I i a o S E R 1Ví 0 & S upon Serm.X V I. fhould the more fink into us, becaulè every covenant bath a curte included in it, implicite or explicite 4rizrI s »Aár 7eAwile iñr swmpsíru as Phitarch.A Confecration implieth ah exe- cration or imprecation of vengeance if we do contrary; the Scripture abhoreth not this notion 5 'tis faid Neh. to. 29. they Altered into a curfe and an oath to walk in Gods law. So it is in the new Covenant, for all Chriflians do confent to the threats and pnuifhments of the Gofpel in cafe of failing in their duty; as the *wellies were to give their Amen, Dent. 29. qt. to the curfes of the law; fo we profefs to fubmit to the law of grace, and tenor of it. In Mark t6. r6. He that believeth not, ¡hall be damned. We profefs our content to this law, not to a part only, but to the whole. Now what ever Faith and Baptifm calleth for, that muti be done ; or if it be wilfully left undone, we approve the penalty as jult, and that God may rightly infliét it upon us. Thus for the Julliceof God. 2. Now for the Wifdom. The pnnifhment is the greater to check the greatnefs of the temptation. Much of the flefhly life is pleafant, like the Eden of God to the befotted foul; therefore God hath guarded it with a flaming Sword, that fear may counterballance our delight : 'Tis an hard thing to bring a man to ftrive again([ his own flefh, 'tis born and bred with us, and is importunate to be pleafed, but the end is death ; there mull be a feparation between the foul and fin ; or between the foul and God; milder motives would do us no good again,[ boiflerous lulls , and are not powerful enough to wean us from accuflomed delights ; therefore is the punifhment threatned the more dreadful, and the finful fear is checked by the feverity of thè.intermination ; tho fenfe.pleafing, and flefh. pleating be fweet to a carnal heart, 'twill coli him dear. The Wifdom of God is teen in Three Things. n. In punifhing fn,which is a moral evil, with death and mifery, which is .a natural evil ; In appointing that it fhould be ill with them that do evil ; thefe are fitlÿfeirted, Deut. 30. 15. See, I have fit before thee life andgood, death and evil. The evil of fin is againft our duty, and the evil of punifhment againft our intereft and happinefs ; now if men will willingly do what they should not, 'cis equal they fhould fuffer what they would not; what is againft their wills ; thefe two are natural relatives, 6n -and mifery, good and happinefs; we find fame of this in our felves, we have compaf non of a miferable man, whom we efteem not deferving his mifery, we think 'tis ill placed there ; and we are alto moved with indignation againft one that is fortunate and fuccesful, but unworthy the happinefs he enjoys, which fheweth man bath an apprehenfion of a natural harmonyand order between thefe things, fin and mifery, goodnefs and felicity. a. The Wifdom of God lyeth in this, that the love of pleafure which is the root of all fin, ¡hoald end in a fenfe of pain. Man is a very llave to pleafure, Tit. 3. 3. Serving di. vers heflsand pleafnres. Tis ingrained in our natures, therefore to check it, the Lord baththreatned the pains of the fecond death, and this method our Lord approveth as moft ufeful to draw us from our beloved fin, Mátth. g. 29,-30. Better one member fuffer, than the whole body to be call into hell. Ìn (port, God bath fo proportioned the difpen- fation of joy, and forrow, pleafure and pain, that 'cis left to our choice, whether we will have it here or hereafter, whether we will have pleafure as the fruit of fin, or as the reward of well - doing; both we,cannot have, you mutt not expea to enjoy the plea- fares of Earth and Heaven too, and think tó pats from Delilah, Lap into Abrahams Bo.' tom, Luke 16. 25. Son, in thy life time thou receivedfi thy good things ; and Jam. g. s. 7e have lived in pleafnre ripen earth. You have been merry and jocund, but your time of howling and lamenting then cometh, far beyond the degree of your former rejoy- cing. 3. By fitting eternal pains againfi momentary pleaflores, that ye may the better efcape the temptation ; Momentanenm efl, quad deleelat, eternxm quad cruciat 5 The pfeafares of fin are but for a feafon, Heb. r I. 25. But the pains of fin are for evermore; if the fear- ful end of this delightful courbe were foundly believed, orferioufly confidered, it would not fo eafily prevail upon us. 'Tis the Wifdom of our Lawgiver that- things to come fhould have tome advantage in the propofal above things prefent, that the joy and pain of the other world fhould be greater than the comfort and pleafure of this world,which is a matter of fenfe; for things at hand would certainly prevail with us, if things to come were not contiderably greater ; therefore here the pain is fhort, and fo is the pleafure, but there 'tis eternal : Thofe that will have their pleafure here, they (hall have it, but to their bitter colt ; but thofe that will work out their falvation with fear and trembling,
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