6th, There is little hope for such as know to do good, yet do it not, — know what is e- vil, but will not forbear. There were sa- crifices for sins of ignorance, but no sacri- fices for sins of presumption, Numb. xv. 30. Indeed presumptuous sinners hope all will be well, Prov. xiv. 16., " The fool rageth and is confident." Such a fool is spoken of, Deut. xxix. 19., "When he heareth the words of this curse, he blesseth himself iu his heart saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of my heart, to add drunkenness to thirst : the Lord will not spare him, but the anger and jealousy of the Lord shall smoke against that man."
7t/t, Such as sin presumptuously, that know to do good, yet do it not, know what is evil, yet will not forbear if, God refuseth all their services, whether reading, heaiuig, j)raying, or communicating. God abhors their sacrifice, Isa. i. 15., "When you make many prayers, I will not hear; your hands are full of blood." And Hos. viii. 13., " They sacrifice flesh for the sacrifices of mine offerings ; but the Lord accepted them not: now will he remeniher their iniquities, and visit their sins." Thus you see what cause you have to tremble, who are guilty in this kind: you see your misery
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SELECT SERMONS.
Besides all that hath been said, consider these two things. 1. You that sin pre- sumptuously,— that know to do good and do it not, — that know wliat is evil, yet will not forbear, — you cannot sin so cheap as others ; though sin will cost every one dear, yet it will cost you dearer. You go directly against conscience ; and if tliere be either justice in heaven, or fire in hell, you shall be sure to be punished. 2. You who sin presumptuously, cannot take so much pleasure in your sin as another may have. One whose conscience is less en- lightened, though his sin will be bitter to him afterwards, yet at present he may roll it as honey under his tongue, and find plea- sure in it : but you that sin against your knowledge, you cannot haA-e so much plea- sure in sin as he, for conscience will put forth a sting, and all the threatenings of the word will set themselves in battle array against you, so that you can have no quiet. And that trouble thou feelest now in thy conscience, is but the beginning of sorrow.
Quest. JVhat shall we do, that we maij not sin presumptuously against conscience ?
Ans. 1. Takeheedof little sins ; though — to speak properly — there are no such things as little sins, no little treason, but compar- atively, one sin may be lesser than another. Take heed of little sins. The frequent committing of lesser sins, will prepare for greater. A lesser distemper of the bodv,
if it be let alone, prepares for a greater dis- temper; being unjust in a little, prepares for being unjust in much, Luke xvi. 10 Such as were at first more modest, yet by accustoming themselves to lesser sins, by degrees their sins have grown up to a grea- ter height; jail sins have begun at little sins.
A. 2. If you would not sin presumptu- ously, viz. Knowingly and wilfully, then reverence the dictates of conscience ; get conscience w^ll-informed by the word, as you set your watch by the sun, and then be ruled by it ; do nothing against con- science. If conscience saith do such a thing, though never so unpleasing, set upon the duty. When conscience saith, Take heed of such a thing ? come not near the forbidden fruit. Conscience is God's depu- ty or proxy in the soul ; the voice of con- science is the voice of God ; do not trifle with cliecks of conscience, lest God suffer thee to hai'den in sin, and by degrees come to presumptuous sin.
A. 3. Labour to have your knowledge sanctified. Men sin against their know- ledge, because their knowledge is not sanc- tified. Sanctified knowledge works upon the soul ; it inclines us to do good ; it makes us flee from sin ; sanctified knowledge is like a breast jdate, which keeps the arrow of presumptuous sin from entering.
SERMON VI.
Col. iii. II. " But Christ is all in all"
V HE philosopher saith every science takes its dignity from the ol)ject ; the more noble the object, the more rare the knowledge. Hence it is, that Jesus Christ l)einp- the most sublime and glorious object, that knowledge which leads us to C'lnist must needs be most excellent; it is called " the excellency of the knowledge of ( luist " Phil. iii. 8. So sweet is this knowledtie, that St. Paul, " determined to know no- ihing but Christ," 1 Cor. ii. 2. And in- deed what needed he to know more ? for " Christ is all in all." In the text tliere is a negation and an assumption : something
the apostle sets down privatively, and some-- thing j)(>sitively.