already feel the direful effects of this part of your punish- ment ? Those beasts which were once man's subjects, are now turned his enemies, because he is God's enemy. Do not the very flies insult you, and make sometimes your life uneasy ? Do not the wild beasts of the field terrify you ? Are not some of them daily making inroads upon you, devouring your cattle, carrying away your substance ? And even those which are most serviceable, and seem to retain sometliing of their respect to man, sometime their Lord, do they not rebel ? Doth not the horse sometimes throw his rider, the ox gore his owner ? Thus man has lost his honour ; nay, now he who once did reign is become sin's slave, and thereby falls under the lashes of sin and Satan's slaves. This, O sinners ! is a part of your punishment. 4ct/i/t/, This will not yet satisfy justice. God pursues the quarrel to posterity : " I am a jealous God," says he, in a threatening annexed to the third command, " visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the chil- dren." Rebel children suffer with the fathers in all nations ; and shall not rebellion against God be as severely punished as that which is against an earthly sovereign? If an Achan steal a Babylonish garment, and sin against the God of Israel, then he and his whole family shall fall, man, wife, and child ; nay, and the very household stuff, his ox, and his asses. God will pursue the quarrel to a dreadful length. You may see this terrible tragedy described by God, in Joshua vii. 24. God will spare nothing that sinners have used. Because sinners have trode upon this earth, it must undergo the fire at the last day, before it can be freed from the bondage of corruption. O sinners, ye transmit a sad legacy to your wretched posterity I a legacy of which the distressed church. Lam. V. 7. heavily complains : " Our fathers have sinned and are not, and we have borne their iniquities." 5thli/, Once more : God pursues his quarrel yet further. He will have your names eternally ruined. " The memory of the wicked shall rot," Prov. x. 7. After he has killed your bodies and souls, and child- THE GUILTY SINNER CONVICTED. 69 ren, and ruined your estates, then he will kill your names, that there shall no remembrance of you be upon the earth, unless it be the stench of a rotten name. TJius will the Lord deal with you, O sinners ! The whirlwind of the Lord, that goes forth with fury, will blow away all your enjoyments, turn you out of all your possessions. The Lord will banish you his presence. That Almighty arm that stretched out the heavens, will tear your souls from your bodies, and throw you headlong into perdition ; the weight of infinite wrath will sink you down into the bottomless pit ; and omnipotence will dig a grave for your memory, wherein it will eternally rot. For the greatness of your iniquity ye may expect this : " This is thy lot, the portion of thy measure from me, saith the Lord, because thou hast forgotten me, and trusted in falsehood," •J or. xiii. 25. This is the satisfaction God requires : and think on it ; this way will he be glorified in your ruin, if ye continue in your sins. I have at some length proved you all to be offenders ; that God de- mands a reparation ; and what that reparation is, which he doth demand of his injured honour, I have at some length made appear ; I now proceed, according to the method proposed. Fifthly, To demonstrate the reasonableness of this demand. I have shown your ways to be most unequal ; now I come to show, that God's ways are most equal, and that he acts very reasonably in demanding so high : and this will appear to the conviction of the most obstinate sinner, if the considerations we offer for clearing this be duly weighed. And, 1*/, Let it be considered, That sin deserves such a punishment ; and therefore it is very just to inflict it. Nay, I might perhaps run this a little higher, and assert, that thei'efore it would be unjust to require any less, any more easy punishment. That sin deserves it, is very plain, if we consider, 1. Against whom it strikes. This is the way of measuring ofi^ences agreed to all the world over, that the measure should be taken from the consideration of those against wliom they strike. This we may observe in the laws of God, which enjoin that oftences shall be punished accord- ing to the quality and condition of the offenders and the offended. The daughter of the high-priest, if she committed uncleanness, was to be burned without mercy, Lev. xxi. 9. ; so was not every one who was guilty in that way. Again, he that curseth his father and mother is ad- judged to die. Lev. xx. 9. ; so is not he that curseth his equal. The same measure is kept in our laws : if one kills his equal, then he dies ; but there doth not thereby redound any injury to his posterity ; but if a man kills the king, or makes any attempt against the government, then life, lands, name, and all goes. Now, if we consider in this case the quality of the offender, a poor mean Avorm, that dwells in cottages of clay, that lias his foundation in the dust, that is crushed before the moth, that holds all of God ; and then, on the other hand, consider him who is offended by every sin, not a prince or some great man, who is but flesh and blood at the best, but " the high and lofty one that inhabits eternity, lie who is a great God, and a great King, above all the earth : behold, the na- tions are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance : behold he taketh up the isles as a very little thing ; and Leba- non is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering. All nations before him are as nothing, and they are counted 70 THE GUILTY SIiNNEll CONVICTED. to him loss than nothing, and vanity." To whom then will ye liken Ood? or what likeness will ye compare unto him? there is no propor- tion here. Now, if it deserves so severe a punisliment that is commit- ted against man, what must it not deserve that is committed against this God? As it were injurious to compare God to man ; so it is injurious to compare the demerit of any offence committed against man, and the demerit of that which is committed against the great God. 2. Consider the damage that sin doth ; and then we will see what sin deserves : we will see that the terrible punishment we have been dis- coursing of, is nothing too severe. If we consider man with respect to tiie creatures that are under him, the inanimate part of tlie creation, and the brutes ; he was appointed to be their mouth, by which they should pay homage to their Creator ; he was to be their treasurer, to pay in a revenue of glory for them to their Creator and Governor ; but man by sin puts himself out of all capacity for this ; he lays an ill example before his fellow creatures. But all this is nothing, when compared with the injury he doth to God by every sin. This if thoroughly and well under- stood, would for ever clear the justice of God in punishing sin with eter- nal punishment. True it is, indeed, what Elihu says, " If thou sinnest, what doest thou against him ? or if thy transgression be multiplied, what doest thou unto him ?" Job xxxv. 6 ; that is to say, God lies be- yond our reach ; we cannot by our sins detract from, as neither can we by our holiness add to his happiness : but this is no proof that we do him no injury. A rebel clapt up in prison, or in the hand of the king's guards, is not able to reach the prince's person, nor render him dissatis- fied ; yet he may then injure him, and doth it. when he unjustly reflects upon his government. Just so is it with sinners ; indeed, they cannot scale the walls of heaven, they are not able to climb over the eternal ramparts, which raise the fence of the Almighty's sacred throne, and there stab his person ; but yet they injure him in his name and honour, and even in his life, by every sin : it is intended murder ; and this is death by the laws of God and man. That among men it is not always punished so, is only because it is not always discovered ; for when it is discovered by words, or overt though ineffectual actions, it is punish- ed. Every sin spits upon God's holiness, tramples upon his authority, brands his wisdom with folly, denies his goodness, and braves, and gives a defiance to his power : what punishment then can be too great for this ? Now sure, 3. Sin deserves it, if we consider the obligations that are by every sin trampled upon. Every one will own, that the sins of children against their p.arents, of servants against their masters, of subjects against their lord, and the wives against their husbands, are sins of a black hue, a crimson dye, and deserve therefore a very severe punishment ; and ac- cordingly are so punished in all nations : but all those obligations are nothing to what we all lie imder to God ; so that there is more perfidy, falsehood, and treachery, in all our sins against God, than in any of those: therefore it is but just that there sliould be a proportion kept betwixt the offences and the punishment. 4. That sin deserves such a punishment, is the judgment of God ; and we know that his judgment is always according to truth. It is not the mistaken notion of a man, who in the most uiouioiitous truths may trip; but THE GUILTY SINNER CONVICTED. 71 it is the judgmeut of the only wise God, who is a God of knowledge, by whctin actions are weighed. I think we need not go so far back at present for a proof of this as the penal sanction of the lav.', so long as we have the death of Christ, as an evidence of it, nearer hand. If an infinite person, standing in the sinner's room, must, for his sins, have such a load of wrath laid upon him, what less must the punishment of the sin- ner himself be than eternal wrath ? None can pretend to believe the truth of the gospel, and question the justice of God in punishing sinners eternally ; for is it not ridiculous to admire divine severity in the eter- nal punishment of wicked men, and not to attend to infinite justice pun- ishing severely his own beloved Son ? What wonder is it that wicked men should be for ever tormented for their own sins, if the most righ- teous Son of God suffered for the sins of others ? He that without a reproach to his goodness, could endure his most dear Son to suffer so long as one hour, will much better endure unjust sinners to be tormen- ted with eternal punishment. 5. That sin deserves such a punishment, is not only the judgment of God, but of men too. The common reason of mankind speaks its justice. This appears by the sentiments the heathens had of this matter. They had not a revelation to guide them, and therefore had wild fancies about the matter of these punishments, which they judged to be eternal ; but that there were such punishments, and that they were just, they had no doubt. Hence it was that their poets did condemn Tantalus to such a place, where he should have rivers just washing up to his lip, and yet should not be able to drink of them ; and so remain eternally under the violence of thirst, with this gnawing aggravation, that he had waters just at his very lip. But we may yet have a more clear proof of the judg- ments of men in all nations, in their sanctions of human laws. Do not all of them for crimes, condemn to perpetual imprisonment, or to death ? The one is an eternal punishment of loss of life and all its concomitant advantages ; and this punishment is inflicted without respect to a future life ; as appears in this, that such laws are executed upon them, of whom none has reason to think that they shall have any share in the advan- tages of a future life. And that perpetual imprisonment is not eternal imprisonment, is not because that it is thought unjust, but because neither the law-makers, who put it into execution, nor they who break it, live to eternity. «. That sin deserves eternal punishment, appears from the acknow- ledgment of the pmiished. This is a very strong argument ; for al- though they who are yet wallowing in their sins, and are lulled fiist asleep in the lap of carnal security, will not acknowledge so much ; yet if we inquire at those whom God has awakened, and to whom he has given a discovery of the exceeding sinfulness of their sins, whether with a prospect of mercy or not, they all with one mouth acknowledge that sin deserves eternal vvrath. Those whom the Lord deals with, in order to their conversion, will all subscribe to the justice of God, should he damn them eternally. I do not say that they will be content to be damned ; but they will own that God were most just should he deal so by them. And not only is it so with them, but even with those who are sunk to the utmost in black despair. If we listen to a Spira, who has laid aside all hopes of mercy, we shall hear him crying out in the an- 72 THE GUILTY SINNER CONVICTED. guish of his soul one day, " I am sealed up to eternal wrath : I tell you 1 deserve it ; my own conscience condemns me, what needeth any other judge ?" and another day, again, we may hear him crying out, " Though there were not another damned, yet God is just in making me an exam- ple to others ; and I cannot justly complain. There is no punishment so great hut I have justly deserved it." These considerations do suffi- ciently evince, that sin deserves eternal punishment ; and therefore God has good reason to demand it. 2dly, Our great Lord and Master has great reason to punish you with such punishment, not only because your offences deserve it, but because he, in the institution and promulgjition of his laws, did actually declare that he would so punish the transgressor of it. Sin and eternal punish- ment were then linked together. With the same very breath that God said to Adam, thou shalt keep my commandments, he also said to hrm, " In the day that thou breakest them, thou shalt surely die." That the annihilation of his soul should be there intended, is contrary to scripture, and has no ground in reason ; and if only temporal death is meant, then this would be implied, to say. Thou shalt be rewarded with eternal life if thou sin ; which were ridiculous to imagine. That therefore which is intended is certainly eternal death. And God having annexed this pen- alty to the violation of his law, there is great reason that it should be punctually executed. For, 1. The honour of his wisdom requires it. To what purpose should this penalty be annexed, if it were not on design that it should be put in execution? or at least it would reflect upon his wisdom, if it might not with great reason be put in execution. 2. Justice to his honour, as he is the righteous Judge of the earth, calls for the execution of this law. What, I pray, is the business of one placed in that high station, if not to see laws executed, to see the com- pilers with them rewarded, and the offenders condignly punished ? 3. Justice to the law requires the punishment of sinners : for if the law in one part may be neglected, why not in all ? The threatening as well as the precept, has upon it the impress of the supreme authority ; and therefore, as by the violation of the precept, so by the non-execution of the penalty, the honour of the law suffers. If the penalty be requir- ed, then the honour of the precept is repaired ; but if the penalty be neglected, then the law is entirely affronted, and there is no reparation ; than which there can be nothing more unreasonable. 4. Justice to on-lookers. To neglect the punishment of offenders, is of dangerous influence to beholders ; it betrays them into one of two or three dangerous mistakes ; it has a tendency either to make them enter- tain light apprehensions of sin, or else to make them call in question, either the knowledge, power, or wisdom of God, and his zeal for his own glory : therefore justice to them requires that the penal sanction of the law be vigorously put in execution. 5. Justice to God's faithfulness. The honour of the divine vei-acity requires it. God engaged his faithful word for the accomplishment of the threatening ; therefore, either the truth of God must lie open to suspicion, or else the punishment must be inflicted upon you. 6. To add no more considerations under this head ; by annexing eter- nal punishment to the commission of sin, all the divine attributes were THE GUILTY SINNER CONVICTED. 73 engaged to see it executed. Of the justice, wisdom, and sovereignty of God, it has already been made appear ; and it might with equal facility be evinced, as to the unchangeableness of God, his goodness, power, and knowledge ; therefore he has reason to demand so high a satisfaction. Zdli/, Sin not only deserves that heavy and eternal punishment we have been discoursing of, and not only has God adjudged, by an iiTe- versible appointment, that it should be so punished ; but we say, more- over, that God has just reason to inflict it, because this appointment of €rod linking sin and punishment together, is most just and equal. This puts it beyond all rational doubt, that God has reason to treat you as he will do. Now, the justice of this penal sanction, I shall open to you in several considerations. And, 1. This is plain from that which we have at great length discoursed of already, in reference to the demerit of sin. We have proved, by many incontestable evidences, that sin deserves the highest punishment that can be inflicted. Now, just authority can never be but just, in punish- ing a crime, or annexing a penalty to it, that is proportioned to its own nature ; and this is plainly tlie case here. 2. God has made this sanction ; therefore it is just. This, I think, needs no proof, the Judge of all the earth cannot do wrong, he is a God of truth, and without iniquity. Our ways may be unequal, his can never be so ; for were God unrighteous, "how could he then judge the world ?" says the apostle, Rom. iii. 6. His will is the measure of jus- tice to us : " He doth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth ; and none can say to him, What dost thou ?" Dan. iv. 35. If once we quit the will of God for the standard and measui-e of justice, then we wander and l<»se ourselves, and are never likely to find any other thing that can with any shadow of reason pretend to the place. 3. This appointment of God is most just, because it was made in way of a contract. There was a covenant between God and Adam. God did propose the whole matter to him ; and the substance of it was this, Do, and live ; Sin, and die. Man was content, and that npon delibera- tion, with the terms; and therefore the justice of God is clear in this matter. 4. God did warn man before-hand of this punishment ; and therefore he is very just in the matter ; which will appear very considerable, if we observe, that as man is unquestionably obliged to obey God, so God has an unquestionable right to command ; and that not only upon account of his supereminent excellency, but on account of his creation, preservation, and innumerable benefits ; therefore he commanding to man what is just and equal, may do it upon what penalty he pleases, without any shadow of injustice ; as I shall make appear by this plain and familiar in- stance : I suppose the lord of a manor to have placed or made a preci- pice in some part of his land, and that he forbids his servant to go there, and tells him, if he do, he will be sure to fall there and be killed : Who would say that he were guilty of that servant's death, if the ser- vant should go there ? And I say, God can with as little justice be charged with the death of sinners, or with severity, since he gives them fair warning. They choose damnation, and their destruction is of them- selves. This was perfectly the case of man at first ; and that afterwards K 74 THE GUILTY SINNER CONVICTED. lie fell under a fatal inability to abstain from sin, no more clears him, or makes God faulty, than it would clear the servant formerly mentioned, or make his master blame-worthy, if the way to that precipice lay stoop- ing downward, and the servant should, upon the beginning of the descent, run with so full a career, that he were not able to halt till he had broke his neck. This I suppose, would not reflect upon the master, that he did not remove that precipice, or alter the way. And this is the case between God and man. 5. Consider the influence that this penal sanction has upon them that are saved ; and wherein v/e may see that God was most just in appoint- ing it. It is the means to bring them to heaven. It moves ministers to preach : " Knowing the terrors of the Lord, we persuade men," 1 Cor. v. 11. And it moves the hearers to accept of salvation, as appears from the frequent use our Lord makes of this argument. And in the original constitution of the law, it was designed as a mean, not only for the reparation of its violated honour, but also to deter men from break- ing the law ; therefore God is most just in the whole of his conduct in this matter ; since the greater the penalty was, the more likely a mean it was to hold men in the way. 6. I thought to have further cleared the equity of this appointment of God, whereby sin is ordained thus to be punished, from the considera- tion of the necessity thereof, in order to the government of the world. If men have yet such boldness to sin, notwithstanding the severity of these punishments, what would they have done, if there had been only some light temporary punishment to be inflicted ? This consideration would lead me too far from the subject in hand ; therefore I but name it, and proceed to the Sixth and last general, which I proposed for the improvement of this doctrine. I have unfolded, at some length, the crime charged upon you. I have proved, both in general and in particular, that ye have all sinned, and thereby come short of the glory of God. I have showed what the satisfaction is which justice requires. I have likewise made appear, and have given you some account, how reasonable it is that justice should carry its demands so high. It remains now, that we shortly represent your misery from the whole. But here indeed I am at a loss how to begin ; and if once I begin, shall find myself at no less a strait where to end. Sinnei's, I have proved you ; and miserable I shall en- deavour to represent you, upon this account, 1*/, If a vast loss can make you miserable, then, indeed ye shall be so. Your loss can be imagined by none, but those who enjoy the advantages you lose, or those who are already in the place of torment, and have their eyes opened to see their own condition. It is such a loss, that you cannot from one place have a full prospect of it, I mean of that little portion of it which may be known without feeling ; and therefore we shall give you some diff"erent views of it, as it were from distinct places, at each oi' which ye may see some, and but some small part of it. 1. I say your loss shall be great : for ye shall lose the world, with all its comforts, delights, and satisfactions. Are ye now possessed of a competent estate, a flourishing family, health of body, content of mind, and a fair stock of reputation ? Ye shall lose all these things ; and will THE GUILTY SINNER CONVICTED. 75 not this be a vast loss to you ? Are not these the things that bound youi desires, and terminate all your wishes and inquiries ? I fear they are sc to most of you. They who liave their portion only in this life, seek no more but these things. All the question with such is, " Who will show us any good ? Any worldly good ; and if they lose these things, then indeed they lose all. They may say their gods are taken away ; and ATl:at have they more? Whatever is desirable to the eyes, or pleasant to any of your senses, ye shall at once, for ever, and eternally be deprived of. And is not this avast loss? Since it must be so in many of your eyes, ye shall lose that which ye valued above heaven and Christ. It may be, some of you clave so fast to a present world, that neither the promises nor the threats of the gospel can induce ye to quit your hold : yet notwithstanding of all your endeavours to keep them, ye shall lose them all. Death will part you and them : and O how great will this loss be to you who have no more ! 