20, SERMONS upon Serm.11l. cording to all that praceedeth out of his mouth. Now if it be not performed , we violate Gods Ordinance, and are infringers of the Oath fworn to Chrift , and fo are to be rec- koned among the Perfidious, ratherthadehe Faithful. Bifides , take it in the notion ofa Dedication , or Confecration , or yielding our felves to the Lord. Every Conic- cration implieth an Execration , whether it be formally expreffed or no. Sometimes it is expretied, Nehem. ic. 29. They entred into a curfe , and into an oath to walk in Gods Law. Now fee if this holds not good in the new Covenant , confider the tenour of it, Marl¿ 16. t6. He that believeth and k baptized , ¡ball be faved ; but he that believeth not fball be damned. Therefore the Bond of the Covenant is a arid Bond. Vfe t. Is matter of lamentation , that fo many are baptized into Chrift, and yet ex- prefs fo little of the fruit of his Death or R.efurreétion. Alas ! the Rabble of nominal Chriftians live in defiance of the Religion which they profefs, and are angry with thofe that would reduce them to the ftrielnefs of it. They are alive to fin, and dead to sigh -. jeoufnefs; as if they had.promifed rather to continue in their fins , than to renounce and difclaim them , and were in Covenant with the Devil , the World and the FIeIH, rather than Father , Son and Holy Ghoft, as if they had vowed to be utterly unlike to Chrift. Now it will go ill with them in the Judgment, worfe than with Heathens, be- caufe they knew better, were obliged to do better, had grace to do better (in offer at leaf¡.) We laugh at the rudenefs of one bred up at Plough ; but are forely difpleafed at the ill manners of one bred in places of more refined Converfation. The Heathens were never buried with Chrift in Baptifm , never profeffed to be dead to the World, or alive to God ; but Chriftians are under a folemn ingagement ; and if they had the courage to fet about their Duty, would God be wanting to them ? 21íe 2. To perfwade you to make Confcience of your Baptifmal Vow, and to obferve and perform it with all good fidelity, and that in both parts of it. 1. Dying to fm, you are not only dead, but buried : O do not neglat the mortify - ingof your fins. You think it is hard to renounce fenfual delight and pleafure , but better lofe the pleafure of the Senfes, than incur the pains of Hell ; that is that which our Saviour teacheth us , Mat. 5. 29, 30. If thy right eye offend thee , pluck it out and cafi it from thee. For it is profitable for thee , that one of thy members fhould perifh, and not that thy whole body fhould be cafi into hell. And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it offand cafi it from thee, &c. Literally that place cannot be taken, no man ever yet hated his own flefh , nor can he lawfully hate it; this is contrary to the fixth Com- mandment : for a man to hurt his body to prevent his fin, is to run from one fire into another, to be guilty of Murder, to prevent Adultery, the fault is not in the eye, but in the. heart, Mat. 15. 19. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornication, thefts, falf witneffs, blafhemies. If the right eye were plucked out, the left eye might eafily tranfmit the temptation. Metaphorically you may take it for the principal members of the body of fin, beloved lulls. But the meaning is, it is better to be blind than damned, to lofe their fenfes than lofe their Souls, much more to deny the pleafures of fenfe. You may fay, if you allow your felves a little liberty, the danger is not great ; you Ihould fay rather, the pleafure is not great, therefore mortifie your fins. Motives. r. Till fins be mortified, they eafily break out again : 2 Pet. 2. 20. For if after they have efcaped the pollutions of the world, through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Ye- fire Chrifl, they are again intangled therein and overcome, &c. their heart is in fecret league with their tufts, which is never thoroughly diffolved. a. Your confolations will be but (mall. Mortification breeds joy and peace , efpe- daily the mortification of a Mafter.fin : Pfal. 18. 3. I was alto upright before him, and I kept my flf from mine iniquity. A man fheweth his uprightnefs in mattering this fin. The dearer any vihory over fin coifs you, the fweeter will the iflùe be. Voluntarily and allowedly to commit a known fin , or omit a known duty , maketh our fincerity queftionable: yam. 4. t7. Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and Both it not, to him it is fin. 3. Croffes will be many : Hof. 5. t 5. I will go and return to my place, till they acknow- ledge their offence , and feek my face : in their afflitlion they will feel[ me early. Ifa. 27. 9. By this therefore¡ball the iniquity of Jacob be purged, and this is all the fruit to take away his fin. 4. Doubts
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