VeR. 21.] SERMONS UPON ROMANS VI. 345
late, the sinner crieth out, What have I done ? Esau, when he had sold the birthright, sought it afterwards with tears, Heb. xii. 16, 17. Judas, when the treason was over, he saw the worthlessness of the price for which he sold his master : Mat. xxvii. 4, ' I have sinned, in that I have betrayed innocent blood.' When once conscience is touched and awakened, guilt flasheth in the sinner's face, then the bitter effects of sin are felt by experience.
(2.) It is not valuable ; the profit will not countervail- the loss, nor the pleasure the pain.
(1st.) The profit will not countervail the loss. Men hazard their souls, and then gain a little wealth, and that is the worst bargain men can make : Mat. xvi. 26, ' What will it profit a man to gainthe whole world, and lose his own soul ? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul ? ' Besides that, the wealth gotten by sin cometh with a curse, that within a while consumeth it : Prov. x. 2, ' The treasures of wickedness profit nothing ; ' so that to seek to grow rich by sin is, in the eye of faith at least, a fruitless enterprise.
(2d.) Nor the pleasure the pain ; it is delightful to the sensual part, but at the end it biteth like a serpent : Heb. xi. 26, ' All the pleasures of sin are but for a season.' Sometimes they leave us in the midst, always in the end of our days, and then the horror and anguish beginneth. But to speak nothing of what is eternal, but of that which is of present feeling, sin raiseth a tempest and storm in the conscience, which is not easily allayed : Hosea viii. 7, * They have sown the wind, they shall reap the whirlwind.' The pleasure we fancy in sin is lost as soon as enjoyed, but the sting is not so soon gone ; the crop doth answer the seed, and usually with increase. They that sow the wind can expect to reap nothing but the wind ; but they reap the whirlwind. A man that feeleth the gripes of a surfeit buyeth the pleasant meat at a dear rate ; and what a sorry pur- chase doth he make that is at so much cost and expense of time to please the flesh, and getteth nothing but trouble of mind and horrors of conscience for his recompense !
(3d.) If there be any fruit of sin singly, yet comparatively it is as none ; that is, if compared with what we might get by God's service. The carnal world lives by sense, as God's children do by faith. Now they that judge of their happiness by their senses, expect and promise themselves more good by the pleasures, honours, and profits of the world than all God's promises ; but a little experience confuteth them. On the other side, they that measure their happiness by the rule of faith, God's promises are heritage enough to them: Ps. cxix. Ill, 'Thy testimonies have I taken as a heritage for ever, they are the rejoicing of my heart.' God promises things truly good to them out of love: Ps. Ixxxiv. 11, 'He will give grace and glory, and no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.' They are all Yea and Amen, of unvariable truth, and of certain accomplish- ment. Therefore happy are they that trust in him, when others go a- ■whoring from him, Ps. Ixxiii. 28. Now, though by sin men should get increase of riches, enjoy variety of pleasures, endear themselves to the favour of great men, yet is this fruit to be compared to that we may have by serving and trusting in God ? Alas ! the nature of
346 SERMONS UPON ROMANS VI. [SeR. XXL
these things is such, that they cannot make us good, much less happy, and their value is much lessened when we cannot have them with- out so spiteful a condition as sin, without committing or doing some- thing against conscience, or omitting what God requireth of us. Well, then, if it seem fruit singly and apart, yet it is none compara- tively in respect of what we might have by pleasing God.
Use 1. To rouse us out of a state of sin. Men would not lie so long in it if they would recollect themselves, and consider, What have I gotten since I was the devil's bond-slave, but a blind mind, a troubled conscience, and a hard heart, and it may be shame and disgrace in the world ? Now what a folly is it for any one to pursue that which will bring him no fruit. One beginneth to be awakened when he beginneth to say, Job xxxiii. 27, ' I have sinned, and per- verted that which is right, and it profited me not.' Whatsoever sin promiseth, or sinners fancy, it will be found at last an unprofitable course. What do men get by drinking, gaming, chambering, and wantonness, what by all the lusts of youth, and the bold attempts of riper years, but an ill name and a worse conscience, a diseased body, and many times an encumbered estate ? They turn their back upon God to their great disadvantage. God is willing to stand to this trial, that his service doth us no hurt : Jer, ii, 5, ' What iniquity have your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain ? ' Yea, that it will do us much good : Micah ii. 7, ' Do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly ? ' But sin cannot stand the trial ; it doth us much hurt now, and will do us more hereafter : Prov. v. 11, 12, ' And thou mourn at last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed, and say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart hath despised reproof ? '