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from all Evil, as ye did then from all Good: confidering farther, that there is no dividing your Service between two Mafters; the Mafter you have taken to, muft have all. If then when ye were the Servants of Sin, Righteousness had no power at all over you, now that you have put your felves under the Kingdom of Righteoufnefs, you must no longer ferve Sin, but utterly renounce all the Power and Tyranny of it: which, if you do but confider your own Eafe and Intereft, you will fee infinite reafon to do. For what Fruit had ye then in those things, whereof ye are now afhamed? for the end of those things is Death. What profit did you ever receive from your former finful Courses, which yielded you no better fruits than those of Shame and Death? Where the Apostle urges a threefold Argu-. ment, to deter Men from the Love and Practice of all Sin.

The First is taken from the Unprofitableness of it; What Fruit had ye in those things?

The Second, from the Shamefulness of it, Whereof ye are now ashamed.

The Third, from the Deftructiveness, or the fatal End and Iffue of it; For the End of those things is Death. Of which fomething particularly. And,

Firft, Of the Unprofitableness of all finful Courfes; What Fruit had ye in thofe things? The Question fuppofes none at all, or elfe very bad fruit, which is worse than nothing.

'Tis natural for Men to defire fome Fruit of their Labours; and 'tis an uncomfortable Reflection, to find at any time that we have labour'd in vain. The Voice of Nature is, Who will fhew us any good? and all Men are acted by the Hopes of Gain. Now the Apoftle here plainly intimates, that Sinners reap no fruit from all the Pains and Labour they take in a wicked Courfe, that their Expectation is fruftrated, and they toil day and night and catch nothing: for which reafon Sin is elsewhere ftil'd the unfruitful Works of Darknefs, becaufe they turn to no account, but deceive the Hopes of all that follow them; Eph. 5. 11. So that Sinners may be truly faid to ferve the Devi! for nought, and to weary themselves for very Vanity.

But there is a worfe thing in this matter than this; for Sin not only yields no good Fruit, but brings forth a great deal of bad and bitter Fruit. There is a Meiofis in the words, and more is intended by it, than feems to be ex

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prefs'd for when the Apoftle asks, What Fruit had ye then in those things? 'tis as if he had faid, What unspeakable Mifchief, what vaft Damage, what infufferable Evils have you found in thefe things? So that he hereby gives us to underftand, that Sin is not only an unprofitable, but a very mifchievous thing; and inftead of yielding any fweet or good Fruit, brings forth nothing but wild Grapes, fuch as fet the teeth on edge at prefent, and end at laft in weeping and wailing, and gnashing of teeth. To clear this, con fider,

ft, What bad Fruit thefe things bring to the Body, of which we are all fo fond and tender. Does Sin conduce to the Eafe, Health, or Comfort of this beloved Part? No. quite otherwife 'tis fo far from the Benefit, that 'tis the very Bane of the Body; for it impairs the Health, decays the Strength, and deftroys all the Comfort of it. What a numerous Train of Evils and Difeafes is a vicious Life attended withal? And what apparent Mischief does it bring upon all that follow it? How does Excefs and Intemperance drown the Spirits? And tho it feems to raise them for the prefent, yet finks them after into the deeper Sadnefs. Does not Envy pine and macerate the Body? Do not Malice and Revenge often fhorten Mens Lives, and make the bloody and deceitful Man not to live out half his days? How do worldly Cares and Carking eat out the Heart, and bring on one Confumption to avoid another? Leudness and Debauchery antedate the Miseries of the Grave, and make Men rotten before they are dead. So destructive is Vice to human Nature, that they who commit it, fin (as the Apoftle tells us) against their own Body.

Neither doth the Soul, that divine and nobler Part of us, reap any better, but rather much worfe Fruit, from a finful Courfe of Life; for it robs it of its Peace, fills it with Trouble and Difquiet at prefent, and deprives it at last of all future Happiness: There is no peace, faith my God, unto the Wicked, but they are like the troubled Sea, that cannot reft, whofe Waters caft up Mire and Dirt; Ifa. 57.20. Solomon tells us, that he that finneth against God wrongeth his own Soul, Prov. 8. 36. And St. Peter, that fleshly Lufts war against the Soul, 1 Pet, 2. 11. They deface the Beauty, and fink the Glory of the Soul beneath the Beast that perisheth; they take away its Freedom, and make it a Drudg and a Vaffal to the vileft Lufts. In a word, they bereave our immortal

immortal Souls of the Vifion and Enjoyment of God, wherein confifts their trueft Glory and Felicity.

But becaufe fome Men are more fond of their Substance, than of their Souls; let us fee what Fruit a wicked Life brings to their Goods or Eftate: And here 'tis evident, what havock Sin makes of Mens Eftates, how it fhipwrecks the Fortunes, and fcatters the Subftance of the wealthiest Perfons. A loofe and profligate Life brings on Poverty as one that travelleth, and Want as an armed Man, and entails Mifery and Diftrefs upon Posterity; Fraud and Deceit bring a Moth and a Canker into ill-gotten Goods, which eats out all the Comfort of them, and leaves only the Ruft to teftify against them; Oppreffion and Injustice intitle to a Curfe instead of a Bleffing, and the Wrath of God enters the House of the Thief and the Robber: In a word, a wicked Life instead of mending, mars Mens Fortunes here, and at last deprives them of an everlasting Inheritance,

But what Fruit do Men reap in their Name and Reputa tion by a finful Life? Why, that the

