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us, and that he doth still threaten us with more. The reason is plain; because we are still impenitent: The people turneth net to him that fmiteth them. There hath been almost an univerfal degeneracy among us, and there is ftill, I fear, a general impenitency: The people turneth not, &c. Notwithitanding all thofe difmal calamities which our eyes have feen, wickedness doth ftill prevail in the nation, and overflows it like a mighty deluge, fo as to overfpread all ranks and orders of men and not only fo, but is grown impudent, and appears with a whore's forehead; all kind of modestý feems to have forfaken the finners of this age.

And is this repentance? to live in filthy and abominable lufts; to tear the name of God by horrid oaths and imprecations; to be Atheistical and profane; and, by an unexampled boldness, to turn the word of God itself, and the gravest and most serious matters of religion, into raillery? This is not to turn to him that finiteth us; but to turn upon him, and fmite him again. And yet fuch crying and clamorous fins as thefe, are almost come to be the garb and fashion of the nation, and to be accounted the wit and gallantry of. the age.

And fhall not God vifit for these things? fhall not his foul be avenged on fuch a nation as this? Yes; he hath vifited; and it is for these things that the wrath of God hath been fo manifeftly revealed from heaven against us. For this caufe mifery and deftruction have been in our way, and the way of peace have we not known, because there hath been no fear of God before our eyes. Hence it. is, that God's anger is not turned away, but his hand is Stretched out ftill; because the people turneth not to him. that fmiteth them, neither do they feek the Lord of hofts.

But do not we feek God? Do we not every day acknowledge our fins to him, and pray that he would have mercy upon us miferable offenders, and grant that we may hereafter live godly, righteous, and fober lives? Do not we feek the Lord of hofts, when we continually beg of him to fave and deliver us from the hand of our enemies? Indeed we do thus feek him; but we should first turnta him; otherwife if we hope our prayers will prevail with God to do us good, we do but truft in lying words. If we go on in our fins, our very prayers will become fin,

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and increase our guilt: for the prayer of the wicked, that is, of one that is refolved to continue fo, is an abomination to the Lord. Can we think it reasonable for men to addrefs themselves to God after this manner: "Lord, though we have no mind to turn to thee, yet we pray thee turn away thine anger from us; though we are refolved not to forfake our fins, yet we make no doubt but that thy mercy will forgive them. "Give peace in our time, O Lord, that we may pur "fue our lusts securely and without disturbance; deli

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ver us, we pray thee, from the hands of our ene"mies, that we may fin against thee without fear all "the days of our lives?" Would it not be horrible impudence and impiety to put up any fuch petitions to God? And yet this, I fear, is the moft genuine interpretation of our prayers and lives compared together.

And if this be our cafe, what can we expect? God may give us peace with our enemies, but then he will find out fome other way to punish us: for if we ftill perfift in our Atheism and profanenefs, in our contempt of God and of his holy worship, in our fcorn and derifion of religion, in our abominable lufts and horrid impieties, what can we look for, but that God should be angry with us until he have confumed us, and there be no efcaping? Nothing can be a fadder prefage of our ruin, than not to be reformed by thofe dreadful judgements of God which have been upon us. This was that which brought final deftruction upon the Egyptians in the Red fea, that they had held out fo obftinately against fo many judgements, and had been hardened under ten plagues. To be impenitent, after fuch fevere corrections, is to poifon ourselves with that which is intended for our phyfic, and, by a miraculous kind of obftinacy, to turn the rods of God into ferpents.

And now perhaps fome will be apt to fay, that these are things fit for men of our profeffion; because it is our trade, and we live by it. Indeed they are fo; things very fit to be faid, and withal very fit for every one to confider, who profeffeth himself a Chriftian, and who owns the belief of a God, and a providence, and another world. And if they be fo, where is the fault? Is it, that there is a peculiar profeffion of men, whofe pro

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per work it is to tell men of their faults, and to perfuade them to reform? No; there is no harm in that neither. Is it then, that they live by their profeffion, and yet would be believed? Yes; there lies the force of the objection. To which I shall only at prefent return this anfwer, That men do not argue thus in other cafes, when yet the reafon feems to be the very fame. In matters that concern their bodies and eftates, the phyfician and the lawyer are believed, though it is verily thought that they live by their profeffions as well as we; why then fhould men deal fo partially and unequally only with their fouls ? Were we not moved by better principles, and fwayed by the arguments and confiderations of another world, we might, for ought we know, with every whit as much advantage to ourfelves, fuffer men to be quiet and to fleep on fecurely in their fins; if we did not believe ourselves in these matters, what should hinder but that we might with as much gravity and confidence cry, Peace, peace, when there is no peace; and flatter men with as much art, and as good a grace, as any of thofe can do who live delicately, and wear foft cloathing?