2. When God punishes you, ye will sustain the loss of the gospel, which now ye enjoy : and this will appear to be a vast loss then. The gospel has in it treasures for the poor, eyes for the blind, feet for the lame, understanding for the simple, peace for rebels, pardons for con- demned malefactors, a title to heaven for the heirs of hell, life for the dead, happiness for the miserable : and to lose all these, what loss can be comparable to this ? This loss, when it is now spoken of, may ap- pear small to you : but the day is coming, when ye will learn to put a high value upon it, after ye have lost it. 3. Ye will sustain a vast loss ; for infallibly ye lose heaven, if ye con- tinue in your sins ; and Avho can tell what a loss that is ? A^'ho can sound the depth of those " rivers of pleasure that are at God's right hand for evermore." Who can weigh that " far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory ?" Who can take the dimensions of that vast " inheri- tance of the saints in light ?" Who can declare the sweetness of the fruits of that paradise of pleasure ? What eye can discern or let in just apprehensions of that bliss-giving sight, which the saints enjoy above, where there are no clouds to obscure the face of their sky ? Well, whatever there is of these things, all these ye lose. O immense loss indeed ! W^e only name these things, designing now to hasten to another sub- ject, AVould ye know how great a loss ye sustain in the first instance mentioned ? We may send you to those who are wallowing in the de- lights of the sons of men, and who are glutting themselves with a pre- sent world. They will tell you strange things of your loss by the re- moval of worldly comforts. If ye would understand how great your loss is by the removal of the gospel, go to those who have got a heart to embrace it, and they will give you a surprising account of their enjoy- ments by it. But who can tell what heaven is ? they only who have been there; and even scarce they ; for surely they feel, they enjoy more than what can be expressed. Now, all these things ye lose. But need I say more ? Ye lose God : ye lose your own souls ; and if ye lose your own souls, and gain a world, what profit have ye ? yea, ye sustain a vast loss : what must then your loss be, when ye not only lose your own souls, but lose with it all that is in this world, all that is good and com- fortable in that which is to come ? 76 THE GUILTY SINNEK CONVICTED. 2rf/y, As ye sustain a great loss, so ye must suffer a vast torment. The former particular, namely, the punishment of loss, I did only touch at : because I had occasion, in the doctrinal part, to discourse a little of it : but here, when I come to speak of the punishment of sense, I shall be a little more large, yet so as not to exceed the bounds of this day's dis- course. O sinners ! miserable are ye, if huge, vast, and intolerable tor- ments can make you so. A view of your misery on this account, I shall give you in a very few particulars. 1. If ye would understand what your case is eternally to be, ye must consider what of you it is that is to be eternally tormented. Our Lord tells us of both soul and body as being destroyed in hell, Matth. x. 28. " Fear not them that kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul : but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." And this gives us to understand what is to be the subject of these tor- ments, sinners are to sustain. It is not a finger or toe : it is not a tooth or a joint : no ; but it is the whole man, soul and body, that are to be tormented. And how will ye be able to endure this ? If a drop of scalding water fall upon your hand, ye are ready to cry out of intolerable pain : but how will ye then bear it, when a full shower of brimstone, a deluge of burning wrath, will fall upon the whole man ? Ye are not now able to hold your finger to the fire ; how will you then endure, when soul and body shall be cast alive into devouring fire and evei'last- ing burnings? If now the trouble of one part of the body occasion so terrible a disoi'der, what will your case be, when every faculty of your souls, every member, every joint, sinew, artery of your body, shall be brim-full of wrath. 2. Consider, who is the contriver of these torments. There have been some very exquisite torments contrived by the wit of men, the naming of which, if ye understood their nature, Avere enough to fill your hearts with horror : but all these fall as far short of the torments ye are to endure, as the wisdom of man falls short of that of God, who is " wise, and will bring evil," Isa. xxxi. 2. Infinite wisdom has contrived that evil, these torments, which are to be the eternal portion of all impenitent sinners. If man can find out a rack, a gridiron, a furnace heated seven times, for tormenting such as he has a mind to punish ; what shall we conceive to be the inventions of infinite Avisdom, when it is set on work to contrive a punishment for sinners ? Wisdom, infinite wisdom, well knows the frame of both soul and body ; it knows what faculty of the one or the other are of most exquisite sense, and what torments can work upon them. God shows himself wise, not only in bringing evil upon sinners, but in contriving it, so that it shall surpass what creatures can inflict. 3. Consider, who is the inflicter of these torments ; and this will give us a strange prospect of the misery of those who fall under them. It is God, by his own immediate hand. And from this the apostle represents the misery of such who shall fall under his punishment : " For Ave knoAV him that hath said. Vengeance belongeth to me, and I Avill recompense, saith the Lord : and again. The Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God," Heb. x. 30, 31. Should God but give a commission to some creature to torment us, if it Avere but a flea to leap into the eye, and there to abide, how great would THE GUILTY SINNER CONVICTED. 77 this torment be ! But mncli more terrible would your case be, if God should set his wisdom at work, to find out and invent what mixture of torments from creatures would be most exquisite, and then inflict these upon you : this could not but make your case miserable ; since the na- ture of man is capable to receive comfort or disquietment from every creature : and God knows, not otdy our frame and make, but that of all the other creatures; and therefore understands what might contribute most to our disquiet and torment. Should God deal thus, it would make very exquisite torments indeed ; but all this were nothing to his own immediate hand and power. His little finger is more terrible than the united power of all the creatures. As there is no searching out of his understanding, so there is no searching out of his power who is the inflicter, the author of the eternal torments of sinners, " who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of bis power," 2 Thess. i. 9. But of this more anon. 4. Consider, what it is that engages infinite power, and sets on infi- nite wisdom ; and this will give you yet a more terrible representation of your misery. If it were only justice, ye might expect that there might possibly be some abatement made ; but it is anger, fury, the height of fury, that sets wisdom a-work to contrive, and power on work to eff"ect your misery ; and therefore miserable ye must of necessity be, beyond thought or expression. A remarkable scripture to this purpose we have in Nahum i. 2 — 6. " God is jealous, and the Lord revengeth ; the Lord revengeth, and is furious ; the Lord will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies. The Lord is slow to auger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked. The Lord hath his way in the whirlwind, and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. He rebuketh the sea and inaketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers. Bashan languisheth, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languisheth. The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burnt at his presence ; yea, the world, and all that dwell therein. Who can stand before his indignation ? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger ? His fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him." This is a scripture so very remarkable, that we cannot pass it, without ottering you a few observa- tions for clearing it a little. And, (1.) Here ye may see the certainty of sinners being punished. If ever ye escape who continue in your sins, it must eitlier be, because God will not, or because he is not able to punish you : but here ye see, that he is both able and willing, ver. 2. " The Lord is great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked." By no means will he let them go wiio continue in their impenitency. (;2.) Ye see what the punishment of the wicked is : " He will take ven- geance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies." It is expressed by vengeance and by wrath. It is a punishment that is the efi^ect of wrath and revenge, and is to be continued by M'rath that is kept in reserve for that purpose. (3.) Ye have that which is the in- flicter of this punishment ; it is the great power of God. (4.) Here ye have that which sets this power on work to punish the wicked : it is jealousy ; " Now, jealousy is the rage of a man," Prov. vi. 34. ; and jealousy in God is the rage of God. (5.) Here you see the awful eti'ects of this 78 THE GUILTY SINNER CONVICTED. rage of God : " The Lord revengeth, the Lord revengeth." The ex- pressions being doubled, intends the signification, and shows the certainty of it. (6.) To represent, if possible, the terribleness of this revenge, in a yet more lively manner, it is added, " The Lord revengeth, and is furious." (7.) The terribleness of this appearance of God against sin- ners, is further declared by a description of God's power, described in its effects upon the inanimate creatures ; as if he had said, Look Iiow terrible the case of sinners is like to be, when God begins to take ven- geance on them, and to revenge himself by that power, which by a re- buke drieth up the sea and the rivers, that makes Bashan and Carmel to languish, that melts the hills, and makes the earth to quake. The power of God was put forth in a very remarkable manner, in creating the world ; but it is exerted in a more remarkable manner, in punishing the wicked : herein is his power, even the glory of his power, manifested ; for ye are to be punished " with everlasting destruction from the glory of his power." The power of man produces greater effects when anger and fury make him strain, as it were, every sinew, and nerve, than when he is cool, and in a sedate composed frame : a Samson in such a case pulled down the pillars of the house. What shall we then conceive will be the effects of God's power, when the heat of anger and fierce indignation and fury excites and acts it ? May I not conclude this con- sideration with that of the prophet in the 6th verse, " Who can stand before his indignation, and who can abide in the fierceness of his an- ger ? His fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him." 3rf/j/, As your loss is great, and the punishment ye are to undergo great, so both these will come upon you in one day ; and this is a terri- ble aggravation of your misery. In a moment all the enjoyments of earth, all the gospel-privileges, and all the hopes of future bliss, which impenitent sinners have, will vanish ; and then, even then, at that very instant, will God appear, with his face full of frowns, his heart full of fury, his hand full of power, and all directed towards sinners. It is re- markable, in the sentence at the last day, that with the same breath, at the very instant, they are bid depart God's presence, Matth. xxv. 41. they are likewise sent into everlasting burnings. \thli). As both will come at once, so they both will come suddenly and surprisingly. This extremely increases your misery. Sudden de- struction, and surprising destruction, is, on that very account, double destruction. It may be said, that your damnation lingeretli not, 2 Pet. ii. 4. As Christ comes quickly. Rev. xxii. 20. so he comes " in flaming fire to take vengeance on them that know not God, and obey not the Gospel," 2 Thes, i. 8. It is sudden, because it comes at a time when it is not expected. Many of you possibly may be putting the evil day far away ; and yet ye cannot tell how near it may be to some of you. Who can tell but some who this day are here in God's presence, may be in the pit before next Sabbath ? But whether it be so or not, we are sure it is not long to the time when all of you who remain impenitent shall be sent down to the sides of the pit. It is sudden also, because usually this ruin comes when the quite contrary is expected ; when " they say, peace, peace, then sudden destruction," 1 Thes. v. 3. When the fool was singing a requiem to his own soul for many years, then that very night THE GUILTY SINNER CONVICTED. 79 all this misery comes upon him, Luke xii. 20. And this was a ^eat aggravation of his misery. A blow given when the contrary is expected, is doubly stunning. bthly. As all these things, all the losses, all the torments we have been speaking of, come suddenly and at once, so they all are inevitable. Impenitent sinners cannot by any means escape them. For, 1. God has engaged that sinners shall be punished. He will not at all acquit the wicked. He has passed his word upon it, he " swears in his wrath, that impenitent sinners shall not enter into his rest," Heb. iii. 18. Therefore they may expect that he will be as good as his word. 2. God cannot change : there is no " variableness nor shadow of turning with him," Jam. i. 17. He continues unalterably the same : " I am the Lord, I change not ; therefore the sons of Jacob are not con- sumed," Mai. iii. 6. There is the clear side of the cloud to his own people : and, upon the other hand it may be inferred, " I am the Lord, I change not ;'' therefore ye who have continued impenitent shall be turned into hell. 3. Ye are not able to ward off the blow. The apostle observes, " That the foolishness of God is wiser than man, and the weakness of God is stronger than man," 1 Cor. i. 25. The Aveakest effort of God against man is enough utterly to ruin him : " Lo, at the rebuke of his counte- nance we perish," Psal. Ixxx. IG. He can look upon one " that is proud, and abase him ;" and his eye can cast about rage and destruction, Job xl. 11 — 13. If a look can ruin us, much more the breath of his nostrils : " By the breath of his nostrils we are consumed, and by the blast of him we perish," Job iv. 9. Now, if ye be not able to stand against his look, his breath, the blast of his nostrils, far less against his finger, which ruined Egypt by divers plagues, and yet much less against his fist, Ezek. xxii. 13. Whose heart can endure, whose hands can be strong, in the day when those hands that measure the waters in the hollow of them, that span the heavens, comprehend the dust of the earth, and take up the isles as a very little thing, shall begin to crush, and squeeze, and grip him ? far less is any able to withstand, when God lays on the weight of his Avrath which presseth them hard, as it did Heman ; or when he runs upon them, like a mighty giant, with his full force, as a man doth upon his enemy. Job xvi. 14. In this case neither ye your- selves nor any creature can help you ; therefore your misery is inevi- table. (Sthly, As your misery is inevitable, so it is eternal. It is not for a day, or a year, or a month, or an age, nay, nor for millions of ages ; but for ever. It is everlasting destruction, everlasting burnings, ye are to dwell with ; the worm dies not, the fire goeth not out ; the smoke of your torments shall ascend for ever and ever. If one ever will not do it, ye shall have more of them. Here indeed is misery, exquisite misery ; and ye would do well to think on your escape. We have now, for eight Lord's days, insisted upon this subject ; and may we not conclude with the prophet, " Who hath believed our report?" Who among you all, who hath been our close hearers upon this subject, are yet convinced of sin ? I fear, very few, if any. If there be but one soul among you all, that is awakened to see its sin and misery, the news we are next to bring will be welcome to such ; and we hope the Lord will grant them that which thev long for. 80 TIIK GUU/rV SINNER CONVICTED. But to the generality, who are yet fast asleep, and who are as insen- sible as ever, we shall say a few words. And, (1.) We say to you. Have ye not heard what we have charged you with ? And what answer ye to all ? I am sure ye can answer nothing that is of weight. And if ye be not able to answer a man like yourselves, think how mute ye will be when ye come before our great Lord and Master, seated upon the throne. (2.) What mean ye, O sleepers ? Is it now time to be sleeping, when ye cannot tell but the next moment ye shall sink irrecoverably into the immense ocean of the eternal and intolerable wrath of God ? (3.) We cannot tell but this your stupidity may piovoke God to that degree against you, that ye shall never have a Marning more. Hoav terrible will your case be, if he shall say. Never fruit grow upon these barren and unfruitful sinners any more ; or if this day he shall give death a commission. Go to yonder obstinate sinners, whom I by my ser- vants have long been dealing with, in order to bring them to a convic- tion of their danger, arrest them, bring them immediately to me, and I shall awaken them, but not to their advantage. How will your hearts ache, your ears tingle, and your spirits fail, when ye hear the dreadful sentence pronounced ! Matth. xxv. 41. " Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." Now, if ye would evince this, awake in time, and flee to Jesus Christ : hasten your es- cape, before the decree bring forth, before the day pass as the chaff, be- fore the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you, before the day of the Lord's anger come upon you. THE GREAT CONCERN SALVATION. PART II. MANS RECOVERY BY FAITH IN CHRIST; OR, THE CONVINCED SINNER'S CASE AND CURE. Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and Jell down before Paid and Silas ; and brought thou out, and said, Sirs, tchat must I do to be saved 9 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. — Acts xvi. 29, 30, 3]. When we began to discourse to you from Rom. iii. 13. we observed, that there are three questions in wJiich man is principally concerned. What have I done ? Wliat shall I do to be saved ^ What shall I render to the Lord ? He who knows libw to answer these satisfyingly, cannot miss happiness, if he practise according to their knowledge. To the first we have returned answer at some length. We have shown you, what ye have done, and what are the consequents of it : " Ye have sinned, and so come short of the glory of God." Now we shall proceed to the second question. What shall we do to be saved ? And as the ground of what we are to say upon this head, we have chosen the words read, in which both the question and answer are dis- tinctly laid down. In the text and context, we have the account of the conversion of the keeper of the prison at Philippi, a city in Macedonia. In which there occur severiil things very considerable. 1. The person who was converted deserved to have a special mark put upon him. He is a heathen, one of the ruder sort, who was taught blindly to obey what he was put to, without ever inquiring whether right or wrong. He had, but the night before, put the apostles' feet in the stocks, and laid them in chains. When God designs to erect trophies to his grace, he is not wont to single out the moral, the wise and polished sort of sinners, lest they should glory in themselves ; but he pitches upon a Mary Magdalen that has seven devils dwelling in her, — a persecuting- Saul, — a rude jailor, — " that no flesh may glory in his presence," 1 Cor. i. 26—29. 2. The plao^ where he is converted, is a prison, a place where minis- ters were not wont to come, but when they were brought there, that they might be kept from endeavouring the conversion of sinners. When God has a mind to have a sinner, he will not want means to accomplish his L 82 MAN'S RECOVERY }3Y FAITH IN CHRIST. design. He can make a place that is designed to be a mean of suppress- ing tiie gospel, subservient to its propagation. 8. Tlie exercise of the apostles mider their confinement deserves a re- mark. A prison is not able to keep them from praising God. Some- times they have been made to sing in a prison who have been mourn- ing when at liberty. God dispenses the largest, the richest comforts, when his people need them most. He can sweeten a stinking dungeon with the savour of his sweet ointments. He can soften hard chains, by lining them, as it were, with rich supplies of grace. He can relax the closeness of a prison, with his free Spirit, who brings liberty wherever he is. Their hearts are thankful for mercies that they enjoy ; and God chooses that time to give them new ones : a strong proof that it is indeed a good thing to give thanks unto the name of the Lord. Praise for old mercies brings new mercy with it. The liberal man lives by liberal devices. 4. The occasion of the jailor's conversion is an earthquake which shook the prison, opened the doors, and made the chains fall off. A strange sort of earthquake, indeed, that loosed the prisoners' bonds. When the Lord designs to awaken a sinner, if less will not do it, a miracle shall be wrought. 5. It is worthy our observation, that the first influence of this provi- dence was like to have proven fatal and ruining to the man whose sal- vation was designed. The first appearances of God for the salvation of sinners may have a very strange influence. They may be so far from bringing the sinner, whose salvation is designed, nearer, that they may seem to put them further off. The jailor would have killed himself. 6. Their frame and deportment under this dispensation is no less re- markable. Though the earth be shaken, their hearts are not so, but are in a blessed rest and repose. They know that God who shook the earth was their God, and gave it a commission not to wrong but to help them. This keeps the Christian calm under shaking providences ; the seas may rage, and beat high, but the rock whereon he rests re- mains firm, and cannot be shaken. And a further pi'oof of their frame we have in their regard to the jailor's safety. Some would have thought it a happy occasion to make an escape ; but they take care of the keep- er's life, though it should be to the endangering of their own. They do good to enemies, and love them that hate them. 7. Their words to the jailor were I'emarkable : " Do thyself no harm." They seasonably step in for preventing of sin ; they represent the sin so as it might appear the more hateful ; they remove the temptation. Herein they leave us an example : if we would prevent the ruin of others, we must step in seasonably. Had they delayed a little longer, the man had been gone past all remedJ^ If we would discover sin so as to make it appear sinful, we must represent it under those forms which are most likely to engage sinners to renounce it : " Do thyself no harm." Self- preservation is the prime dictate of nature. For one to destroy himself, is to act cross to the very foundation of reason, which leads to the use of all means that have a tendency to self-preservation. And then they remove the temptation. Those who would effectually dissuade sinners from sin, must let them see that all the grounds they go upon are mis- takes. The man supposed they had been gone, and that he would be punish- MAN'S RECOVERY BY FAITH IN CHRIST. 83 ed for them : and to evite this imaginary danger, he would have really- ruined himself. Thus sinners, to evite imaginary evils, run upon real ones : and to gain imaginary advantages, they lose the true gain. And therefore ministers or others, in dealing with them, should study to undeceive them in this matter: '-Do thyself no harm, for we are all here." Here some may inquire, how they saw him, when it was now night, and he did not see them ? To this I answer, there might be either moon- light, or a candle in the uttermost room, Avhereby they might see what was done there ; but yet he could not see into the remote corners of the innermost prison where they lay in chains. 