84 SERMONS upon Serm. XIII. man , Tit. 3. 3. Serving divers tuffs anti pleafures. The worldly bait taketh advantage of the brutifh part , when Reafon is afleep , and then the Beaft rideth and ruleth the man, and Reafon becometh a flave to Senfuality. 2. This fervitude is fo burdenfom as well as bate, and attended with fo much pain and fhame , that thofe that know the fervice of fin (as we all do by fad experience) should ufe all caution, that it never bring them into bondage. Again, theApoftle diffwadeth from the reign of fin by this Argument , Rom. 6. at. When ye were the fervants of fn, ye were free from rigbteoufnefs ; what fruit had ye then in thole things, whereofye are now afhamed ? As if he had laid, You have full experience of the fervice of fin, and the fruits of it, what fruit then ? before you had a contrary Principle fee up in your hearts; you are athamed now, that is, now ye know better things ; but what fruit then ? nothing but toils , and gripes, and fears, and fad twinges of Confcience; for what other thing can be expe&ed of him , that every day liveth within a ftep of Hell. The Devil hack one bad property, which no other Mailer hath, how cruel foever, and that is, to plague and torment them molt , who have done him molt continual and faithful fervice; thofe that have finned mofe, have molt horrour , and every degree of carnal indulgence bath a proportionable degree of fear and (hame and punifhment.. I (peak nothing all this while of the wafting of Eftate, and Health , of the lofs of Credit and Intereft , of the colt and pains which the Drudgery of fin puts men upon 5 many fuffer more hardfhip in Satans fervice , than any man in Gods; their fin cofts them dearer than any Martyr ever endured to go to Heaven. Laftly, the reward of all is everlafling deftru &ion, Rom. 6.2 t. For the end of theft things is death; but being made free from fin, and become the fervants of righteoufnef , ye have your fruit unto holinefs, and the end everlaf }rng ; fe, After all your time and ffrength bath been fpent in the purfuit of Vanity , what is the iflue but everlafling horrour and punifbment ? O then, when you fee the bait, remem- ber the hook; when you hear the Serpent hilt, fee its fling, and reckon that everlafling death is attending the eating of forbidden fruit. When it feemeth molt pleafant to the eye, let not the Pomps and Vanities of the World intice you into a forgetfulnefs of God, before whom you muft appear as your Judge; nor of your immortal Souls, which muft one day be rent from the embraces of the Body , and will furvive them , and be com- manded into the everlafling Regions of Light or Darknefs, Eafe or Sorrow. Hell and Heaven are not matters to be trifled with,, nor fhould we eafrly hazard the feeling of the one, or the lofs of the other. 3. The mifchievous influence and hainous nature of reigning fin appeareth in this, that it rendreth your fincerity queftionable, yea rather it is a fore note of a carnal Rate, where it is habitual. There will be Pride, Earthlinefs and Senfuality dwelling, flirting and working in the beft of Gods Children, but it hash not its wonted power over them. Chrilt will not reckon men [laves by their having fin, nor yet by their daily failings and infirmities, nor by their falling now and then into foul faults by the violence of a tem- ptation, unlefs they fettle in a confiant trade of fin, and let up no courte of Mortifica- tion againft it. Though there be not a good man upon earth that finneth not , yet furely there is a difference between the Regenerate and Unregenerate : there are Come whole fpot is not as the fpot of Gods children, Deut. 32. 5. There is a difference between fins ; God gave the Prieft under the Law dire&ion, how to put a difference between leprous perlons, come of which were unclean, others clean , Lev. t 3.38, 39. there was fome Leprofie that fpoiled the skin, but did not fret the flefh , which the Priest was to pronounce clean. God fheweth himfelf hereby merciful to the infirmities of his peo- ple, not elteeming every fpot aed deformity in them as malignant fin : fo verf. 23. If the bright fpot flay in his place, and fpread not, it is a burning boil, and the Priefi ( hall pro- nounce him clean, to wit, from the contagion of LeproGe ; which fignified, that though the figns and marks of fin, which God hath healed by Forgivenefs, remain Rill , yet if they fpread not , that is , reign not in our mortal bodies , they (hall not be imputed to us , but forgiven; hecaufe we are not under the Lam , but under Grace; On the other fide, if the ¡pot were turned bright, and deeper than the shin, the Priefi was to pronounce him unclean : verf, 25. And if it did fpread much abroad, the Priefi was to prononce him unclean, it was the plague of leprofe, verf. 27. And again we read in verf. 44. When the Prieft was to pronounce him utterly unclean, his plague was in his head; if to infirmity there be added malignity and prefumption, it maketh the inner a fpiritual Leper in the fight of God : and he did rend his cloatbs, and make bare his head, and cry out, Unlearn, unclean, verf. 45. importing thereby humble and penitent acknowledgment, or broken hearted reprelenting of our fin and milery, or fenfe of our own plague and grief: and he
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