[14.] Fourteenthly, Universal obedience will give most peace, rest, quiet, and comfort to the conscience. Such a Christian will be as an eye that hath no mote to trouble it ; as a kingdom that hath no rebel to annoy it ; as a ship that hath no leak to disturb it : Ps. cxix. 165, * Great peace have they which love thy law, and nothing shaU offend them.' But,
[15.] Fifteenthlyj Mans holiness must he conformnhle to God's holiness: Eph. v. 1, 2, 'Be ye followers of God as dear children ;' Mat. V. 48, ' Be ye perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.' Now * God is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works,' and so ought all to desire and endeavour to be, that would be saved : 1 Pet. i. 15, ' As he who hath called you is holy, so be ye also holy in all manner of conversation; ver. 16, because it is written, Be ye holy, for I am holy.' But,
[16.] Sixteenthly, The holiness of a Christian must he conformahle to the holiness of Christ, * Be ye followers of me, as I am of Christ,' 1 Cor. xi. 1. Now Christ was holy in all things. * It behoveth us,' said he, ' to fulfil all righteousness.' And this should be the care of every one that professeth himself to be Christ's, to endeavour ' to be holy as Christ was holy : ' 1 John ii. 6, ' He that saith he abideth in him, ought himself to walk even as he walked.' But,
[17.] Seventeenthly, Servants must ohey their earthly masters, not in Sonne things only, hut in all things, to wit, that are just and lawful : Titus ii. 9, ' Exhort servants to be obedient to their own masters, and to please them well in all things.' What master wiU be content that his servant should choose how far forth he will observe and do those things which he doth require of him ? much less may we think that such arbitrary and partial performances will please that God who is our heavenly Master.
[18.] Eighteenthly, The promises of mercy, hoth spiritual and tem- poral, are made over to universal obedience, 1 Kings vi. 12, 13; Deut. xxviii. 1-3; Ezek. xviii. 21, 22, 27, 28. Turn to all these promises and dilate on them, &c.
[19.] Nineteenthly, One sin never goes alone, as yoti may see in the falls of Adam and Eve, Lot, Ahraham, Noah, Jacob, Joseph, Job, David, Solomon, Peter, Ahab, Juda^, Jeroboam. One sin will make way for more ; as one little thief can open the door to let in many great ones. Satan will be sure to nest himself, to lodge himself in the least sins, as birds nest and lodge themselves in the smallest branches of the tree, and there he will do all he can to hatch all manner of wickedness. A little wedge makes way for a greater ; and. so do little sins make way for greater.
[20.] Twentiethly, The reasons of turning from sin are universally binding to a gracious soul. There are the same reasons and grounds for a penitent man's turning from every sin as there is for his turning from any one sin. Do you turn froiri this or that sin because the Lord hath forbid it? why! upon the same ground you must turn from every sin ; for God has forbid every sin as well as this or that
46 SERIOUS AND WEIGHTY QUESTIONS
particular sin. There is the same authority forbidding or command- ing in all ; and if the authority of God awes a man from one sin, it will awe him from all, &c. But,
[21.] Twenty-firstly, One sin allowed and lived in will keep Christ and the soul asunder. As one rebel, one traitor, hid and kept in the house, will keep a prince and his subjects asunder ; or as one stone in the pipe will keep the water and the cistern asunder ; so here. But,
[22.] Twenty-secondly, One sin alloived and lived in will unfit a person for suffering ; as one cut or shot in the shoulder may hinder a man from bearing a burden. Will he ever lay down his life for Christ, that can't, that won't lay down a lust for Christ? But,
[23.] Twenty-thirdly, One sin alloived and lived in is sufficient to de- prive a man for ever of the greatest good. One sin allowed and wal- lowed in will as certainly deprive a man of the blessed vision of God, and of all the treasures, pleasures, and delights that be at Gods right hand, as a thousand. One sin stripped the fallen angels of all their glory ; and one sin stripped our first parents of all their dignity and excellency, Gen. iii. 4, 5. One fly in the box of precious ointment spoils the whole box ; one thief may rob a man of all his treasure ; one disease may deprive a man of all his health ; and one drop of poison will spoil the whole glass of wine : and so one sin allowed and lived in will make a man miserable for ever. One millstone will sink a man to the bottom of the sea, as well as a hundred. It is so here. But,
[24.] Twenty-fourthly, One sin allowed and lived in ivill eat out all peace of conscience. As one string that jars will spoil the sweetest music ; so one sin countenanced and lived in will spoil the music of conscience. One pirate may rob a man of all he has in this world. But,
[25.] Twenty-fifthly and lastly, The sinner loould have God to for- give him, not only some of his sins, but all his sins ; and therefore it is hut just andeqtcal that he should turn from all his sins. If God be so faithful and just to forgive us all our sins, we must be so faithful and just as to turn from all our sins. The plaster must be as broad as the sore, and the tent i as long and as deep as the wound. It argues horrid hypocrisy, damnable folly, and wonderful impudency for a man to beg the pardon of those very sins that he is resolved never to for- sake, &c.
Objection. But it is impossible for any man on earth to walk in all God's statutes, to obey all his commands, to do his ivill in all things, to loalk according to thefidl breadth of God's royal laiv.
Solution. I answer, there is a twofold walking in all the statutes of God ; there is a twofold obedience to all the royal commands of God.
(1.) First, One is legal, when all is done that God requireth ; and all is done as God requireth, when there is not one path of duty, but we do walk in it perfectly and continually. Thus no man on earth doth or can walk in all God's statutes, or fully do what he command- eth. ' For in many things we offend all,' James iii. 2. So Eccles. vii. 20, ' There is not a just man upon the earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.' 1 Kings viii 46, ' For there is no man that sinneth not.' ^ 'A roll of lint used in searching or cleansing a deep wound.' — G.
CLEARLY AND SATISFACTORILY ANSWERED. 47
Prov. XX. 9, ' Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin ? ' Job xiv. 4, ' Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean ? not one.' 1 John i. 8, ' If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.'