208 SERMONS UPON EPHEhlANS V. [SeR. IV.
Ill, One special means of checlving such sins is to consider how much they misbecome christians ; for the apostle saith no more but ' they are not convenient,' or do not agree with that state of grace into which we profess to be called.
For three reasons this will hold good —
1. Because there are four affections wbich serve to draw us from and guard us against sin — fear, shame, grief, and indignation. Our flight irom. sin is begun in fear, continued in shame, carried on by grief or sorrow, and endeth in indignation ; and so sin is renounced, and the power of it broken. Now all these affections have a proper ground and consideration to set them a-work. Fear of wrath and damnation begins the work ; for men have a quicker sense of danger than of other things. Shame looketh upon sin, not only as hurtful, but as filthy and brutish, and tbat which maketh us loathsome to God. It is ^oy3o9 SiKaiov y^oyov, fear of just disgrace. The filthiness and folly of sin is the proper object of shame. Sorrow considereth God's goodness and sin's unkindness, causing ns to mourn that we should break the laws of <xod, to whom we are so much obliged, for very trifles. Indignation worketh on the unseemliness and disconveniency of sin, either to the nature of man, or that grace to which we are called by Christ. In short, fear looketh on sin as damning : Acts ii. 37, ' When they heard this, they were pricked at their hearts, saying What shall we do to be saved ? ' Shame, as defiling : Ezek. vi. 9, ' They shall loathe themselves for the evils they have committed in all their abominations,' Sorrow, as offensive to so good a God : Zech. xii. 10, ' They shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and shall mourn for him ; ' Luke vii. 47, ' She hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head.' Indignation looketh upon sin as unbecoming our present resolutions and professions, our hopes and interest : Isa. xxx, 22, ' Thou shalt cast them away as a menstruous cloth ; thou shalt say unto it. Get thee hence ; ' Hosea xiv. 8, ' Ephraim shall say. What have I to do any more with idols ? ' this is the soul's expulsive faculty. In short, the guilt of sin causeth fear ; the stain, shame ; the unkindness, sorrow ; unsuitableness, indignation. Awaken this, and sin cannot have long entertainment in the heart. Therefore it is enough to a serious christian : It is not convenient.
2. The unsuitableness mindeth us of our dignity, as being admitted to communion with God. Therefore to talk of filthiness with that tongue which is to be employed in speaking of God, and to God, is a most indecorous thing ; as it is to empty nature and put our food into the same vessel. Will you pollute those lips that should show forth God's praise ? There is no agreement between these things ; either we must lay aside the one or the other. Now which will you part with, filthi- ness and foolish speaking, or the blessing and praising of God ? Both parts you cannot act well, for the one is destructive of the other.
3. This striketh at the root of the temptation. Many think filthiness, foolish speaking, and jesting to be a great grace to them, and affect the reputation of wit at such a rate that they forget honesty. No ; these are not an honour and a grace, but a blemish and a blot. The apostle telleth you they are ' not convenient.' You thwart not only religion, but baffle conscience, that secretly telleth 3*ou this is not grave and
VeR. 5.1 SERMONS UPON EPHESIANS V. 209
serious ; it is not a glory, but a baseness ; a thing you may rather be ashamed of, than affect the venting of wit in this manner, or pride yourselves in the deformed birth of your foolish minds.
IV. That a christian cannot want mirth as long as he hath such abundant cause to give thanks,
I will open this note in these considerations —
1. That it is an excellent exchange when we can change a sin for a duty; as in this case, by turning censure into admonition, and reproof or discontent into prayer, complaining of God into complaining to God, or carnal mirth into spiritual rejoicing, or jesting into giving thanks,
2. Evils are best cured by diversion. When our pleasantness is not abolished, but diverted, and directed to its proper object. It would be a shame for a man that calls himself a christian not to acknowledge that giving of thanks is a better subject of our mirth than filthiness and folly. The mind must have some oblectation, but let it run in its proper channel. Thankfulness is the sweetest employment in the world. To be always thinking or speaking of such sweet things as the mercies of God, surely if we esteem and value them, it will be more delightful to us than to be pleasing our fleshly lusts : Ps, Ixiii, 5, * My mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips,'