his seed"; of the dragon and his soldiers";' of some sinners being of the devil,' animated by his principles, and actuated by his will and commands P. Satan tempting, and sinners embracing and admitting the temptation upon the inducements suggested, hath in it the resemblance of a covenant or compact. There are mutual agreements and promises, as between master and servant; one requiring work to be done, and the other expecting wages to be paid for the doing of it:-as in buying and selling, one bargains to have a commodity,-and the other to have a price valuable for it. Thus we read in some places, of the service of sin ; and in others, of the wages belonging unto that service'; and elsewhere, of the covenant, bargain, and sale, for the mutual securing of the service, and of the wages. Wicked men sell themselves, chaffer and grant away their time, and strength, and wit, and abilities, to be at the will and disposal of Satan, for such profits, pleasures, honours, advantages, as are laid in their way to allure them; and thus do, as it were "with cords," bind themselves unto sin'. Ahab bought Naboth's vineyard of the devil, and sold himself for the price in that purchase. Balaam, against the light of his own conscience, and the many discoveries of God's dislike, never gives over his endeavours of cursing God's people, till he had drawn them into a snare by the Midianitish women; and all to this end,-that he might at last overtake "the wages of iniquity, which he ran so greedily after "." Jezebel binds herself by an oath unto murder; Judas makes a bargain for his Master's blood, and at once sells a soul and a Saviour for so base a price as thirty pieces of silver; profane Esau makes merchandise of his birthright (whereunto belonged the inheritance, or double portion, the princely power, and the office of priesthood, the blessing,

Gen. iii. 15. n Rev. xii. 7. • Alterius esse non possunt nisi diaboli, quæ Dei non sunt. Tert. de Idol. c. 18. et de Habit. Mulieb. c. viii. 8. de cultu fœmin. c. 5.-Nemo in castra hostium transit, nisi projectis armis, nisi destitutis signis et sacramentis principis sui, nisi pactus simul perire. Tert. de tac. c. 24.-Mane piger stertis :-surge, inquit avaritia; eja Surge :-negas :-instat, surge, inquit ;- non queo :'-surge. Pers. Satir. 5. 132. p 1 John iii. 8.

2 Tim. ii. 26. q John viii. 34. Rom. vi. 16. 2 Pet. ii. 19. 2 Pet. ii. 15. Jude v. 11.

1 Reg. xxi. 25.

r Heb. xi. 25.

t Prov. v. 22.

u Numb.

xxii. 15, 21. xxiii. 1, 14, 29. xxxi. 16. Mic. vi. 5. Rev. ii. 14. 2 Pet. ii. 15. * 1 Kings xix. 2.

y Matth. xxvi. 55.

the excellency, and the government, all which he parts with for one morsel of meat; being therein a type of all those profane wretches, who deride the ways of godliness, and promises of salvation, drowning themselves in sensual delights, and esteeming heaven and hell, salvation and perdition, but as the vain notions of melancholy men, having no other God, but their belly or their gain ".

So much monstrous wickedness is there in the hearts of men, that they add spurs and whips unto a horse, which of himself rusheth into the battle. When the tide of their own lusts, the stream and current of their own headstrong and impetuous affections do carry them too swiftly before, yet they hoist up sail, and, as it were, spread open their hearts to the winds of temptation; precipitating and urging on their natural lusts by their voluntary engagements; tying themselves yet faster to misery, than Adam by his fall had tied them ;—and making themselves, not by nature only, but by compact, the children of wrath. One makes beforehand a bargain for drunkenness; another contrives a meeting for uncleanness; a third enters into a combination for robbery and cozenage; a fourth makes an oath of revenge and malice; like Ananias and Sapphira, they agree together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord: like Samson's foxes, join together with firebrands to set the souls of one another on fire; as if they had not title enough to hell, except they bargained for it anew, and bound themselves, as it were, by solemn obligation not to part with it again.