8. AV^e are to observe the inflnence that this check, this seasonable advice, that carried a reproof in its bosom, had upon the man ; it con- vinced him, it put him into this trembling humble posture we find him ill. Here I might observe many very considerable truths. Grace usu- ally begins to work, when sinners have gone to a height, to an excess of sin. While the man is practising a bloody crime, and had murdered himself in design, then grace chooses to lay hold on him. When Saul was grown mad in his persecution, carrying it even to a foreign country, gi'ace takes the opportunity. It doth not bespeak sinners in their lucid intervals ; but, to show its power, it reaches them when at their worst. Again, how mighty a change can a word work, when the Spirit of God concurs ? He whom the earthquake did not deter from sinning, is over- come with a word : a word makes him that put their feet in the stocks fall down at their feet. One woi'd opens the man's eyes to see what he never saw before, it fills his heart with concern about salvation, a thing he had not minded before ; and the fears of that wrath that he little thought of, when he was just going to throw himself fearlessly in its hands by self-murder, now make him tremble, and fall down, cry out, " What must I do to be saved?" It makes him pay reverence to them to whom he paid none before. He calls them Sirs, a term of honour and respect. A great change indeed I here are a multitude of wonders. The terrors of God make a stout heart to shake. An unconcerned per- secutor lays salvation to heart : and much concern in the heart discovers itself by its effects ; it breaks out in the trembling of the body, and the anxious question in the text. 9. Here it is worth our while to inquire, what he was convinced of? That the man is convinced of danger, is plain ; that it was not the dan- ger of being punished for letting away the prisoners, is no less plain ; he was now eased of any fears he had of this sort. In one word, he was convinced of his sin and misery. This is plain from the apostle's direc- tion. It were blasphemy to think that they mistook his case : and the event puts it beyond all doubt, that they were not mistaken ; for the cure is no sooner applied than it takes effect. The direction quieted the man's mind ; and this makes it plain, that it was sin and misery that was now in his view ; it was the curse of the law that was pursuing him. We need not spend time in inquiring what sins he was convinced of. That the sin of self-murder was the first, seems probable from what has been already discoursed. AVhen the candle of the Lord tills the bosom of a sinner with light, the first sin that is seen is usually some great sin, and for the most part the sin that was last committed. This sin was just 84. MAN'S RECOVERY BY FAITH IN CHRIST. now committed ; and a monstrous one it was : but though this might be the first, we have no reason to think, that it was this only; nay, we have reason to think, that the Lord gave the man a broad sight of all his other impieties. When the Lord lights a candle in a sinner's bosom, though some one great sin occurs first, yet he quickly turns to others, and looks through the ugly heart that was never seen before, and sees it full of sins. The Lord tells sinners sometimes all that ever they did, by telling them one sin ; and thus no doubt it was with the jailor. In the, 10. And last place, the posture the poor man is in, when he puts the melancholy question, " What must 1 do to be saved ?" deserves our no- tice : he is fallen upon his face ; not to worship : this the apostle would not have permitted, as they did not upon other occasions ; but either it is only a civil respect he pays them, after the fashion of supplicants in the eastern countries ; or his trembling legs were not able to support his body ; or pfirtly the one, and partly the other, occasioned this posture. The next thing that falls under our consideration, is the answer which the apostles give to the jailor's question, " Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house," This contains the sub- stance of the gospel ; and it is this part of the words we principally de- sign to insist on. I shall refer the explication of them, till such time as I have done witli what is designed from the question ; because I do not incline to burden you with too tedious an explication of the words. From the question itself, then, according to the account just now given of its meaning, we shall lay before you, and discourse of this one doctrinal proposition. DocT. — " A sinner that is awakened, and soundly convinced of sin, and of misery, its necessary consequent and companion, will lay salvation seriously to heart ; or will with concern put the question, " What must I do to be saved ?" This we see is the first fruit of conviction in the jailor, " Sirs, what must I do to be saved ?" This was the immediate result of conviction in the awakened converts. Acts ii. .37. And thus it will be with all who are indeed awakened and convinced of sin, unless there be some such concomitant circumstances as hinder it unnecessarily, of which anon. In discoursing this doctrine, we shall, I. Premise a few things, for clearing the doctrine. 11. Inquire what this salvation is, which awakened sinners seek after. III. We shall endeavour to give some account of this concern about salvation, which is the result of conviction. IV. We shall show, why it is that convinced sinners do lay salvation to heart. Now, of each of these in order. I. We begin with the first : and for clearing our doctrine, we offer to your consideration a few propositions. First, Conviction is that sight of sin and misery which sinners get, when the Spirit of God presents them to the soul's view, in their nature, and their necessary connection with one another, together vvith the sin- ner's interest and concernment in them : and that in so clear a light, that he cannot but take notice of them. \st. We say the Spirit of God sets sin and misery in their own nature before the sinner's eyes, in a clear MAN'S RECOVERY BY FAITH IN CHRIST. 85 light. There is no luan who has not some apprehensions of sin and misery : every one discourses of these things. Education, the dispensa- tion of the word, and converse, have begot some notions of sin in every body's mind : but for any clear discoveries of sin in its nature, few have them. The thoughts of men about sin, are, for the most part, like the thoughts of a man who never saw a toad with a full light : if any man should tell him how loathsome a creature it were ; and withal, in the twilight show him one, when he could not distinguish it from a piece of curious jet lying by it, he would not be much affected with the account, nor would his thoughts of its deformity and ugliness answer the thing itself: but if the sun should dart down a beam of its light upon the loathsome creature, the man would see it, and it may be then his flesh would begin to shrink, and it would fill him M'ith aversion. Just so is it with unconvinced sinners : they see sin, but it is only in the twilight of reason, education, or the external dispensation of the word ; therefore they are not affected with it, nor do they see any pecu- liar deformity in it, until the Spirit of God let in a ray of superna- tural light, and then this very quickly fills the soul with a view of its exceeding sinfulness, which makes the heart begin to shrink at it, and entertain it with aversion. The case is just the same with respect to that misery that is the consequent and companion of sin. Till once the Lord make bare his arm in the sinner's view, and cast in some drops of wrath into his soul, with a cei'tification that these are but drops, he will never be duly affected with it. ^dly. The Spirit of God in conviction, not only presents siu and misery to the soul in their own nature, but like- wise in their connection. God has linked sin and hell together It always was so, but sinners do not always think so. Gi'oundless appre- hensions of God, as if he were all mercy, his patience in forbearing the execution of such as deserve double destruction, the subtile rea- sonings of Satan, the world, and deceitful lusts, either beget a persua- sion, that sin and wrath may be separate, or else a suspicion that it is not certain that they are so linked together as the word says, and minis- ters aver. But the Spirit of God presents the two, in their dependence and connection, in such a light to the sinner's mind, that he cannot but believe that there is no parting them. 3dJy, The Spirit of God discov- ers to the sinner how deeply he is concerned in sin, and consequently in that woe that is linked to it. He not only lets him see the toad crawling at a distance, but upon his very clothes. He not only tells him that a certain man has sinned, as Nathan did in the parable, but applies the parable, and says, " Thou art the man." He not only lets the sinner see hell and sin linked together, but also lets him see the one end of the chain, sin, fastened to himself: and all this he discovers with such clearness as obliges the sinner to notice it. Secondly, AVe premise this, that there are different degrees of con- viction, and that both as to its clearness, extent, and continuance. Upon some persons, some faint rays break in, and open their eyes somewhat above nature's power, letting them see a little more clearly. Upon others there come in full beams, discovering all distinctly, like the sun shining in his strength. Again, some discover only a iew ; others get under their view many sins ; the light that shines upon some, is only like a flash of lightning, that fills the house with surprising light, and 86 MAN'S RECOVERY BY FAITH IN CHRIST. is presently gone again ; or like the warm blinks of the sun before a shower, which are presently gone, and the sky filled with dark clouds. So various are convictions, as to their degrees of clearness, extent, and continuance. Those convictions which are only faint, and reach only to a few sins, we are not here speaking of, v/hen we speak of a sinner that is thoroughly awakened or convinced. Thirdly. The issues and consequences of conviction are no less various. Those fainter discoveries of sin, which many meet with in the dispensa- tion of the word, or by awakening providences, usually carry people tlie length of some faint desires after deliverance ; or if they rise higher, it seldom goes further than good resolutions, and there they die. The great flashes of light which dart into the minds of some, very often mis- carry, and turn to nothing. It is much with the persons who fall under them, as it is with a man that is awakened by a flash of lightning that darts into his bed : the noise of a thunder-clap, that comes along with it, may make the man start up before he is well awaked ; and the light un- expectedly discovering many things, occasions a great confusion in his mind; but presently the noise is over, and the light gone, and then the natural temper of his body, the softness and ease of the bed he lies in, do invite him afresh to sleep ; and though by the light that came in, he might see the loom full of enemies, he is easily persuaded that all was but the illusion of fancy, and therefore he lays himself down again, and falls fast asleep. Thus it is with many : they hear the thunderings of the law in the jireaching of the word ; and sometimes the Spirit of God lets in a beam of light into the heart with them, that fills all the soul with fear, discovering the deadly foes that are lodged and secretly entertained there ; this makes sinners start up, and it may be cry out ; they are awakened out of their security, and raise themselves out of their beds. Now one would think those persons in a great frowardness, and very well ; but ere ever ye are aware, tliey are fast asleej) again. " They re- turn with the dog to the vomit, and with the sow that was washed, to the wallowing in the mire ;" they fall in their own sins. Why, what is the matter ? No degree of conviction can change the heart ; and con- victions of short continuance do rather fright than soundly awaken : therefore, when the natural inclinations of the heart pi"ess on to a little more sleep, and Satan joining issue with this frame of the carnal mind, contributes his part, and endeavours to lay the soul asleep again, it can- not choose but fall asleep ; for the flash of light is gone, and the voice of the minister, or providence, by the noise of those solicitations, is ban- ished his mind ; and here ends the religion of a great many, who at com- munions, and some other occasions, appear to be something. Fourthly. When we speak of a person's being soundly and deeply con- vinced, and of abiding convictions, M-e do not mean that there is any one degree of conviction that all come to who are saved ; nor do we mean, that there is any degree of conviction MJiich is always followed with faitli : for those who are most deeply convinced, may one way or other miscarry, and be lost. They may fall into despair, or they may fall in with false remedies ; or they may wear out from under convictions, as some have done, and then turned openly profane. Nor do we intend that every one who believes, before he does so, must lie a long time under conviction : for we see the contrary in the jailor, who presently believes and rejoices. MAN'S RECOVERY BY FAITH IN CHRIST. 87 and so was very soon out from under liis convictions. In fine, we only speak of sound and deep conviction, in opposition to those fainter ones wliicli seldom raise the persons that have them above the sluggard's de- sires, or some ineffectual resolutions : and when we speak of abiding con- viction, it is in opposition to those flashes, which are presently gone, and have no other influences than to make iialf awakened sinners start up, and cry out of their fears, but presently their fears are hushed, and they lie down, and fall as fast asleep as ever Fifthly, Our doctrine must only be understood of those who are yet in time ; for damned sinners are indeed sufficiently awakened, yet cannot be said to put this inquiry, because they are abundantly convinc- ed, that salvation is not to be expected. And the same is to be said as to those who have split upon the rock of despair, who, though they be not yet in hell, do judge, notwithstanding, their escape impossible. Our doctrine is not to be understood of these persons. Sixthly, We say not in our doctrine, that convictions, however deep, or distinct, or abiding, issue in salvation, but in a serious concern about it. A person may be concerned, and put inquiries about that which lie may never attain. He may ask, " What shall I do to be saved ?" who shall never be saved. The young" man in the gospel asked, " What must I do to inherit eternal life ?" yet, for anything the scripture makes appear, he did never inherit it. These things being laid down for clearing the doctrine, we now proceed to the II. Thing proposed, which was, to inquire what that salvation is which awakened sinners are concerned about, and which they seek after. Sal- vation, as every one knows, signifies a delivery from some one thing or other that is looked upon as dangerous, evil, and hurtful. None are capable of salvation, save those who are either under some such evil, or who are in danger of it ; and then they may be said to be saved, when they are freed from it, or from the danger of it ; when they are deliver- ed from distresses, or when their safety is provided for. This is the plain import of the word. But as it is used by convinced sinners, it takes in more : it not only respects deliverance from evil, but also the enjoyment of God and of good. It is frequently so used in scripture : salvation there is put, not only for deliverance from hell, but for the title to heaven ; and hence believers are styled " heirs of salvation," Heb. i. 14. ; where the apostle, speaking of the angels, says, "Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister to them who shall be heirs of salvation?" In one word, this salvation, that awakened sinners seek after, takes in freedom from sin, and a title to life ; and hence the question in the text takes in other two. First, Wliat sliall I do that I may get pardon of sin ? The sinner sees that it is sin that draws hell upon him ; therefore unless this be par- doned, he despairs utterly of freedom from hell and wrath. The one he sees impossible to be attained, unless he can first get tlie other. As sin draws on hell, so pardon is linked to salvation from hell ; or rather salvation from wrath is linked to pardon. This we see plainly enough in the carriage of those convinced sinners, Micah vi. 6. " Wiierewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God ? shall I come before him with burnt-ofterings, and calves of a year old ? Will the Lord be pleased witli thousands of rams, or ten thousands of rivers 88 MAN'S RECOVERY BY FAITH IN CHRIST. of oil ? shall I give my first-born for my transgrossion, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul ?" This is the genuine language of a con- vinced sinner. Pardon he would have at any rate. Secondly, The otlier question that is implied in the text, is that of the young man that came to Christ, Mark x. 17. " \A^hat shall I do that I may inherit eternal life ?" Though pardon of sin, or freedom from wrath, be that which first occurs to an awakened sinner as the object of his desires : yet it is not all that he desires. Salvation would be very incomplete, if eternal life came not in to boot : for man might be for- given, and yet be turned into nothing, or not admitted into the enjoy- ment of God. A rebel may be pardoned, and never be made a favour- ite. That this, as well as the other, will be much upon the thoughts of a solidly convinced sinner, appears from several considerations. \st. When God himself condescends to direct such, he makes something more than pardon necessary to them, Hos. xiv. 2. There the remnant of the Jews, whom the Lord has a mind to do good to, are told what they must seek from him when they return, and what was necessary in order to their happiness : not only must they have their iniquities par- doned, but they must have gracious acceptance with God, or admission into his family. " Take with you words, and turn to the Lord, say unto him. Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously." Gracious acceptance with God is full as necessary, in order to the content of an awakened sinner, as pardon of sin. 2dli/, Awakened sinners, in all ages, have by their practice evidently discovered, that pardon alone did not seem sufiicient to satisfy them. They have ever been seeking after some righteousness, wherein they might appear before God, and upon which they might found their title and claim to eternal life, as being sensible that pardon of sin alone could not do it. The Jews who expected pardon from the mercy of God, yet " went about to establish a righteousness of their own, being ignorant of the righteousness of God." Rom. x. 3. 3<://y, In one word, a convinced sinner is one that is persuaded of a future state, and that the things of this world cannot make him happy: therefore he certainly means the same by this question, " What shall I do to be saved ? that we mean when we inquire, AVhat shall make us happy? That every awakened sinner is convinced of a future state, is unquestionable, since the wrath he would so fain be freed from is chiefly in a future state : nor is it less plain, that it is complete happiness he aims at, and that all his trouble arises from the apprehensions of the inconsistency between his happiness and unpardoned guilt. That which only remains to be made appear, is, that pardon of sin alone cannot secure him of eternal happiness ; and this is easily proven ; for there are two things which pardon doth not, and yet without them both, it is im- possible that man should be happy. (1.) Pardon of sin gives man no title, no claim to eternal life and happiness. Innocence in Adam did not give him a title to heaven : can any, then, think th&t pardon now can give us a title? Eternal life was to be the reward of a course of obedience ; nor had innocent Adam any pretensions to it, till such time as he had fulfilled a coui'se of perfect obedience : far less, then, could fallen men have any pretensions to it, if only his sins were pardoned. (2.) Pardon of sin doth not make man meet for " the inheritance of the MANS RECOVERY BY FAITH IN CHRIST. 89 saints in light," for converse and intercourse with God. A convinced sinner will see that there is no possibility of access for him to the enjoy- ment of God, unless there be an entire cliange wrought upon his nature ; for how can two of so very different natures have any mutual conn)la- cency in one another ? God can have none in the sinful nature of man ; nor can the sinful nature of man have any in the holy nature of God : and it is what none can say, that pardon changes the nature of the person that is pardoned. Now, to sum up what we have said under this head, when an awak- ened sinner puts the question, " What must I do to be saved?" he just means, How shall I obtain happiness? And this has these tljree in it: (I.) How shall I get my sins pardoned ? (2.) How shall I get a title to eternal life ? (3.) How shall I be made meet to be a sharer of the " inheritance of the saints in light ?" Unless the mind be fully satisfied as to these three inquiries, it can never think itself secure or happy. That which comes, in the HI, Place, to be inquired into, is the nature of this concern, which is the genuine issue and necessary result of sound conviction. The nature and effect of this we shall unfold to you in the following particidars. And, First, To lay salvation to heart, or to be concerned about it, seriously imports dissatisfaction with all other enjoyments, so long as the soul is in the dark about this. The man may possibly be possessed of great things in the world, he may have all going there with him according to his wish ; but if once he begin to take salvation to heart, he will find con- tent of mind in none of these things. If such a one casts his eye upon his enjoyments, his riches, his honours, his pleasures, he will be sure to conclude, as Haman did upon another account, Esther v. 13. " Yet all this availeth me nothing, so long as I am at an uncertainty about sal- vation." These things cannot satisfy. What are they to a dying man ? One that apprehends himself just ready to be swallowed up of the wrath of God, can relish no sweetness in any of these things, till once he be rid of the fears of that. Thus we see it is with the jailor ; he, who but a little before was so anxious about the prisoners, that he was ready to have made himself away for fear of their escape, turns now unconcerned about these things : and we hear not, that, while all the doors were open, lie made any provision for their security ; nor did he receive any satis- faction from understanding that they were all safe. This dissatisfaction is not such a discontent as some fall into who are no ways awakened, which leads them to fret, grudge, and repine, because their lot in a pre- sent world is not such as they would have it ; no, but it is such a dissatis- faction as flows from a solid persuasion that these things cannot afford happiness, or avert impending and threatened misery, which is so terrible in the eyes of the alarmed sinner. Secondly, This concern about salvation imports thoughtfulness about the threatened evils, and the means of preventing them. When the soul has once got a view of sin and misery in their native colours, and sees misery threatening it, then this arrests the thoughts ; the mind can ply itself to no other thing with pleasure, but only to the ways and means of escape. If other thoughts intrude, they are presently rejected with con- tempt, as impertinent. The man indeed doth not deny it to be his duty to be concerned about other things ; but lie thinks it not present duty, 90 MANS IlE(X)VEKy J5Y FAITIJ IN CIIKIST. nay, he thinks it impertinent for him in his present condition. IJe is like one that lives in a besieged city : the enemy has made a breach in the walls, and threatens a sudden irruption. In which case, the man knows very well he is obliged to attend to the duties of" his ordinary calling and station: yet, in the present exigence, he doth not judge it pertinent to look that way : for if the enemy once enter at the breach, and sack the city, then he for ever loses the advantage of any thing that he gains by his other endeavours ; therefore he rather turns his thoughts and contrivances to the reparation of the breach, or the paci- fying of the enemy, if he find the place not tenable against him. Just so is it in the case of an awakened sinner : he knows, that if the wrath of God overtake him, he is for ever ruined : therefore his thoughts are wholly bent upon this, how he may be delivered from the wrath to come. Thus we see the Psalmist employed under fears of impending hazard, Psalm xiii. 2. " How long (says he) shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily ? How long shall mine enemy be exalted over me ?" The apprehensions he was under of danger, put him upon many contrivances how he might rid himself of it. This is always the nature of concern : it arrests the thoughts and keeps men fixed upon that about which the soul is concerned. Thirdly, This concern has in it always earnestness of desire after salva- tion. Desire is ever implied in concern of mind ; and if a man be con- cerned how to avert a threatened evil, he desires ft-eedom from it ; if he be concerned how to obtain any good he wants, or retain what already he is possessed of, the soul ever immixes its concern with desire. This flows from the very nature of man's soul ; for desire is nothing else but the cleaving of the rational soul to that which appears congruous, use- ful, and necessary to its happiness : so one that is awakened, and sees his hazard, will certainly desire salvation. Hence it is, that we find Christ the Saviour, among the other titles which are given to him in scripture, obtain that famous one, " The Desire of all nations." Hag. ii. 6, 7. " For thus saith the Lord of hosts. Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land : and I will shake all nations, and the Desire of all nations shall come ; and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts." A Saviour will be desired by such of all nations as are awakened to see their need of him. Fourthly, This concern about salvation imports a commotion in the affections. A soul full of thoughts about wrath threatened or felt, will have its affections employed about it, according to the account the judg- ment gives of it. If wrath be in any measure felt, it will fill the soul with grief and sorrow ; if it be looked upon as approaching, it will make the man shake with fear ; if it be represented as ruining and destructive to the soul, it will raise the highest hatred and aversion ; if there be any apparent possibility of escape, it will excite hope in the soul. In one word, in a soul that lays salvation seriously to heart, every one of these passions will take their turn, according as occasion calls for them, or the present exercise of the mind requires and excites them. AVere we discoursing of this concern about salvation only as it rests in the mind, we should hold here ; but here we are considering it, not only as MAN'S RECOVERY BY FAITH IN CHRIST. 91 it is in its own nature, but as it doth manifest itself in its eflPects ; and therefore, Fifthly, We say, wliere the soul is thus uneasy for want of salvation, thoughtful about it, and going forth in desires after it, this inward tem- per and frame of the mind will discover itself in words and language. Words are the indications of the thoughts of the mind ; and where the mind is swallowed up of concern about any thing, so as to have all its thoughts engrossed by it, then of necessity the words must intimate so much. A man indeed may be concerned about something of less impor- tance, and this not hold ; but when salvation is laid to heart, then the tongue will be employed as well as the mind. It is storied, that the father's hazard made the tongue-tacked child speak ; much more would its own hazard have done so. Our Lord says, " Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh," jNIatth. xii. 34.; and indeed where there is very much concern this way, it will not easily be retained ; it will be like a fire that cannot endure to be pent up close in a room, but must have a vent. Thus we see it was with the jailor. That which lay nearest the heart takes the start iu discourse : "Sirs," says he, "what must I do to be saved ?" Sixthly, This inward frame of soul, this concern of mind, leads to the use of means. As the tongue Avill be employed in inquiring, and the mind in contriving, so the rest of the man will be employed in following after, and using the means that are suited to give relief. Thus we see it was with the jailor, he presently comes to the apostles, and seeks after direction and help from them. No doubt he had heard of them what the possessed damsel, in the 17th verse of this chapter, cries out, that they were " the servants of the living God," who made it their work, " to show men the way of salvation ;" and this makes him address him- self to them, as the readiest expedient, the best means to get rid of his fears, and to be solved of the important scruple that now lay so near his heart. Seventhly, Not only will this concern drive to the use of means, but it will stir up to diligence in the use of them. It will fire the soul with such activity, as will carry it over that natural sluggishness that is in the heart of man, as the natural and genuine fruit of the depraved na- ture. The unconcerned man, the man that is half awakened, will say with the sluggard, " There is a lion in the way, and I shall be slain in the streets." He will have a thousand trifling difficulties that will re- tard him, and keep him back ; but when one lays salvation to heart, he will soon get over all these, and fall close to the diligent use of means, in spite of all difficulties. Thus it was with the jailor: He sprang in, and came trembling, and said, " Sirs, what must I do to be saved ?" He wanted not his own grounds to fear the success of his attempt. What ! might he think, will these men, whom I used so hardly but the night before, deal so kindly to me, as to help me in this miserable pinch ? And will that God, Avhom I have provoked to be my enemy, render me any relief? But wrath pursued him so close at the heels, that he durst not stay on any of these accounts, but hazards the issue, be what it will. An awakened sinner is ever brought to the lepers' resolution, 2 Kings vii. 3, 1. He sees an inevitable necessity of dying, if he sit still in his prei-eut condition, or if he join himself to his old friends ; and, therefore 92 MAN'S KECOVEIiy BY FAITH IN CHRIST. he will rather choose to venture all upon the mercy of God, and his servants, whom he takes for his enemies, as knowing' that there he has a peradventure for life, whereas he has not that same any where else. Eighthly, This concern will discover itself, hy putting the soul in an active and waiting posture, ready to receive any injunction, and to com- ply with it without delay. One that comes thus to be concerned about salvation, will not stand to dispute the terms proposed, but will greedily wait for, and readily accept of them, if practicable, if possible. Thus we see it is with the poor man in our text. He comes not to make, but accept terms. Sirs, says he, " what must I do to be saved ?" as if he had said, I am resolved to scruple nothing ye shall enjoin me ; tell me but what I shall do, and here am I ready to accept of any proposal that ye shall, in God's name, make unto me. Thus we have unfolded unto you the nature of this concern which a solidly convinced sinner will have about salvation, and that from the text. I shall now proceed, IV. To inquire, Why it is that a solidly awakened sinner does thus lay salvation to heart above all things. An account of this matter, we conceive, may be given in two or three propositions. First, A strong desire of self-preservation is inlaid in the mind of man, and so closely woven in with his very frame and make, that there is no getting rid of it. Man may as soon cease to be, as cease to desire his own preservation : " No man yet hated his own flesh, but cherisheth it," says the apostle, Eph. v. 29. If that hold in the laxer sense when a man's near relation is called his own flesh, it must hold much more when it is taken in the most strict and close sense, for a man's self. Secondly, The necessary consequence of this desire of self-preserva- tion, is an utter abhorrence unto every thing that is contrary to nature, or that appears destructive of it ; and every thing appears more or less terrible, as it is more or less hurtful to nature. Ihose things which threaten us with utter ruin, cannot but fill the mind with terrible horror. Hence it is that death is called the king of terrors, because it threatens nature, not with some alterations of less importance, but with entire dissolution. Death of all things is the most opposite to nature ; and every other thing is more or less terrible, as it has more or less of death in it. Thirdly, An awakened soul, a solidly convinced sinner, sees, by that light that God has let into his soul, the wrath of God, the second death, ready to lay hold upon liim, and ruin him eternally ; thei-efore cannot but have the greatest aversion possible to it. What will put a man to flight, if not the sight of inevitable death behind him ? Then, if ever, will a man flee, when he sees himself brought to that lamentable pinch, that he must either flee or die. Fourthly, Hence it inevitably follows that such a man who sees him- self in danger of utter ruin, in the case he is in, will, nay, of necessity must lay himself out to the utmost, or be concerned above all for salva- tion from threatened ruin or misery. That principle of self-preserva- tion, and that abhorrence of what is hurtful to nature, which are the springs of all a man's actions, cannot but carry the whole man, and all the powers of the man, to its assistance, when it sees that the whole is endangered. I MAN'S RECOVERY BY FAITH IN CHRIST. 93 Having thus shortly discussed what belongs to the explication of this truth, we proceed now to make some practical improvement of it. And among many uses that might be made of it, we shall only make one, and that is of trial. Is it so, that a soundly convinced sinner will lay salvation to heart above all things else ? Then here is a touch-stone whereby ye may try whether or not ye may be indeed convinced of sin, and whether soundly or not : and, in the name of God, we obtest you to put this to trial. For, First, Unless ye know whether ye be convinced of sin or not, ye can- not know whether ye have got good of all that we have discoursed to you formerly. This we know, that ye are either better or worse by it : for '• as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and re- turneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater ; so shall my word be, saith the Lord, that goeth forth out of my mouth ; it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it," Is. Iv. 10, 11. We have spent many sermons on this design of conviction ; and now ye are concerned to try, what has been the fruit of them. If ye be not yet convinced soundly of sin, then ye have lost the advantage of all that has been said on this head. Secondly, Try this fairly, we obtest you ; for if ye be not convinced, ye are like to lose the advantage of all that is to be said from the text we are now entering upon. V»'e shall, if the Lord will, from this scrip- ture, hold forth and make offer of Christ Jesus our Lord as the only Saviour of lost sinners ; and if ye be not convinced soundly of sin, ye are like to lose the advantage of such offers ; for none will welcome or entertain them, save only such as are convinced of sin. Thirdly, Try, for the Lord's sake, whether ye be convinced of sin or not; for not a few wofully deceive themselves in this matter. They take that general and unconcerned acknowledgment of sin, which every one is led to by custom, education, or some such way, for that solid con- viction which is necessary in order to our cordial acceptance of the gos- pel ; and this deceit is of most dangerous consequence, because it lies near the foundation, and a crack there must of necessity be fatal and ruining. That ye may be at a point in this matter, we shall again run over the several parts of that description we gave of this concern about salvation, which we would now have you to try yourselves by. But before we enter upon this trial, there is one sort of persons we would set by, as not concerned in it ; and that is, such as are openly pro- fane, drunkards, swearers, liars, whoremongers, thieves, and the like. It were gross folly to make a trial of such who have their mark upon their foreheads. Those monsters are so far from being concerned about salvation, that they seem concerned to make their own damnation sure^ in as far as they take the plainest, the surest, and straightest course to ruin their own souls. As their damnation lingers not, so it will be just, because they run upon a seen evil. They deserve scarce compassion, who can tell that he " who doth such things is guilty of death ;" and yet not only do, " but take pleasure in them that do them." To 94 MAN'S RECOVERY IJY FAITH IN CHRIST. endeavour to make a discovery of such persons, by an application of nar- row and searching marks, were as if we did busy ourselves in separating huge stones from corn by a fine sieve, when it were much more easily done with the hand. These we set aside in the entry, because their sins go before them into judgment. But besides these notorious sinners, tliere are others who are no less strangers to solid conviction than they, upon whom nevertheless it is something more hard to prove it. And, therefore, for the discovery of such, we shall now procieed to deal a little more closely with your consciences ; and since your concernment in this matter is so great, as we just now did show it to be, we obtest you to be serious in this matter, which is, past all peradventure, to turn either to your eternal advantage, or to your eternal disadvantage. Ye do all profess yourselves convinced of sin. But now, if it be so, I demand of you, in God's name, have ye ever to this day been con- cerned about salvation, or, laid It to heart above all things ? If ye have not, then to this day ye have never been soundly convinced of sin, what- ever your pretences are : and so ye are found liars in this matter, and deceivers of your own souls. If ye say ye have been, or are seriously concerned about salvation, then, 1*/, I pose your consciences, and I demand ye may pose this question. Can ye be satisfied with other things, while ye are at an utter uncer- tainty about salvation ? If so, if ye can be well pleased, and have rest in your mind, and live contentedly in an uncertainty about salvation, provided ye be in health of body, and your worldly concerns thrive, then we say, ye have never yet been concerned about salvation, and therefore are yet strangers to that sound conviction, without which none will be content to accept of Christ. ^dli/, I pose you in God's name upon it, what thoughts do ye spend upon this subject ? Persons who can spend whole days, and nights, and weeks, and never have a serious thought about salvation, they certainly are not laying it to heart. But that I may bring this second question yet a little closer to the conscience, I shall break it into one or two others ; and 1. I pose you on it, what thoughts do ye choose ? Persons may sometimes be oppressed with thoughts that they entertain the ut- termost aversion to ; or they may be forced from the thoughts they would for ever desire to dwell upon. A man that is thoroughly awakened, may by the impetuous violence of temptation, or the inevitable occasions of life, be obliged, as it were, sometimes to intermit thoughts of salva- tion, and entertain thoughts about other things ; but when he has leave to make choice, then he will choose to think of salvation. Now, if you choose ordinarily to think of other things than of salvation, then there is no such force upon you, it discovers you unconcerned about salvation, and consequently strangers to that solid conviction that issues always in such a serious concern as we have been speaking of, 2, I further pose you, whether or not do the thoughts about salvation frequently press in upon you, when ye are busied about the ordinary occasions of life, when employed in your ordinary occupations, when ye are working or con- versing ? If such thoughts are never wont to visit you even then, it is a sad sign that ye do not lay salvation seriously to heart ; for certainly that which the mind is much concerned about, will frequently drive the thoughts that way. 3. I put this one question more to you, what MAN'S RECOVERY BY FAITH IN CHRIST. 9b thoughts are those on which your own time is spent ? All your time, ye may think, is your own time ; but there is a certain portion of time which may be called so upon a peculiar account ; such are those seasons wherein we are neither engaged in business nor in diversions, as when we walk alone in the fields, when we separate ourselves in order to rest at night, when we are undressing ourselves, or when we are waking upon our beds in the night-time, or before we engage in company in the morn- ing. Now, it is in reference to such seasons as these that we inquire into your thoughts. If these seasons be not employed in thoughts about salvation, it is a sad sign that ye are not in earnest about it indeed. 3dli/, I put this question to you, what are your desires ? Man is a desiring creature : he is sensible of self-insufficiency, and therefore is ever desiring and longing after some one thing or other that is suited to his need, or at least which he thinks to be so. Now, what is it that ye desire ? Is it salvation ? is it Christ ? It may be, ye never have a de- sire after salvation, but when ye are laid upon a sick bed, and fall under fears of death ; and even then, where there is one desire for eternal sal- vation, there are n^any for freedom from death, for some longer life. Dying David, speaking of that covenant whereby salvation was insured to him, could call it all his desire. '• Although my house be not so with God : yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure ; for this is all my salvation, and all my desire, although he make it not to grow," 2 Sam, xxiii. 5, If your souls do not frequently go out in desires after God, alter salvation, it is a shrewd evidence that ye are not concerned about salvation, and consequently that ye are not yet convicted of sin. ■ithlj/, Are your hearts ever affected about salvation ? When there is a concern about any thing in the soul of man, it never fails to set the heart a-work, and to fill the affections. Now, surely if ye be in any good degree concerned about salvation ye will be aflr'ected. 1. Have ye never any fears of falling short of salvation ? " Let us fear, lest a pro- mise being left us of entering into his rest, any of us should seem to come short,"' says the apostle, Heb. iv. 1. A heart weighted, and really con- cerned about salvation, will see many grounds to fear that possibly it may lose salvation at last. The falls of others, the difficulties and oppo- sition in the way of salvation, and its own felt weakness, will ever occa- sion fear in the heart about this. What one is very concerned to have, he is always feared to lose. 2. Do ye never taste any thing of the anger of God in the threatenings ? Those that are concerned about salvation, get such a taste of God's displeasure, as is wont to fill their heaits with grief and sorrow. If ye know nothing of this, it looks very ill, and speaks you not duly concerned about salvation. 3. Do ye never find any thing of shame for sin rising in your heart ? If none of these affec- tions be moved, it is a sad but sure evidence that ye are not concerned about salvation, and consequently that ye are not yet solidly convinced of sin. ot/ili/, ^Vhither rims your discourse commonly ? Do ye never speak of salvation ? We told you formerly, that when the heart is much con- cerned about salvation, the mouth will sometimes be employed in speak- ing about it. Now, where runs your talk commonly ? Is there never a word of salvation in your discourse ? It is a sad sign that ye never 96 MAN'S RECOVERY liY I'AITII IN CHRIST. yet were convinced of sin, that ye never yet laid salvation to heart. Do not think that it will clear you, to tell that ye must conform your dis- course to the temper of those with whom ye converse: for I say, 1. Do ye never converse with any body that would be willing to entertain dis- course about salvation ? If it be so, then I am sure it is choice and not necessity makes it so : this therefore is a further proof of your uncon- cernedness about salvation, ye slight the converse of such as may help you. 2. Are ye never in a company where ye may lead the discourse ? If ye be a master of a family, a parent or any superior, I am sure amongst your inferiors ye may have the leading of the discourse ; nay, though ye be servants, ye may sometime or other have as fair a pretence to pi'escribe to others the subject of discourse, as they have to prescribe to you. 3. If ye shift the evidence of all this, I shall put here a fjues- tion or two to you, which will, if faithfully applied, make a discovery of you in this matter. And, (1.) Do ye not weary of the company, and of the discourse, that has no respect to salvation ? (2.) Is it not a re- straint upon you, when ye are kept from discoursing of salvation ? If ye be really concerned about it, I am sure it will be so sometimes with you. But I proceed ; and, in the Gth Place, I put the question to you, what diligence is there in using the means of salvation ? No man that understands either scripture or reason, can think the man concerned about salvation that usetli not the means of salvation. Now, because I judge that here we may meet with not a few of you, I shall descend to particulars, and deal plainly with you about this matter. The means of salvation are of three sorts, secret, private, and public. Now, I will put some questions to you in reference to each of them. I begin with those which we call secret ; and of them I shall only name secret reading of the scriptures, and prayer. Lev. xviii. 5. Rom. X. 13. ; and in reference to those I shall put two or three questions to you. And, I. Are ye neglecters of secret prayer? Can ye rise in the morning, and go to your work, and never bow a knee to God ? To such we dare say confidently, ye were never yet concerned about your soul's salvation. 2. Are ye ever concerned to know what success ye have in your prayers ? Most part deal, I fear by their prayers, as some un- natural parents do by their children ; they lay them down to others, and never inquire what becomes of them, whether they die or live : which argues that they are not in earnest in them. We ever find the saints recorded in scripture in earnest about the acceptance and success of their prayers. 3. Are all your secret prayers confined to stated times, it may be morning and evening ? Or are you frequently breathing out your desires in ejaculations ? If ye neglect these, it is a sad sign ye are not concerned about salvation. Ejaculations, I may say, are the genuine effect of concern about salvation. Here I do not approve of those com- mon forms that people use, to the great scandal of religion and offence of God, ' God save us,' ' The Lord deliver us,' upon every turn. These surely argue want of concern about salvation, and want of due respect to God. Persons duly concerned about salvation, will speak of God with more fear and dread, than is commonly in these expressions, which, as they are used, are certainly a palpable breach of the third command. But when I speak of tyaculations, I mean thereby, affectionate and rev- MAN'S RECOVERY BY FAITH IN CHRIST. 