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A
REFORMATION
SERMON.
21
ceived
in
sin,
and shapen
in
iniquity,"
is
our
original
character
;
Ps.
li, -5.
And
infants
"
go
astray
from
the
womb, as soon as
they
be born,
speaking lies
;"
Ps.
lviii.
.3.
Sin
enlarges itself
with
the
stature,
and
gets
strength
with age
;
and
where there are
no
methods
of check or
-
restraint, the children of
Adam
grow
up.
to
giants
in
wickedness.
Our
daily
observation
confirms
the divine
remark
of
Solomon
;
Ec.
viii.
11.
"
because sentence
against
an
evil
work
is
not executed
speedily,
therefore
the
heart of
the
sons
of
men
is
fully
set
in them
to
do
evil
:"
The
late discourse on these
words
demands
my review,
and I
think it
may deserve yours.
Besides, while man
is
unregenerate and under
the
-full
dominion
of
sin,
he
takes occasion
from the blessings
of
heaven
to
increase
in
wantonness.
Peace
and plenty
are
abused
to
excite
luxury
and lust
;;
and
the mercies
of
God
are
turned into
weapons
of
rebellion to
fight
against
him.
It
is
the
nature
of
some
serpents
to
turn the
sweetest food
they eat into
venom and where
distempered humours
reign
in
the
body,
the richest
provisions
nourish the
disease,
and
advance the
mischief. Such was
the
sin
of
-Sodom
;
I
mourn
that
in
our
nation
we
have
any
reason
to
say
our
sister
Sodom.
Let
us
read Ezek.
xvi.
48,
49,
50.
with fear
and
trembling.
The Lord
swears
con-
cerning
a city
that
had
as
many
outward characters
of
.holiness
upon
it,
as
London
can
pretend
to,
that
shehad
rivalled and exceeded
that
lewd
and infamous people.
As
I
live,
saith the Lord
God,
Sodom thy sister
bath
not
done,
she
nor her
daughters,
as
thou
hast
done,
"thou
and thy
daughters.
_
Behold this
was
the
iniquity
of
thy
sister
Sodom,
pride, fulness
of
bread, and abundance
of
idleness
was
in her,
and
in
her daughters,
neither
did
she
strengthen the
hand
of
the
poor.
and needy
:
And they
were
haughty, and committed
abomination
before
me;
therefore I took
them
away, as
I
saw
good." O
that
the
provinces
of
Great
Britain
may
never
follow
the
vile
example
!
That
London
had never known
her
sibs,
or
may
root
them
out
speedily,
lest
she
be
partaker
of
the
same
fiery
vengeance.
II.
Consider
the
abounding
of
iniquity before you
'began
this work
of reformation, and
this
will
convince
you
that
it
will
abound
again,
if
the
work
cease.
Though
perhaps-some particular
sins were
not
so
much
talked
of
..