1. There is folly in it, as it is a deviation from the best rule which the divine wisdom hath given unto us. If we should only look upon the law as a bare direction or counsel given us by one that is wiser than we, to slight it is a contempt of the wisdom of God, as if he knew not how to govern the world, and what is meet and good for man ; and so a poor worm is exalted above God : Micah vi. 8, ' He hath showed thee, 0 man, what is good.' Now, shall we slight his direction, and in effect say, Our own way is better? Reason requireth that they that are not able to choose for themselves should obey their guides, and con- tent themselves with the wisdom of others, who see farther than they do ; as Elymas, when struck blind, sought somebody to lead him by the hand, Acts xiii. 11. Can a blind man feel out his way better than another who hath eyes to choose it for him ? God is wiser than we ; and all that would not spit in the face of their creator should think so. Now he hath reduced all moral duties to a few heads, and disposed them into an accurate method, speaking to us with particular application, ' Thou shalt not have any other gods ; ' and, ' Thou shalt not kill ; Thou shalt not commit adultery.' Now for us, after all this, to run of our own heads, and consult with our own foolish lusts, and the suggestions of the devil, who is our worst enemy, is des- perate madness and folly ; and yet so doth every one that breaketh
500 ' SERMONS UPON 1 JOHN III. [SeR. VII.
the law in thought, word, and deed : Dent. iv. 6, ' Keep these statutes, and do them, for this is your wisdom.' The most holy are the wisest : Jer. viii. 9, ' They have rejected the word of the Lord, and then what wisdom is there in them ? ' They who reject that which is able to make them wise to salvation, that in which all true wisdom consisteth, that which cometh from the fountain of all wisdom, how can they be wise men, who, though wicked, would not be accounted weak and foolish ? yet sin maketh us so while we refuse God's counsel, who knoweth our frame, and what is best for us. Every soul in hell is brought there by sinful folly.
2. Laws are not only rules to direct, but have a binding force from the authority of the lawgiver. God doth not only give us counsel as a friend, but commands as a sovereign. Therefore the second notion whereby the evil of sin is set forth is that of disobedience and rebellion ; and so it is a great injury done to God, because it is a depreciation or a contempt of God's authority. It is finis operis, though not oper- antis ; though not in the intention of the man that sinneth, yet in the nature of the action. You count it great pride in Pharaoh to say, Exod. v. 2, ' Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice ? ' or in those rebels, Ps. xii. 4, 'Our tongues are our own; who is lord over us ? ' We will think, and speak, and do what we please, and own no law but our lusts. Now though you do not say thus in so many direct and formal words, yet this is the interpretation of your actions. Whenever you sin, you despise the law that forbiddeth that sin, and by consequence the authority of him that made it: 2 Sam. ii. 9, ' Where- fore hast thou sinned in despising the commandment ? ; Tush ! I will do it ; it is no matter for the law of God which standeth in the way. It may be David had no such actual thought, but yet the action itself speaketh it; for an act of irreverence and contempt of God's authority is as if it were not to be stood upon when our lusts urge us to the contrary. And certainly no man can endure to be crossed in his will by an inferior ; and will God take it well at your hands ? Oh, that we could make our hearts sensible of this ! It would make us cautious, and more humble when we have sinned. I am about to do that, or have done that which is a contempt of God ; and is it nothing to us to slight God ? Other creatures, that are under a law as well as we, dare not do so. The angels have a deep awe and rever- ence of God: Jude 9, 'Michael the archangel, when contending witli the devil, disputing about the body of Moses, durst not bring a railing accusation, but said, the Lord rebuke thee.' What was the matter ? An archangel durst not venture on a passionate word. Certainly a man is never good, never walketh answerably to his creation, till he hath a great reverence and dread of God's authority impressed upon his heart : Prov. xiii. 13, ' Whoso despiseth the word shall be destroyed, but whoso feareth the commandment shall be rewarded/ Not he that feareth a judgment, but he that feareth a commandment, durst not venture, needeth no more to move him and stop him, but to know what God will have him to do or not do ; these shall be rewarded, not others ; ns he that breaketh the law of any king cannot expect a reward from him. Alas ! there is nothing more common than for men to make little reckoning of a commandment. But in good earnest, is it nothing