97 erend desires sent up to God about salvation : and I believe there shall scarce be found any really concerned about salvation, who are utter strangers to them. 4. Do ye neglect the reading of the word of God, or do ye not ? Such of you as will not be at pains to learn to read the word of God, I can scarce think you in earnest concerned about salvation, since ye neglect so necessary a mean ; at least I think ye have need to be very sure of the grounds ye lean upon, if ye conclude yourselves really concerned about it, while ye neglect this duty. When people are not at pains to read, or take not care to get the scripture read to them in secret, if through age they be incapable, it is a sad sign of want of concern about salvation. I would desire you to consider seriously that one command given by God to his church of old, " He gave them his laws and his statutes, which if a man do, he shall even live in them," Lev. xviii. 5. And he gives them a peremptory command how to use them. Dent. xi. 18 — 20. " Ye shall lay up these my words in your heart, and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes ; and ye shall teach them to your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou M'alkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up ; and thou shalt write them upon the door-posts of thine house, and upon thy gates." Every where they were to have the law of God along with them. How can they be concerned duly about salva- tion, who neglect the use of that which God commands, and commands so peremptorily, I do not well understand. 5. Do ye take heed to what ye read ? Do ye learn to do all the words of the Lord ? or do ye en- deavour to understand what ye read ? In a word, are ye affected with what ye read ? or are ye not ? If ye be not, then it is evidence enough, that ye are not concerned seriously about salvation : so that ye are not solidly convinced of sin. If ye either neglect the use of these means of salvation, or prove unconcerned as to the success of your use of them, it is undoubtedly sure that yet ye have not laid salvation to heart. I do not indeed say, but even the children of God may be more remiss at sometimes than at other times, but entirely to neglect, or prove unconcerned, they cannot, nor indeed can any that is laying salvation to heart. But, I come, in the second place, to inquire into your diligence in your families. And here I shall say only two things. 1. This concern about salvation will make those who have families careful in the performance of family-duties, and those who are members of families careful in at- tendance upon them. When once a man is serious about salvation, he will be sure to set about those duties which may any way contribute to his safety and establishment. 2. When a person is once concerned about salvation, then there will some regard be had to the success of such duties, that is, such a one will take care to know whether he is better or worse by the duties he follows. Now, bring these two home to your consciences : and let me ask you, what conscience ye make of perform- ing or of attending to these duties ? If ye either neglect them, or turn indifferent as to the success of them, past all peradventure, ye are in a dangerous condition. A man that sees himself in a state of misery, and thinks seriously of salvation, will not be content to trifle in these duties which have so immediate, so remarkable, an influence upon his eternal N 98 MAN'S RECOVERY BY FAITH IN CHRIST. condition. If he neglects them, then he lies open to the fury of God which, according to the prophet Jei-emiah's prayer, will fall upon th< " heathen, and the families tliat call not upon the name of God," Psal Ixxix. 6. Jer. x. 25. If he prove remiss, he falls under the woe de- nounced against the deceiver, Mai. i. 14. " Cursed he the deceiver, which hath in his flock a male, and voweth and sacrificeth unto the Lord a corrupt thing." And he thinks his case hard enough already, withour; the addition of that new wrath. The last sort of means of salvation are such as are called public. A concern about salvation will discover itself in reference to these many ways ; of which we shall only name two or three. 1. It will make us lay hold upon every opportunity of this sort. A man that is in great danger, and knows himself to be so, will be sure to frequent those places which promise him safety. 2. It will be a satisfaction and matter of joy to him that there are any such opportunities, and that his case is not en- tirely desperate and hopeless. 3. When he comes to them, he will still have salvation in his eye, and will greedily look what aspect every thing he hears and sees has upon his own salvation. 4. He will not be satis- fied with any thing, unless he see how he may be saved. Now, is this your carriage when you pretend to be concerned about salvation ? Do ye with satisfaction embrace every opportunity of the ordinances? Do ye "joy when they say to you, Let us go up to the house of God ?" Do ye keep your eye fixed upon salvation ? Or, are ye more intent upon otiier things ? This is a good way to know whether ye be con- cerned about salvation or not. Now, to conclude this mark, I say, that if ye do neglect, or carelessly use the means of salvation, whether pri- vate, secret, or public, it discovers your unconcernedness about salva- tion. A man that has fallen into the sea, and is in hazard of drowning, will haste towards every thing that may contribute to his safety ; and when he comes near the shore, he will not spend much time in observ- ing the form of the shore, but its usefulness to him : So a man that sees himself in danger of sinking in the wrath of God, will look to all the means of salvation ; and that which his eye will fix principally upon, will certainly be their usefulness to himself. That duty, and that way and manner of performing it, that levels most directly at his salvation, will please him best. I shall, in the 7th and last place, put this one question more home to you for trial. Will small and inconsiderable difficulties make you lay aside thoughts of salvation, or the use of the means ? If so, it is a sad sign that ye are not yet arrived at that concern which is the fruit of sound conviction. One that is soundly convinced of sin, and is thence induced to lay salvation to heart, will not stop at any thing he meets with in his way : for he can see no lion in the way that is so terrible as that wrath of God he sees pursuing him ; nor can he hear of any enjoyment, to make ' him turn back again, that is so valuable as that salvation he seeks after All hindrances that ye can meet in the way to heaven, I mean such as ; are proposed for rational inducements to persuade you to give over, may be reduced to one or two. The tempter must either say. Desist and quit thoughts of salvation ; for ye will run a great hazard if ye step one step further ; or if ye will desist, ye shall have this advantage or the other. But a solidly convinced sinner has two questions that are I MAN'S RECOVERY BY FAITH IN CHRIST. 99 enough for ever to confound and silence such proposals. (1.) Ye tell me, that if I hold on, I shall meet with such a hazard ; I must be under- valued, reproached, opposed, and, in fine, meet with all the ill treatment that the devil, the world, and sin give me ? But now, Satan, I have one question to propose to you here ; Are all these, taken together, as ill as damnation ? if not, then I will hold on. But whereas, O tempter, (2.) Ye say, that I shall get this pleasure or the other, if I desist and quit the way that I have espoused ; I ask you. Is that pleasure as good as eternal salvation ? or will it make damnation tolerable ? These two questions make a soul that is really concerned about salvation, hold on in the diligent use of means. A man, if ever he run, will then run, when he has happiness in his eye, and misery pursuing him : and thus it is with every sinner that is thoroughly awakened, and lays salvation to heart ; therefore it is no wonder such a one refuse to be discouraged, or give over, whatever he meets with in his way. But now, are there not among you, not a few who will be startled at the least difficulty, and quit thoughts of the means of salvation, for very trifles ? This is a sad evidence that ye are not indeed solidly convinced of sin. Now, I have shortly run through these particulars ; and, in the conclu- sion I inquire of every one of you, Isf, Have ye applied these marks to your own consciences, as we went through them ; or, have ye carelessly heard them, as if ye had no con- cernment in them ? To such of you as have not applied them, I say only, in so many words, (l) If ye will not judge yourselves, ye shall surely be condemned of the Lord. AVhen persons will not try their case, it is a sure sign that matters are not right with them. (2.) MVe may safely enough determine, that ye are unconcerned about salvation, and fast asleep in your sins, nay, dead in them. (3.) Ye will come to such a sensible determination of your estate, ere it be long, as will force you to think upon these things with seriousness, but not with satisfac- tion. But to such as have been applying these marks as we went along, in the 2d place, I propose this question. Do ye find upon trial that ye have indeed been laying salvation to heart above all things, or that yet ye are not in earnest about it ? I beg it of you, nay I obtest you, to deal im- partially with your own souls ; and I am sure ye may come to under- stand how it is with you. This question, if fairly applied, will divide you into two sorts. 1. Such as are not laying salvation to heart, and so have not been convinced of sin, • 2. Such as are really concerned about salvation, and are with the jailor, saying, " What must I do to be saved ?" I shall conclude this doctrine in a short address to these two sorts of per- sons ; and then proceed to the apostle's answer to the jailor's question. I begin with the first. Such of you as are not convinced of sin, and therefore do not lay salvation to heart. Are there any such miserable wretches here, after all that has been said ? No doubt there are ; and I fear that the most part are such. To you I say, 1. Whence is it that ye are not convinced of your sin and misery, which has been so plainly, and at so great length, inculcated upon you ? Surely it must be upon one of three accounts ; either, first, Ye have not heeded what has been said ; or, secondly, Ye have not believed it ; or. 100 MAN'S RECOVERY BY FAITH IN CHRIST- thirdly, Ye have some one false defence or other, unto which ye lean. Now, heciiuse this is a matter of no small moment both to you and us, we shall here discourse a little of these three. It is of great moment to you to be undeceived here, because a deceit here will ruin you eternally ; and it is of great moment to us, because, unless we get you undeceived in this matter, we lose all our pains in holding forth Christ, and the way of salvation by him. Persons who are not convinced of sin, will, past all peradventure, make light of Christ, and refuse him. (1.) Then, I shall speak a word to such as have not taken heed to, or regarded what has been said for their conviction. I make no doubt but there are some such here, whose hearts have been, with the fool's eyes, in the corners of the earth, and who have scarce been thinking all the while what they were hearing. Your consciences can tell you whether this has been your practice ; and if it has, then I say, 1. It is indeed no wonder that ye do not lay salvation to heart, that ye are not convinced of sin ; since ye will not hear what will serve for conviction, and is de- signed that way. 2. " Do ye thus requite the Lord, O foolish and un- wise ?" Has God condescended so far to you, that he has sent his servants to you, and ye will not be at the pains to give them a hearing ? How do ye think would your master or your z-uler take it, should ye deal thus by him ? If when he were speaking to you, either himself or by his servant, ye were turning away your ear from him : would he not resent it highly ? And has God any reason to bear with an indignity at your hand, that your master would not suffer ? 3. Ye have reason to admire that he has not turned you before now into hell. This would effectually have convinced you, and repaired the lesed honour, the injured glory of God. 4. I say to you, ye have lost an opportunity ; and none can assure you that ever ye shall have the like again. God may give over striving with you, and never more attempt your convic- tion : and woe to you when he departs from you. 5. I say, ye have slighted God's command which enjoins you to " take heed how ye hear, and what ye hear," Mark iv. 24, Luke viii. 18. It is not for nothing that our Lord enjoins both to observe the matter and manner of hearing : as he gave those commands, so he will take care that they be not slighted. He will avenge himself of those who despise his authority in them. And therefore I say, G. If ye refuse a little longer to hear, then it is like, nay, it is certain, he will speak to you himself, and make you take heed, if not to what you hear, yet to what ye shall feel, to your eternal disquiet- ment : he will speak to you in wrath, and vex you in his hot displeasure. A remarkable scripture to this purpose we have, Ezek. xiv. 7. " For every one of the house of Israel, or of the stranger that sojourneth in Israel, which separateth himself from me, and sets up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumbling-block of his iniquity before his face, and Cometh to a prophet to inquire of him concerning me, I, the Lord will answer him by myself!" A set of people there was in this prophet's days, who were his hearers ; and they came under pretence of hearing or inquiring into the mind of God ; but they were but mocking God as ye have done, and did not regard what was said to them by the prophet. Well, the Lord will no more deal with them by the prophet, but will take them into his own immediate hand, and deal with them by himself. The words in the first language run thus : " I the Lord : it shall be MAN'S RECOVERY BY P^AITH IN CHRIST 101 answered to him in me. I will not let any answer him but myself." As if he had said, My servants are too mild to deal with such wretches as mock me; I will not answer them any more with words: I will give over speaking to them, and will answer them by deeds, and that not of mercy, but of judgment. Now, think on it in time, how terrible your condition is like to be, if God shall say to you, I have spoken to these wretches, and laid their sin before them, by my servants ; but their hearts have been so taken up with their idols, that they have not heeded them : I will therefore speak to them by terrible deeds, " I will set my face against them, and will make them a sign and proverb ; and I will cut them off from the midst of my people ; and ye shall know that I am the Lord," as it follows in verse 8 of that fore- cited chapter. I leave you to think upon these things, and proceed. (2.) To speak to such as therefore are not convinced, because they did not believe what they have heard upon this head- I make no doubt that there are not a few such here : nay, I may say, that all who are not con- vinced and awakened to a serious consideration of their state and condi- tion, owe their security and unconcernedness to this woeful unbelief, that is a sin pregnant with all other sins, that alone has in it whatever is hate- ful to God, or destructive to the soul of man. To such as have heard, but do not believe, Me say, 1. Ye have not refused our testimony ; but the testimony of God, who cannot lie ; and he that believeth not the record of God, hath made him a liar ; than wliich none can charge a greater impiety upon the holy God, who values himself upon this, that he cannot lie, which is peculiar to God only ; for however there be of the creatures that do not lie, yet of none of them can it be said, that thev cannot lie ; this is God's sole prerogative. 2. Ye have shut your eyes upon clear light. Your sin and misery have been set before you in the clearest light, the light of God's word. The matter has not been minced, but ye have been plainly and freely dealt with upon this head : therefore ye need to look well to yourselves, that God strike you not judicially blind. This he is frequently wont to do to those who resist clear light ; he leaves them to Satan, the god of this world, to blind their eyes, and gives them up to " strong delusions to believe lies, that they may all be damned that believe not.' 3. We did call in heaven and hell, the Crea- tor and the whole creation, as witnesses of that certain and sad truth, that man has " sinned and come short of the glory of God." I know not one witness more but sense ; and since no less is like to do, take care that sense of misery do not convince you of its truth. Hell will make you, even the most incredulous of you, believe and tremble too, as the devils and damned do. (3.) I come now to discourse those who therefore are not convinced of sin, or induced to lay salvation to heart notwithstanding the pains tak- en on them, because they have defended themselves against the force of the truths proposed, by some shifts, which upon occasion they use for quieting or keeping quiet their consciences. Of this sort I fear there are many, too many here present; and therefore I shall deal more particu- larly and closely with such. We have laid before you all our sin and misery ; but few are yet awakened ; few say with the jailor in the text, " AVhat must I do to be saved ?" Whence is it so ? Has not sin been laid open to your view ? Has not the sad but certain truth, that " all 102 MANS RECOVERY BY FAITH IN CHRIST. liave sinned, and come short of tlie glory of God," been plainly demon- strated from many incontestable evidences ? Nay more, has not the particular concernment of every one of us in this truth been plainly unfolded ? Yes, no doubt : but whence is it, then, that the most part are so secure ? that there is so little fear of hell and wrath, and damnation, amongst us ? Are there none here who have any reason to fear it? No doubt, there are many, too many such amongst us: but liere it lies, when the truth is pressed home upon the conscience, we have a strange way of putting divine truths away from us. Now, I shall lay open the nakedness of these fences, behind which most of us screen ourselves from convictions. 1. When sin and misery are discovered, some there are, amongst the hearers of the gospel, who take with the charge. If we say to them, as Nathan did to David, in the application of the parable. Thou art the man, thou art the woman, that hast sinned, that art in danger of the eternal wrath of God. O ! then, answers the sinner, it is very true what ye tell ; I have sinned ; and, God be merciful to us, we are all sinners ; I hope God will be merciful to me. And there the wound is skinned over as soon as made, and the person is healed. This is the refuge^ to which many of you betake yourselves. But we shall pursue you to the horns of God's altar, and fetch you down thence. Ye say, God is merciful. I say, (1) It is very true, he is so. The Lord has long since proclaimed his name, " The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious ; and he delights in such as hope in his mercy," Psal. cxlvii. 1 1. But, (2.) Notwithstanding of the mercy of God, tliere are but few that shall be saved, Luke xiii. 23. Now, who has told you, that ye shall be among that few ? Ye say, ye hope to be among that few who shall find mercy ; and I fear ye shall not. Now, whether are your hopes or my fears best grounded ? I can give some account of my fears ; but I doubt if ye can give any of your hopes. I say, I fear that many of you be damned ; for, as I said before, there ai-e but few that shall be saved ; and these few are all penitent sinners, who have been convinced of sin and misery, and have laid salvation to heart above all things, and have accepted of Christ upon the gospel-terms. Now, it is obvious that there are but very few of you of this sort ; and our Lord hath said positively, " That he who believeth not, shall not see life, but shall be damned." Now where are the grounds of your hopes? Ye say, God is merciful: and I answer, he is just also; and his justice has as fair a plea against you, as his mercy has for you. Ye say, he has saved some sinners, and therefore hope he will have mercy upon you. I answer, he has damned more than he has had mercy upon ; and therefore he may deal so with you too. O but, say ye, I cannot think that God will be so cruel as to damn me. I answer, what more cruelty will it be to damn you, than to damn the heathen world ? What more cruelty to damn you, than to damn the generality of unbelievers, which make the far greater part of the hearers of the gospel ? In fine, is it cruelty to damn you, who have innumerable sins, when it was none, God thought it none, to send so many angels into hell for one sin ? Is it cruelty to punish you, who have neglected the means of salvation, when others have been damned that never had them ? Who would say the prince were cruel, or wanted mercy, who caused execute the threat- i MAN'S RECOVERY BY FAITH IN CHRIST. 103 ened punishment against obstinate offenders ? Now, where are all your hopes from the mercy of God ? I tell you there are thousands this day in hell, who have been ruined by such presumptuous hopes of mercy ; and I fear there are many more who shall be so, ere all be done. 2. Others, again, wlien beat from this defence, betake themselves to another not one whit better : O, say they, we are in no danger, for we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. I answer,(l.) It is very true, they who do believe are indeed out of all hazard. But I say, (2.) Are ye sure ye believe ? Many have been mistaken ; and are ye sure that ye are in the right. The foolish virgins thought themselves believers, and, it may be, went a further length than ye can pretend to have gone ; as ye may see, if ye look to the parable, Matth. xxv. 1. Tliey had professions, they had lamps ; upon the bridegroom's call, they awake, and endeavour to trim their lamps to make them shine ; they are convinced of the want of oil, and endeavour to get it ; and yet were eternally shut out from the presence of God. Now, with what face dare any of you pretend to believe, when ye come not up that length that we have just now let you see others come, and yet perish ? Are there not among you, who will say ye believe, and yet can get drunk, can swear, mock religion, and en- tertain a heart-hatred at such as go beyond you in strictness, can ridicule them, and call them hypocrites ? I fear there may be some such amongst you. I tell you, ye have no faith but such as may go to hell with you. " Faith works by love ;" it is a heart-purifying grace, and discovers itself by a course of obedience, according to that of the apostle James, " Show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works," James ii. 18. (3.) Ye say ye believe. When did ye believe ? Did ye always believe ? Yes, we always did believe. Say ye so ? O horrid ignorance ! Ye say, ye did always believe. I say, ye did never to this day believe ; for we are not born believers, but un- believers ; and if ye think that ye did always believe, it is proof enough, that to this day ye are strangers to the precious faith of Gods elect. I shall not at present insist in discovering the folly of such a pretence to faith, because I shall have occasion, if the Lord will, afterwards to discourse more at length of faith, and of the difference betwixt it and those counterfeits of it whereon many do rely. Only I say at present that where faith is, it will lead to concern about salvation, and will lay hold upon the discoveries of sin ; and that faith which is not endea- vouring to get the soul in which it dwells more and more convinced of, and humbled for sin, is to be suspected. 