Notion (6). Sixthly and lastly, If you would break covenant with sin, and arm and fence yourselves against it betimes, then you must look upon it betimes under the notion of a tyrant.
And indeed, sin is the worst and greatest tyrant in the world, Titus iii. 3. Other tyrants can but tyrannize over our bodies, but sin is a tyrant that tyrannizes over both body and soul, as you may see in the sixth and seventh of the Romans. Sin is a tyrant that hath a kind of jurisdiction in most men's hearts ; it sets up the law of pride, the law of passion, the law of oppression, the law of formality, the law of hypo- crisy, the law of carnality, the law of self-love, the law of carnal reason, the law of unbelief, and strictly commands subjection to them, and pro- claims fire and sword to all that stand out. This saints and sinners, good men and bad, do sufficiently experience.
Sin is a tyrant of many thousand years' standing, and though it hath had many a wound, and many a foil, and received much opposition, yet still it plays the t}7rant all the world over ! Oh, the hearts that this tyrant makes to ache ! the souls that this tyrant makes to bleed !3
Pharaoh's tyranny was nothing to sin's tyranny. This tyrant will not so much as suffer his slaves to sleep. They sleep not, except they have clone mischief, and their sleep is taken away unless they cause some to fall, Prov. iv. 16. ' The wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace to the wicked, saith my God/ Isa. lvii. 20, 21.
Other tyrants have been brought down and brought under by a human power, but this cannot but by a divine. The power of man
1 A strange watering of a garden. — Bernard.
% Thales, one of the Beven Bages, used to say, that few tyrants lived to be old ; but it is far otherwise with this tyrant sin.
1 Kings XIV. 13.] apples of gold. 261
hath brought down many of the tyrants of this world, but it is only the power of Christ that can bring down this tyrant, that can cast down his strongholds, 2 Cor. x. 3-6, &c. Therefore, engage Christ in the conflict, draw him into the battle, and in the end the conquest will be yours.
Vitellius, who had been emperor of all the world, yet was driven through the streets of Rome stark naked, and thrown into the river Tiber, &C1
Andronicus the emperor, for his cruelty towards his people, was by them at last shamefully deposed, and, after many contumelies, hanged up by his heels.2
Ptolemy was put on a cross ; Bajazet in an iron cage ; Phocas broken on the wheel ; Lycaon cast to the dogs, as well as Jezebel ; Attalus thrust into a forge ; King Gath into a beer barrel, &c. But none of these that have tamed these tyrants, that have brought down these mighty Nimrods, have been able to tame, to bring under the tyrants, the sins, the lusts, that have been in their own bosoms. Many a man hath had a hand in bringing down of worldly tyrants, who, not- withstanding, have died for ever by the hand of a tyrant within, &c.
And thus much for the directions that young men must follow, if they would be good betimes, if they would seek and serve the Lord in the spring and morning of their days. I shall now give some brief answers to the young man's objections and the old man's scruples, and so close up this discourse.
Obj. I. But some young men may object, and say, You would have us to be good betimes, and to seek and serve the Lord in the primrose of our days. But it may be time enough hereafter to follow this counsel ; we are young, and it may be time enough for us to mind these things hereafter, when we have satisfied the flesh so and so, or when we have got enough of the world, and laid up something that will stand us in stead, and tlmt may oil our joints when we are old. Now,
To this objection I answer,
1. First, That it is the greatest folly and madness in the world to put off God and the great things of eternity with may-bes. What tradesman, what merchant, what mariner, so mad, so foolish, so blockish, as to put off a present season, a present opportunity of profit and ad- vantage, upon the account of a may-be ? It may be I have as good a season, it may be I shall have as golden an opportunity to get, and to enrich myself as this is ; and therefore farewell to this. No men that are in their right minds will argue thus ; and why then should you, especially in the things that are of an everlasting concernment to you ?
I have read of one monarch, a frantic Italian, who thought that all the kings of the earth were his vassals ; and as frantic are they who wilfully neglect present seasons of grace, upon the account of a future may-be, &c.
1 Previously dragged to the Gemonise Scalte, where the body of Sabinus had been ex- posed. Cf. Tillemont, Histoire des Empereurs, i.— G. * Doubtful.— G.
2G2 APPLES OF GOLD. [1 KlNGS XIV. 13.
2. Secondly, I answer, It may be if thou neglect est this present sea- son and opportunity of grace, thou mayest never have another.1 It may be mercy may never knock more, if thou dost not open ; it may be Christ shall never be offered to thee more, if now thou dost not close with him, and accept of him ; it may be the Spirit will never strive more with thee, if now thou dost resist him and withstand him ; it may be a pardon shall never be offered to thee more, if now thou wilt not take it ; it may be the gospel shall never sound more in thy ears, if now thou wilt not hear it. Now set one may-be against another may- be, set God's may-be against thine own may-be ; but,
3. Thirdly, Doubtless there are many thousand thousands now in hell, icho have pleased themselves and put off God and the seasons of grace with a may-be, hereafter may be time enough. It may be when I have gratified such a lust, and when I have treasured so much of the world, I will return, and seek, and serve the Lord ; but before ever this season or opportunity came, justice hath cut the thread of their lives, and they are now miserable for ever ; and now they are still a-cursing themselves, because they have slipped their golden opportunities upon the account of a may-be,2 &c. But,
4. Fourthly, and lastly, This putting off God and the present seasons of grace with a may-be, is very provoking to God, as you may see, if you will but read from the 20th verse to the 33d of the first of Pro- verbs. Nothing stirs and provokes a master more than his servants putting off his service or his commands with a may-be ; it may be I will, it may be I may do this and that ; nothing puts a master sooner into a heat, a flame, than this ; nor nothing puts God more into a flame than this, as you may see by comparing Ps. xcv. ver. 6 to the end, with that 3d of the Hebrews, and the 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th. Head the words, and tremble at the thoughts of a may-be, at the thoughts of putting off of God and the seasons of grace.