DISCOURSE II. Of the Mifery of Mankind, and of eternal Condemnation by Man's own Sin. ROMANS V. 12. Wherefore as by one man, fin entered into the world, and death by fin; fo death passed upon all men, for that all have finned. T HE Spirit of God, or Holy Ghoft, who inspired the writing of facred fcripture, is in nothing more earneft than to lower the pride and vain glory of the creature, which of all vices is moft deeply rooted in human nature, even from that early infection which took place, through the difobedience of our first parents. Accordingly, the book of God abounds with excellent leffons against the fatal confequence of this inveterate principle, in order to teach us bumility, the most valuable of all other virtues ; how to know ourselves, and remember what we are. In the third chapter of Genefis, the Almighty giveth us all a title, inherited from our parent Adam, which ought continually to remind us of our condition, of what we are made, from whence we came, and to what we fhall at laft return.. These are the humbling words, recorded in the 19th verfe-In the fweat of thy face fhalt thou eat bread, bread, 'till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wert thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto duft thou shalt return. Here, as in a glafs, we may learn to know our humble origin, and to what the proudest of the fons of men must come at last. - AND The holy Patriarch Abraham did never forget this name, affixed by God to all mankind, and when he made his earneft prayer for the cities that had provoked God's vengeance, he humbly taketh it to himself. Behold now, I have taken upon me to fpeak unto the Lord, who am BUT DUST ASHES. And we read that Job, Judith, Efther, and other holy men and women in the Old Teftament, when they duly reflected on their many infirmities, fins, and great unworthinefs, did cry to God for help and mercy; and by bewailing their former errors, with the humbling tokens of fackcloth, duft, and afhes, did thereby declare unto the world, the low opinions they entertained of themfelves, and how truly fenfible they were of this proper defcription of their degenerated nature, which continued fo vile, corrupt, and frail. The book of wisdom likewife, with purpose to bring down our vain opinions of ourselves, urgeth us earneftly to remember the materials of our earthly mortal nature, derived from our fallen parents; and in truth all men, princes as well as people, do enter the world, and leave it, in the very fame way, as to their human bodies, full miferably, as daily obfervation proves. And when the Almighty giveth us this defcription of the creature's frailty, he fpeaketh thus by his prophet Ifaiah, xl. 6, 7, 8, All fleft is grafs, and all the goodlinefs thereof is as the. flower of the field; the grafs withereth, the flower fadeth, all the people furely is as grafs. And Job likewife, in the xivth chap. ver. 1. 2. who himself had fo forely experienced the wretched ftate of carnal nature, declares it to the world in thefe very memorable and and affecting words: Man that is born of a woman, is of few days, and full of trouble. He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: He fleeth alfo as a fhadow. and continueth not. And doft Thou vouchfafe, Q mighty Lord, to look upon fuch a one as this, and to bring him to judgment with Thee? In fhort, all men from the depravity of their nature, are fo univerfally inclined to fin, that as it is expreffed in fcripture, it repented God that he had ever made. man; and his indignation was at length fo juftly provoked thro' man's offences, that he deftroyed the world entirely by an univerfal flood, excepting Noah and his family; and it is in confideration. of this vilenefs, that the Lord doth so forcibly address his frail creatures in general, by this, fingular appellation, in the words of the prophet Jeremiah, xxii. 29, O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord.By whatever ftile, title, or dignity the cuftom of the world, and men may call us, this our right name, pronounced by the prophet, doth fhew us truly what we are, for thus He plainly named us, who knoweth beft both what we be, and what most justly we fhould be called; and when he fpeaketh of us by the mouth of his faithful apostle St. Paul, (in Romans iii. 9th and following verfes) who copied the defcription from his fervant David, the character is only fuller, not more favourable. All men, Jews and Gentiles, (fays he) are under fin; as it is written, there is none righteous, no not one; there is none that underftandeth, there is none that feeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way; they are altogether become unprofitable; their throat is an open Jepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of ajps is under their lips, whofe mouth is full of curfing and bitterness. Their feet are fwift to fhed blood; destruction and mifery are in their ways, and the way of peace they have not known : There is no fear of God before their eyes. And in the xith Rom. ver. 32, he faith, God hath concluded them all in unbelief that he might have mercy upon all. Again, (Gal. iii. 22.) The Scripture hath concluded all under fin, VOL. I. C that that the promife by faith of Jefus Chrift should be givenz unto them that believe. And in many other parts of his writings, the fame apoftle painteth us in our true colours; calling us the children of the wrath of God when we are born; faying alfo, that we cannot think a good thought as of ourselves, much lefs can we fpeak well, or act well (i. e. religiously) of our mere natural powers. Solomon, in xxivth Pro. ver. 16, declareth, that even the just man falleth seven times in a day, that is, finneth very often in one fhape or other, through the natural infirmity of his flesh. Even that tried, approved, and holy perfon Job, most justly feared, and queftioned the value of his works. And St. John the Baptift, who was fanctified even from his mother's womb, who was in a manner exalted by the mighty power of God before he was born, being called an angel or holy meffenger, and great before the Lord; nay, who was filled with the Holy Ghoft even from his birth, the preparer of the Saviour's way, and declared by Chrift himfelf to be more than a prophet, and the greatest that was born of woman, yet we know, even this Holy Inftrument (fenfible of the fleshly inheritance he brought with him) did openly declare, that he had need to be washed himself by Jefus Chrift, that is, to be purified through his grace and by his atonement. Even this man, I fay, doth highly and worthily extol and glorify his Lord and Mafter, and humbleth himself, as being wholly undeferving the honour of doing the lowest office for him; of untying his very fandals; but giveth all the glory to the Lord, who raised him up to be his fervant.Is not this enough to humble us? Shall we who the best of us partake fo little of this Holy Spirit, who continually refit his operations, whofe brightest works are fullied with felfifhnefs, pride, or want of charity, fhall fuch unprofitable fervants, (confcious as we must be that we are fo) fhall we prefume to arrogate any merit? instead of of owning the neceffity of that living principle to render us at all acceptable to the Almighty; instead of drawing from that living fpring, the water that nourisheth unto life? Surely it must lower us in our own efteem, when we confider how often and fully St. Paul confeffeth himself (when fpeaking of the mere natural man) to be both weak and wretched; when we find him like a moft wife and faithful fervant, giving all the praise unto his Lord and Mafter Jefus Chrift, by whose power be was what he was. Not I, faith he, but Chrift that is in me, doth the good, that is, he humbly attributes all his ftrength to the power of that grace, obtained for him by the interest of Chrift; or in other words, to the regenerating influence of the Holy Spirit on his mind. And Saint John, (1ft Ep. i. 8, &c.) the bleffed Evangelift, maketh this open and true confeffion both in his own name, and in respect to all other holy men (however exemplary and juft) If we Jay that we have no fin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our fins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our fins, and to cleanfe us from all unrighteoufnefs. If we say that we have not finned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. And for the fame reafon, the Wife Man in the viith of Ecclefiaftes, ver. 20, declareth pofitively, That there is not a just man upon earth that doeth good, and finneth not. And though David is afhamed of his fin, yet he forbeareth not to confefs it.-And if we study his penitential pfalms, we fhall there obferve, how often, how earnestly, how grievously he doth implore God's needful mercy towards his offences, and that He would not enter into judgment with him.Again how duly did this holy perfon weigh his faults, when he acknowledgeth that they are fo many, fo hidden, and hard to understand, that it is in a manner impoffible to know, to alter, or to number them. Wherefore having a true, earneft, and deep confideration of his fins, and C 2 yet |