3. When sin is held forth, and the law preached, then others will slielter themselves under the fig-leaf of their own blameless walk. Come to some of those who have all their days lived in a state of estrangement and alienation from God, and pose them, when they lie upon a sick-bed, or a death-bed as to their state, they will say, they hope all is well ; they shall be saved, they never did any body ill ; and there- fore they never feared the wrath of God. Wo's me that there is any so grossly ignorant, in a church that has been blessed with more clear and satisfying discoveries of God's mind and will, than most churches in the world. Ye say, ye have done no man any injury, and therefore ye will be saved. I answer, ye have injured God, and therefore ye will be damned. Ye say, ye have injured no man. I answer, ye understand 104 MAN'S RECOVERY BY FAITH IN CHRIST. not well wliat ye say, otherwise ye should not have the confidence to talk at the rate ye do. (1.) Ye have injured all with whom ye have conversed, in whom ye are concerned, in as far as ye have not laid out yourself in paying the debt ye owe them. Love is a debt we owe to all, Rom. xiii. 8 ; and he that has never evidenced his love to them, in a serious concern about their salvation, is extremely injurious to them, in as far as he detains from them that which is unqnestidnably their due ; and, past all perad venture, he that was never serious about his own salvation was never really concerned about the salvation of others ; and therefore has detained from them what was their undoubted right. (2.) Didst thou never see thy brother sin ? No doubt thou hast. Well then, didst thou reprove him ? I fear not. Yea, many of this sort of persons can, it may be, see their own children, wives, servants, and nearest relations, commit gross acts of sin, and yet never reprove them. Is it not so with many of you ? I am sure ye cannot deny it. Well, is not this a real injury done to the persons ye should have reproved ? It is a hating them in your heart. God himself says so ; and sure his judgment is ac- cording to truth, Lev. xix. 17. "Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart : thou shalt in any ways rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him." In fine, with what confidence dare ye say, ye have done no man any injury, when, by a tract of sin, ye have been doing the utmost ye could to bring down the wrath of a sin-revenging God upon yourselves, and upon all who live with you in the same society ? 4. Others, when pursued by the discoveries of sin, get in behind the church-privileges, and think there to screen themselves from the wrath of God. Thus it was with the wretches spoken of by the prophet Jere- miah, in that 7th chapter of his book ; they did steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense unto Baal. Well, the Lord threatens them with wrath, bids them amend their ways and their doings : but they sat still secure and unconcerned, never afi^ected either with the discovery of sin, or with threatenings of wrath. Wiiat is the matter? Have the men no sense of hazard at all ? They could not altogether shut their eyes upon the clear discoveries the prophet made of their sins to them, or of that consequential misery he did threaten them withal ; but they sheltered themselves behind their church-privileges, and they cry out to him, " The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are these," ver. 4. And I make no doubt but it is so with some of you. It may be, ye reason as Manoah did in another case, " If the Lord designed to damn us, he would not have given us ordinances as he has done." Now, I only offer two or three things that will sufficiently expose the weakness of this defence or hiding-place. And, (1.) I say, ye may indeed reason thus: God has established gospel- ordinances, the signs of his presence amongst us ; therefore he will save some. He will not bring the means of grace without doing some good by them. Yet, (2.) I say, ye cannot thence infer, that he will save you : for, QL] Many who have had the gospel-ordinances have been damned. []2.] It is not the having, but the improving of them, that saves any. Q.3.] To lean upon them is the worst misimprovement of them possible ; and therefore take care that ye trust not in lying words, saying, " The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are these." 5. Others, finding no shelter from their convictions here, betake them- MAN'S RECOVERY BY FAITH IN CHRIST. 105 selves to their good duties. We tell them, they are sinners, and lay open to their eyes their miserable and wretched condition and state ; they turn their eyes to their duties, and, like the Pharisee spoken of" by our Lord, Luke xviii. 11. they will stop the mouth of conscience, with an enumeration of their performances, whereby they excel others. True it ' is, will such a one say, I have sinned ; but, on the other hand, I am not guilty of gross outbreakings, and scandalous sins ; nay, more, I am much and frequent in the performance of the duties of religion, I pray, I fast, I communicate, and a great many other things I do ; and therefore I hope to get to heaven, notwithstanding all my sins. O how natural is it for a man to prefer a defenceless hiding-place of his own contrivance, to the impregnable city of refuge contrived by infinite wisdom and grace ; the home-spun robe of his own, to the heaven-wrought robe of Christ's righteousness ? Here many of you hide yourselves ; I pray, I read, I seek unto God, and therefore all is well. A sad conclusion I To this plea I answer, (1.) If ye should dissolve in tears, pray till your knees grow into the ground, and give all ye have in alms, and fast every day, all this will not atone for one sin. (2.) Your best duties do but increase your guilt. This the church well saw, Isa. Ixiv. 6. " We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags." (3) Good duties, when rested on, have damned many, but never did, nor ever shall, save any. To lean to them, is to say to the work of our hands, ye are our gods ; a sin that the Lord forbids and abominates. 6. Another sort of persons, when convictions get hold of them, and their sin and misery are plainly and clearly discovered to them, get in behind their good resolutions, and thereby they shelter themselves. They resolve to consider of this matter at a more convenient season, like Felix, who dismissed Paul, when once he came to deal closely with him, and promised him a hearing afterwards. So do many, when they are almost convinced, they dismiss convictions, and px'omise to hear them afterwards. Now, I shall address myself to such in a few serious expos- tulatory questions. And, (1.) I inquire at you, is the consideration of sin and misery, and of your escape from it, a business to be delayed ? Is there any thing that ye can be concerned about that deserves to be pre- ferred to this ? Is there any hazard like damnation ? any mercy com- parable to salvation from the wrath of God ? If a man gain a world, and lose a soul, is he profited by the exchange ? (2.) Who is better judge of the most convenient occasion, God or you ? He has determined the present opportunity to be the best : " Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation." (3.) When art thou resolved to take under serious consideration thy sin and misery, that now thou shiftest the thoughts of? Ye must surely say, that it will be some time after this. But now I ask you, what certainty have ye of such a time ? and what certainty have ye, that ye shall then have the means that are necessary in order to this end ? I believe ye dare not say, that ye are sure of either. (4.) Sure I am, some who in the same manner have made many fair promises and reso- lutions, have thereby cheated themselves out of their souls. But, 7. Another sort get in behind their own ignorance, and think to shel- ter themselves there. They promise themselves safety, though they be not concerned about salvation, because they are but ignorant. God, say tliey, may deal severely with others that know better things ; but for me, 106 MAN'S RECOVERY 13Y FAITH IN CHRIST. I hope he will have mercy upon me, because I know no better. Willi what astonishinj:^ confidence have we heard some plead this I Ye say, ye are ignorant, and therefore God will have mercy on you. I say, ye are ignorant, and therefore God will have no mei'cy upon you, Isa. xxvii. 11. Ye are ignorant ; but whose fault is it? Has not God given you the means of knowledge ? Has not the light of the glorious gospel sliined clearly about you ? Have not others got knowledge by the use of the very same means which ye have neglected and slighted ? This is a common excuse for sins, but a most unhappy one as ever any meddled withal ; for (1.) God has expi-essly told us, that ignorant people shall be damned, 2 Thes. i. 8, 9. (2.) He has told us that ignorance will be the ground of the sentence. This is the condemnation of ignorant sinners, that they love " darkness rather than light," John iii. 19. Nor will it excuse you to tell that ye want time; for Q.] All other things should give place to this : " Seek first the kingdom of God, and the righteous- ness thereof," and other things will come in their own room and place. [2.]] Others have had as little time as ye have, who yet have taken care of their souls, and have got the knowledge of God. [[S.^ Ye lose as much time upon trifles, or doing nothing, as might bring you to a competent measure of the knowledge of these things which do belong to your peace, were it but frugally managed ; so that this will be found to be a weak defence, try it who will. And yet here a great many shelter themselves, and that two ways. (1.) Hereby a great many are not capable to understand what we speak to them about their sin or their danger, and so we have no access to them to convince them. (2.) Others do think, that their ignorance will atone for their other faults ; and this is a fancy so deeply rooted in the thoughts of many, that nothing is like to cure them of it, till the appearance of the Lord Jesus, for their de- struction who know not God, do it. 8. There is one defence more whereby some put off convincing dis- coveries of sin ; and that is, by comparing themselves with others. When it is borne close home upon their consciences that they are in an estate of extreme danger, then they say, \^'ell, one thing I am sure of, it is like to fare no worse with me than with others ; and if I be damned, many others will be so besides me. O desperate and yet common defence ! Thou sayest, if thou be damned, then many others are like to be so. Well, it shall indeed be so ; many shall indeed perish eternally, as ye heard before. But, (1.) What will this contribute to your advantage ? I make no doubt but company will contribute exceedingly to the blessed- ness of the saints above : but I cannot see what solace or comfort the damned can have from their companions ; nay, past all peradventure, this will enhance their misery, their case being such as can admit of no al- leviation. (2.) Knowest thou, O sinner ! what thou sayest when thou talkest at that rate ? It is plainly to say, I will hazard the issue, be what it will ; than which nothing can be more extravagant and foolish. Art thou willing to hazard eternal wrath ? Can ye dwell with everlast- ing burnings ? Can ye dwell with devouring flames ? If there be any such a one here, as is resolved to hold on at this rate, and hazard the issue, I have a few questions to put to him. Is there any thing in the world worth the seeking after, that ye would desire to be sure of? If there be any such thing, then I pose you on it, if there be any thing MAN'S RECOVERY BY FAITH IN CHRIST 107 comparable to salvation ? If ye say, there is, then I inquire further, is thero any thing that will go with you after this life is done? Is there any thing tliat will make up your loss, if ye lose your souls ? what will be able to relieve you under the extremity of the wrath of a sin re- venging God ? Again, when ye say, ye will hazard the issue, then I desire to know of you, do not ye think it as probable that ye shall be damned, as that ye shall be saved? Sure ye have reason to think so indeed. A person so little concerned about salvation, must think God has a very s nail esteem of salvation, if he throw it away upon such as care not for it. Finally, since ye are likely to be damned in the issue, have ye ever thought what damnation imports ? I believe not. I shall only refer you to tliat short account of it, which the final doom of im- penitent sinners gives of it, in Matth. xxv. 41. "Depart from mo, ye cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels." I cannot now enter upon the consideration of many other pretences, whereby sinners shelter themselves from convictions ; only I wish ye may rivet upon your hearts three truths, which will help to preserve you from laying weight upon them. (I.) Be persuaded, that there are but few that will be saved. Christ has said so, and who dare give him the lie ? (2.) Believe it, they who shall be saved, shall not be saved in an easy way. The " righteous are scarcely saved," 1 Pet. iv. 18. (.3.) Ye are to endeavour a solid conviction, that there is no salvation for you, but in the gospel- way, Acts iv. 12. Understand and believe these three truths, and this will be a mean to preserve you from a reliance upon things that cannot profit. And this for the first word we design- ed to such of you as are not convinced of sin and misery. 2dli/, To such of you as are not yet awakened, as are not yet convinc- ed of your lost and undone state. I say, ye have reason to fear that ye shall never be awakened and convinced. There is groutid to fear that Christ has said to you, " Sleep on ;" and if it be so, then the thunder- ings of the law, the still and cabn voice of the gospel, the most sweet and charming providences, yea, the most terrible threatenings of provi- dence, shall never be able to open your eyes, or make you consider and lay to heart the things that belong to your peace ; but ye shall si- (^p on in your security, till the wrath of God come upon you to the uttermost. But it may possibly be, that some whose case this is shall say or think, or at least carry, as if they thought there was no danger of this at all. But I assure such, whatever their thoughts may be, there is great hazard of this. For, 1. God has taken much pains upon you already, to bring you to a sense of your sad state and condition ; but he has not dealt so with others. He has not dealt so with many of the heathen nations ; he has not dealt so with many who have been taken away suddenly after their refusal of the first offer of the gospel ; he has not dealt so with a few others, who have had the gospel-light quickly taken from them, upon their refusal of it. As for the way of God's dealing with the heathen, there is no place to doubt of it ; and that the Lord has not dealt so Avith, or been at so great expense, either of time or means, with others, is plain in your own experience. Tell me, O sinners ! have not many been snatched away by death from the advantage and use of the ordi- nances since the Lord began to deal with you in order to your convic- 108 MANS IlECOVERY BY FAlTil IN CHRIST. tion ? Sure, few of you can deny it : and that the Lord did allow others a shorter time of the ordinances, is no less plain from manifold eviden- ces, both in scripture and in the experience of the church in all ages. Ye have had more time than Capernaum and many other places where Christ preached, in the days of his personal ministry upon earth. 2. Ye have reason to fear this terrible issue, if ye consider the way that the Lord has taken with you. He has not rested in a general dis- covery of either your sin or danger, but has dealt particularly with every one of you, as it were by name and sirname ; he has spoken particularly to you by his word and by his providences. In his name we have dealt particularly with young and old of you ; and by his providences he has been no less particular. What person, what family, has not, either in themselves or in their i-elations, felt the stroke of God's hand? which tells all upon whom it lights, that they " have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." I believe there is scarce one in this house who has not smarted this way. So that scarce is there one amongst us who has not withstood particular dealings of God for his conviction : and this is a sufficient ground to fear that we may never be convinced, since all the ways that God is wont to take, are either general, when he deals with a person in common, by a proposal of such things as lay open the sin and misery of all in general ; or particular, when he makes a special application of the general charge, either by his word, or by his provi- dence, and says, as Nathan did, " Thou art the man :" and what can be done more for your conviction in the way of means ? 3. He has not only used these ways and means mentioned, but has waited long upon you in the use of the means, even from the morning of your day till now. Many, if not all of you, have had precept upon precept, and line upon line, here a little and there a little. Christ has risen up early, and has dealt with you, by sending one messenger after another, one preaching after another, one providence after another, and yet ye are not convinced and awakened. This suggests great grounds to fear the issue, if it be considered, 4. That the Spirit of God, though he may long strive with sinners, yet will not always strive with them, Gen. vi. 6. " And the Lord said, My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he is also flesh ;" as if the Lord had said, I have long dealt with these men, by an awaken- ing ministry, by awakening dispensations, by the inward motions of my Spirit, by checks of their own conscience, to convince them of their sin and danger, and to reform them : but now I find all means ineffectual, they are entirely corrupt ; therefore I will convince them no more. I will spare them till they fill up their cup, and be fattened against the day of slaughter ; but will never more convince them, oi endeavour their conviction. And who can tell, but the Lord has this day pronounc- ed the like sentence against the unconvinced sinners of Ceres or some of them ? Yonder is a people with whom I have long striven, by the word, by providence, by motions of my Spirit, and by secret checks of conscience, and yet they are not awakened, are not convinced : there- fore I will strive no longer with them ; I will either take them away with a deluge of wrath, as I did the old world ; or I will take ray ordi- nances from them, as I have done from other churches ; or I will give MAN'S RECOVERY BY FAITH IN CHRIST. 109 my servants a commission to make their ears dull of hearing, their hearts fat, and their eyes blind ; and I will pronounce the barren fig-tree's curse against them. And that all this is not a mere empty bug-bear, set up on purpose to fright you, will appear evident, if it be considered, 3. That this is the stated measure, the ordinary way, that tlie Lord has laid down, for proceeding with persons in that case : as ye will see if ye turn over to that terrible scripture, Heb. vi. 7, 8. " The earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God ; but that which beareth thorns and briers, is rejected and nigii unto cursing, whose end is to be burned." Here is the stated and ordinary rule of God's dispensation with sinners, who live under a gospel-dispen- sation : and that both with such as improve and with such as misimprove it. The way that God takes with the first sort, the improvers of it, is this : He gives them the means, his word and ordinances, which, like the rain, come down from heaven, and have a fructifying efficacy, when they fall upon good ground ; and, upon their bringing forth good fruit, called fruit that is meet for the use of him that dresseth it, he blesseth them. On the other hand, we have the carriage of God toward the rest, and their carriage toward him, plainly enough represented unto us; which I shall set before you in a few particulars. (1.) God gives them, as well as others, frequent showers ; he gives them sometimes the means, and that in great plenty. (2.) The genei'ality of them use the means ; but the one sort and the otiier is supposed to drink in the rain ; for there is no doubt, that those who openly reject the counsel of God against themselves, as the Pharisees and Scribes did of old, Luke vii. .SO. shall be burnt up with unquenchable fire. (3.) Though this sort of persons we are now speaking of drink in the rain, as did the other, yet herein are they differenced, they bring not forth fruit meet for the uso of him by whom they were thus watered ; but, on the contrary, they bring forth briers and thorns : That is plainly, the discoveries of sin did not convince them, the discoveries of danger did not awaken them, the influences of grace did not quicken them, but rather made them more stupid, more dead and unconcerned. (4.) Upon this account the Lord rejects them ; that is, he either gives over dealing with them entirely, or at least withdraws his blessing from the means. (5.) During the time of his forbearance, they are nigh unto cursing; there is nothing to keep the curse of God from them ; it is fast upon its approach to them ; they lie open to it, and are destined to the curse. Therefore, (6.) He burns such in the end. This, O sinners ! is the ordinary way of the Lord's dealing with sinners. And now see and consider your own concernment in this : The Lord, as was said before, has often rained down upon you ; ye have pretended to receive these showers, have been waiting upon the means; but have not brought forth good fruit; nay, on the contrary, ye have brought forth briers and thorns : what reason have ye then to dread the consequence ? Have ye not reason to fear that ye are rejected, and so nigh unto cursing, and that therefore your end is to be burned ? And that all this may not appear groundless, I offer this to your consideration, 6. As God has laid down the rule just now mentioned, as that by which he has walked, and will walk, m ith all to whom he gives the gos- 110 MAN'S RECOVERY BY FAITH IN CHRIST. pel, I moan for ordinary ; so in his providence we find him dealing ac- cordingly with sinners. I siiall only lay before you two or three instan- ces of God's dealing with sinners according to this rule. The Jiml is that of the old world. The Lord did deal long and particularly with them, by the preaching of Noah, in order to their conviction ; they were not convinced, but rather grew worse and worse ; whereupon the Lord rejected them, gave over striving with them : and though he spared them, Gen. vi. 3. yet it was not on a design of mercy, but only to suffer them to till up their cup, that they might be without excuse, and that their condemnation might be the more terrible. The second instance is that of the church of the Jews in our Lord's time. He preached to them, and endeavoured their conviction ; but they were not convinced ; therefore he rejects them : and though they had a while's respite, yet things that did belong to their peace were now eternally hid from their eyes, Luke xix. 41, 42. as he himself tells them ; and therefore they had nothing to look for but judgment and fiery indignation. In fine, I might to the same purpose set before your eyes many instances in the gospel- church, since the days of Christ, wherein the Lord has exactly followed the same measures. Now, tell me, O sinners 1 have ye not i-eason to fear, from all that has been laid before you, that ye shall sleep on, and never be convinced, never awakened. I3ut this is not all ; for we must tell you, '^dly, O unconvinced sinners I after all the pains that have been taken upon you for your salvation, it is highly probable that ye shall never be saved. We have just now laid before you many reasons we have to fear, that ye who have shut your eyes so long upon the discoveries of your sin and danger, shall never get them ojjened ; and if they never be opened, then I may say that, as sure as God lives, not a soul of you shall be saved : For, 1. If ye be not convinced, if ye get not your eyes opened to see your sin and misery, ye will never lay salvation to heart, as appears from what has been already discoursed to you at great length. 