Solomon under the perfon of a foolish SBR M. young man, drawn away with the entice- IX. ments of a Strange woman; Prov. vii. 22. m He goeth after her ftraightway as an ox goeth to the flaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the flocks, till a dart frike through his liver, as a bird hafteth to the fnare, and knoweth not that it is for his life. This is the case of all, who are under the dominion and habit of any Sin; they know not whether they are going, but are hurried away blindfold with every temptation, being intangled in the snare of the Devil, and taken captive by him at his will. Hence fuch a state of Sin is ftiled in Scripture a yoke, burden, captivity, bondage, thraldom, and the like; and habitual Sinners are defcribed to be dead in Sin, to let Sin reign in their mortal bodies, to be fold under Sin, to be in captivity to the law of Sin and Death, to be hardned through the deceitfulness of Sin, to be fuch as cannot ceafe from Sin, and, by a phrase which includes all these, to be Servants of Sin; being constrained to obey it in the lufts thereof, even against VOL. V. the IX. SER M. the dictates of their reafon and confcience; for to whom ye yield yourselves fervants to obey, his fervants ye are to whom ye obey, Rom. vi. 16. Now That which Christ has actually done for us in order to the delivering us from the dominion of Sin, may briefly be expreffed in these two propofitions; 1ft, that he had made a most clear discovery of the Will of God to mankind; and 2dly, that he has enabled them to obey the Will of God according to that discovery. 1ft, He has made a most clear discovery of the Will of God to Mankind. He has plainly and fully made known to us, the heinousness of Sin, and the neceffity of Repentance; he has most exactly defined the bounds of our duty, and given us an example of the practice of it in his own life; he has more clearly revealed the great motives of Religion, and urged them upon men with much stronger advantage. To show these things at large, would be to repeat the whole history of our Saviour; and no man can read the New Teftament wherein That history is contained, with out IX. out obferving that all his difcourfes and SER M. all the actions of his life, were directed principally to Thefe ends: To convince men that Sin is fo hateful to God, and Lo inconfiftent with the honour of his laws, that he would not pardon it even in those whom he defigned to have mercy upon, without first inflicting the punishment that was due to it, upon his only Son. To affure men, that a life of Virtue and true Righteousness, is the only and indispensable condition of That Covenant, wherein God has promised to save them from everlasting destruction. That therefore unless we repent, we must perish, Luk. xiii. 5. That without Holiness, no man fhall fee the Lord, Heb. xii. 14. That no man who continues in the practice of any known Sin, shall in any wife enter into the kingdom of God, 1 Cor. vi. 9. and that, however vain men may deceive themselves, no pretence whatsoever, no not of having preached or worked miracles in the name of Christ, shall be accepted instead thereof, Matt. vii. 21. Further; is it not a very Advantageous stating of VOL. V. O 2 the SER M. the bounds of our duty, to have given us IX. fuch a compleat and perfect rule of Life and manners, as the Holy Scriptures cannot but be acknowledged to be? Is it not a fufficient Security against ignorance and mistake in our duty, to have fuch a Rule given us as contains in the plaineft words all things needful for our information in all neceffary truth, and for the confuting of all pernicious error; for correcting and reclaiming us from all Sin, and for our inftruction and encouragement in all Righ teoufnefs? to have fuch a Rule, wherein our duty is fet down both in general and in particulars; with great variety of expreffion, repeated, urged, and inculcated upon the meaneft capacities, and exemplified in the lives of holy men, as paťterns propofed to our imitation? The Hiftory of our Saviour's life, is a compleat example of all virtues; but more efpecially of Patience, Charity, and ConSermons contain tempt of the World: His fuch excellent and perfect rules of Morality, as have raised the admiration even of the moft implacable enemies of his Religion; IX. n Religion; and his Parables are Declara- SER M. tions of the nature and design of the Gospel-difpenfation by fuch plain and eafy fimilitudes, as the vulgar were able. to bear, and those who were well-difpofed were capable of understanding. The Sermons of the Apostles contain fuch proofs of the truth and certainty of the Christian Religion, as were neceffary to the converfion of Infidels; and their Epistles are filled with the inforcements of fuch Christian Duties, as are neceffary to the Salvation of believers; containing alfo Exhortations to the practice of fpecial duties, upon particular and emergent occafions. So that every man that fincerely defires to know the will of God and to obey it, without being prejudiced with Partiality and Disputes, with Paffions and Intereft, may here find his duty written in fuch legible characters, that he that runs may read it: Laftly, Mens duty being thus made known, is it not a moft clear and advantageous revelation of the pow erful Motives and Inforcements of that duty; to be affured that there is a future 0 3 ftate |