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of the great God in this lower world. He was made lord of God's handy works upon earth; and all the creatures in it paid their homage to him, when they came and received their names from him in paradife; but now the "crown is fallen from his head;" he has come fhort of this glory; the creatures refuse subjection to him.

3d, Man is come fhort of the glory he had in the enjoyment of God in paradife. It was man's glory, honour, and happiness, to be allowed a more than ordinary familiarity with God. God and Adam converfed together in pa radile. He was allowed the company of God: that made his ftate happy indeed. What could man want, while the all-fufficient God kept up fo clofe, fo bleffed and confortable a familiarity with him, and daily loaded him with his favours? But this he has come short of.

4th, Man has come fhort of that glory he had the prospect of God fet him fairly on the way, and did furnish him fufficiently for a journey to eternal, unchangeable, neverfading glory; but this he has come fhort of; and this indeed follows natively upon the former. This is indeed much, but we conceive this is not all that the expreffion has in it; nay, certainly there is more in it: this falling fhort, though it only feems to point at the negative, yet certainly it takes in the positive; and we therefore say, that this expreffion, in the

5th place, implies not only man's lofs of his original beauty and glory, in a conformity to the image of God, but that he has fallen in the mire, and is defiled by fin. He who fometime a-day was the image and glory of God, is now more filthy than the ground he treads on, than the mire of the street, than the loathefome toad.

6th, Not only has he loft the dominion he had, but he is become a fave to fin. He who fometime a-day looked like a god in the world, is now debased down to hell. He to whom the creatures once veiled as to their fovereign, now daily stands in danger of his life by them, and lies o pen to the infults of the meaneft of them.

7th, Not only has he loft the fweet and foul-ravishing. communion he had with God, but now he is, as it were: fcarce capable to look towards him; the fight of God, which once was his life, is now to him as death.

8th, Not only has man forfeited his title to future hap

D. 2.

piness,

pinefs, but, which is worfe, he is, by fin, entitled to future, eternal, inconceivable mifery and woe. A dreadful coming fhort this is indeed. From how high a hope, into what an inconceivable abyss of mifery and woe, is poor man fallen by fin! "The crown is fallen from his head." He was a little hence all beauty, glory, excellency, and come. linefs; but now, alas! we may groan out an Ichabod over him! where is the glory?

We come now, in the

Sixth place, to inquire into the fource and Spring of all this mifery and woe. How and whence is it that all are involved in the guilt of fin; and that this fad and afflicting calamity flows?

1ft, From the guilt of Adam's first fin. Adam, by the holy, wife, juft, and good appointment of God, stood in the room of all his pofterity. Had he ftood, in him we all had stood, and retained the innocency and integrity of our natures, the favour, love, and kinduefs of heaven; but he falling into fin, in him we all finned; and by the difobedience of this one man, we all were made finners; as the apostle doth at large difcourfe, Rom. v. from the 12th verfe and downwards. This, this is the poifoned spring whence all our fin, all our forrow and mifery flows.

2d, This flows from the natural depravity of the mind of man, that is tranfmitted to us from our progenitors.. "We are hapen in iniquity, and in fin did our mother conceive us. "We received a fatal ftroke when firft formed in the womb, as the Pfalmift complains, Pfal. li. 5. And indeed there is none can bring a clean thing out of an unclean. Our infected parents transferred to us the infection of fin. Sin runs in our blood, and our natures have a natural inclination to "evil, only to evil, and that continually," Gen. vi. 5.

3d, This flows from abounding temptations. As our hearts are wicked, and fet only on evil; fo every thing, in this prefent disorder on account of fin, is fuited to carry on the infection. The creatures, by reafon of fin, are made fubject to vanity. They are made fubfervient to the lufts of men; the devil and our corrupt hearts daily abufe them to this end; and by thefe means it is that all men have finned, and thereby come short of the glory of

Ged.

The

The application is that which we principally defigned in the choice of this fubject; and therefore we have but named things in the doctrinal part. And now we come to improve the whole.

That which we defign chiefly in the improvement of this, is an use of conviction. Some days ago, we came to you proclaiming the grace, mercy, and love of God in Chrift Jefus; now we come to accufe you as guilty of fin. The defign of our doing fo is indeed the advancement of the glory of Chrift, and in him of the grace and mercy of the Lord God. But our prefent work in itself is fuch, as doth not in its own nature look that way, though, by the infinite wisdom and goodnefs of God, it be made fubfervient thereunto.

"You are all here present before the Lord, to hear what God the Lord will fpeak unto you ;" and, as Ehud faid to Eglon, king of Moab, fo we fay to you, "We have a meffage from God to you," Judges iii. 2c. A fad meffage, not much unlike to that which Ehud brought to Eglon, a meffage of death. We come this day to you, to implead you in God's name as guilty of fin. The meffage is not to fome particular grofs offenders, but to every foul now "prefent before the Lord; to the child, to the young man and maid, to thofe of riper years, and to them who are old, and ftoop under the weight of many years.

