[5.] If it be against vows and covenants, against frequent and reit- erated promises and purposes. By such sinning you break double chains — God's and your own. It is not a simple sin, but treachery ; Judah hath dealt treacherously : Jer. iii. 7, ' Her treacherous sister Judah saw it.' You commit a sin under the show of friendship. Obed- ience is due, though it were never promised, but it is a help to our weakness that we vow. It is God's condescension to make a cove- nant ; his laws bind, though we do not seal and subscribe to them ; they bind as a law though not as a covenant ; but vows and promises make the covenant more explicit. A lawful thing vowed and dedicated to God could not be alienated without sin. Ananias was smitten dead for receding from his purpose : Acts v. 4, ' Whilst it remained, was it not thine own ? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power ? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart ? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God,* But much more in vows in things necessary that are not in your power. When you have promised obedience, you
330 SEKMONS UPON GENESIS XXIV. 63.
have promised a thiiii^ necessary. God might require duty from you, and punish you for the violation of his law, whetlier you vowed or no. It was never left to your pleasure to deal falsely in your covenant with men ; it is the sin the Lord doth always avenge. Such solemn obli- gations should be sacred and inviolable ; what then is it to break vows with God after we have solemnly renewed our covenant with him ?
[6.] If it be against former experiences, and that either of the sweet- ness of grace or the evil of sin. (1.) Of the sweetness of grace : The Lord takes it ill that you should sin against him after ' you have tasted his good word,' Heb. vi. 5. It is a mighty affront to Jesus Christ to go off from him after we have had experience of the sweetness of his ways. The apostle calls this a ' denying the Lord that bought them,' 2 Peter, ii. 1 ; that this, in foro ecclesice, in the court of the church, and with respect to the outward covenant that is between the Lord and every church member. An apostate doth as it were proclaim to the world that Jesus Christ is no good master ; that, after he hath made trial of both, the devil is a better master than Christ, for be seemeth to have known both masters. So we find the Lord contests with his people about their provocations : Jer. ii. 5, ' What iniquity have your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me, and have walked after vanities, and are become vain ? ' You have gone far from me, and departed from my ways ; what is the matter ? Did I ever do you Imrt ? have I ever been a land of darkness to you, or a hard master ? So Micah vi. 3, ' 0 my people, what have I done unto thee, and wherein have I wearied thee ? testify against me.' When we go off from God, we do as it were proclaim that we have found just discouragement in the ways of Christ, as a man that goeth off from you showeth his expectation is deceived in you. (2.) If you have done it after experi- ence of the evil of sin. When a man hath found the bitterness of sin, suppose it be of drunkenness or auger, when it hath weakened his body and broken his peace, and yet he runs into it again, it is a sad aggra- vation ; as that king that would adventure another captain and his fifty when one captain and his fifty were consumed with fire from heaven, 2 Kings i. 10, 11. When we will be tampering with the carnal sweets again which have cost us so much trouble, when we have found the hand of God meet us in a carnal way, yet we will venture again, and enter into the lists with him, and set ourselves against him, it is as the breaking of a bone in the same place : James iv. 2, ' Ye lust, and have not, yet kill and desire to have, and cannot obtain ; ye fight and war, yet ye have not.' This is a plain contest with God, when, after ye have been broken in pieces, you will again gather and associate yourselves, as it is Isa. viii, 9, ' Associate yourselves, 0 ye people, and you shall be broken in pieces ; and give ear, all ye of far countries ; gird your- selves, and ye shall be broken in pieces ; gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces.' Thus the children of Israel argued with the Eeu- benites and Gadites and the half tribe of Manasseh : Josh. xxii. 17, 18, * Is the iniquity of Peor too little for us, from which we are not cleansed until this day (though there was a plague in the congregation of the Lord), but that ye must turn away this day from following the Lord ? '