But we believe the threatenings of God, and therefore do we speak. We know the terrors of the Lord, and therefore we endeavour to perfuade men. And oh! that we could perfuade them to break off their fin by righ teoufnefs, and to turn every one from the evil of his way, and from the violence that is in his hands: and then who can tell but God may turn, and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?

The good God make us all wife to know in this our day the things that belong to our peace, before they be hid from our eyes; and grant that we may all turn to him that hath fmitten us, by repentance, and real reformation of our lives; that God may be pleased to turn away his anger from us, and to stretch out his hand for our deliverance. Which we humbly beg of him for the fake of Chrift. To whom, with the Father, &c.

SER

176

SERMON

X..

Of the deceitfulness and danger of fin.

HEB. ii. 13.

Exhort one another daily while it is called, To-day; left any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of fin...

A

Mong the many confiderations which the word of God and our own reafon offer to us, to dif courage us from fin, this is none of the leaft confiderable, that he that once engages in a vitious courfe, is in danger to proceed in it, being infenfibly trained on from one degree of wickedness to another; fo that the farther he advances, his retreat grows the more diffi-cult; because he is ftill pufhed on with a greater violence. All error, as well of practice as of judgement, is endless; and when a man is once out of the way, the farther he fhall go on, the harder he will find it to return into the right way. Therefore there is great reafon why men fhould be fo often cautioned against the beginnings of fin; or if they have been fo unhappy as to be engaged in a bad courfe, why they fhould be warned to break it off presently, and without delay; left by degrees they be hardened in their wickedness, till their cafe grow defperate, and paft remedy. And to this purpofe is the apostle's advice here in the text: Exhort one another daily while it is called, To-day; left any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of fin.

From which words I fhall,

1. Endeavour to reprefent to you the growing danger of fin, and by what fteps and degrees bad habits do infenfibly gain upon men, and harden them in an evil courfe.

2. I fhall, from this confideration, take occafion to fhew, what great reason and need there is to warn men of this danger, and to endeavour to rescue them out of it. And then,

3. I fhall apply myfelf to the duty here in the text, of exhorting men, with all earneftnefs and importunity, to refift the beginnings of fin; or, if they be already entered upon a wicked courfe, to make hafte out of this dangerous ftate; left any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of fin.

First, I fhall endeavour to reprefent to you the grow ing danger of fin, and by what steps and degrees bad habits do infenfibly gain upon men, and harden them in an evil courfe. All the actions of men which are not natural, but proceed from deliberation and choice, have fomething of difficulty in them when we begin to practife them, because at first we are rude and unexercifed in that way; but after we have practifed them a while, they become more eafy; and when they are easy, we begin to take pleafure in them; and when they please us, we do them frequently, and think we cannot repeat them too often, and by frequency of acts a thing grows into a habit; and a confirmed habit is a fecond kind of nature; and fo far as any thing is natural, so far it is neceffary, and we can hardly do otherwife; nay, we do it many times when we do not think of it. For, by virtue of a habit, a man's mind or body becomes pliable and inclined to fuch kind of actions as it is accutomed to, and does, as it were, ftand bent and charged fuch a way; fo that, being touched and awakened by the leaft occafion, it breaks forth into fuch or fuch actions. And this is the natural progress of all habits indifferently confidered, whether they be good or bad,

But vitious habits have a greater advantage, and are of a quicker growth. For the corrupt nature of man is a rank foil, to which vice takes eafily, and wherein it thrives apace. The mind of man hath need to be prepared for piety and virtue; it must be cultivated to that end, and ordered with great care and pains. But vices are weeds that grow wild, and spring up of themfelves. They are in fome fort natural to the foil, and therefore they need not be planted and watered; it is fufficient, if they be neglected and let alone. So that vice having this advantage from our nature, it is no wonder if occafion and temptation eafily draw it forth..

But that we may take a more diftinct account of the progrefs

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