with the wrath of God, is owing purely to Jesus Christ; and shall it not then be a temple for his Spirit? That thy heart is not filled with horror and despair, is owing to him only; to whom then should it be devoted, but to him alone? That thine eyes are not blinded with the smoke of the pit, thy hands are not fettered with chains of darkness, thy tongue is not broiling in the fire of hell, and thy feet are not standing in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, is owing purely to Jesus Christ and shall not these eyes be employed for him, these hands act for him, that tongue speak for him, these feet speedily run his errands? To him who be lieves, that he was a child of wrath, even as others, but is now delivered by the blessed Jesus; nothing will appear too much, to do or suffer for his Deliverer, when he has a fair call to it.

III. To conclude with a word to all. Let no man think lightly of sin, which lays the sinner open to the wrath of God. Let not the sin of our nature, which wreathes the yoke of God's wrath so early about our necks, seem a small thing in our eyes. Fear the Lord, because of his dreadful wrath. Tremble at the thoughts of sin, against which God has such fiery indignation. Look on his wrath, and stand in awe and sin not. Do you think this is to press you to slavish fear? If it were so, one had better be a slave to God with a trembling heart, than a free man to the devil, with a seared conscience, and a heart of adamant. But it is not so; you may love him, and thus fear him too; yea, ye ought to do it, though ye were saints of the first magnitude. See Psal. cxix. 120. Matt. x. 28. Luke xii. 5. Heb. xii. 28, 29. Although ye have past the gulph of wrath, being in Jesus Christ; yet it is but reasonable your hearts shiver, when you look back to it. Your sin still deserves wrath, even as the sin of others: and it would be terrible to be in a fiery furnace; although, by a miracle, we were so fenced against it, as that it could not harm us.

HEAD III.

MAN'S UTTER INABILITY TO RECOVER HIMSELF.

ROM. V. 6.

For when ye were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.

JOHN vi. 44.

No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him

WE

E have now had a view of the total corruption of man's nature, and that load of wrath which lies on him, that gulf of misery he is plunged into in his natural state. But there is one part of his misery that deserves particular consideration; namely, his utter inability to recover himself, the knowledge of which is necessary for the due humiliation of a sinner. What I design here is, only to propose a few things, whereby to convince the unregenerate man of this his inability; that he may see an absolute need of Christ, and of the power of his grace.

As a man that has fallen into a pit cannot be supposed to help himself out of it, but by one of two ways; either by doing all himself alone, or taking hold of, and improving the help offered him by others: so an unconverted man cannot be supposed to help himself out of that state, but either in the way of the law, or covenant of works, by doing all himself without Christ; or else in the way of the gospel, or covenant of grace, by exerting his own strength to lay hold upon, and to make use of the help offered him by a Saviour. But alas! the unconverted man is dead in the pit, and cannot help himself either of these ways: not the first way; for the first text tells us, that when our Lord came to help us, we were without strength, unable to recover ourselves. We were ungodly; therefore under a burden of guilt and wrath; yet without strength, unable to stand under it; and unable to throw it off of

get from under it: so that all mankind had undoubtedly perished, had not Christ died for the ungodly, and brought help to them, who could never have recovered themselves. But when Christ comes and offereth help to sinners, cannot they take it? Cannot they improve help, when it comes to their hands? No; the second text tells us, they cannot; "No man can come unto me, (i. e. believe in me, John vii. 35.) except the Father draw him." This is a drawing which enables them to come, who, till then, could not come; and therefore could not help themselves, by improving the help offered. It is a drawing, which is always effectual: for it can be no less than hearing and learning of the Father, which, whoso partakes of, cometh to Christ, ver. 25. Therefore it is not drawing in the way of mere moral suasion which may be, yea, and always is ineffectual. But it is drawing by mighty power, Eph. i. 19. absolutely necessary for them that have no power in themselves, to come and take hold of the offered help.

