Use 1. Well, then, do not be too ready to bless yourselves, provided the sins of others break not out upon you : do not flatter yourselves that you run not into the same sins that others do. The devil may take you in another snare that suiteth more with your temper and con- dition of life. Some are sensual and some vainglorious, others worldly; many meet in hell that do not go thither the same way. A man may not be as other men, and yet he may not be as he should be : Luke xviii. 11, 'The pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee that I am not as other men ; ' yet ' the publican went down to his house justified rather than the proud pharisee.' Those that slighted the invitation to the marriage-feast had their several diver- sions and reasons of excuse : Mat. xxii. 5, ' But they all made light of it, and went their ways, one to his fiirm, another to his merchandise.' One hath business to keep him from Christ, and another pleasures and the pomps and vanities of the present world, and another has his superstitious observances. But all obstruct the power of the truth, and the receiving of Christ into their souls. Every man will have his way, saith Luther upon this text. Some follow their hawks and hounds, and neglect their precious and immortal souls. Others busy them-
VOL. III. u
30G A PRACTICAL EXPOSITION UPON [ISA. LIII. 6.
selves in lieapiii^^ up riches; others are for inlays and sports to fool away the day of <!;race. ' My way,' saith he, ' when I was a monk, was to fast and pray till I had made myself sick ; to observe the statutes of my order strictly. I called upon the blessed Virgin, and St George, ■ and St Cliristoi)her'; and this was my way. And so vile a creature as I was, for all this, became the more sinful.' Others may hate this or that public and visible blemish, but what are thy failings H John viii. 7, ' He that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone at her.' We may rashly censure others, and descant on their faults, but it is better to look inward. Do not I ofiend God as much another way as those whom I censure ? There is a double madness — not only that which is idle and light, and breaketh out in strange freaks and furious extravagances, but that which is more sober, solemn, and grave, A frenzy betrayetli itself by deep musings and high conceits. So it is true of these discoveries of sin. Some delight in vain plea- sures, others go to hell in a graver course. When a man perisheth, he ' eateth the fruit of his own way, and is filled with his own de- vices,' Prov. i. 31.
2. Stop your way of sinning, pluck out thy right eye, cut ofi" thy right hand, Mat. v. 29, 30. Your trial lieth there, as Abraham was tried in ofiering up his Isaac ; and David voucheth it as a mark of sincerity : Ps. xviii. 23, ' I was upright before thee, and kept myself from mine iniquity.' It will prove a stumbling-block, and eat out all the heart and power of grace if let alone. It concerneth us in our covenanting with God to set against the sin of this inbred and natural inclination. Though original sin dispose us to all sin, yet our partic- ular and personal inclination may carry us more strongly to some one kind of sin : Heb. xii. 1, ' Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin wliich doth so easily beset us.' Thus childhood is wanton, and old age touchy and covetous. Sins take the throne by turns, according to our vocation and course of life. Every calling hath its temptations, and there is a snare which others meet not with. Every condition of life hath a predominant sin ; as the young man with his great possessions. Oh ! let us consider our tender parts, our Delilah, our Herodias, that sin that hindereth us most in closing with Christ, that sin that most cngrosseth our thoughts ; for they always follow the temper of our hearts. Some sins we hide under the tongue, Job xx. 12, which we cannot endure should be touched ; our private sore is a tender place. Thus Herod would not be crossed in his Herodias, and Felix trembled when Paul ' reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come,' Acts xxiv. 25, because he lived in intemperance with Drusilla, his pretended wife. That which you reserve in turning to God, that which you set up a toleration in your hearts for, even this sin must be bewailed to God, and you must seek the blood of Christ to mortify it with all the promising occasions of it. Act the contrary grace, and see how you can deny yourselves in what you most affect.
Use 2. Is caution not to walk slightly. There is but one right path, there are many evil ones. As one said, Evil is manifold, and the way of sin divideth itself into divers paths ; you may easily mistake. See that place, Prov. iv. 2G, 27, ' Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established : turn not to the right hand, nor to the left ;