lusts. When the fogs and vapours of sin begin to arise, let but the light of scripture shine into the soul, and it dispels those fogs; "let the word of Christ dwell in you richly," Col. iii. 16. Alphonsus, king of Arragon, read over the Bible fourteen times. The word shows the damnable evil of sin; it furnisheth us with precepts, which are so many recipes and antidotes against sin. When Christ had a temptation to sin, he beat back the tempter, and wounded him three times with this sword of the Spirit, "It is written." Why do men live in sin, but because they either do not read the word or do not believe it? A. 8. If you would be preserved from gross, presumptuous sin, get your hearts fired with love to God. Love hath great force in it, it is "strong as death," it breaks the league between the heart and sin. Two things in God cause love. 1. His glorious beauty: Moses desired to see some glimpse of it. "Lord, show me thy glory." 2. His amazing love. What a prodigy of love was it, to give his Son out of his bosom, and lay such a jewel to pawn for our redemption! These two, the glories of God's beauty, and the magnitude of his love,-may, like two loadstones, draw our love to God; and if we love him, we will not sin against him; he that loves his friend, will not by any means displease him. I have read of four men meeting together, who asked one another, what it was that kept them from sinning? One said, the fear of hell; another said, the joys of heaven; the third said, the odiousness of sin; the fourth said, that which keeps me from sin, is love to God; shall I sin against so good a God? shall I abuse love? Love to God is the best curbing-bit to keep from sin. answer: "Be always well employed, that so when Satan comes, he may find thee busied in thy calling, and thou mayest not be at leisure to listen to his temptation." A. 10. If you would be kept from sin, fix the eye of your mind upon the beauty of holiness.' Holiness consists in our conform. ity to God; holiness is the sparkling of the divine nature, a beam of God shining in the soul. How lovely is Christ's bride, when decked and bespangled with the jewels of holiness! What makes the seraphims angels of light, but their holiness? Do but think with yourselves what a splendid, glorious thing holiness is, and it will cause a disgust and hatred of sin, which is so contrary to it. The beholding of beauty, makes one out of love with deformity. A. 11. If you would keep from the evil of sin, meditate frequently on death: First, the unavoidableness of it, Heb. ix. 27, "It is appointed unto all men once to die." We are not so sure to lie down this night in bed, as we are to lie down in the grave. Secondly, The uncertainty of the time. We are but tenants at will; we hold our life at the will of our landlord, and how soon may God turn us out of this house of clay? Death oft comes when we least look for it. The flood as some learned writers observe came in the month Ziph, or April,—in the spring,—when the trees were blossoming, and the birds singing, then came the flood, when they least looked for it: so oft in the spring of youth, when the body is most healthy, and the spirits most sprightly and vigorous, and death is least thought on, then it comes. Could we think often and seriously of death, it would give a death's-wound to sin. No stronger antidote against sin than this: I am now singing, and to-morrow may be dying? What if death should take me doing the devil's work, would it not send me to him to receive my wages? Would but the adulterer think, I am now in the act of sin, but how soon may A. 9. If you would be kept from the evil of sin, be diligent in a calling. Dii laboribus omnia vendunt. Adam in paradise must till the ground. Such as live idly, expose them-death come, and then I who have burned in selves to sin; if we have no work to do, Satan will find us work; he sows most of his seed in fallow ground. A woman being much tempted to sin, came to the reverend Mr Greenham for advice, what she should do to resist the temptation? He gave her this lust, must burn in hell: this sure would strike a damp into him; and make him afraid of going after strange flesh. A. 12. If ye would be kept from gross scandalous sins, beware of a covetous heart. Covetousness is a dry drunkenness. He who thirsts insatiably after the world will | nor the times the worse for me," Keep stick at no sin, he will betray Christ and a back thy servant from presumptuous sins." good cause for money. Cui nihil satis, Lord, whatever I suffer, keep me from sin. eidem nihil turpe, TACITUS. 1 Tim. vi. 10, The child is safe in the nurse's arms; and "The love of money is the root of all evil." we are only safe from falling into sin, while From this root comes, First, theft: Achan's we are held up in the arms of Christ and free covetous humour made him steal the wedge of grace. The gold, Josh. vii. 21. Covetousness makes the gaols so full. Secondly, from this root comes murder. Why did Ahab stone Naboth to death, but to possess his vineyard? 1 Kings xxi. 13. Covetousness hath made many swim to the crown in blood. Thirdly, from this bitter root of covetousness proceeds cozenage; it is the covetous hand holds false weights. Fourthly, from this root of covetousness comes uncleanness. You read of the hire of a whore, Deut. xxiii. 