dotli not only restrain the practice, but even bridleth tlieir speech con- cerning other men's sins.
Use 1. To show us the evil of sin. Two things in the text discover that—
1. It is a deed of darkness. It is done in secret, it dareth not appear in the light ; the very heathen confined it to privacy, and their closest recesses. The apostle telleth us, ' Tiiey that are drunken are drunken in the night,' 1 Thes. v. 7. They chose darkness and secrecy to cover their enormities. And our Lord telleth us, John iii. 10, * Every one that doeth evil hateth the light.' It is meant of the light of knowledge; but withal the light of sense is the ground of the metaphor. See Job xxiv. 14, 15, ' The murderer, rising with the light, killeth the poor and needy, and in the night is as a thief. The eye- also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me.' Some principles of common honesty God hath left in corrupt nature, to restrain our headstrong inclination to evil, but it showeth also the nature of sin.
2. The other brand in the text is, it is shameful to speak of it, much more shameful to act it. If the mention of sin be so shameful a thing that it will scarce suit with the modesty of christian ears, what is it to wallow in this filthiness ?
Use 2. It showeth how impudent and desperate in sin they are, and how much they have outgrown the heart of a man, and lost all feelings of conscience, that * declare their sins as Sodom, and hide them not/ Isa. iii. 9 ; that have gotten a brazen forehead, and are impudent in sinning ; as Absalom, that lay with his father's concubines on the top of the house, in the face of all Israel, 2 Sam. xvi. 22. That sin, for the matter, being incest, was very filthy, but not so great as for the impudence of the manner. The modesty of sinning gentiles shall rise in judgment, and condemn this shameless generation of christian sinners, who blush not to do deeds of darkness in the sight of the sun. The Lord complaineth, Zeph. iii. 5, ' They knew no shame ; ' and again, Jer. viii. 12, ' Were they ashamed when they committed abomination?' They were not ashamed, neither could they blush,' These commit those sins openly which common honesty and the instinct of natural bashfulness would seek to cover. Men grow not to this impudence at first, but by several degrees they lose the apprehension of the evil of sin.
1. Satan suggesteth to us some sin, to which he findeth us by nature prone, and which he seeketh plausibly to insinuate as profitable and pleasant : James i. 14, ' Every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed ; ' 2 Peter ii. 20, ' If after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning ; ' being entangled, are overcome.
2. This suggestion, if it be not presently resisted, breedeth in our minds a certain delectation. It is sweet in his mouth, and he hideth it under his tongue.
3. Delight moveth the lust or concupiscence, and draweth out and engageth our consent : Josh. vii. 21, * When I saw among the spoils a
314 SERMONS UPON EPHESIANS V. [SeR. XIV.
goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold, then I coveted them, and took them.' The lust is stirred.
4. This impelleth and urgeth the will to action : James i. 15, * And lust, when it hath conceived, bringeth forth sin.'
5. The act being finished, unless the sinner be corrected by God, •or awakened by his Spirit, breedeth security : ' Sin when it is finished bringeth forth death,' James i. 15. If the sinner be corrected by God's providence, or convinced of it by his Spirit, the man is in a fair way of being recovered ; but if not, the reverence of God is lessened, men think there is no danger: Ps. x. 11, 'He said in his heart, God hath for- gotten ; he hideth his face, he will never see it,' So ver. 13, ' The wicked contemn God ; he hath said in his heart, God will not require it'
6. Security inviteth us to continue in the sin, as also to make no conscience of other sins : Deut. xxix. 19, 20, 'And it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse, that he blesseth himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace though I walk in the imagination of my heart, to add drunkenness to thirst ; the Lord will not spare him, but the anger of the Lord and his jealousy shall smoke against that man.' A perverse will givetli way to lustings, and lustings make way for a custom, and a custom brings on a necessity.
7. This continuance and living in sin taketh away the sight and odiousness of it, and produceth hardness of heart and blindness of mind : Heb. iii. 13, ' Lest the heart be hardened through the deceit- fulness of sin.'