1. Because total omissions, against knowledge and conscience, espe- cially of necessary duties, are very great sins. That omissions are sins as well as sins of commission, appeareth from the nature of the law, which consists of a precept and prohibition. It enforceth good, as well as forbiddeth what is evil : Ps. xxxiv. 14, ' Depart from evil, and do good/ In the government of man, the law useth both these, the bridle and the spur, inciting him to that which is good, and re- straining him from that which is evil. You deny God his due when you withhold from him that service, love, and worship which he re- quireth ; which is a great evil in his creatures, which are made by him, and fed and maintained by him. You wrong him when you deprive him of your service for whose use you were made. Therefore sins of omission are sins. Now, of all omissions, omissions of the most necessary duties are most culpable ; want of love to God, fear of God, faith in God, are greater evils than not praying at such a time, hearing of the word, or labouring in our callings at such a time. The life of religion lieth in the one more than in the other ; and they are more indispensably required. The scripture pronounceth a heavy doom upon these kind of defects : 1 Cor. xvi. 22, ' If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed.' Among these, sins contra remedium are more baneful than peccata contra officium: Heb. ii. 3, 'How shall .we escape if we neglect so great salvation?' Especially when total. To omit an act of love to God, or to fail in point of faith in a particular case or exigence, is a great evil ; but to be wholly care- less and mindless of the favour of God, or to seek after it in a very overly slight manner, is worst of all : Rom. iii. 11, ' There is none that understandeth, that seeketh after God.' They do not make it their business to remember God, or their duty to him, or their study to
472 SERMONS UPON MATTHEW XXV. [SeR. XV.
please him ; they think of him seldom, or very neglectfully worship him, or make mention of him very coldly, serve him carelessly, or by the by. This showeth that men are naughty, wicked, and in a cursed estate ; especially when they are convinced of better, that God de- serveth more serious regard at their hands, and Christ to be more dear and precious to them, and their converses with him more delightful. The religion they profess doth plainly call for more at their hands; and their consciences are clamorous, and the Spirit of God importunate with them. To omit a duty against knowledge is as great a sin as to commit evil against knowledge : James iv. 17, ' Therefore, to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.' The closer the application by serious convictions, strong motions, and impulses to do better, the greater their sin ; for this argueth a flat disobedience and contempt of God, aud a grieving of his Spirit, Eph. iv. 30, to give him the repulse when he would fain enter and take possession of our hearts. Now, put all these things together, and you will soon find that a slothful servant is a very wicked, naughty servant. Satis est malt ipsam nihil fecisse boni. They are not only evil servants that teach falsities, but they also that do not promote the kingdom of Christ to their power ; not only they that do no hurt, but they that do no- good : Mat. iii. 20, ' Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire.' Not only the poisonous, but the barren tree.
2. The motives that draw us to this idleness and sloth are paltry, base, and such as offer great wrong to God. Alas ! what have we to- hinder us in God's service, but a little worldly profit, pleasure, or honour ? Now, what a gross sin is it to love the world above God, or to neglect Christ that died for thee, merely to please the flesh, and to seek its ease and contentment ! Probatio unius sine contumelia alte- rius procedere non potest : Heb. xii. 15, ' Lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled.' If there were some better or more considerable thing in the case, the fault were the less, and our negligence might the more be excused ; but this is a gross, sin, to despise God for poor contemptible vanities. The world counts profaneness by another measure than the scripture. You count adul- terers and drunkards and swearers profane ; but the scripture counteth them profane that have not an esteem of spiritual privileges. There are peccata majoris inf amice, and peccata majoris reatus. Some sins in the eye of the world have more filthiness and turpitude in them,, and some sins in the eye of God have more guilt, as when we despise the favour of God, and do not think it worthy our most serious and lively diligence ; the smallness of the temptation aggravateth the negli- gence. The service of God is of everlasting consequence, but the things of the world are of short continuance ; all this dust is gone with the spurn of a foot ; one turn of the hand of God separateth thy neglected soul from thy pampered body, and then ' whose are all these things?' Luke xii. 20; 2 Cor. iv. 18.