18. For money she would let both her conscience and chastity be set to sale. O if you would be kept from the evil of sin, beware of covetousness which is the inlet to so many sins! A. 13. Let us be much in prayer to God, to keep us from ingulphing ourselves in sin, Ps. xix. 13, "Keep back thy servant from presumptuous sins." We have no power inherent to keep ourselves from evil. Arnoldus saith, that man, in his corrupt estate, hath aliquas reliquias vitæ spiritualis,—some reliques of spiritual life left. And Arminias saith, man hath a sufficiency of grace in himself whereby he may abstinere a malo, abstain from evil; free-will is a sufficient curb to check and pull him back from sin. But then what needed Christ to have taught us this prayer: Libera nos a malo, " Deliver us from evil?" If we have power of ourselves to keep from sin, what need we pray to God for power? Alas! if David and Peter, in a habit of grace, fell, for want of a fresh gale of the Spirit to hold them up, much more will they be in danger of falling, who have only the power of free-will to hold them. Let us there fore sue to God for strength to keep us from sinning; pray that prayer of David, Ps. cxix. 117, "Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe." And that other prayer, Ps. xvii. 5, "Hold up my goings in thy paths that my footsteps slip not." Lord, keep me from dishonouring thee,-keep me from the defiling sins of the age, that I may not be worse for the times, 2d Branch of the exhortation hath an aspect to God's children. You that are professors, and carry Christ's colours, I beseech you, above all others, to take heed of sin; beware of any action that is scandalous and unbecoming the gospel. You have heard what a prodigious hyperbolical evil sin is. Come not near the forbidden fruit, Hos. iv. 15, "Though thou Israel, play the harlot, yet let not Judah offend." So, though wicked men run into sin, yet let not the spouse of Christ defile the breasts of her virginity. Sin doth ill become any but doth worse become professors. Dung is unhandsome in the street; but to see it in the temple, how offensive is it? Leprosy in the foot doth ill, but to see a leprous sore in the face is much worse; to see sin break forth in them who have a face of religion, is most to be abominated. The sins of the wicked are not so much wondered at, Dan. xii. 10, "The wicked shall do wickedly." It is no wonder to see a toad spit poison; it was not so much wondered to see Cain or Ahab sin; but to see Lot's incest,— to see David's hands stained with blood,— this was strange. When the sun is eclipsed, every one stands and looks upon it: so when a child of light is eclipsed by scandalous sin, all stand and gaze at this eclipse. The sins of God's people do, in some sense, more provoke God than the sins of the wicked. We read "of the provokings of his sons and daughters," Deut. xxxii. 19. The sins of the wicked anger God, but the sins of his people grieve him. The sins of God's people have a more malignant aspect, and are of a blacker dye, than others; there are those aggravations in the sins of God's people, as are not to be found in the sins of the unregenerate, in eight particulars. For, 1. The godly have something which may ponere obicem, restrain them from sin. Wicked men, when they sin, have no principle to restrain them; they have wind and tide have felt the bitterness of sin in the pangs of the new-birth, and afterwards God hath spoken peace, and they have had an experi mental taste how 'sweet the Lord is;' and yet, after these experiences, that they should touch the forbidden fruit,-venture upon a presumptuous sin,-how doth this enhance and aggravate their guilt; it is like putting to carry them, but have nothing to pull them back from sin; but a child of God hath a principle of grace to give check to sin; he hath the impulses of God's Spirit dissuading him from evil; therefore, for him to commit sin, is far worse than for others,-this is to sin more desperately, it is, as if a woman should go about to kill the babe in her womb. Christian, this thou art to do, when thou sin-a weight more in the scale to make their sin nest presumptuously, thou dost what in thee lies to kill the babe of grace in thy soul. 2. The sins of God's people are greater than others, because they sin against more mercy. This is like a weight put in a scale, it makes sin weigh heavier. God hath given Christ to a believer; he hath cut him off from the wild stock of nature, and grafted him into the true olive; and for him to abuse all this mercy, it is to out-do the wicked, and to sin with a higher aggravation, because it is to sin against greater love. How was Peter's sin enhanced and accented, that when Christ had done more for him than others,-had dropped some of the holy oil upon him,-had taken him into the number of the apostles, had carried him up into the mount of transfiguration, and shown him the glory of heaven in a vision,-that Peter should deny Christ after all this mercy, this was heinous, and could not be forgiven but by a miracle and prodigy of love. weigh heavier. The wicked, when they sin, never tasted the sweetness of a heavenly life, they never knew what it was to have any smiles from God,-they never tasted any thing sweeter than corn and wine, therefore no wonder if they sin: but for a child of God, who hath had such love-tokens from heaven, and signal experiences from God,-for him to gratify a lust, how horrid is this! It was an aggravation of Solomon's sin, that 'his heart was turned from the Lord God of Israel which had appeared to him twice,' 1 Kings xi. 9. 