A. 2. Pray earnestly for the new crea- ture : " Lord, thou hast made me once, make me again ; what shall I do with this old heart ? It defiles all it toucheth." Urge God with his promise, Ezek. xxxvi. 26., " A new heart also will I give you." Say, " Lord, I am as the dry bones, but thou didst cause breath to come into them, Ezek. xvii. 10. Do the same to me: breathe a supernatural life of grace into
me.
4th Use. Tliank fulness. Let such as are new creatures stand upon mount Gerizim,
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SELECT SERMONS.
blessing and praising God ; ascribe all to ibe riclies of God's love ; set the crown up- on the head of free grace. God hath done more for you than if he had made you kings and queens ; though you have not so much of the world as others, you are hap- pier than the greatest monarchs vipon earth; and, I dare say, you would not change with them. The apostles seldom speak of the new creation, but they join some thankful praises with it, 1 Pet. i. 3., " Blessed be
God, Avho, according to his abundant mer- cy, hatli begotten us again to a lively hope.'* Col. i. 12., " Giving thanks to the Father, who hath made us meet for the inheritance in light." The new creature is a sign of election, a badge of adoption. What dis- tinguishing love is this, that God should make any of us new creatures, when he hath left the greatest part of the world to perish in their sins ! Such as are patterns of mercy, should be trumpets of praise.
' SERMON III.
James iii. 6. " And the tongue is ajire, a world of iniquity.'*
Jl he apostle James in this scripture, de- scribes the evil of the tongue, " The tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity."
1. " It is a fire." It burns with intem- perate heat ; it causeth the heat of conten- tion ; it sets others in a flame.
2. " A world of iniquity." It was at first made to be an organ of God's praise, but it is become an instrument of unrighteousness. All the members of the body are sinful, as there is bitterness in every branch of worm- wood, but the tongue is excessively sinful, ■*' full of deadly poison," v. 8.
Doctrine. The tongue, though it be a little member, yet it hath a world of sin in it ; the tongue is an unruly evil. 1 sluill shew you some of the evils of the tongue.
1. The evil tongue is the silent tongue ; it is wholly mute in matters of religion ; it never speaks of God or of heaven, as if it cleaved to the roof of the mouth. Men are fluent and discoursive enough in other things, but in matters of religion their lips are sealed up. If we come into some peo- ple's company, we do not know what reli- gion they are of, whether Jews or Maho- metans, for they never speak of Christ ; they are like the man in the gospel, who was possessed with a dumb spirit, Mark ix. 17.
2. The evil tongue is the earthly tongue ; men talk of nothing but the world, as if all their hopes were here, and they looked for an eai*thly eternity ; these have earthly minds, John iii. 31., "He that is of the earth, speaketh of the earth."
3. The evil tongue is the hasty or angry tongue ; they have no command of passions, but are carried away with them, as a cha- riot with wild horses. I know there is an holy anger, when we are angry with sin : Christ had this anger when they made the temple a place of merchandise, John ii. 15. That anger is without sin, which is against sin ; but that is an evil tongue, which is presently blown up into exorbitant passion ; this ' tongue is set on fire from hell.' A wrathful spirit is unsuitable to the gospel ; it is a gospel of peace, and its author is the Prince of Peace, and it is sealed by the Spirit, who came in the form of a dove, a meek peaceable creature. Thou who art given much to ])assion, whose tongue is often set on fire, take heed thou dost, not one day in hell desire a drop of water to cool thy tongue.
4. The evil tongue is the vain tongue, that vents itself in idle words : Ps. x. 7., " Under his tongue is vanity." A vain tongue shews a light heart ; a good man's words are Aveighty and ])rudent ; his li])s are as a tree of life to feed many ; his sj)eech is edifying, Prov. x. 20., " The tongue of the just is as choice silver." But, Prov. XV. 2., " The mouth of fools pours out foolishness:" How many idle away the day of grace in frivolous discourses ? A wise man's words are like gold, weighty, and will sink into the hearts of others ; but the words of many are light and featli(>ry and will make no imjiression. Mat. xii. 30. " Every idle word that men shall speak,
THE EVIL TONGUE.
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tliey sliall give an account thereof in tlic day of jiulgmont."