intolerable. Let a man be under the com- mand of any lust, how doth he tire himself? What hazards doth he run to the endanger- ing his health and soul, tliat he may satisfy his lust? Jer. ix. 5., " Tliey weary them- selves to commit iniquity." And are not God's commandments more equal, facile, pleasant, than the commands of sin ? Cliry- Bostom saith true, " To act virtue is easier than to act vice." Tem])erance is less trou- blesome than drunkenness ; meekness is less troublesome than passion and cnA'y. Tliere is more difficulty in the contrivement and pursuit of a wicked design, than In obeying the commandments of God. Hence a sin- ner is said to travail with iniquity, Ps. vii. 14. A woman while she is in travail, is in pain ; to shew what pain and trouble a wicked man hath in bringing forth sin. Many have gone with more pains to hell, than others have to heaven. This may make us obey the commandments willingly.
5. Willingness in obedience makes us resemble the angels. The cherubims — types representing the angels — are described with wings displayed, to shew how ready the an- gels are to serve God. God no sooner sjyeaks the word, but they are ambitious to obey. How are they ravished with joy, while they are praising God ! In heaven we shall be as the angels; by our willingness to obey God's commandments, we shall be like them here. This is what we pray for, that God's will may be done by us on earth, as it is in heaven : is it not done willingly there ? We must keep God's commandments constantly, Ps. cvi. 3., " Blessed is he who doth righteousness at all times." Our obe- dience to the command must be as the fire of the altar which never went out, Lev. vi. 9. It must be as the motion of the pulse, always beating. The wind blows off the fruit, our fruits of obedience must not be
blown off by the wind of persecution, John XV. 16., " I have chosen you, that you should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain."
Use. It reproves them who live in a wil- ful breach of God's commandments, — ^in malice, uncleanness, intemperance, — they walk antipodes to the commandment. To live in a wilful breach of the command- ment is,
L<!^, Against reason. Are we able to stand it out against God ? 1 Cor. x. 22., " Do we provoke the Lord, are we stron- ger than he ?" Can we measure arms with God ? Can impotency stand against omni- potency? A sinner, in acting sin, acts a- gainst reason.
2d/y, It is against equity. We have our being from God ; and, is it not equal we should obey him who gives us our being ? We have all our subsistence from God ; and is it not fitting, that as God gives us our allowance we should give him our al- legiance ? If a general gi^'es his soldier pay, he is to march at his command : so that to live in the breach of his commands, is against equity.
Sdlf/, It is against nature. Every crea- ture in its kind obeys God's law: L Ani- mate creatures obey him. God spake to the fish, and it set Jonah a-shore, Jonah ii. 10. — 2. Inanimate creatures; "the wind and the sea obey him," Mark iv. 41. The very stones, if God give them a commis- sion, will cry out against the sins of men, Hab. ii. 11., " The stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it." None disobey God but wicked men and the devil ; and can we find none to join with else ?
Athly, It is against kindness. How ma- ny mercies have we to allure us to obey? Miracles of mercy ; therefore the apostle joins these two together, — disobedient and unthankful, 2 Tim. iii. 2., and this dyes a sin of a crimson colour. And, as the sin is great, (for it is a contempt of God, a hanging out of the flag of defiance against God, and rebellion is as the sin of witch- craft) so the punishment will be proportion- able ; such cut themselves off from mercy. God's mercy is for them that keep his com- mandments, but no mercy to them that liv*
OF THE THIRD COMMANDMENT.
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in a wilful breach of tliem. All God's judgments set themselves in battle-array ag^ainst the disobedient. (1.) Temporal judgments, Lev. xxvi. 15, 16. (2.) Eter- nal. " Christ comes in flames of fire, to take vengeance on them that obey not God," 2 Tliess. i. 8. Such as break the golden chain of God's commands, God hath iron chains to hold them ; chains of darkness, in which the devils are held, Jude 6. As long as there is eternity, God hath time e-
nongh to reckon with all the wilful breakers of his commandments.
Quest. How shall tve do to keep God's commandmetiis ?
Ana. Beg the Spirit of God. We can- not do it in our own strength ; " The Spi- rit must work in us both to will and to do," Phil. ii. 13. When the loadstone draws, the iron moves : when God's Spirit draws, then we run in the way of God's commandments.
OF THE THIRD COMMANDMENT.
ExoD. XX. 7. Thou sholt not take the vame of the Lord thy God in vain : For (he Lord will nut hold him guiltless that taktth his name in vain.