lg a S E AM O N S upon Senn. XX; repent, and iniquity find! not be your ruin. We are all (inners ; but how (hall we do that fin may not be baneful to us ? Deal gently with it, and it fingeth you to the death ; deal feverely with it, and it (hall do you no harm. When we are dead to fin, we (hall not die by fin ; you have deferved death, but life is offered, if you will ufe Gods healing methods to get rid of fo great a mifchief. Thirdly, I will (hew you the expediency of the promife; and that we may make ufe of tech a motive as is drawn from the confequence ; The death which followeth the carnal life, and that eternal life which by the merciful grant of God is the fruit of mortification. For many queftion, whether it be a true Mortification which looketh to the reward ; they fay we mull work for our life, but not for life. I Anfwer, t. To be over fpiritual and nice above the word, which is the true infru- ment of fanaification, doth not cherifh Religion, but quench it we may make nie of Gods Motives, without fin ; why doth God plead with us fo often upon the terms of life and death , but that we may plead with our felves ? I know no reafon to preis , men to an Holinefs abftra&ed from all refpea to the reward. I confers 'tis abate fell- feeking, to eye outward advantages in religious endeavours; for then the end is far beneath the work, and the fpirit is made to ferve the flefh, but not the flesh the fpirit; and by-ends taint us, but do not refine us: 2. The doubt proceedeth upon a miftake of the reward ; what is this life propound- ed , 'but the feeing, loving, and injoyment of God, and the adoring and praifng of %- God ? And can it be a fault to aim at thefe things? Doth not the tendency of the new nature direaly carry us to them, as the perfeaion of that eflate, unto which we are called by Chrift , as naturally as the feed call into the earth, works through the clods to get up into f:alk and flower ? Indeed the obje &ion is fit for them that look for a carnal Heaven, as the yews did for a carnal Mefah, an Heaven that confifs in cafe, and flethly delights. However, to deal throughly in this Argument, in the life and happinefs which we expeû, two things may be confidered 5 a. The nature of that life and happinefs. 2. The perfonal benefit and cómfort that hence refutes to us. r. The nature of that happinefs confifieth in feeing God, and being like him, r )ohn g,2e When he (hall appear, we (hall be like him, for we (hall fee him as he is. To aim at this, is 'a fruit of the new nature, which aimeth, at a pedal frtütion of God, and conformity to him: Surely this cannot be in any reafon queftioned or fcrupled at, as our great end. For it is a pure motive,and doth engage the foul to the greateft and beft tempered ftria- nefs that is imaginable, r John 3. 3. He that bath this hope, ( the hope fpoken of in the former verfe) purifreth himfe/f as Chriji is pure. Is every day growing up into a nearer conformity to Chrift, whom he hopeth to fee, and to be more perfealy like him hereafter ; he whofe heart is fet upon the vifion of God,and that pure and frlefseftate, which he (hall injoy in Heaven, that man hath not a light tinfture of Religion, but is deeply dyed into the fpirit of it; for fuch things cannot be ferioufly and really mind- ed without grace; yea, no as we do is religious, unlefs it be direaed and influen- ced by this aim and end ; 'sis a rooted thought; or the impreffion of a powerful ha- bit. 2. There it aperfonal benefit and happinefs which refulteth to us from the fruition of God. As we are freed from the pain and forrows of this life, in which refpea 'tis often called a refit; efpecial as we are freed from the mifery of thofe that die in their fns, in which refpea'tis often called falvation; and mofe efpecially, as the foul,fully fanaified,dwelleth in a glorified and immortal body, and injoying all the content and happinefs belong- ing to fuch an eftate. Now of this, the objeaion may be fuppofed to (peak, namely, as we are without mifery, in an endlefs Rate of bleffednefs both as to our fouls and bodies. Now this is a matter of faith, and therefore cannot be the fuel of hypocrite; tempofalconve nience may be fuch, as credit, reputation and refpea'in the world, are; and therefore this we labour for, and aim at. 2. We mull ditÜnguifb between ratioformalis, & ratio motiva, our fielt motions and inducements, and the formal and proper reafons of our love to God ; we fife love God for his benefits, ánd they are [till motives to quicken and increafe our love ; but after- wards we love and delight in him for his excellencies, both effential and moral, the per - feaion of his Being and Holinefs. That which frftdraweth our hearts to God, is his benignity
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