SERMON X.

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ACTS 26. 20.

Repent and turn to God.

Hoever attentively confiders the Dignity and Excellency of Human Nature, what noble and enlarg'd Enjoyments 'tis capable of in this Life, and what Seraphick Joys and Entertainments expect it in the next: How monftrous and unnatural a thing Vice is, and withal, how amiable and charming the Beauty of Holiness: How empty and unfatisfying all the Pleasures and Profits of this World are, and that nothing is able to terminate the boundless Afpirations of our immortal Spirits, but the adequate and commensurate Happiness of the next; muft needs wonder,what ftrange Philtrum orLovePotion the generality of Mankind have

im

imbib'd, who, forgetful of themselves, forgetful of their God, prepofterously court the Embraces of these most unworthy and difproportionate Objects. The active and reftlefs Soul is always in the purfuit after Happiness, and whenever she attempts to ftop and bot tom upon any of these prefent Enter tainments, he finds her Expectations ftill fruftrated and disappointed. Tho' fhe ranfacks all the Treafuries of Nature, and fucks the most delicious Sweetnefs out of every the finest Flower in this Garden of God; yet fo difpropor tionate is it all to the comprehenfion of her Defires, that, even in the midst of Fruition, her Hands are empty and the finds nothing. And yet fuch is the de ceitfulness of Sin, fo tenacious and enchanting its Baits and Allurements; that, instead of seeking his Face, which would fatisfie and terminate all her Defires, the enflav'd Soul (notwithstand. ing all her disappointments) perfifts in her courtship of this treacherous Si. rene, fuffers her felf to be continually roll'd up and down by her ponderous Wickedness from one Vanity, one Cloud, one diffatisfying Object to another, never confidering that the

lower

lower fhe finks into Matter, the farther fhe is from Happiness: True Reft and Peace being only there to be found, where the throughly awaken'd and enlarg'd Spirit has withdrawn her Affetions from fenfible Objects, and lives in the sweet enjoyment of her God.

The fubftantial and eternal Wisdom mov'd with Pity and Compaffion at this unhappy aud degenerate ftate of the Soul, and griev'd to fee fo excellent a Being unaccountably fpending its precious Hours, like the thoughtless Roman Emperor, in killing Flies, or catching at Toys and Trifles, gracioufly endeayours by all the various methods of everlafting Love to awaken her into a Senfe of her Vileness and Degeneracy.' How 'long, fays he, ye fimple ones, will ye 'love fimplicity, and the Scorners delight in their Scorning, and Fools hate 'Knowledge? How long will ye give 'your Money for that which is not Bread, 'for that which satisfieth not? Turn ye 'at my reproof: Behold, I will pour out 'my Spirit unto you, I will make known my Words unto you. He calls her from those Cifterns fhe hath hewn out unto her felf; thofe broken Cisterns

that

u Prov. I.

* Pig.107

that can hold no Water to the Fountain of Living Waters, thofe Wells of Salvation, whereof if a Man drink, he fhall thirft no more. He warns her not to build her Happiness upon these fandy Foundations, but to look unto the Rock whence he was hewn. That there at last she may dwell fafely, and be refresh'd in a multitude of Peace. In a Word, that there is no other way to Reft and Happiness, but by Repentance and Converfion unto God. Repent, fays he, and turn to God.

The Words are Synonymous, or of the fame fignification; Repentance (as the Learned Mede defines it) being a Converfion, or turning of the whole Heart from Sin and Satan unto God. In which Definition, you fee, are three Things obfervable.

I. An averfion or turning away.

II. A converfion or turning unto. An averfion or turning away from Sin and Satan, then a converfion or turning unto God by newness of Life.

III. The

III. The measures of this Converfion, which are abfolute, entire, and univerfal. 'Tis the Converfion of the whole Heart.

1. Repentance includes our Averfion or turning away from Sin: And indeed good reafon it fhould; for ala fs! What is Sin in its proper fhape? The body of Iniquity divefted of its Paint and Colours? 'Tis the habitude or relation of the Will to the worst of Objects; to that which is diametrically oppofite and repugnant to the effential Purity and Holiness of the best Being, which is God. 'Tis the excefs or extremity of the fouleft Ingratitude, violating the Commands, and trampling upon the Authority of that awful Excellence, to which we owe our Life, our Motion, and our very Being.'Tis that thick Cloud which feparates between the Soul and her God; that great Gulf which hinders our paffage into Abraham's Bofom, and for ever excludes us from the Confolations and Refreshments of the Coleftial Paradice. 'Tis the Disease and Deformity, thofe Stains and Blemishes of the Soul, which render it far more Loath