2. if ye lay not salvation to heart, then sure ye will never seek after, or look to a Saviour for salvation. Such as think they see, will not value eye-salve ; such as think themselves rich enough, will not look after gold tried in the fire ; such as see no hazard of damnation, will not seek after salvation. 3. If ye be not seeking after a Saviour, then though he come to you, yet will ye not receive him : nay, ye will reject him, and that with contempt. And indeed it cannot otherwise be : who would not with scorn reject the ofi^'ers of a physician, that should press upon him healing medicines, when he was not sensible of any disease ? He is a fool that offers pardon to a man who is not condemned, or his hand to help up a man who is not fallen, or water to wash a man that is not de- filed : and such a one is Christ in the eyes of all that are not convinced. Such a one really he is in your eyes ; and ye will be sure to treat him as such. 4. The necessary consequence of this is, ye must be damned, ye cannot be saved ; for there is no other way of obtaining eternal sal- vation, but only by Jesus Christ ; for " there is no other name given under heaven among men, whereby sinners can be saved, but only that of .Jesus Christ," Acts iv. 12. And damnation is the eternal lot of all them that reject him, Mark xvi. 16. But further, Alldy. We say, woe to you, O stupid, hard-hearted, and unconvinced MAN'S RECOVERY BY FAITH IN CHRIST- IJl sinners ! for if ye shall be damned, your damnation will be most terrible, your state will be mispeakably miserable. And this will appear plain to any who seriously shall think upon it. For, 1. Danniation at the best is most terrible. This we did make appear to you not long ago : and in- deed, though we had spoken nothing, the thing speaks for itself. What is terrible, if eternal burnings be not so ? " W ho can dwell with de- vouring flames ? who can dwell with everlasting burnings ?" Who can abide the heat of that " Tophet that is prepared of old, that is made large and deep, and has for its piles fire and much wood, and the breath of the Almighty like a stream of brimstone, kindling it." The coldest place there will be hot ; the most tolerable place will be intolerable : and there- fore the case of all who go there is terrible. But, 2. Your condition, O miserable sinners ! will be more terrible than that of many who shall be there. Christ says, " Woe unto thee Chorazin, woe unto thee Beth- saida : for if the mighty works which have been done in thee had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes : But I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment than for you. And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shall be brought down to hell ; for if the mighty works which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day: But I say unto you, it shall be more tol- able for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for thee," Matth. xi. 21 — 21. In which remarkable denunciation of wrath against those sinners whom our Lord had endeavoured to convince, and yet were not awakened, it is plain, First, That some shall have hotter and more intolerable places in hell than others. Secondly, That they on whom most pains have been bestowed will have the hottest place. Accordiiio- to this rule of the divine procedure with sinners, I shall now proceed and lay before you your case. I say unto you, O unconvinced sinners in the congregation of Ceres ! before whom your sin and misery have so fully of late been laid open, your hell will be made hotter than that of many others. Woe unto you, for it will be more intolerable than that of Sodom and Gomorrah. They never sinned against the means of grace as ye have done. Upon this very account, when our Lord sends forth his disciples, Matth. x. he tells them, " That it would be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment, than for such as should refuse them." See 1-lth and 15th verses. Now, this is the case with you : the heathen world's hell will be hot indeed ; but your furnace will be heated seven times more. Again, woe unto you, for your hell will be more intolerable than that of Capernaum, Bethsaida, or Chorazin ; nay, than that of the soldiers that crucified Christ, and of the Jews that con- demned him ; for they only sinned against Christ in his estate of humili- ation ; but ye have rejected him, now when he is exalted upon high, and seated at the right-hand of God. Woe unto yon, it will be more intol- erable for you than for those who live in many other churches, where the gospel is corrupted with a perverse addition of human inventions and doctrines, that are alien from it; for ye sin against the clear liglit of the gospel, not darkened by the clouds of false doctrines. Once more, woe unto you of this congregation, if ye be found rejectors of the gospel, as certainly ye will if ye continue unconvinced ; for your hell will be more intolerable than that of many others in Scotland, who have not had 112 MAN'S RECOVERY BY FAITH IN CHRIST. that pains taken upon tliom wliich ye have had, who have not had these frequent and clear discoveries of sin and duty, which ye have had by one of (!hrist's servants after another. Now, tell nie, O sinners ! can ye think upon your own case without horror? Sure, if ye understood it, ye would not, ye could not do it. But, bthly, I say further to you, who shut your eyes upon your sin and misery, notwithstanding' all that has been said for your awakening, if ye perish, and perish ye shall, if ye be not convinced, then your destruction is entirely of yourselves. And O how galling, how cutting will this be to you eternally ! That it is, I make appear against you thus : Where can ye lay the blame of it ? 1. Dare ye say that ye wanted the means of salvation ? No, this ye cannot, ye dare not say ; for if ye shall do so, we are all here witnesses for God against you ; nay, your own consciences shall rise and fly in your faces, and force you, though imwilling, to own that ye have had the means. 2. Dare ye say that the means are not suf- ficient to the end for which they are offered ? No, I am sure there shall not be one that ever had them, who shall dare to charge them with insufficiency. And if any of you should arrive at that height of intoler- able insolence and impudence as to do it, it were easy to stop their mouths : For God might ask you, when standing at his tribunal. First, How do ye know them to be insufficient, since ye were never at the pains to try them ? Next, He might stop your mouth thus : Behold here upon my right-hand, that innumerable company out of all kindreds, tongues, and nations ; and how were they saved ? If ye should go to them all, and ask them one by one, would they not all with one voice answer to your eternal shame and confusion, that by the use of these very means you had, but neglected, they were saved. 3. If yet ye will not see that all the blame of your destruction will come only to your own door, then I ask you, on whom will ye lay the blame ? Dare ye lay it upon any other but yourselves, with any tolerable shadow of ground ? I know ye dare not. To blame the devil or the world is downright nonsense ; for it is salvation from them ye was to seek I and to tell that these are the cause of your ruin, when ye had relief against them offered, is vain ; for it may easily be asked at a person who has lived under the gospel, and gives Satan or the world the blame of his ruin, was there not de- liverance from Satan and the world offered to you ? Were not the means mentioned sufficient ? This will eternally acquit them as to your destruction, and lodge it upon yourselves as the principal cause of it, which is all we plead ; for we do not exempt them from a share in the guilt of it. Now, this being incontestably evident, it remains that either Christ or his ministers are chargeable with your damnation, or that ye yourselves only are so. As for our blessed Lord and master, we offer now to undertake his vindication against any that shall dare to accuse him. 'We have abun- dance to speak in his behalf; and are resolved to ascribe righteousness to our Maker. In his vindication, I appeal to your own consciences in a few particulars. (1.) Is he not indeed a sufficient Saviour, " one able to save to the uttermost all that come imto God through him ?" Deny it you dare not ; for this is the attestation of the glorious cloud of witnes- ses, who all have, by faith in his name, got above the reach of sin, death, and hell. (2.) Did ever any of you come to him, and get a refusal ? MAN'S RECOVERY BY FAITH IN CHRIST. 113 Produce y^our instances of this sort, if ye can. We can dare boldly, in our Lord's name, give a defiance to earth or hell to produce one instance of this sort. (3.) Has he not allowed, nay, invited, entreated, nay, com- manded you to come unto him, that ye might be saved ? If ye shall deny this, the word of God, the servants of God, are witnesses against you, (4.) Has he not waited long upon you ? Has he not given vou " precept upon precept, and line upon line ?" And now, to conclude, I pose you on it, what could he have done more to you that he has not done ? But it may be ye will lay it to our door, and say, though Christ did his part, yet his servants have not done theirs ; they have not given you fair warning. As for their vindication, I answer a few things ; and I say, 1. Though they may be guilty, and conceal, or at least foil of faith- fulness in their duty, yet your damnation is of yourselves : for ye have the word of God, that is plain, that is full, in its representation of your sin and misery ; and had you paid a due regard to that, ye could not have missed of salvation : therefore yet your destruction is of yourselves. But, 2. We refuse the charge of your blood, and tell you, that ye have destroyed yourselves, if ye sleep on in your sins. And for our own vindication, I put a few tilings home to you : Have we not plainly told you your sin and danger ? Have we not done it frequently ? Have M'e not been particular in dealing with young and old of you ? Have we not been pressing in order to your conviction ? We have told you, with earnestness, both your sin and danger. We have looked from our watch- tower, through the prospect of the word of God, and have seen the wrath of God ready to seize you ; and we have not concealed his righte- ousness within us. And now, the Lord, the righteous Judge, be wit- ness betwixt you and us, for we have done as much as will free us of your blood. Indeed we cannot deny ourselves to be sinnei's ; and must own that we have sinned, even with respect to you ; but this will not make your blood to be charged upon us ; since, in order to our exonera- tion as to that, it is only required we give you warning of your danger ; and if ye be slain sleeping, ye are to blame. There is one word more I have to say to you, in the 6th Place ; and then I shall leave you. What have we to do more with you ? If ye comply not with the first part of our message, ye will be sure to refuse the second. Christ will be refused by you, and we will seem to you like them that mock. But whatever use ye make of it, we shall proceed in our work: and if we prove not the savour of life unto you, we shall prove the savour of death ; for we are a " sweet savour unto God in them that are saved, and in them that perish ; and if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost," 2 Cor. iv. 3. I come now, 2J/y, To speak a word to such as are awakened, and are saying, with the convinced jailor in the text, " AVhat shall I do to be saved ?" And to you we say, 1. Bless the Lord, who has opened your eyes. Ye were naturally as much inclined to sleep on as others ; and it is only the distinguishing- goodness of God that has made you to differ. 2. Study to keep your eyes open. If ye shut them again, and lose convictions, then ye may never more recover them. If ye quench the p 114 MAN'S RECOVERY P.Y FAITH IN CHRIST. Spirit, it is hard to say but the issue may prove fatal to you. If G«(], being provoked by your stifling convictions, sliall give over dealing with you, 1 may say woe unto you, for ye are undone eternally. And that ye have got your eyes opened in some measure, to discover your hazard, will be so far from mending the matter, that it will make it mu( li worse ; it will put an accent upon your sin, and likewise upon your pun- ishment. , 3. Endeavour to improve the discoveries ye have got of sm ; and seek- not only to keep your eyes open, but to have them further opened. The more clear the sight of sin is which ye get, the more welcome will ye make the gospel-tender of mercy and relief, the more smcerely and heartily will ye close with it. 4. Would ye indeed be saved? then take the advice m the text, « Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." This leads me to what I did principally design in the choice of this subject ; therefore I shall, if the Lord will, insist upon it at length, because it is the very sum and substance of the gospel, that which comprises all the We have hitherto represented your case by nature, as ye are under sin • and have hinted shortly at your case, as under the influences of the Spirit in conviction : now we shall proceed to a discovery of the gospel- relief that is provided by infinite wisdom, for such as are awakened to a discovery of their lost and undone state ; and that lies before us in this 31st verse. Ye may remember, that when we did open to you the context, we did refer the explication of this verse, till such time as we had ended the former. This being now done, I shall briefly open the words, and then draw thence some such comprehensive truth as may give ground to discourse of that which we have principally in our eye. The words contain a direction given to the distressed and awakened iailor : and in them we may take notice, 1 Of the person to whom the direction is given ; and, as was just now said, he is an awakened and convinced sinner. This is the gospel- method ; it proposes its remedy, not to those who are whole and well in their own eyes, but to such as are diseased. Christ is tendered to such as need him, and are sensible that they do so. The foundation of the ffospel is laid in conviction of sin. Hence it is, that we find gospel- ministers begin their work here ; of which we have many eminent and notable instances in the scripture. John the Baptist, whose business it was to make way for Christ, and prepare sinners for entertaimng the call of the gospel, begins his ministry with conviction, with preaching of sin to his hearers : " Repent," saith he, « for the kingdom of heaven is at hand " He smartly rebukes such as came unto him, and fully un- folds unto them their need of a Saviour. There were two sorts ot peo- ple that came to him, as we read in the 3d of Matthew. The ordinary sorts of people, and the more refined sort, the Scribes and Pharisees;, and he deals with them accordingly. The more gross sort he directly j presses to repentance, in consideration of the approach of the gospeM Their sins went before-hand into judgment. Matters of tact they could not deny ; and therefore he presses them to load their consciences with a^ sense of them. The more refined sort of sinners he takes another wayi of dealing with ; he calls them vipers, thereby pointing them as tuU as ■ MAN'S RECOVERY BY FAITH IN CHRIST. 115 bad, if not worse than the common sort, and beats them from their strong- holds they were wont to shelter themselves in from the storms of an awakened conscience : " Think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father," &c. This was their ordinary relief; and this he discovers the vanity of, in order to prepare them for the entertain- ment of the gospel. The same course was followed by the apostles. Acts ii. The same method did our Lord use with the apostle Paul, Acts ix. ; and this method have we endeavoured to follow in dealing with you; we have laid sin before you ; and it is for the sake of such as are con- vinced among you, that we have entered upon the consideration of this relief, that is only suited to convinced sinners. But, 2. In the words we may take notice of the persons who propose this relief to this awakened sinner, viz. Paul and Silas. In reference to them, there are only two things I observe, amongst many: the one, that they were persons who had a commission from Christ to preach the gos- pel ; the other, that they once had been in the same case themselves ; which two, when they meet in one, help to fit a man to be a complete minister: one who in his measure will be capable to answer the character given of Christ, that " he had the tongue of the learned to speak a word in season to weary souls." 3. We may take notice of the way wherein they propose this direction. And here it is remarkable, that they do it speedily, they do it plainly. No sooner is the question proposed, than it is answered. One would have thought, that it had been the apostle's wisdom to capitulate with him, and hold him in suspense, till such time as he should engage to con- tribute to his escape ; but they would not do so, bixt presently offer him relief; having themselves been acquainted with the terrors of the Lord, they know how uneasy it would be for him to continue in that miserable per- plexity, nay, how cruel it would be not to do their utmost for his speedy relief. They minded more the sinner's eternal salvation, than their own temporal safety. They had greater regard to the glory of Christ, than to their own safety. They were more concerned to satisfy a poor con- vinced and dejected sinner, than their own private grudges. And this they do, not by proposing the gospel in such a dark and obscure way as might amuse and confound, but in so fair and plain a way, as might be understood easily by the poor distressed man. 4. In the words we are to notice the direction itself, " Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ." In which, again, we are to observe three things, the duty pointed to, the person whom it respects, and the way how it respects him. The duty pointed to is. Believe ; that is, act faith upon, receive and rest upon Christ, look unto him. All these words signify exactly one and the same thing, as we shall see anon, if the Lord will. The person whom this faith respects, is the Lord Jesus Christ. Here we have a threefold title given to him. He is called the Lord; which points at his authority and dominion. He is Lord over all things and per- sons, because he did create, and doth still uphold them : and he is so in a |)eculiar manner, as he is the Redeemer of the church, for whose behoof all tilings are put into his hands, he being made "head over all things to the church." Again, he is called Jesus, to poirit at the design of his lordship and dominion : as he is exalted to be a Prince, so is he likewise to be a Sa- viour. Nay, the design of his advancement to that dominion which be- IIG MAN'S RECOVERY BY FAITH IN CHRIST. longs to him as Mediator, is to fit him to he a Saviour; which is the proper import of" the name .Jesus, according to the scripture account of it, " Thou shalt call his name Jesus, because he shall save liis people from their sins," Matth. i. 21. In fine, he is called Christ, i. e. Anointed, be- cause he is anointed, designed, and furnished of God, to be a " Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance and remission of sins," Acts v. 31. The last thing we did notice in the direction itself, is the nature of that respect which this faith has to Christ ; it is not said, " Believe the Lord Jesus Christ," but " believe [^on] him, or [in] him." It is not simply to give credit to his word, and take as truth whatever he has said; but it is to rely on him, to put our trust in him, as one that is able to save such as come unto God, through him. 5. In the words we are to observe the encouragement that is given to engage to a compliance with this direction. And this is twofold ; par- ticular, thou shalt be saved ; and more general, and thy house. In the lit. We have three tilings worthy of our notice, 1. The thing that is promised, and that is salvation, the very thing that the man was seeking. 2. The order in which it is to be had ; " believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." 3. There is the certain connection betwixt the one and the other ; thou shalt be saved if once thou believe. Where, by the bye, we cannot but take notice of the different influence of the Armhiian doctrine of justification, and that of the apostle's doc- trine, upon the comfort of awakened sinners. Had Paul said to him, Believe on the Lord .Jesus ; and if ye shall hold out in faith to the eiid, then ye shall be saved ; if ye hold your will right, then all shall be well. If, I say, the apostle had made this proposal so, the poor man might have lain still upon the ground, and trembled all his days ; since this would have given him, at best, but a may-be for his eternal salvation, and escape from eternal misery. But here there is a ground for present and abiding com- fort : " Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." The 2d Branch of the encouragement is general, and thy house shall be saved. Which is not so to be understood, as if hereby it were promised, that their salvation should absolutely depend upon his belief: for his faith could not save them : since the scripture is express, that he that believeth not, every particular person who doth not believe, shall be damned ; and, upon the other hand, that every particular person that believes shall be saved, though there should not one more believe. But the meaning of the words I shall ofter to you shortly, thus : AVhen it is added, and thy house, this expression imports, I. That all his house had need of salvation, as well as himself. One might possibly think, as for that rude fellow, who treated th.e servants of Christ so ill, he has need to be saved ; but his innocent children are guilty of nothing that can en- danger their eternal happiness ; but hereby the apostles intimate, that they needed salvation as well as he. 2. It imports the commonness of this direction ; as if the apostles had said, this direction is not such as is peculiar to such great, notorious, and flagitious sinners, as thou hast been ; but it is the common road wherein others walk towards happiness : there is one way for you, and your house to be saved in. 3. It imports the extent of this remedy; as if they had said, this is not only sufficient to reach and benefit you, but it is such as may reach all in your house, and they may have the same advantage as ye may have. 4. It imports the MAN'S RECOVERY EY FAITH IN CHRIST. 117 certainty of salvation to them upon the same terms ; as if the apostles had said, And let thy house believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and they likewise shall be saved. 5. It imports this much, that hereby his family should obtain some special advantages, in order to their salvation. Now, because I design not to speak any more of this part of the text, I shall here mention some of these advantages which ilie jailor's children or house had by his faith, and consequently which the children of every believer has by the faith of their parents. Amongst many such advan- tages, the few following ones are remarkable. 1. Hereby such children are taken in within the covenant : " For the promise," says the apostle, Acts ii. 29. " is to you and your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call." They are allowed hereby to have their names particularly mentioned in the promise. This is the advantage which church-members have beyond others, who are not yet taken within the covenants, nor admitted to those ordinances which aie a badge of their reception. The gospel-call says in the general to all, if ye believe, ye shall be saved ; but it, as it were, names every one that is baptized, and says in particidar to him, O man, thou who art taken within the covenant, I say to thee, as it were by name, thou shalt be saved, if thou believe : and this is much more confirming than the other. 