Next Argument in the Text will inform us, viz. the Shamefulness of Sin, in thefe words, Whereof ye are now aham'd. Which give us to understand, that Sin is attended with Shame, and leads only to Confufion of Face, This not only Sacred Writ, but daily Experience doth confirm to us. Holy Job tells us, that they who hate the Lord fhall be clothed with Shame; Job 8. 22. And the Pfalmift, that they shall be cover'd with their own Confufion, as with a Cloak; Pfal. 109.29. And the Wife Man, that Shame is the Portion and Promotion of Fools; Prov. 3. 35. Who is there that doth not fee the Truth hereof verify'd by daily Experience? Doth not Sin fink the Character, and blaft the Reputation even of the greatest Perfons? Yea, doth not the bare Sufpicion of Vice reflect and stain the Glory of the beft Abilities? Where was it ever known that Men were commended for their Wickednefs? Who ever reckon'd his Vices among the Titles of his Honour, or fought to perpetuate his Memory by the Glory of his Crimes? Do not thefe things clothe Men with Shame, and load them with Difhonour? and that not only with a few knowing and judicious Perfons, but with all Mankind, who mark Sin with Difgrace, and brand fuch as practise it with Reproach and Infamy. This is evident,

1ft, From the many Arts that Sinners ufe to hide and conceal their Wickedness: He that doth evil (faith our Saviour) cometh not to the Light, left his Deods should be reprov'd; John 3. 19, 20. And,

2dly, From the many Shifts and Evasions Men fly to, to leffen and excufe it: of which no other Account can be given, but the Shame that attends it; for elfe they 'would not be fo backward to own, nor fo forward to conceal it. Indeed Sin and Shame came into the World at once, and have ever fince gone hand in hand together. Our firft Parents had no fooner finned, but they prefently hid themselves, and their Pofterity have been gathering Fig-leaves, to hide their Nakedness ever fince.

Now this Shame proceeds partly from the natural Turpitude and Deformity of Sin, which hath that Bafenefs and Ugliness in it, that renders it odious and loathfome in the fight of God and Man; and therefore cannot but create Shame and Blushing in thofe that practise it.

And partly from the Power of natural Confcience, which, as God's Deputy, marks and reprehends the Sinner when he doth amifs; bringing Trouble to the Mind, and Shame upon the Countenance: For where there is a Confcioufnefs of Guilt within, there will be Blufhing and Confufion without. And

Partly, likewife from the juft Judgment of God, who inflicts this as a Punishment of Vice, and makes Shame the Companion of Folly. So we find him threatning the Jews, I will bring an everlafting Reproach upon them, and a perpetual Shame, that shall not be forgotten; Jer. 23. 40. And elsewhere, They shall be greatly afham'd, and cover'd with everlafting Confufion; Jer. 20. 11. Indeed, 'tis but juft with God to fix a Brand of Infamy upon the Brow, that is bent against him; and to cover that Face with Confufion, that fets it felf against Heaven: 'Tis a righteous thing (faith the Apoftle) to render Tribulation and Anguish upon every Soul that doth evil.

Thus we fee how juftly the Apostle upbraided these Romans, and in them all forts of Sinners, with the Unfruitfulness and Shamefulness of their former evil Courfes: faying, What Fruit had you then in those things, whereof ye are now afham'd?

But he minds them of a worfe thing yet, than all this, and that is the fatal End and Iffue of all Sin and Wicked

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nefs; For the End of all these things is Death. The Wif dom of a Man is beft feen in propounding to himself a good End, and purfuing it by right and proper Means. Now tho all Men defire Good, and propound Happiness for their End, yet too many mistake the Way, that leads to it: To feek for it in the Ways of Sin, is to seek the Living among the Dead; for Sin is the Caufe and Occafion of all our Mifery, and to hope for Happiness that way, is to feek Life and Salvation in the Paths that lead to Death and Destruction; for the End of those things is Death.

Now the Death here mention'd as the End of these things, is both temporal and eternal Death; the former is the Separation of the Soul from the Body for awhile, the latter is the Separation of Body and Soul from Chrift for evermore.

For the firft, That temporal Death is the Effect and Punishment of Sin, is evident from the Sentence pronounc'd upon the firft Tranfgreffion; In the Day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt furely die. 'Twas our firft Parents Dif obedience that brought Mortality and Death upon all their Offspring, who have ever fince felt the Stroke of it. So the Apostle teftifies; As by one Man Sin entered into the World, and Death by Sin, even fo Death passed upon all Men, for that all have finned; Rom. 5. 12.

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But the Death here chiefly intended by the Apoftle, is eternal Death, which is the everlasting Destruction both of Body and Soul; call'd in Scripture the fecond Death, because it follows the former, and knows no Eafe or End. This is the foreft and worft of Evils that can befal us: for whereas all other Miferies find fome Remedy or Relief, and have their Period in the Grave; this goes farther, and hath all the Doors of Hope fhut against it: it leaves Men to groan under endless, eafelefs, and remedilefs Torments. And yet this is the Portion of all wilful and impenitent Sinners, and will be the bitter End and Wages of Unrighteoufnefs.

But how doth Sin thus bring forth Death, or lead to this wretched and fatal End? Why, it hath both a natural Tendency, as an efficient Caufe, to produce it; and a moral Tendency, as a meritorious Cause, to deserve it.

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L. I fay, Sin hath a natural Tendency, as an efficient Caufe, to produce Death for it deftroys the Health, Strength, and Vigour of the Body, and fo brings on tem

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