(2.) The like may be spoken of all other sins against the prime dic- tates of the law of nature, that mankind is or hath been stained and defamed withal, — murder of parents and children, of wives and hus- bands, sodomy, incest, and the like enormities ; in all Avhich sin pre- vails in men against the whole law of their being and dependence upon God.
What [why?] should I reckon up the murders of Cain and Abel, the treason of Judas, with their aggravations ; or remind the filth and villany of Nero, in Avhom sin seemed to design an instance of what it could debase the nature of man unto? In a word, all the studied, premeditated perjuries; all the designed, bloody revenges; all the filth and unclcanuess; all the enmity to God and his ways that is in the world, — is fruit growing from this root alone.
2. It evidences its efficacy in keeping men off from believing un- der the dispensation of the gospel. This evidence must be a little farther cleared : —
' See Lis work entitled, " A Dissertation ou Divine Justice," chap. iv. vol. x.
POWER OF SIN IN UNREGENERATE PERSONS. S07
(1.) Under the dispensatiou of the gospel, there are hut few that do believe. So the preachers of it complain, Isa. liii. 1, " Who hath believed our report?" which the apostle interprets of the paucity of believers, John xii. 88. Our Saviour, Christ himself, tells us that " many are called," — the word is preached unto many, — " but few are chosen." And so the church complains of its number, Micah vii. 1. Few there be who enter the narrow gate ; daily experience confirms this woful observation. How many villages, parishes, yea, towns, may we go unto where the gospel, it may be, hath been preached many years, and perhaps scarce meet a true believer in them, and one who shows forth the death of Christ in his conversation ! In the best places, and most eminent for profession, are not such persons like the berries after the shaking of an olive-tree, — two or three in the top of the upmost boughs, and four or five in the highest branches?
(2.) There is proposed to men in the preaching of the gospel, as motives unto believing, every thing in conjunction that severally prevails with men to do whatever else they do in their lives. What- ever any one doth with consideration, he doth it either because it is reasonable and good for him so to do, or j^rofitable and advantageous, or pleasant, or, lastly, necessary for the avoidance of evil; whatever, I say, men do with consideration, whether it be good or evil, whether it be in the works of this life or in things that lead to another, they do it from one or other of the reasons or motives mentioned. And, God knows, ofttimes they are very poor and mean in their kind that men are prevailed upon by. How often will men, for a very little jjleasure, a very little profit, be induced to do that which shall im- bitter their lives and damn their souls ; and what industry will they use to avoid that which they apprehend evil or grievous to them ! And any one of these is enough to oil the wheels of men's utmost endeavours, and set men at work to the purpose.
But now all these things centre in the proposal of the gospel and the command of believing; and every one of them in a kind that the Avhole world can propose nothing like unto it : —
[1.] It is the most reasonable thing that can be proposed to the understanding of a man, that he who, through his own default, hath lost that way of bringing glory to God and saving his own soul (for which ends he was made) that he was first placed in, should accept of and embrace that other blessed, easy, safe, excellent way for the attaining of the ends mentioned, which God, in infinite grace, love, mercy, wisdom, and righteousness, hath found ovit, and doth propose unto him. And, —
[2.] It is the profitablest thing that a man can possibly be invited unto, if there be any profit or benefit, any advantage, in the forgive-
308 THE NATURE AND POWER OF INDWELLING SIN.
ness of sins, in the love and favour of God, in a blessed immortality, in eternal glory. And, —
[3.] It is most pleasant also. Surely it is a pleasant tiling to be brought out of darkness into light, — out of a dungeon unto a throne, — from captivity and slavery to Satan and cursed lusts, to the glorious liberty of the children of God, with a thousand heavenly sweetnesses not now to be mentioned. And, —
[4.] It is surely necessary, and that not only from the command of God, who hath the supreme authority over us, but also indispensably so for the avoidance of eternal ruin of body and soul, Mark x\d. 16. It is constantly proposed under these terms: " Believe, or you perish under the weight of the wrath of the great God, and that for evermore."
But now, notwithstanding that all these considerations are preached unto men, and pressed upon them in the name of the great God from day to day, from one year to another, yet, as was before ob- served, very few there are who set their hearts unto them, so as to embrace that which they lead unto. Tell men ten thousand times that this is wisdom, yea, riches, — that all their profit lies in it, — that they will assuredly and eternally perish, and that, it may be, within a few hours, if they receive not the gospel; assure them that it is their unlj intcTOst.and concernment; let them know that God himself speaks all this ui:;ito them ; — yet all is one, they regard it not, set not their hearts unto it, but, as it were, plainly say, " We will have no- thing to do with these things." They will rather perish in their lusts than accept of ix^ercy.