DISCOURSE XVIII.

ROMANS vi. 21.

What Fruit had ye then in thofe Things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the End of thofe Things is Death.

HOUGH the Hopes introduced by the Gospel of Chrift are in themselves fitted to fupport and encourage Virtue and true Religion, and are only to be truly enjoyed by those who make a Title to them by the Innocency of their Lives; yet they have been perverted to very ill Purposes by fuch as, hating to be reformed by the Precepts of the Gospel, are willing nevertheless to put their Sins under the Protection of the glorious Promises contained in it. This Policy prevailed fo foon in the Church, that we find the Apostle stating the Pretence, and rejecting it with Indignation, in the first Dd 3 Verfes

bisty

Verfes of this Chapter: What all we say then? Shall we continue in Sin that Grace mas abound? God forbid: How shall we that are dead to Sin live any longer therein? In 'the Chapter before this of the Text, he fets forth the exceeding great Benefits we receive thro Jefus Chrift: That being justified by Fait we have Peace with God. That God commendeth bis Love towards us, in that while we were yet Sinners Chrift died for us. That being juflified by his Blood, we fhall be faved from Wrath thro him. That as by one Man's Difobedience many were made Sinners; fo by the Obedience of one Shall many be made righteous. To prevent the Ufe which ill-difpofed Men were ready to make of this great Goodness of God towards Sinners, imagining their Iniquities to be privits leged, fince fo much Grace had been extended to them, the Apoftle in this Chapter enters into the Question, Whether the Hopes of the Gospel are reconcileable to a Continuance ing Sin; and fhews by many Arguments, drawn from the Profeffion, the State, and the Con+3 dition of a Chriftian, that a State of Gracet and a State of Sin are as inconfiftent as Life and Death: fince every Chriftian is buried with Chrift by Baptifm into Death; that, like as Chrift was raifed up from the Dead by

the

the Glory of the Father, even fo we also shouldy walk in Newness of Life. From thefe Rea

fons he proceeds to others, not of lefs Moment, appealing to the Senfe of Confcience and the Voice of Reafon against the prefumptuous Conceit which made the Son of God. the Minifter of Sin, and the Gofpel to give Countenance to the Iniquities of which Nature was ever afhamed, and against which the common Reafon of Mankind had paffed Sentence of Condemnation: What Fruit had ye then in thofe Things whereof ye are now afhamed? For the End of thofe Things is Death.

upon

Thefe Words will fuggeft to our Con fideration the following Particulars. First, That the Shame and Remorfe which attend Sin and Guilt arife from the natural Impressions on the Mind of Man. haqol Secondly, That the Expectation of Punishment for Sin is the Refult of the Reason given unto us. >

Thirdly, That thefe common Notions are the Foundation of all Religion, and therefore must be fuppofed and admitted in Revealed Religion, and cannot be contradicted by it.

First, That the Shame and Remorfe which attend upon Sin and Guilt arife from the Dd 4 natural

natural Impreffions on the Mind of Man.

i

It is certain from Experience that we can no more direct by our Choice the Senfations! of our Mind, than we can thofe of the Bodyi When the Fire burns, Flesh and Blood muft feel Pain; and a rational Mind compelled to act against its own Conviction muft ever grieve and be afflicted. These natural Connexions are unalterably fixed by the Author of Nature, and established to be Means of our Prefervation. We are taught by the Senfe of Pain to avoid Things hurtful or destructive to the Body; and the Torments and Anxiety of Mind, which follow fo clofe and fo conftantly at the Heels of Sin and Guilt, are placed as Guardians to our Innocence, as Centinels to give early Notice of the Approach of Evil, which threatens the Peace and Comfort of our Lives. If we are perfect Masters of the Senfations of our Mind, if Reflection be fo much under Command, that when we fay, Come, it cometh, when we fay, Go, it goeth, how is it that fo many fuffer fo much from the uneafy Thoughts and Suggestions of their own Hearts, when they need only speak the Word and be whole? Whence the Self-Conviction, the Self-Condemnation of Sinners; whence the fore

boding

boding Thoughts of Judgment to come, ther fad Expectations of divine Vengeance, and the Dread of future Misery, if the Sinner has it in his Power to bid thefe melancholy Thoughts retire, and can when he pleases fit down enjoying his Iniquities in Peace and Tranquility? 75 Thefe Confiderations make it evident that the Pain and Grief of Mind which we fuffer from a Senfe of having done ill, flow from the very Conftitution of our Nature, as we are rational Agents. Nor can we conceive a greater Argument of God's utter Irrecone cileableness to Sin, than that he has given us fuch a Nature that we can never be recons ciled to it ourfelves... We never like it in o thers where we have no Intereft in the Iniqui ty, nor long approve of it in ourselves when we have. The Hours of cool Reflection are the Sinner's Mortification, for Vice can never be happy in the Company of Reason; which is the true Caufe why profligate Sinners fly to any Excess that may help them to forget themselves, and hide them from the Light of Reafon, which, whenever it ceafes to be the Glory of a Man, will neceffarily become his Shame and Reproach. No Vice is the -better for being found in the Company of Intemperance, but becomes more odious in golded

1

the