3. It is a daring of God, or a provoking him to do his worst: 1 Cor. X. 22, 'Do ye provoke the Lord to jealousy? are ye stronger than he ? ' What care they ? Some are said to be wicked in the sight of the Lord: Gen. xxxviii. 7, 'Er, Judah's first-born, was wicked in the sight of the Lord.' They were bold, presumptuous, and impudent, daring him to do his worst.
4. It is a disposition to the unpardonable sin ; as here in the text, and by that scripture, Heb. x. 26, ' For if we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin.' It is an allusion to Num. xv, 30, ' The soul that doth aught presumptuously shall be cut off.' And to that place Christ alludeth : Luke xii. 10, ' Whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven ; but unto him that blas- phemeth against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven.' Wilful sins are against clear light, and will in time bring on despite and malice.
Thirdly, The danger from the effects, both to the unregenerate and regenerate, are common to them both — (1.) The unregenerate ; such sins are not easily repented of ; (2.) Not easily pardoned ; (3.) When pardoned, easily return again.
[1.] Not easily repented of. They harden the heart wonderfully, and make it stout against God ; Zech. vii. 11, 12, * But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears that they should not hear; yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the Lord of hosts hath sent in his Spirit by the formef prophets.' Every day they sin away their tenderness. Men grow wilful by frequent sinning, and their hearts become as hard as the highway by frequent treading upon it. These kind of sinners, the most grave admonitions, seasonable reproofs, powerful exhortations, and convincing reasons, will not move them. By every presumptuous sin they put a new difficulty in the way of their conversion, Jer. xiii. 23, ' Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil.'
[2.] Not easily pardoned. Deep stains are not easily washed out. It will cost many a sad hour, frequent sorrow and anguish of heart, ere there be a reconciliation between God and their souls, and their
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peace will not easily be obtained ; as Manasseh's repentance was great : 2 Chron. xxxiii. 12, 'And when he was afflicted he besought the Lord his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers.' An ordinary humiliation will not serve the turn.
[3.] They ever and anon return, and the remembrance of them is very grievous to the soul : Job xiii. 26, ' Thou writest bitter things against me, and makest me possess the sins of my youth ; ' as fright- ful ghosts raised out of their graves. When God hath cancelled them, yet this old sore bleedeth afresh ; or as deep wounds ache npon change of weather : Ps. Ixxix. 8, ' Oh, remember not against us former iniqui- ties ; ' Ps. XXV. 7, ' Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions: according to thy mercy remember thou me for thy goodness' sake, 0 Lord.'
2. After regeneration they make a sad breach between God and the soul, throwing us into the depths of fear and perplexed thoughts. They waste our comforts, wound our consciences, sequester us from the privileges of the covenant ; so that we lose our present aptitude of entering into the kingdom of heaven. Whereas a pardon of course is granted for sins of infirmity, as they are retracted by a general daily repentance; but now a particular repentance and renewing of our grant is i-equired for these sins. As when David bewailed his blood-guiltiness, and Peter wept bitterly for his denying of Christ. Sins of infirmity do not hinder the use and claim of God's grace and pardon. They are not such for which God will bid thee keep out of sight, as David did Absalom for his rebellion, but these cause us to lose the actual fruition of God.
3. The mischiefs in common to both.
[1.] A blot on the name : 1 Kings xv. 5, * Because David did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, and turned not aside from anything that he commanded him all the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.' See Ps. cxix. 110.
[2.] Many troubles and calamities, especially on God's children ; but on others as often as it is meet for the vindication of his justice and providence. Especially on God's children : Amos iii. 2, ' You only have I known of all the families of the earth ; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.' They of all others are God's pecu- liar and chosen people, and if they do not walk answerably they shall smart for it. More certainly and severely will he punish them ; their means and mercies are more, and their ingratitude greater. It con- cerneth God to vindicate his own glory and holiness. We will single out two instances, David and Eli. David, what troubles ensued his presumptuous sin in his house and family ! His daughter ravished, Amnon slain in his drunkenness, Absalom driveth him from his palace- royal, his subjects desert him, his concubines ravished before his face, and he forced to go weeping up and down, and to shift for his life ; all which are effects of his sins ; for so it is foretold, 2 Sam. xii. 10-12. The next instance is Eli, for tolerating scandalous sins in his family ; his sons are slain in battle, Israel discomfited, the ark of God taken, Eli broke his neck, his daughter died in child-bearing, his house rejected, 1 Sam. ii. 30. The anger of the Lord is very hot when we provoke him by these kind of sins ; the revenging hand of God will lie very