SERMON

CLXII.

The unprofitablenefs of fin in this life, an argument for repentance.

Preached on Afh-Wednesday, 1689.

JOB XXXiii. 27. 28.

He looketh upon men, and if any fay, I have finned, and perverted that which was right, and it profited me not; be will deliver his foul from going into the pit, and his life fhall fee the light.

T

HE great folly and perverseness of human nature is in nothing more apparent than in this, that when in all other things men are generally led and governed by their interefts, and can hardly be impofed upon by any art, or perfuaded by any folicitation, to act plainly contrary to it; yet, in matter of their fin and duty, that is, in that which of all other is of greateft concernment to them, they have little or no regard to it; but are fo blinded and bewitched with the deceitfulness of fin, as not to consider the infinite danger and: difadvantage of it; and, at the fame time, to caft the commandments of God, and the confideration of their own happiness behind their backs..

And of this every finner, when he comes to himself, and confiders what he hath done, is abundantly convinced; as appears by the confeffion and acknowledgment which is here in the text put into the mouth of a true penitent; I have finned, and perverted that which was right, and it profited me not, &c.

In which words here is a great bleffing and benefit promised on God's part, and a condition required on our part.

First, The bleffing or benefit promifed on God's part,. which is deliverance from the ill confequences and pu

nishment of fin; he will deliver his foul from going into the pit, and his life fhall fee the light; that is, he will deliver him from death and damnation. And though perhaps temporal death be here immediately intended, yet that is a type of our deliverance from eternal death; which is exprefly promifed in the gofpel.

Secondly, Here is a condition required on our part; If any fay, I have finned, and perverted that which was right, and it profited me not. In which words there are

contained,

I. A penitent confeffion of our fins to God; for he looketh upon men, and if any fay, I have finned, that is, make a penitent confeffion of his fin to God.

II. A truc contrition for our fin, not only for fear of the pernicious confequences of. fin, and the punishment that will follow it, implied in these words, and it profited me not, this is but a very imperfect contrition; but from a juft sense of the evil nature of fin, and the fault and offence of it against God, that we have done contrary to right and our duty. If any fay, I have finned, and perverted that which was right. Here you fee that true and perfect contrition for our fins, is made a neceffary condition of the bleffing and benefit here promised, viz. deliverance from the punifhment due to them..

III. Here is a defeription of the evil nature of fin; it is a perverting of that which is right. Sin is a pervert ing of the conftitution and appointment of God, and of the nature and order of things. God hath given man a Law and rule to walk by, but the foolishness of man perverteth his way. The great lines of our duty are plain and visible to all men; and if we would attend to the direction of our own minds, concerning good and evil, every man would be a law to himself. He hath fhewed thee, O man, what is good. That which is right, and just, and good, is plain and obvious, and offers it felf firft to us; and, whenever we fin, we go out of the right way that lies plain before us, and turn afide into crooked paths. But when we do that which is right, we act agreeably to the defign and frame of our beings, and comply with the true nature and order of things; we do what becomes us, and are what we ought to be: but fin perverts the

nature

nature of things, and puts them out of courfe; I have finned, and perverted that which was right.

IV. You have here an acknowledgment of the mifchievous and pernicious confequences of fin; I have finned, and perverted that which was right, and it profited me not. Which laft words are a usiwois, in which much less is faid than is meant and intended; It profited me not, that is, was fo far from being of advantage, that the effects and confequences of it were very pernicious and deftructive.

And this is not only true as to the final iffue, and event of an evil courfe in the other world; but I fhall endeavour to fhew, that even in refpect of this world, and the prefent life, the practice of fome fins is plainly mischievous to the temporal interefts of men, that others are wholly unprofitable; and that thofe which pretend to bring fome benefit and advantage, will, when all accounts are caft up, and all circumftances duly weighed and confidered, be found to do far otherwife.

First, I fhall fhew, that the practice of some vices is evidently mischievous, and prejudicial to us, as to this world; as all thofe vices which fall under the cognizance of human laws, and are punifhed by them, murder, theft, perjury, fedition, rebellion, and the like; thefe cannot be denied to be of pernicious confequence to men; and therefore the great patrons of vice feldom plead for thefe, the inconvenience of them is fo palpable, that fome feel it, and all may fee it every day.

