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

T

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 Gofpel, 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 ftating the Pretence, and rejecting it with Indignation, in the first Dd 3 Verfes

Verfes of this Chapter: What shall we fay then? Shall we continue in Sin that Grace may abound? God forbid: How shall we that are dead to Sin live any longer therein? In the Chapter before this of the Text, he sets forth the exceeding great Benefits we receive thro' Jefus Chrift: That being juftified by Faith, 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 justified by his Blood, we shall 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 privileged, fince fo much Grace had been extended to them, the Apostle in this Chapter enters into the Question, Whether the Hopes of the Gospel are reconcileable to a Continuance in Sin; and fhews by many Arguments, drawn from the Profeffion, the State, and the Condition of a Chriftian, that a State of Grace and a State of Sin are as inconfiftent as Life and Death: fince every Christian 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 should walk in Newness of Life. From these Reafons 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 Minister of Sin, and the Gospel to give Countenance to the Iniquities of which Nature was ever afhamed, and against which the common Reason 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.

Thefe Words will fuggeft to our Consideration the following Particulars.

First, That the Shame and Remorfe which attend upon Sin and Guilt arise from the natural Impreffions on the Mind of Man.

Secondly, That the Expectation of Punishment for Sin is the Refult of the Reafon given unto us.

Thirdly, That these 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 Remorse which attend upon Sin and Guilt arise from the Dd 4 natural

natural Impreffions on the Mind of Man.

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 Body: When the Fire burns, Flesh and Blood must feel Pain; and a rational Mind compelled to act against its own Conviction must ever grieve and be afflicted. These natural Connexions are unalterably fixed by the Author of Nature, and established to be Means of our Preservation. We are taught by the Sense of Pain to avoid Things hurtful or deftructive to the Body; and the Torments and Anxiety of Mind, which follow so close 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 Sensations of our Mind, if Reflection be fo much under Command, that when we say, 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