O! that every presumptuous sinner, who thus sells himself to do wickedly, would seriously consider those sad encumbrances, that go along with this his purchase. Those who would have estates to continue in such or such a succession, as themselves had pre-intended, have sometimes charged curses and execrations upon those, who should alienate, or go about to alter the property and condition of them. These, many times, are causeless curses, and do not come : but if any man will needs make bargains with Satan, and be buying the pleasures of sin, he must needs know that there

z Gen. xlix. 4. 2 Chron. xxix. 3. a Ut Lysimachus sc, ob frigidæ aquæ potum, hostibus dedit. Plut. lib. de tuendâ sanitate.-Heb. xii, 16, b Phil. iii. 19. 1 Tim. vi, 5. © Acts v. 9.

goes a curse from Heaven along with such a purchase, which will make it at the last but a yλuxù xpov, a sweet bitter,'-like John's roll, which was sweet in the mouth but bitter in the belly: like Claudius's mushroom, pleasant but poison; that will blast all the pleasures of sin in ‘aurum tholosanum,' into such gold, as ever brought destruction to the owners of it. It is said of Cn. Seius, that he had a goodly horse, which had all the perfections that could be named for stature, feature, colour, strength, limbs, comeliness, belonging to a horse; but withal, this misery ever went along with him, that whosoever became owner of him, was sure to die an unhappy death. This is the misery that always accompanies the bargain of sin; how pleasant, how profitable, how advantageous soever it may seem to be unto flesh and blood, it hath always calamity in the end; it ever expires in a miserable death. Honey is very sweet; but it turns into the bitterest choler. The valley of Sodom was one of the most delightful places in the world; but it is now become a dead and a standing lake. Let the life of a wicked man run on never so fluently, it hath a 'mare mortuum' at the dead end of it. O then, when thou art making a covenant with sin, say to thy soul, as Boaz said to his kinsman', "At what time thou buyest it, thou must have Ruth the Moabitess with it." If thou wilt have the pleasures, the rewards, the wages of iniquity, thou must also have the curse and damnation that is entailed upon it; and let thy soul answer which he there doth, "No, I may not do it; I shall mar and spoil a better inheritance."

SECT. 9. II. This may serve for an instruction unto us, touching the duties of solemn humiliation and repentance, which is the scope of the prophet's direction in this place. We must not think we have done enough, when we have made general acknowledgments and confessions of sin, and begged pardon and grace from God; but we must withal further bind ourselves fast unto God by engagements of new obedience, as holy men in the Scripture have done in their

d Nemo venenum temperat felle et helleboro; sed conditis pulmentis, et bene saporatis, et plurimum dulcibus, id mali injicit. Tert. de Spect. c. 27.-Infusum de. lectabili cibo hoc boletorum venenum. Tacit. Annal. 1. 12. 67. e Vid. Aul. Gell. 1. 3. c. 9.-Omnia illic seu fortia, seu honesta, seu sonora, seu canora, seu subtilia, proinde habenda sunt stillicidia mellis de libacunculo venenato; nec tanti gulam facias, quanti voluptatis periculum. Tert. ib. f Ruth iv. 4, 5.

more solemn addresses unto Gods: for without amendment of life, prayers are but howlings and abominations". "Quantum à præceptis, tantum ab auribus Dei longe sumus i." No obedience, no audience. A beast will roar when he is beaten; but men, when God punisheth, should not only cry, but covenant.