But, befides thefe, there are many other forts of fin which human laws either take no notice of, or do not fo feverely punish, which yet in their natural confequences are very pernicious to our prefent intereft; either they are a disturbance to our minds, or dangerous to our health, or ruinous to our eftate, or hurtful to our reputation, or it may be at once prejudicial to us in all, or most of these refpects; and thefe are the greatest temporal inconveniencies that men are liable to.

All irregular paffions, as wrath, malice, envy, impatience, and revenge, are not only a disturbance to ourfelves, but they naturally draw upon us hatred and contempt from others. Any one of these paffions is enough to render a man uneafy to himself, and to make his con

verfation difguftful and troublesome to all that are about him for all men naturally hate all thofe who are of an envious, or malicious, or revengeful temper, and are apt to rise up and stand upon their guard against them. Anger and impatience are great deformities of the mind, and make a man look as ugly, as if he had a wry and diftorted countenance; and thefe paffions are apt to breed in others a fecret contempt of us, and to bring our prudence into question, because they are figns of a weak and impotent mind, that either hath loft, or never had the government of itself.

There are other vices which are plainly pernicious to our health, and do naturally bring pains and difeafes upon men; fuch are intemperance and luft: and though fome may pretend to govern themselves, in the practice of thefe, with fo much moderation and difcretion, as to prevent the notorious bad confequences of them, yet there are very few or none that do fo: this is feldom more than a fpcculation, and men that allow themselves in any lewd or intemperate course, will find it very hard to govern themselves in it; for, after men have forfeited their innocence, and broke in upon their natural modefty, they are apt, by degrees, to grow profligate and defperate. If a man gives way but little to his own vitious inclinations, they will foon get head of him, and no man knows how far they will hurry him at last.

Befides, that the vices I am fpeaking of, intemperance and luft, have other great inconveniencies attending them, they expofe men more frequently than most other vices, to occafions of quarrel, in which men often lofe their own lives, or take away other mens, by which they fall under the danger of the law, and the ftroke of publick juftice; or, if they efcape that, as too often they do, they cannot fly from their own confciences, which do commonly fill them with the horror and torment of fuch an action all their days; fo pernicious are the ufual confequences of thefe vices, of which we fee fad inftances every day.

Nor are thefe vices lefs hurtful to mens eftates; for they are extremely expenfive and wafteful, and ufually make men careless of all their bufinefs and concern

ments,

ments, liable to be cheated by thofe whom they are forced to trust with their affairs, becaufe they will not mind them themfelves, and to be abufed by crafty men, who watch the opportunities of their folly and weakness, to draw them into foolish bargains. It is an old obfervation, that more men perish by intemperance, than by the fword; and I believe it is as true, that more estates are diffipated and wafted by thefe two riotous vices, than by all other accidents whatsoever.

And there is fcarce any notorious vice, by which men do not greatly fuffer in their reputation and good name, even when the times are worft and most degenerate; any wicked course, whether of debauchery or injuftice, is a blemish to a man's credit, not only in the esteem of the fober and virtuous, but even of those who are loofe and extravagant; for men are fooner brought to practife what is bad, than to approve of it, and do generally think all fin and wickedness to be a ftain upon them, whatever in a fwaggering humour they may fay to the contrary. A clear evidence of this is, that men do fo ftudioufly endeavour to conceal their vices, and are fo careful that as few as may be fhould be confcious to them, and are fo confounded if they be difcovered, and fo out of all patience when they are upbraided with them; a plain acknowledgment, that these things are fhameful in themselves, and whatever face men may put upon things, that they do inwardly, and at the bottom of their hearts, believe that thefe practices are defervedly of bad reputation, and do, in the general opinion of mankind, leave a blot upon them.

Secondly, There are other fins, which though they are not ufually attended with confequences fo palpably mifchievous, yet are plainly unprofitable, and bring no manner of advantage to men.

Of this fort is all kind of prophanenefs, and cuftomary fwearing in common converfation; there is neither profit nor pleafure in them. What doth the prophane man get by his contempt of religion? he is neither more refpected nor better trufted for this quality; but, on the contrary, it is many times really to his prejudice, and brings a great odium upon him, not only from those who fincerely love religion, but from others

alfo;