5. The sins of the godly are greater than others, because they sin against their sonship. When wicked men sin, they sin against the command; but when the godly sin, they sin against a privilege, they abuse their sonship. The godly are adopted into the family of heaven, they have a new name. Is it a light thing said David to be son-inlaw to a king? So, to be called the sons of God, to be heirs of the promises, is no small honour; now, for such to run into an open offence, it is a sinning against their adoption; they hereby make themselves vile, as if a king's son should be tumbling into the mire, or lie among swine. 3. The sins of the godly are worse, and have this aggravation in them that they sin against more clear illumination than the wicked, Job xxiv. 13, "They are of those that rebel against the light:" light is here taken figuratively for knowledge. It cannot be denied, but the wicked sin knowingly; but the godly have a light beyond them,—such a divine penetrating light, as no hypocrite can attain unto; they have better eyes to see sin than others; and for them to meddle with sin, and embrace this dunghill, how must this needs provoke God, and make the fury rise up in his face! Oh therefore, you that are the people of God, flee from sin; your sins are more enhanced, and have worse aggravations in them than the sins of the unregenerate ! 4. The sins of the godly are worse than the sins of the unregenerate, for, when they sin, it is against great experiences. They proach upon religion. For the wicked to 6. The sins of the godly are worse than others, because they are committed against more vows and engagements. They have given up their names to God; they have bound themselves solemnly to God by oath, Ps. cxix. 106, "I have sworn that I will keep thy righteous judgments." And in the supper of the Lord they have renewed this sacred vow; and, after this, to run into a presumptuous sin,-it is a breach of vow, a kind of perjury, which dyes the sin of a crimson colour. 7. The sins of the godly are worse than others, because they bring a greater re you out of his book, yet he may cast you sin, there is no other expected from them; So much for the first, "deliver us from for the godly to sin, it is like a spot in scar-evil :" we pray to be delivered from evil, in #let, it is more taken notice of, and it reflects 13 a greater dishonour upon the ways of God. general, that is sin. Secondly, In special. "Deliver us from evil." We pray to be delivered from evil, under a threefold notion. 1. From the evil of our heart; it is called an evil heart,' Heb. iii. 12. 2. From the evil of Satan; he is called the "wicked one," Matt. xiii. 19. 3. From the evil of the world; it is called 'an evil world,' Gal. i. 4. 8. The sins of the godly are worse, because 1st, In this petition, "deliver us from evil.” they are a mean to encourage and harden we pray to be delivered from the evil of our wicked men in sin. If the wicked see the heart, that it may not decoy and trepan us ingodly to be loose and uncircumspect in their to sin. The heart is the poisoned fountain lives, they think they may do so too: the from whence all actual sins flow, Mark vii. wicked make the godly their pattern, not in 21, "Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, imitating their virtues, but their vices, and is fornications, murders." The cause of all not this fearful to be a mean to damn others? evil lies in a man's own breast, all sin begins These are the aggravations of the sins of the at the heart. Lust is first conceived in the godly; therefore you, above all others, beware heart, and then it is midwifed into the world. of presumptuous sin; your sins wound consci- Whence comes rash anger? The heart sets ence, weaken grace, and do more highly prothe tongue on fire. The heart is a shop or voke God than the sins of others, and God workhouse where all sin is contrived and will be sure to punish you. Whoever escapes, hammered out; how needful therefore is this you shall not, Amos iii. 2, "You only have prayer, "deliver us from evil," from the evil I known of all the families of the earth, of our hearts? The heart is the greatest therefore I will punish you for all your in-seducer; therefore the apostle James saith, iquities." If God doth not damn you, yet, "every man is drawn away of his own lust, he may send you to hell in this life; he may and enticed," James i. 14. The devil could cause such agonies and tremblings of heart, not hurt us, if our own hearts did not give that you will be a terror to yourselves; you consent; all that he can do is, to lay the bait, may draw nigh to