[2.] Sometimes the sin is clearly written on the judgment, and the name of the sin is engraven on the rod wherewith we are scourged : Judges i. 7, 'As I have done, so God hath requited me.' There are some remarkable circumstances wherein sin and judgment meet : Obad. 15, 'As thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee.' The judg- ments have a signature and impress on them. The Israelites' children were drowned in the waters ; so were Pharaoh, and all his nobility, and men of war.
[3.] When the judgment treadetli on the heels of the sin, as Zimri and Cosbi perished in the very act of their sin ; and Herod was immediately smitten with lice when he usurped divine honour, Acts xii. 22, 23.
[4.] When by the very means by which they hope to secure them- selves, and so, whilst they think to avoid their danger, they hasten and increase it. The builders of Babel, being afraid of scattering, Avould build a stupendous tower for a place of retreat, Gen. xi. 4. God con- founded their language, and by that means they were scattered. Jero- boam, to secure the kingdom to his house, sets up calves at Dan and Bethel, 1 Kings xii. 26-28. This became a snare to his house to cut
244 SERMONS UPON EPHESIANS V. [SkR. VIII.
it off, 1 Kings xiii. 34. The Philistines threatened Samson's wife to burn her and her father's house with fire unless she would betray her husband's secrets, Judj^es xiv. 15. She doth so, and Samson taking his revenge ; they fulfilled what they threatened, Judges xv. 6. The Jews being afraid lest the Romans would take jealousy of the people's following of Christ, consult to kill him, John xi. 48 ; and for that reason wrath came on them to the uttermost. Zedekiah disobeyed God for fear of mockage, Jer. xxxviii. 19-22 ; and the Chaldeans, when they had taken the city, put out his eyes, Jer. xxxix. 7. Thus they readily fall into those evils they would most gladly escape. Now it is much for the instruction of the world that these things should be noted.
[5.] When they fall l)y those means by which they seek to entrap others: Ps. ix. 15, 16, ' The heathens are sunk down in the pit which they made, in the net which they hid is their own foot taken. The Lord is known by the judgments which he executeth ; the wicked is snared in the work of his own hand. Higgaion, Selah.'
[6.] When the word, Kara pi^rov, in the express letter, is made good on wicked men : Hosea vii. 12, ' I will chastise them, as their congrega- tion hath heard.' When the word doth fully take effect as it is laid down, it is fully accomplished ; and the danger they would not believe they are made to feel. Thus 'every morning he bringeth his judg- ments to light,' Zeph. iii. 5.
SEPvMON VIII.
For ye were sometimes darJcness, hut noio ye are light in the Lord: loalk as childi-en ofligJd. — Eph. v. 8.
The apostle having dissuaded them from foul practices, which would be a blemish not only to christians, but heathens, he now exhorteth them to walk suitably to their profession and that blessed estate into which they were translated. Change of state calleth for a different course of life. You were darkness, and if you had so continued, we could look for nothing else from you than the works of darkness. But when you become light in the Lord, you must ' walk as children of the light,' as those that know their way, and see their danger, if they go amiss : ' For ye were sometimes darkness,' &c.
In the words we have — (1.) An antecedent ; (2.) A consequent, or an argument and an inference.
First, The antecedent, or argument, is taken from their present compared with their past estate, what they are with what they were. Formerly they were heathens, and did as other heathens do, but they were now become christians ; and if christians, they should live chris- tianly. Both estates are spoken of in the abstract, ' darkness ' and ' light ; ' scclus pro scelerati. If we call a wicked man wickedness it- self, we say more than if we only said that he were a naughty or wicked
YeR. 8.] SERMONS UPON EPHESIANS V. 245
person. To express the extreme misery of the carnal state, ' Ye were darkness ; ' and the exceeding happiness of the renewed estate, ' Ye are light/
1, The apostle representeth their past estate, ' Ye were sometimes darkness.' But doth he do well to nphraid them with their former condition ? I answer — He doth not upbraid, but exhort. There is a difference between envious exprobration and a christian exhortation. Upbraiding is a remembering the sins of others committed before con- version, with a purpose to reproach and shame them ; a practice usual among base spirits, whose eye is evil, because God's hand is good. Christ representeth it in the practice of the elder brother : Luke xv. 30, ' This thy son hath devoured thy living with harlots.' This is sometimes done by the profane, who would fain represent others as bad as themselves, that their own practices may be less odious, because more common ; or else in carnal professors, who would shine alone, and therefore envy the reputation of religion to others, yea, begrudge the divine grace vouchsafed to them. But a christian exhortation is a thing quite different ; it is a putting others in mind of their former condition, to stir them up to more zeal and thankfulness. To re- member it by way of exprobration is unlawful ; it is to rake in the filth which God hath covered : Ps. xxxii. 1, ' Blessed is he whose trans- gression is forgiven, whose sin is covered ; ' a revoking as much as in us lieth God's grant of grace to them. Ananias objecteth against Paul his former practices, not knowing his change. Acts ix. 13-15. Then Ananias answered, ' Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem. But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way, for he is a chosen vessel unto me.' Satan is called a slanderer, though most of his allegations against the saints are true, because he accuseth them of what God hath pardoned. But enough of this.