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"In the name, and at the inftance of the great, the terrible God, the King, the Lord of hofts," whofe name is dreadful among the heathen, Mal. i. 14. "that confirmeth the word of his fervants, and performeth the counsel of his meffengers,” Ifa. xliv. 26. we are to implead, impeach, and accufe every foul here prefent as guilty of fin. Hitherto we have fpoken in the general, which, it may be, has been no better to you than Nathan's parable to David. It may be fome of you have been faying, that the foul that has finned has defervedly fallen fhort of the glory of God, and fallen under the wrath of God: but now what we faid before in general, we come to fay in particular to every one of you, as Nathan did to David, "Thou art the man, thou art the woman, thou art the child, the young man, or the maid, who haft finned, and thereby come fhort of the glory of God."

Now, that we may be fuccefsful in this work, and

bring you, if possible, to understand your state and condition, we fhall,

First, Read and open, as it were, the charge and indi&tment, we do in God's name bring against you.

Secondly, Lead witneffes, whereby we fhall prove it against you all in general.

Thirdly, Endeavour, particularly, by arguments to make our charge good, If, Againit children and young men; 2d, Against these of a middle age; and 3d, Against old men and women. This we fhall do, as it were, by taking you to the places, the companies, and occafions, where you have finned, and incurred the guilt now charged on you. Fourthly, Show what fatisfaction our great Lord demands against juch traitors.

Fifthly, What reafon he has to require it. And then, Sixthly, Endeavour to reprefent to you your mifery upon this account.

First, The charge we lay against you, is not fome petty, fome fmall mifdemeanour, that may be atoned for by a bare acknowledgment, by fome pitiful mock, God have mercy upon me. No; the charge draws deep, it is no less crime than that of fin, fin against the great Sovereign of the world. Ye all have finned. O! if ye knew what a world of evil is in that curfed thing, fin! When we fay, Ye have finned, you are ready to fay, O! we know that well enough. Is this all ye have to fay? When we heard of fuch a dreadful thing as a charge and indictment in the name of God against us, when we heard of leading witneffes, and all the other parts of a trial, we did apprehend there was fome terrible thing a-coming, fome dreadful unheard of evil to be laid home to our door; but now we find there is nothing faid against ns, but only that we are finners, and who will deny this? who knows it not? and this is but the common lot. "God be merciful to us," we are all finners; and there the repentance of moft is done; their fores are healed, and they can live, and it may be die, without any fear in this case: fuch light apprehenfions have the most part of fin.

Thefe, thefe, it may be, are the apprehenfions of not a few of you, upon hearing the charge: but if there be not blizd minds, fut eyes, deaf ears, and dreadfully hard hearts among us, ere all be done, fome of you will, it may

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be, change your minds, and think this a very dreadful and heavy charge. If God would now concur by his Spirit, and enable us to manage our work to purpofe, if he would let out the convincing influences of his Spirit, the weight of this charge would prefs you fo as to make your hearts fall and fink within you.

Sin is an ordinary word, a little word, and most men do apprehend that there is but little in it: but mistake it not; there is much in it, more than angels or men can ever discover, or fully unfold. Yet that all this that we have faid may not feem a groundless allegation, I fhall, ft, Set up to you fome glaffes, wherein you may get a view of fin's ugly face; or I fhall, as Balak did to Balaam, take you to fuch places, where you may get a fight of its formidable nature, power, and malignity. 2dly, I thall tell you of fome dreadful and monstrous evils that are lodged in every fin, the leaft idle thought or word. And, 3dly, I fhall mention fome killing aggravations that your fins are clothed with, that put an accent upon thein, and enhance their guilt. And this will let you fee the great evil of fin; this will open your indi&ment.

1ft, We fhall give you fome profpects of fin. It may be, many of you do think but very little of fin; but here I de fire you to come and look at it,

1. In the glafs of God's law. See the holy, the high and exalted God, exhibiting his mind and will in two tables, tables containing fafe, good, holy, juft, fpiritual, and every way advantageous rules, for that creature whom God has taken fo diftinguishing and particular a care of. Well, what fhall we fee of fin here? Here, O here, you may fee fin breaking, nay dafhing to pieces, these two tables, in a worse sense than Mofes did, Exod. xxxii. 19. Every fin, the leaft fin, throws them both to the ground; for, as the apostle James tells us, "Whofoever fhall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all," Janes ii. 10. Is it fmall thing to you to trample upon, to tread under foot, the holy, the righteous law of God, that is the perfect image and reprefentation of all his holiness and spotless purity? but if yet ye will not fee the curled nature of fin, then we bid you, in the

2d place, take a view of it in the nature of the great God, the feat of all majesty, glory, beauty, and excellency; and

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