II. Having premised these observations, I will give you a few argu- ments whereby you may come to understand a little of that evil that there is in sin. And they shall be drawn — (1.) From the nature of sin ; (2.) From the effects of sin ; (3.) From the circumstances and aggravations wherewith sin may be clothed.
1. From the nature of sin, and so it may be considered as to God and as to ourselves.
[1.] Consider the nature of sin as to God.
(1.) It is an aversion from God, a turning from the chiefest good to the chiefest evil. The very nature of sin is punishment enough to itself ; it is misery enough to depart from God, the centre of rest, and the fountain of life and blessinjr. It is a dishonour to God and a dis-
SERMONS UPON GENESIS XXIV. 63. 319
advantage to onrselves. A dishonour to God to prefer carnal sweets and the satisfaction of sin before the comforts of his presence, and yet this is the root of every sin : 2 Tim. iii. 4, ' Lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God.' Every natural man loves the pleasures of sin more than communion with God. You are angry at Judas for betray- ing Christ, and at the Jews for preferring Barabbas before Christ, a murderer before a saviour, and yet you do the same almost every day ; Job XV. 1, ' Why doth thine heart carry thee away ? and what do thine eyes wink at ? ' You forfeit the best things for the basest, as children part with a pearl for an apple or a nut. Nay, I may go higher ; it is a preferring the devil before God, Sins are called his lusts : John viii. 44, * Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father you will do ;' and duty is enforced by God's law, and will you gratify the devil and displease God ? You will find him to be an ill master at length. He that now tempts will hereafter accuse, and that for this very thing, that you were so easy to be entreated to leave God and follow him , as Austin brings him in pleading against us to God, Though thou didst try him by thy grace, and direct him by thy law, though thy Son did die for him, yet he would not be thine, and there- fore let him be mine : I never died, and shed my blood for him, I could not promise him heaven and glory ; I only brought him the bait and temptation, and he easily hearkened unto me. When the tempter shall thus become an accuser, you will know what it is to turn from God and to prefer the devil before a Saviour. Then it is a great dis- advantage to yourselves ; you turn your back upon your own happiness. Sin will make you shy of God's presence, and it will make you hated of God, that he will not endure your presence ; he will have no com- munion with you, nor you with him. It is the comfort of G(^d's children, whatever befalls them in the world, that they can go in secret, and their eyes can pour out tears to God ; but new God will turn away from you, God who is the centre of your rest, the God of your mercies , and then to whom will you unbosom yourselves ? Isa. lix. 2 ' Your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.' They set yon at a distance from God, and God at a distance from you. Oh ! reason thus with yourselves : Shall I commit that which will cause me not to endure God, nor God to endure me ? that I shall not care to have to do with him, nor he with me ? Sin has always been attended with a casting out from God It cast the angels out of heaven, where God is present in a glorious manner ; it cast Adam out of paradise, where God was present by his own image ; and it cast Cain out of the church, where God was present in his ordinances and wor- ship , and it will make God cast you out as an abominable branch. If you are not sensible of this at present, yet you will be sensible here- after, when God shall say, * Depart, ye cursed.'
(2.) It is enmity against God. It is not only a turning from God, but an opposition to and turning against God : Eom. viii. 7, ' The carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.' The more the heart is set upon sin, the more it hateth God formally or virtually. The soul hates God as a lawgiver though not as a creator, because he comes in with a restraint
320 SERMONS UPON GENESIS XXIV. 63.