2. The children of real believers have this advantage, that they liave their parents pleading for them at the throne of grace, which many times has availed much, in order to their salvation, though the Lord sees not meet always to hear parents in behalf of their children. If he did always so, then possibly it might prove a snai'e both to them and to their children, and might lead them into a dangerous mistake, as if God's grace were not so free as it is : but that many times they are heard this way, is encouragement enough to engage all parents to pray for their children. 3. The children of godly parents have their counsel and instruction, wdiich is of use to engage them to religion, and to bring to acquaintance with Christ : and of how much influence this is, the wise man tells us, " Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it," Prov. xxii. 6. ; that is, ordinarily he will not do so. 4. The children of believing parents, they have their piu-ents' good example ; and this many times has more influence than precept and instruction : hence it is, that we find the apostle Peter ex- horting wives to a holy walk, that their unbelieving husbands might be won by their conversation. "■ Ye wives," says he, " be subject to your own husbands, that if any obey not the word, they also may, without the word, be won by the conversation of the M-ives, while they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear," 1 Pet. iii. 1, 2. Faith made '. isible in a holy walk has a most attracting and engaging appearance ; it is beautiful to a high degree. 5. Hereby children likewise have the advantage of the ordinances, which are the means of salvation. Godly parents will take care both to bring their children to the ordinances, and to bring the ordinances to them. G. To add no more to this purpose, the children of believers have this advantage as they are theirs, tliat God has a particular respect to them; which we find him expressing upon several occasions to the children of his servants. Since, as I said before, I design not to return again to this part of tho verse, I cannot but apply this truth, that the children or house of a be- 118 MAN'S RE(J()VJ:HV J5Y FAITH IN CHRIST. liover lias great advantages by his believing, in order to their salvation. And this I shall do in a few words to tour sorts of persons : (l.) Belie- vers ; (2.) Their children ; (3.) Unbelievers ; (4) Their children. To ihejlrsl sort I say only a few words. O believers ! is it so that your children, as well as ye yourselves, have so many advantages in order to their salvation ? Then, (1.) Bless the Lord, who has given you faith, which not only is the spring of innumerable advantages to your- selves, but also entails so many upon your very houses. (2.) Bless the Lord, and be thankful for the extent of the covenant ; that it is so wide as to reach not only yourselves, but even your children. It had been much mercy had God given you your souls for a prey, though he had never given you the least pi-ospect of mercy to your offspring. (3.) Take care that your children lose none of these advantages by your neg- ligence. Some of them, as ye have heard, are of such a nature, that depends not only upon the being of grace in the parents, but upon its exercise. If ye live not holily and tenderly before them, ye may lay a stumbling-block in their way, which may cost you dear. The negligence of some godly parents this way, hath been heavy to them when they came to die, and sometimes even before. (4.) Do not quarrel God, or repine, if, after all, your children will fall short of salvation. If ye have acquitted yourselves faithfully, then ye have and may have peace, though they prove final misimprovers of their own mercies. Christ has no- where promised that they shall be all saved : the word of God gives a contrary account of the matter : " Jacob have I loved, and Esau have I hated," Rom. ix. 13. 2(ili/, Are there here any who are the children of believers ? Then, to such I say, (L) Ye have great advantages, and therefore have an emi- nent call to thankfulness. Bless God that ye have religious parents. Many have found it not a little relieving to them in their straits and fears, that they could say, that they wei-e early devoted to God by their parents, and that they had early access to know God, and had prayers early put up for them. (2) Rest not upon these advantages ; for your parent's faith will not save you. Think not to say within yourselves, we have a believer to our father and therefore all will be well. Esau had such a one to his father, and yet went to hell ; and not a few others have gone the same way. Nay, (3.) I say to you, if ye shall be damned, all these advantages will be witnesses against you. Your fa- thers devoted you to God, but ye devoted yourselves to Satan ; your fa- thers prayed for you, but ye prayed not for yourselves. These and many such will come in against you, as aggravations of your sin, and will eternally aggravate your misery. (4.) Therefore ye are called to work out your salvation with fear and trembling. Since, if ye be ruined, ye must be so with a witness ; if ye go to hell, it must be a hotter hell ; therefore improve vigorously the advantages put in your hand. Resolve with Moses, Exod. xv. 2. " He is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation ; he is my father's God, and I will exalt him." (5.) Pay a double respect to your believing parents. Ye owe them much as your parents, much as believers, much as in Christ before you, and much as instruments made use of by God in promoting your eternal well-being. (6.) Take care that ye turn not aside out of their way ; since this will prove eminently prejudicial, not only to yourselves, but to your posterity. .AIANS RECOVERY BY FAITH IN CHRIST. 119 In fine, I say to you, if ye trace your parents' steps, ye shall attain their blessing', even the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls. Qdly, I have a few words from this head to say to unbelieving parents. Ye are miserable yourselves ; for ♦' he that believeth not is condemn- ed already, and the wrath of God abideth on him." Ye entail as many disadvantages upon your posterity, as believers transmit advantages to theirs ; ye deprive them of many means which they might enjoy, ye ruin them by your example, ye provoke God against your families : in fine, ye do what in you lies to ruin them eternally ; so that, not only your own blood, but the blood of their souls, will God require at your hands. Therefore, as ye tender their eternal advantage, as ye tender your own, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. 4/A/y, I have a few words to say to the children of irreligious parents, and then I shall proceed. Ye are at a great loss indeed by your parents' infidelity and impiety ; yet it is not an irreparable one, for the door is open to you, and ye are called in. The promise of salvation is not only to believers, and to their children, but it is to " all that are afar ofl^, even as many as the Lord our God shall call," Acts ii. 39. There- fore lay hold upon the advantage that ye have of mercy oft'ered to you upon the gospel-terms. See that ye believe in the Lord Jesus. Be very thankful to God, and admire the richness of his undeserved kindness, in having a regard to you, and calling you, notwithstanding your own in- iquities, and the iniquity of your fathers. Take care that ye transmit not these inconveniences, that ye yourselves lie under, to your posterity. And, if ever the Lord do you good, seek by all means the salvation of your parents ; and if ye obtain not an answer of peace with respect to them, then I can assure you, your prayers shall return into your own bosom, and so ye shall be no losers. Thus far have we prosecuted the last clause of the verse, to which we de- sign not to return again : we shall now proceed to that which is our principal design, in the discovery of Jesus Christ, as the only relief of sinners, as the only one that can eft^'ectually quiet the conscience of an awakened sinner. We have sufficiently explained the words already ; that which I shall now insist upon at some length from them, is expressed in the follow- ing doctrine : DocT. — " An awakened sinner, betaking himself to, or believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, shall be saved." I think there is no need of any proof of the doctrine, it lies so plain in the words, and is so frequently asserted in the scripture, that one shall scarce look into the book of God, but he shall find some one proof or other of this truth. In the prosecution of this doctrine, we shall, if the Lord will, follow this method. I. We shall tell you who this convinced sinner is, of whom we speak in the doctrine. II. We shall ofl^er you some accoimt of the Lord Jesus, in whom he is to believe. III. We shall shortly explain several scripture- expressions which point out this duty, that from them we may understand something of its nature ; and then. 120 MAN'S RECOVERY BY FAITH IN CHRIST. IV. We shall hold forth tho nature of this failh in a few particular*, which may rocoive light from the former general head. V. We shall inquire, what that salvation is, which they shall have who believe in the Lord Jesus l!iirist. VI. We shall offer some evidences of the truth of the doctrine, and then apply the whole, if the Lord allow time, and opportunity, and strength. I. We begin with the first of these, wliich is, to show who this con- vinced sinner is, that shall obtain salvation on his believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. I shall offer you his character in the few following particu- lars, In as far as we think it needful for our present design ; for that it is in some measure requisite, is plain, since none can be saved but such as believe, and none can believe but convinced and awakened sinners. Take then the character of such a one, thus : First. He is an ungodly man. It is only such as are ungodly who are saved by believing in Jesus : " To him that worketh not, but believeth on him who justifieth the ungodly, is his faith counted for righteousness," Rom. iv. 5. Persons who are not ungodly have no need of Jesus ; and persons who see not themselves to be such will never look after him. SeconcUi/, He is one that sees himself, upon this account, obnoxious to the judgment of God, even that righteous judicial sentence, that he who comn.itteth sin is worthy of death. He sees himself lying open to the curse of the law, to the death it threatens against sinners. When the law says, " The soul that sins shall die," the sinner hears his own doom in that sentence, because he sees his name in the sentence. The sentence is against the soul that sins, and this he knows to be his very name. Thirdly, Ho is a self-condemned man. He not only hears God pass- ing sentence against him, but he passeth sentence against himself. Thus it is with every convinced sinner; he is as severe to himself as God, or the law of God, can be : whatever these charge him with, all that he takes with : wlutever they determine to be done against him, he writes down under it, "Just; the Lord is righteous, for I have offended." Fourthly, He is one that has his mouth stopped, as the apostle speaks, Rom. iii. 16. He has sinned, and he is sensible that there is no hiding of it. He is guilty, and there is no excuse. He is every way " shut up under sin,'' as the word properly signifies. Gal. iii. 22. " Tlie scripture hatli concluded all under sin ;" that is, according to the force of the word, the scripture hath every way shut up, or shut in, all under sin, " that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them tiiat be- lieve." In one word, he is a criminal, that has got such a sight of his crime, that he dare neither deny it, nor endeavour to hide it, nor exten- uate it, but subscribes to the truth of all that the law of God and his own conscience chfirge him with. As for tlie sentence passed against him, he subscribes it just : he knows that he cannot flee from it, nor is able to undergo it. He is an enemy to God, brought to such a strait, that he is neither able to fight nor to flee. And when he looks to himself, and all those things he once laid some weight upon, he sees no prospect of relief. Such a one as the convinced sinner we speak of; and such d MAN'S RECOVERY BY FAITH IN CHRIST. I.2I of you as never were brought to this pass, never did believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Tbis being once cleared, we proceed now, II. To give some account of the Lord Jesus Christ, on whom he is called to believe. Here ye are not to expect a full account of Christ ; this none can give : nor shall I at large insist on what may be known of him, but only glance at a few things, which suit the case of the convinced sinner, of whom we have just now been speaking. And this we shall do in a few particulars. first, The Lord Jesus Christ, on whom we are bid believe, is •' Im- manuel, God with us," God in our nature, God and man in one person. " In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was Mith God, and the "Word was God." And the "Word that in the beginning was with God, and was God, in the fulness of time '•' was made flesh, and dwelt among men upon earth, who did behold his glory, the glory as of the only be- gotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." This the apostle John doth evince at great length ; this he expressly teaches in the first chapter of his Gospel, and the first fourteen or fifteen verses of it. Now, this discovery of Christ is extremely encouraging to a sinner, who is under the deep conviction of sin as with the jailor in the text. If ye tell such a one, when he cries out with him, '• "What must I do to be saved ?' Go, believe on God, it would give him no relief, for all his fears are from God ; it is destruction from God that is his terror. He sees the holiness, the truth, the wisdom and justice of God, all breathing out threatenings against him. ' Holiness cannot look upon an impure sinner. The truth of God has become surety for his destruction ; the justice of God pleads it reasonable that the sinner should be punished, and thereby evil taken away, God's honour, and the honour of his law repaired ; and wisdom is so deeply interested in every one of these claims, that it seems to join with them. Hence it is that the sinner is horridly afraid of God. So far would he be from looking toward him, that, like Adam, he would flee from him, and endeavour to hide himself. AMiat would such a poor trembling sinner reply unto any who should bid him believe in God? Shall I believe on him who threatens me with destruction, on him all whose attributes conspire, and that most justly, my everlasting destruc- tion ? He has told me already what I am to expect at his hand, even sure and inevitable death : " In the day thou eatest thou shalt surely die." This God is a consuming fire, and I am a stubble before him. On the other hand, tell such a convinced sinner of a man, a mere man, and bid him look to him for relief: this at first blush appears utterly vain. ^>'hat ! are not all men involved in the same calamity with me ? are they not unable to save themselves ? AVhat I is man able to sustain the weight of that heavy stroke of wrath which enraged Omnipotency is ready to lay on ? Thus it appears, neither mere God, nor mere man, is suited to give relief to the sinner of whom we speak ; but God and man united in one appears exceedingly suited to give him relief. There are three things which an awakened sinner will see, at the first view, in the person of Christ. (I.) He will see him to be one that may be approached by him. When man is made sensible of his own sinfulness, so far will he be from desiring a sight of God, that he will rather faint at the thoughts of it, since he dreads he cannot see him and live. Nay, such is the weakness of man since the fall, that the sight even of a created Q 12'J MAN'S RECOVERY LY FAITH IN CHRIST. angel lias made some of the most eminent saints exceedingly afraid, as we*' have instances more than one in the scripture. But there is not that dread in the sight of one that is clothed with flesh, that appears in the likeness even of sinful flesh, Rom. viii. 3. as to deter from approaching to him. Nay, on the contrary, will not every one in this case readily draw near, in expectation of relief from such a one, knowing him to be " bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh ?" This is one of the exce len- cies in Christ's person that ravishes the heart of a sinner that is looking out for relief. (2.) The person of Clirist, thus consisting of the divine and human nature united in one, appears notably fitted for undertaking the work of a daysman betwixt an angry God and rebel sinners. He is equally interested in both parties ; being God, he knows exactly what all the properties of God do demand of sinners; and bemg man, he knows well what man's state is. Thus the sinner's fear is removed, that there is " not a daysman who should lay his hand upon the head ot both parties," as Job expresses it. (3.) A convinced sinner here sees one, not only capable to know, but even to be " touched with the feel- ing of his infirmities," who withal has wisdom and power to improve any sense he has of our misery to our advantage. This is what the convinced sinner with admiration views in Christ, who is the great " mystery ot godliness, God manifested in the flesh." ,. ,, «: r Secondly, The Lord Jesus Christ is clothed with a threefold oft ce, tor the behoof and advantage of such as shall believe on him. He is a King, a Priest, and a Prophet : and each of these is exceedingly suited to the relief of an awakened sinner, as we may hear afterwards. 1*^, I say he is a Prophet, and as such he was promised of old to the church by Moses : " A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up to you from among your brethren," says he. Because this scripture turnishes us with a full account of Christ's prophetical office, we may take a view of it at some length. So then that text runs, " I will (says God) raise them up a prophet from among their brethren like unto thee ; and 1 wi 1 put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him : and it shall come to pass, that whosoever wdl not hearken to my words, which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him, Deut. xviii. 18, 19. Now, in this scripture we have so full an account ot Christ's prophetical office, with respect to our present design, that I can- not better unfold this matter than by making some remarks upon it. And (1.) Here we see that Christ is indeed a Prophet ; for so he is ex- pressly called, and as such he is here promised. That it is Christ whom Moses here intends, the Spirit of God has long since, by the mouth of the apostle Peter, fully determined. Acts iii. 22. (2.) Here we see his call to that office. " I will raise up a prophet," says God ; that is, I wiU call and set one apart for that work. (3.) We see further his furniture for the work : " I will put my words in his mouth." (4.) We see what his work and business is : it is to speak to them all that is commanded him of God ; to deliver to them the whole counsel of God for their sal- vation. (5.) Here we see who the persons are to whom God has a re- gard, in the designation of Christ to this office ; they are sinners, sensible that it was impossible for them to hear God speak to them immediately, and yet live ; which put them upon that desire expressed in the i6th verse of this chapter : " Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord ray il MAN'S RECOVERY BY FAITH IN CHRIST- 123 God ; neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not," (6.) We moreover see God's design in appointing Christ a Prophet, even a compliance with the desires and necessities of convinced sinners. This appears plainly to be his design, if ye observe the connexion betwixt the 15tli and 16th verses of this chapter. The Lord promises, in the 15th verse, Christ to be a Prophet ; and in the 16th he tells, that it was ac- cording to their desires, in Horeb. (7.) We may further take notice of the qualifications which they desire in this Prophet, and which Christ accordingly is endued with ; and they are, that he be one of themselves, one who by his greatness should not be a terror to them, and that he be faithful in declaring to them all that the Lord should acquaint him with. Thus we see in some measure, and hereafter may see more fully, of what use it is to sinners, in order to their believing on Christ, that he be a Prophet. 2dli/, The Lord Jesus Christ is " a Priest for ever after tlie order of Melchisedec," Psal. ex. 4. God having made him so by an oath. And in his discharge of this ofiice doth no small part of the concernment of awakened sinners lie. It is not my design at present to enter upon any large discourse of this office of Christ. I must here take notice of, and open up the nature of this office, in order to that end and scope which we now drive at, the relief of convinced sinners. I shall not stand upon a recital of all the acts which do belong to this office, of which not a few might be mentioned. There are two which deserve especial con- sideration, his oblation, and his intercession thereupon. The first is the foundation of the second. Now, that ye may understand what advan- tage flows from this office to the persons of whom we discourse, I shall a little inquire, who the person is to whom Christ offers sacrifice, who they are for whom he doth so, who he is that offers sacrifice, and what that sacrifice is that he offers : and, upon the whole, it will appear of how great advantage this office is to sinners, and how much he is thereby fitted to be the object of sinners' faith. I shall only touch at such things here as are indispensably needful in oi'der to lay a foundation for faith, 1. As for the person to whom he offers the sacrifice, and with whom he intercedes, no doubt it is God only ; and that as he is the just, the sin-revenging God, who has declared, that he " will by no means clear the guilty ;" nay, " that the soul that sinneth shall die." There was no place for sacrifices before God was incensed by sin. It had no place under the first covenant, wherein Adam was allowed to come into the presence of God, without any interposal on his behalf by any other. God being then well pleased with him, he had acceptance with God, and by virtue of his acceptance, had a right to, and might ask and have whatever was needful for his happiness. But, upon the entry of sin into the world, God's favour was turned into anger and indignation against sinful man. This cuts him oft' from the expectation of advantage by God : nay more, threatens him with inevitable ruin and destruction from him, without the interposal of some one or other, as a Priest to appease the wrath of the sin-revenging God. Whence, 2. It is easy to understand who the persons are for whom he offers sacrifice. They are sinners, who are obnoxious to the wrath of God upon the account of sin ; who not only are cast out of the favour of 124. MAN'S RECOVERY BY FAITH IN CHRIST. God, but moreover are lying open to the stroke of vindictive justice. And this, 3. Clears to us who he is that must interpose as a Priest. He must be one acceptable to God : " Such an High Priest (says the apostle j be- came us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners," Heb. vii. 2G. One who, upon the account of his own sins, was obnoxi- ous to the just indignation of God, could be of no use to sinners in this matter. Again, he must be one who was capable of being affected with the feeling of our infirmities, that he might have compassion upon us : and upon this account it is that the apostle says, Heb. ii. 17. " That it behoved Christ to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people ; for in that he himself hath suffered, being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted :" For, as the same apostle has it, Heb. iv. 15. " We have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.'' In fine, he must be one called of God to this office ; for no man takes to himself this office, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron." All which qualifications are found in Christ, and in him only, " who is the Apostle and High Priest of our professi