here so diffident and modest, as to blush at some sins out of shame, and forbear the acting of others out of fear, when there thou slialt see thy case as desperate as the devil doth his, then thou wilt spit out thy blasphemies, with which thy nature is stuffed, with the same malice that he doth. The Indians have a con- ceit, that when they die, they shall be transformed into the deformed likeness of the devil ; therefore in their language they have the same word for a dead man and the devil. Sin makes the wicked like him before they come there, but indeed they will come to their countenance more fully there, when those flames shall wash off that paint which here hides their complexion. The saints in heaven shall be like the angels in their alacrity, love, and constancy to serve God, and the dannied, like the devils in sin as well as punishment. This one considera- ' tion might be of excellent use to unbottom a sinner, and abase him, so as never to have high thoughts of himself. It is easy to run down a person whose life is wicked, and convince him of the evil of his actions, and inake him confess that what he doth is evil ; but here is the thicket we lose him in ; he will say, ' It is true, I am overseen, I do what I should not, God forgive me ; but my heart is good.' Thy heart good, sinner ! and so is the devil's; his nature is wicked, and thine as bad as his. These pimples in thy face shew the heat of thy cor- rupt natiu'e witliin, and without gospel physic, the blood of Christ applied to thee, thou wilt die a leper ; none but Christ can give thee a new heart, till which thou wilt every day gi'ow worse and worse. Sin is an hereditary disease, that increaseth with age. A young sinner will be an old devil.
Use 2. Again, It would be of use to the saints, especially those in whom God by his timely call forestalled the devil's market ; as sometimes the Spirit of God takes sin in its quarters before it comes into the field, in the sins of youth ; now such a one finding not those daring sins committed by him, that others have been left unto, may possibly not be affected so with his own sin, or God's mercy. O let such a one behold here the wickedness of his heart in this glass of the devil's nature, and he will see himself as great a debtor to the mercy of God as Manasses, or the worst of sinners ; as in pardoning, so in preventing the same cursed nature with theirs, before it rose against God with those bloody sins they committed. That thou didst not act such outrageous shis, thou art beholden to God's gracious restraint, and not to the goodness of thy nature, which hath the devil's stamp on it, for which God might have crushed thee, as we do the brood of serpents before they sting, knowing what they will do in time. Who will say that Faux suffered unjustly, because the parliament was not blown up ? It was enough that the materials for that massacre were pro- vided, and he taken there with match and fire about him, ready to lay the train ; and canst thou say, when God first took hold on thee, that thou hadst not those weapons of rebellion about thee, a nature fully charged with enmity against God, which in time would have made its own report of what for present lay like unfired powder silent in thy bosom ? O Christian, think of this, and be humbled for thy villanous nature, and say. Blessed be God, that sent his Spirit and grace so opportunely to stay thy hand, as Abigail to David, while thy nature meditated nothing but war against God and his laws.
Again, Thirdly, Are the devils so wickedly malicious against God himself? O sii's, take the right notion of sin, and you will hate it. The reason why we are so easily persuaded to sin is, because we understand not the bottom of his design in drawing a creature to sin. It is with men in sinning, as it is with armies in fighting ; captains beat their drums for volunteers, and promise all that enlist, pay and plunder; and this makes them come trooping in ; but few consider what the ground of the war is, against whom, or for what. Satan enticetli to sin, and gives golden promises what they shall have in his service, with which silly souls are won ; but how few ask their souls, Whom do I sin against ? What is the devil's design in drawing me to sin ? Shall I tell thee ? Dost thou think it is thy pleasure or profit he desires in thy sinning ? Alas, he means nothing less ; he hath greater plots in his head than so. He hath by his apostasy proclaimed war against God, and he brings thee by sinning to espouse his quarrel, and to hazard the life of thy soul in defence of his pride and lust ; which that he may do, he cares no more for the damnation of thy sold, tlian the great Turk doth to see a company of his slaves cut off for the carrying on of
AGAINST SPIRITUAL WICKEDNESS. 1 2<)