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must seize the souls of sinners, when the archangel, with the trump of God, shall shake the whole creation; when they shall call upon the rocks and mountains to fall upon them to hide them from the wrath of God, and the lamb ! Then they will see (alas too late!) their extreme folly and madness in trusting to the perishing enjoyments of a world, the fashion of which so soon passeth away.

But to a good man it is matter of great joy and comfort, that God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness. He delights much to display his glory in acts of goodness and bounty to his creatures.

Judgments are his strange work, which makes the signal execution of them so very rare and extraordinary. And the way to have them rare is not to forget them; to learn righteousness by the calamities of others; to fear and tremble before that God who is terrible in his anger, and has all the ministers of destruction at his command.

God grant that this, and every other day's humiliation of the well-disposed in this Island, may so effectually prevail upon the Almighty, that he may take the whole into his protection, for the sake of the few righteous that are amongst us. In the confident expectation of which, let us join with the Psalmist, first in turning to God; and then sing with him, God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble; therefore we need not fear though the earth be moved: and though the hills be carried into the midst of the sea. Amen.

SERMON X.

SHEWING THE

DANGER OF INDULGING THAT SIN

TO WHICH

WE ARE MOST ADDICTED.

HEBREWS xii. part of the 1st Verse.

And the Sin which doth so easily beset us.

IN order to give you a clear light into the meaning of my text, I think it necessary to observe to you, that in the foregoing chapter, St. Paul having recited a number of examples eminent for fortitude and constancy, who (as he tells us by their faith subdued kingdoms, turned armies to flight; stopped the mouths of lions; endured cruel mockings and scourgings ; and wandered about in deserts and mountains, clad in the skins of sheep and goats; of whom the world was not worthy; and for whom God had prepared a city. Let us, says the Apostle, seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses; let us lay aside every weight, and the sin that doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. A scheme of speech that plainly alludes to the exercises of the ancients, wherein wrestling and other feats of manhood were performed. The metaphor is obvious upon the slightest inspection.

Let us lay aside not only every weight that sits heavy upon and oppresses us, but also the sin which, like a long garment, hangs about the affections, and entangles our feet in running the race that is set before us.

Those sins which promise us profit or pleasure are, of all others, the most likely to prove the greatest impediment in our Christian race; those, of all others, hang about us with the most cleaving fondness; those, of all others, are put off with the sorest reluctance.

The Apostle therefore does, in a particular manner, alarm our caution against these. He would have us beware, more especially, of that sin which brings the strongest temptation with it; which, perhaps, by long acquaintance and familiarity, has got the ascendant over us; and is the sin which does so easily beset us. From which words, I shall make the following ob

servations.

First, I shall observe, that every man is addicted to some peculiar lust; has his beloved sin which doth so easily beset him.

Secondly, I shall shew the danger of indulging this lust. And, after making such useful reflections as the discourse shall naturally lead me to, shall close all, by enforcing the Apostle's exhortation; that so we may be persuaded to lay aside the sin which doth so easily beset us.

First, then, I am to observe that every man is addicted to some peculiar lust; has his beloved sin which doth so easily beset him.

The great end designed by religion, and that which has long been aimed at by the philoso

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