1. Consider, there are but two sorts of men in the world, and you are one of them. There is no neutral, no middle state ; there are but two principles that men are influenced by, the flesh and the spirit ; and there are but two ends men propound to themselves, either the pleasing of the flesh upon earth, or the enjoyment of God in heaven ; and two places they issue into, heaven or hell. The scripture is per- emptory, and tells you who shall go to heaven, and who shall go to hell: Ko'm. viii. 13, 'If ye live after the flesh, ye shall die ; but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live;' Gal. vi. 8, ' He that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corrup- tion ; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.' Or consider that, Prov. xiv. 14, ' The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways, and a good man shall be satisfied fi'om himself.' There are two different persons commencing and setting forth in the pursuit of happiness, the backslider in heart and the good man. The backslider in heart is one that continues in the apostasy and defection of mankind, that indulgeth his lusts and vain pleasures, and for a seeming good leaves God, v/ho is the chief good. But the good men are those who make it their business to keep their hearts chaste and loyal to God. They both desire to be filled and to be satisfied. The one takes his own way, and the other God's counsel ; and in the event both are filled. The backslider in heart hath enough of his own ways Vv-hen they have brought him to hell ; and the good man hath enough when he comes to the enjoyment of the blessed God. And there is one truth more there, they are both filled from themselves, their own ways. The backslider shall have the fruit of his own choice, and a good man is satisfied with that course of godliness that he hath chosen, Prov. i. 31. Those that turn away from God, it is said, 'They shall eat of tlieir own ways, and be filled with the fruit of their own devices ;' and Isa. iii. 10, ' Say unto the righteous, it shall be well with him, for he shall eat of the fruit of his own doings.'
2. Consider the doleful condition of those that indulge their carnal affections ; and that either threatened by God, or executed upon the wicked.
[1.] Consider it as it is threatened by God. If God threaten so great a misery, it is for our profit, that we may take heed and escape it. There is mercy in the severest threatenings, that we may avoid the bait when we see the hook, that we may digest the strictness of a holy life, rather than venture upon such dreadful evils. Why did our Lord repeat it three times, 'Where the worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched ' ? but that we may have it often in our thoughts, that we may not buy the pleasures of sin at so dear a rate — so hard a price as the loss of our precious souls.
•J34 THE FiFTU SERMON. [Mauk IX. 49.
[2.] Consider the punishment as executed !i])nn the wicked. How many are now burning in hell for those sins which you are ready to commit ? The serious consideration of it will check the fervour of your lusts, that you may not easily venture upon an everlasting hell.
[3.] Consider which trouble is most intolerable — to be salted with salt, or to be salted with fire ; with unpleasing mortification, or the pains of hell ; the trouble of physic, or the danger of a mortal disease. Surely to preserve the life of the body, men will endure the bitterest pill, take the most loathsome potion. Why ? their lives lie on it. And shall we be unwilling to such a necessary strictness, to these wholesome severities, which conduce to save you with an everlasting salvation ? There is no remedy ; trouble must be undergone. Surely a strict diet is better than a speedy death ; and the pricking of a vein by a chirurgeon is not so bad as a stab at the heart by an enemy. Better be macerated by repentance, than broken in hell by torments. Which is worse, dis- cipline or execution ? Here the question is put : you must be troubled first or last. Would you have a sorrow mixed with love and hope, or else mixed with desperation ? Would you have a drop or an ocean ? Would you have your souls cured or tormented ? Would you have trouble in the short moment of this life, or have it eternal in the world to come ?
[4.] Be sure you be a sacrifice dedicated to God, really entered into covenant with God, and set apart for his use ; that this may be your end, your business, your scope, to please, glorify, and enjoy him, 2 Cor. i, 9. We can the better speak to you when you are under a covenant engagement. Christ bound you to this when he died for you: he ' sanctified himself that you might be sanctified through the truth,' that is, dedicated to God, John xvii. 19 ; and ' by one offering he hath per- fected for ever them that are sanctified,' that is, them that are conse- crated to God, or entered into a holy covenant with God. Christ bound you to it, and your own gratitude will suggest it to you : ' I beseech you, Ity the mercies of the Lord, present yourselves,' &c. Nay, the new nature will incline you to it : Kom. vi. 13, ' Yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as in- struments of righteousness unto God.' The new life will {)i'esently discover itself by its tendency and end, if this be indeed your end and woik to be faitliful to God's covenant.