SERM. Brother?---We are certain he will; it being VII. made one Condition of the Covenant of Grace, that, that if any Man fin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jefus Chrift the Righteous: And he is the Propitiation for our Sins (f).---When we remember our Ways and all our Doings, wherein we have been defiled, and turn unto the Lord with contrite Hearts and holy Refolutions, and no longer live the rest of our Time in Slavery to Sin, but in Subjection to the Will of God; then, through the all-powerful Influence of our Divine Mediator, will he give us Repentance unto Life, our former Iniquities fhall be blotted out, and with everlafting Kindness will he have Mercy upon us. This is the comfortable State of thofe, who have entered themselves into God's Service on the Gofpel Footing; from which they shall not be turned off and treated as Reprobates, whilft there is any Poffibility of their Amendment, nor at any time perish, because he will not forgive and be reconciled to them, but because they will not repent and return to him.

AFTER all, as Innocence is much better than Repentance, and our Master's Favour

St. John ii, 1, 2.

more

more defirable, than his bare Compaffion, SERM. let us not displease him too far by a Neg- VII. lect of Duty, neither provoke him to withhold his Love, tho' he may ftill extend his Pity: But let us approach in our Obedience as near as we can to thofe good and faithful Servants, who have never heinously dif obeyed him,---who from their firft Entrance into Covenant with him, have done the utmoft in their Power to make good their Engagements, and are permitted to promise themselves a higher Place in their Lord's Efteem,---a more diftinguished Share of his Liberality.

SUCH are the Servants, whom the Lord delighteth to honour! And though no true Penitent,---no one, who labours at all, fhall mifs of an ample Requital, if he be found watchful and diligent in his Work; yet as there will be Degrees, of Bounty, and fome fhall receive more and fome lefs from the infinite Fullnefs, we fhould, were we wife for ourselves, be moved to feek that we may excel (g)---to grow in Grace (b), that we may be advanced in Glory---as we bave learned, how we ought to walk and to pleafe God, fo to abound more and more (i),---and to press eagerly

(g) 1 Cor. xiv. 12.
(i) ↑ Theff. iv. I.

(b) 2 St. Pet, iii. 18.

SERM, eagerly towards the Mark, for the Prize of VII. the high calling of God in Christ Jesus (k).

9

WHAT this Reward more particularly is, it may be expedient in the laft Place to enquire: And here a comparative View of of the Wages, which Sin pays its Servants as well as Obedience, and that partly in this World, but more fully in the next, will not a little contribute to our clearer Information.

Now the Servants of Sin are at prefent requited with Shame and Contempt,---fometimes with Pains and Difeafes,---and always with the Stings of a guilty Conscience.

NOTHING is fo truly fhameful or so unworthy of a rational Creature, as the Service of Sin. It degrades Man even beneath a Brute; for the one acts fuitably to its Nature in those Things, by which the other debafes his ---It blinds the Understanding, perverts the Will, and corrupts the moral Senfe of Good and Evil:---It makes thofe Slaves, who would otherwise be free, and chains them down to the vileft Drudgery of going contrary to their own Minds, and the little Conviction they have left.----And

(k) Phil. iii. 14.

can

can there be a lower or more infamous A- SERM. basement, than such a shocking Condition? VII.

THIS is what thofe, who have escaped it, are strongly perfuaded of, and even they, who groan under: it, do in Effect acknowledge. Elfe why do they perform the Work of Sin with fo much Secrecy, and choose Retirement for carrying on their Bufiness? Holy Job gives us a very juft Picture of them in saying, They are of those that rebel against the Light; they know not the Ways thereof, nor abide in the Paths thereof (k), well-knowing, that their Actions will by no means bear it: And they must be hardened indeed, who can can boldly avow, what fo very much mifbecomes them. He illuftrates, what he advances on the Shamefulness of Sin, by the Inftance of the Adulterer, whofe Eye, he fays, waiteth for the Twilight, and difguifeth his Face (1). The Morning is to them even as the Shadow of Death: If one know them, they are in the Terrours of the Shadow of Death (m).

IN much the fame Colours, that the good Man paints Leudnefs in, may Lying, Fraud, Drunkennefs,

SERM. Drunkenness, and most other Vices be repreVII. fented: They are all the Deeds of Dark

nefs, and have fo much inherent Baseness, that they, who are the greatest Slaves to them, are still very unwilling to be known and remarked for them: fince in that Cafe they are fure to fuffer in their Reputation, and to be treated with Ignominy and Dif grace.

AND as the Servants of Sin are now requited with Shame and Contempt, so are they likewise many times with Pains and Diseases. Luft and Intemperance are moft eminently distinguished by these Effects, that being a Fire, which confumeth to Deftruction (n), and this giving Sorrow, Wounds, and redness of Eyes, biting like a Serpent and Stinging like an Adder (a).

BESIDES, Sin in general is full fraught with Mischief, and all the Miferies human Nature is expofed to, are the Fruits of it. Pain of every Kind is the natural Recompenfe of Ungodlinefs, not only outward, but inward, not only of the Body, but of the Mind; and the moft dreadful of all Pains, the Stings of a guilty Confcience. What

(n) Job xxxi. 12.

(0) Prov. xxiii. 29, 30, 31.