Unto the performance whereof, that we may the better apply ourselves, let us a little consider the nature of a religious covenant. A covenant is a mutual stipulation, or a giving and receiving of faith between two parties, whereby they do unanimously agree in one inviolable sentence or resolution. Such a covenant there is between God and true believers: he giving himself as a reward unto them; and they giving themselves as servants unto him: he willing and requiring the service, and they willing and consenting to the reward: he promising to be their God, and they to be his people. A notable expression of which joint and mutual stipulation we have, Deut. xxvi. 17, 18: "Thou hast avouched the Lord this day to be thy God, and to walk in his ways, and to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgements, and to hearken unto his voice: and the Lord hath avouched thee this day to be his peculiar people, as he hath promised thee, and that thou shouldest keep all his commandments; and to make thee high above all nations which he hath made, in praise, and in name, and in honour; and that thou mayest be an holy people unto the Lord thy God, as he hath spoken!." Where we have both the mutual expressions of intimate relations one to another, and the mutual engagements unto universal obedience on the one side, and unto high and precious benefits on the other, growing out of that relation. For because God is mine, I am bound to serve him; and because I am his, he hath bound himself to provide for me. We are not now to consider that part of the covenant, which standeth in God's promise to be our God, which, in general, importeth thus much, God's giving himself in Christ unto us, and, together with

g Nehem. ix. 38. Psalm li. 12, 13, 14, 15. i Tert. de Orat. c. 10.

k Heb. viii. 10.

h Hos. vii. 14. Prov. xxviii. 9. 1 Duorum pluriumve in idem placitum consensus. Ulpian. 1. 1. ff. de pactis; unde mutua ex fide data et accepta oritur obligatio.-Voluntatis est suscipere, necessitatis consummare. Paul, leg. 17. ff. Commodati.

Christ, all other good things: benefits relative, in justification from sin, and adoption unto sons: benefits habitual, a new nature by regeneration, a new heart and life by sanctification, a quiet conscience by peace and comfort: benefits temporal, in the promises of this life: benefits eternal, in the glory of the next. Thus is Christ made of God unto us, 'wisdom,' in our vocation, converting us unto faith in him; 'righteousness,' in our justification, reconciling us unto his Father; sanctification,' in our conformity to him in grace, and redemption' from all evils or enemies which might hate us here, and unto all glory, which may fill and everlastingly satisfy us hereafter ".-But we are now to consider of the other part of the covenant, which concerneth our engagement unto God, wherein we promise both ourselves and our abilities unto him, to be his people, and to do him

service.

SECT. 10. The material cause of this covenant is whatsoever may be promised unto God: and that is, first, our persons; and secondly, our service. Our persons, "We are thine"." Giving our ownselves to the Lord P; not esteeming ourselves our own, but his that bought us ; and being willing, that he which bought us, should have the property in us, and the possession of us, and the dominion over us, and the liberty to do what he pleaseth with us. Being contented to be lost to ourselves, that we may be "found in him." If sin or Satan call for our tongue, or heart, or hand, or eye, to answer, 'These are not mine own, Christ hath bought them; the Lord hath set them apart for himself'; they are vessels for the Master's use ": I am but the steward of my

p 2 Cor. viii. 5.

n 1 Cor. i. 30. • Isai. Ixiii. 19. q Servi pro nullis habentur 1. 1. ff. de Jure deliberandi; et 1. 32. de regulis juris. Sunt res Domini, et quicquid acquirunt, Domino acquirunt. Instit. lib. 1. tit. 8. et leg. 1. de his qui sui aut alieni juris sunt, ff. lib. 1. et lib. 41 c. 10. sect. 1. Nihil suum habere possunt, Instit. lib. 2. T. 9. non debent saluti dominorum suam anteponere. 1. 1. sect 28. ff. de Senatusconsulto Silaniano.-Xerxis servi, exorta tempestate, in mare desiliunt, ut domini sui saluti consulant. Herodot. lib. 8. -Socrati cum multa multi pro suis quisque facultatibus offerrent, Æschines, pauper auditor, "Nihil," inquit, "dignum te, quod dare tibi possim, invenio et hoc uno modo pauperem me esse sentio; itaque dono tibi quod unum habeo, Meipsum. Hoc munus, rogo, qualecunque est, boni conзulas; cogitesque alios, cum multum tibi darent, plus sibi reliquisse." Seneca de Benef. 1. 1. c. 8. Ruhkopf, vol. iv. p. 23. r1 Cor. vi. 19. s Phil. iii. 9. t Psalm iv. 3. u 2 Tim. ii. 21.