despair, and be ready to but it is our fault to swallow the bait. look upon yourselves as castaways. When O let us pray to be delivered from the lusts David had stained himself with adultery and and deceits of our own heart! "Deliver us murder, he complained of his broken bones,' from evil." Luther feared his own heart Ps. li. 8,—a metaphor to set forth the grief more than the pope or cardinal; and it was and agony of his soul; he lay in sore deser- Austin's prayer, libera me, Domine, a metion three quarters of a year, and it is thought | ipso,- Lord deliver me from myself.' It was he never recovered his full joy to his dying a good advice one gave to his friend, Caveas day. Oh, therefore, you who belong to God teipsum. Beware of the bosom traitor, the and are enrolled in his family, take heed of flesh. The heart of a man is the Trojan horse, blemishing your profession with scandalous out of which comes a whole army of lusts. sin; you will pay dear for it! Think of the broken bones: though God doth not blot 2dly, In this petition, "deliver us from evil," we pray to be delivered from the evil of Satan. He is the evil one,' Matt. xiii. man with beauty, he tempts men to Delilah's 19. lap to keep them from Abraham's bosom. QUEST. In what respect is Satan the The devil glories in the damnation of souls. wicked one? How needful then is this prayer, "Deliver us from evil." Lord, keep us from the evil one; though Satan may solicit us to sin, suffer us not to give consent; though he may assault the castle of our hearts, yet let us not deli ANS. 1. He was the first inventor of evil, John viii. 44. He plotted the first treason. A. 2. His inclination is only to evil, Eph. vi. 12. A. 3. His constant practice is doing evil, ver up the keys of the castle to our mortal 1 Pet. v. 8. A. 4. All the evils and mischiefs that fall out in the world, he hath some hand in them. (1). He hinders from good, Zech. iii. 1, "He showed me Joshua the high-priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him." (2). He provokes to evil; he put it into Ananias's heart to lie, Acts v. 3, "Why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost?" The devil blows the fire of lust and strife. When men are proud, the old serpent hath poisoned them, and makes them swell. Thus he is the evil one; and well may we pray, "Lord deliver us from the evil one." The word Satan in the Hebrew signifies an opponent or adversary. 1. He is a restless adversary, he never sleeps; spirits need no sleep. He is a peripatetic,—" He walks about," 1 Pet. v. 8. And, how doth he walk? not as a pilgrim, but as a spy; he narrowly observes where he may plant his pieces of battery and make his assaults with most advantage against us. Satan is a subtle engineer; there is no place that can secure us from Satan's assaults and inroads. We find him while we are praying, hearing, meditating. We are sure of his company, uncertain how we came by it. enemy. 3dly, In this petition, "Deliver us from evil," we pray to be delivered from the evil of the world. It is called an 'evil world,' Gal. i. 4; not but that the world (as God made it) is good, but through our corruption it becomes evil, and we had need pray, deliver us from an evil world. QUEST. In what sense is it an evil world? ANS. 1. As it is a defiling world. It is like living in an infectious air; it requires a high degree of grace to "keep himself unspotted from the world," James i. 27. It is as hard to live in the world and not be defiled, as to go much in the sun, and not be tanned. (1). The opinions of the world are defiling; that a little religion will serve the turn, like leaf-gold, it must be spread but thin; that morality runs parallel with grace; that to be zealous, is to be righteous over much; that it is better to keep the skin whole than the conscience pure; that the flesh is rather to be gratified than mortified. These opinions of the world are defiling. (2). The examples of the world are defiling. Examples have a great force in them to draw us to evil.-Princeps imperio magnus examplo major, Princes are looking. glasses which we dress ourselves by; if they do evil, we are apt to imitate them. Great men are copies we set before us, and usually we write most like the copy when it is blotted. There is a great proneness in us to follow the examples of the world; therefore God hath put in a caveat against it, Exod. xxiii. 2, «Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil." How easily are we hurried to sin, when we have the tide of natural corruption, and the wind of example to carry us! Lot was the world's wonder; the complexion of his soul kept 2. Satan is a puissant adversary, he is armed with power. He is called 'the strong man,' Luke xi. 21. He takes men captive at his pleasure, 2 Tim. ii. 26, “Who are taken captive by him at his will," who are taken alive by him. It alludes to a bird that is taken alive in the snare. Thus you see he is in the evil one. The devil's work is to angle for men's souls; he lays suitable baits; he allures the ambitious man with honour, -the covetous man with riches, he hooks his baits with silver, he allures the lustful pure in Sodom's infectious air. The river |
