(3.) As great sinners as you have been have found mercy, 1 Tim. i. 16. and God would have it to be recorded for your encourage- ment. If now the Lord shall make thy heart to break, and thy will to bow, Avhatever thy sins have been, they shall not bar thee from mercy and forgiveness. But if thou resolve to go on in sin, or sit down desponding or discouraged, and wilt not come in at the invitation and call of Christ, then thy wound is incurable indeed ; and there is but one way with thee, thy mittimus is already made for hell; and that scripture in 1 Cor. vi. 9. ^vill tell thee whi- ther thou art going. But God forbid that this should be the issue of Christ's gracious invitations to thee, and forbearance of thee. Seeing mercy is tendered to any man that will accept it upon Christ's terms, exclude not thyself when he hath not excluded thee.
2. I will close up this use of exhortation to another sort of per- sons, who are not of the notorious, infamous rank of profane sin- ners, but their lives have been drawn more smoothly through a course of civility. These have as great need to be pressed to re- pentance and faith, as the most notorious sinners in the world. These are a generation that bless themselves in their own eyes, and thank God with the Pharisee, Luke xviii. 11. They are " not as other men." They acknowledge conversion to be the duty of the profane ; that such sinners as I last dealt Avith stand in ap- parent need of it. But, as for themselves, they scarce know where to find matter for repentance ; nor do they feel any need of Christ. Now, I would lay three considerations before such persons, to con- ^^nce them that their case is as sad and hazardous, yea, and in some respect, more hazardous than the state of the most notorious sin- ners in the world ; and that a change must also pass upon them, or else it had been good for them they had never been horn.
Consideration 1. Let the civilized part of the world lay this thought close to their hearts, That, though their sins be not so gross
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and horrid to appearance as other men's arc, yet, continued in, they will prove as mortal and destructive as those greater abominations of other men. No sin, absolutely considered, is small. Every sin is mortal and damning without Christ, Rom. vi. ult. The wages of sin is death. It is no great odds, if a man be killed, whether it were by a broad sword, or by a small penknife. The least sin vio- lates the whole law, James ii. 10. " He that ofFendcth in one point, *' is guilty of all.*" The least transgression of the law pulls down the guilt and curse of the whole law upon the sinner's head. And this is your misery, that you are out of Christ, and stand under the rigorous terms of the first covenant. Moreover, the law of God is violated grossly and externally ; or spiritually, and more internally. Thus every unchaste thought is adultery : And the very inward burning of malice and anger in the heart is murder. Now, if the Lord shall bring the spiritual sense of the law home to your con- sciences, as he did to Paul's, Rom. vii. 9. you will certainly give up that plea, and you have not so much need of conversion as other sinners have. There are sins of greater infamy, and sins of deeper guUt. There may be more guilt in those sins that are stifled in thy heart, and never defamed thee, than there may be in some sins that make a louder noise in the word.
Conskl. % You are guilty of one sin (how civil and blameless soever your lives are) which is certainly more great and heinous than any outward act of sin can ordinarily be, and that is, your trusting to your own righteousness, as the Pharisees did, Luke xviii. 9. " He " spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that " they were righteous, and despised others." Here is an idol of jealousy set up in the room of Christ. It is true, this sin makes not so loud a noise in the world, raises not such a d«st as the sins of pro- fane ones do. But certainly it is as abominable in the eyes of God as the sins that stink so much in the nostrils of nature. Civilized per- sons, thus trusting to their own civihty, and neglecting Jesus Christ, will be one day put into the van of that wretched crew that are going to hell ; a portion with unbelievers, as the scripture speaks.
Consid. 3. Lastly, it hath been always found a more rare and difficult thing to convince and bring home to Christ the civilized part of the world, than it is to convince and work upon the pro- fane part of it, Matth. xxi. 31. " Pubhcans and harlots go into " the kingdom of God before you." Publicans were reckoned the vilest sort of men, and harlots the worst sort of women : yet, either of these were easier to be brought to Christ than self-righteous Pharisees. Well then, away with your own vain and idle pretensions, that your case is safer and better than others. By what hath been said, it evidently appears, that you stand in as much need of Christ as the most infamous sinners in the world do.