Hearken then, O unregenerate man, and be convinced, that as thou art in a most miserable state by nature, so thou art utterly unable to recover thyself any manner of way. Thou art ruined; and what way wilt thou go to work to recover thyself? Which of the two ways wilt thou choose? Wilt thou try it alone? Or wilt thou make use of help? Wilt thou fall on the way of works, or on the way of the gospel? I know very well, thou wilt not so much as try the way of the gospel, till once thou hast found the recovery impracticable, in the way of the law. Therefore we shall begin, where corrupt nature teaches men to begin, viz. at the way of the law of works.

I. Sinner, I would have thee believe that thy working will never effect it. Work, and do thy best; thou shalt never be able to work thyself out of this state of corruption and wrath. Thou must have Christ, else thou shalt perish eternally. It is only Christ in you, can be the hope of glory. But if thou wilt needs try it; then I must lay before thee, from the unalterable word of the living God, two things which thou must

do for thyself. And if thou canst do them, it must be yielded, that thou art able to recover thyself: but if not, then thou canst do nothing this way for thy re

covery.

FIRST, "If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments," Matt. xix. 17. That is, if thou wilt by doing, enter into life, then perfectly keep the ten commands, for the scope of these words is to beat down the pride of the man's heart, and to let him see an absolute need of a Saviour, from the impossibility of keeping the law. The answer is given suitable to the address. Our Lord checks him for his compliment, "good master," ver. 16. telling him, "There is none good but one, that is God," ver. 17. As if he had said, You think yourself a good man, and me another; but where goodness is spoken of, men and angels may vail their faces before the good God. And as to his question, wherein he discovered his legal disposition, Christ does not answer him, saying, "Believe and thou shalt be saved;" that would not have been so seasonable in the case of one, who thought he could do well enough for himself, if he but knew what thing he should do: but suitable to the honour the man was in, he bids him keep the commandments; keep them nicely and accurately, as those that watch malefactors in prison, lest any of them escape, and their life go for theirs. See then, O unregenerate man, what thou canst do in this matter; for if thou wilt recover thyself in this way, thou must perfectly keep the commandments of God.

And (1.) Thy obedience must be perfect, in respect of the principle of it; that is, thy soul, the principle of action, must be perfectly pure, and altogether without sin. For the law requires all moral perfection; not only actual, but habitual: and so condemns original sin; impurity of nature, as well as of actions. Now if thou canst bring this to pass, thou shalt be able to answer that question of Solomon's, so as never one of Adam's posterity could yet answer it, Prov. xx. 9. "Who can say, I have made my heart clean ?" But if thou canst not, the very want of this perfection is a sin; and so lays thee open to the curse, and cuts thee

off from life. Yea, it makes all thine actions, even thy best actions, sinful; "for who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?" Job xiv. 4. And dost thou think by sin, to help thyself out of sin and misery? (2.) Thy obedience must also be perfect in parts. It must be as broad as the whole law of God: if thou lackest one thing, thou art undone; for the law de nounceth the curse on him that continueth not in every thing written therein, Gal. iii. 10. Thou must give internal and external obedience to the whole law; keep all the commands in heart and life. If thou breakest any one of them, that will insure thy ruin, A vain thought or idle word will still shut thee up under the curse. (3.) It must be perfect in respect of degrees; as was the obedience of Adam, while he stood in his innocence. This the law requires, and will accept of no less, Matt. xxii. 37. "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind." If one degre of that love, required by the law, be wanting: if each part of thy obedience be not screwed up to the greatest height commanded, that want is a breach of the law, and so leaves thee still under the curse. One may bring as many buckets of water to a house that is on fire, as he is able to carry: and yet it may be consumed; and will be so, if he bring not as many as will quench the fire. Even so, although thou shouldest do what thou art able, in keeping the commands ; if thou fail in the least degree of obedience, which the law enjoins, thou art certainly ruined for ever; unless thou take hold of Christ, renouncing all thy righteousness as filthy rags. See Rom. v. 5. Gal. iii. 10. Lastly, it must be perpetual, as the man Christ's obedience was, who always did the things that pleased the Father; for the tenor of the law is," Cursed is he that continueth not in all things written in the law, to do them." Hence, though Adam's obedience was for awhile absolutely perfect; yet because, at length, he tripped in one point, viz. in eating the forbidden fruit, he fell under the curse of the law. If one should live a dutiful subject to his prince, till the close