346 A. SERMON OF REPENTANCE. 7. Consider the loathsome nature of your sins; and how, then, can you choose but loathe yourselves? (1.) It is thecreature's rebellion or disobedience against the Ab- solute Universal Sovereign. (2.) It is the deformityof God's noblest creature here on earth, and the abusing of the most noble faculties. (3.) It is a stain so deep that nothing 'can wash out but the blood of Christ. The flood that drowned a world of sinners did not wash away their sins. The fire that consumed the Sodomites did not consume their sins. Hell itself can never end it, and, therefore, shall have no end , itself. It dieth not with you when you die : though churchyards are the guiltiest spots of ground, they do not bury and hide our sin. (4.) The church must loathe it, and must cast out the sinner as loathsome, ifhe remain impenitent ; and none of the servants of the Lord must have any friendship with the unfruitful works of darkness. (5.) God himself doth loathe the creature for sin, and for noth- ing else but sin. "My soul loathed them ; " (Zech. xi. 8.) " When the Lord saw it, he abhorred them, because of the provoking of his"sons and daughters ; " (Deut. xxxii. 19.) " My soul shall ab- hor you ; " (Lev. xxvi. 30.) " When God heard this, he was wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel;" (Psalm lxxviii. 59.) "He abhor- red his very sanctuary ;" (Lam. ii 7 ) " For he is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity ;" Hab. i. 13. In a word, it is the sen- tence of God himself, that a " wicked man is loathsòme and cometh to shame," (Prov. xiii. 5.) so that you see what abundant cause of self-abhorrence is among. us. But we are much afraid of God's departure, when we see how common self-love is in the world, and how rare this penitent self - loathing is. 1. Do they loathe themselves that on every occasion are con- tending for their honor, and exalting themselves, and venturing their very souls, to be highest in the world, for a little while? 2. Do they loathe themselves that are readier to justify all their sins, or at least to extenuate them, than humbly confess them ? 3. Do they loathe themselves for all their sins that cannot en- dure to be reproved, but loathe their friends and the ministers of Christ that tell them of their loathsomeness? 4. Do they loathe themselves that take their pride itself for manhood, and Christian humility for baseness, and brokenness of heart for whining hypocrisy or folly, and call them a company of priest-ridden fools that lament their sin, and ease their souls by free confession? Is the ruffling bravery of this city, and the strange at- tire, the haughty carriage, the feasting, idleness, and pomp, the marks of such as loathe themselves for all their abominations?
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=