II. Assigning some of the most notable kinds of presumptuous sins, 134.

As,

1. Sin against the goodness of God, manifesting itself to a man in great prosperity, 134.

2. Sins committed under God's judging and afflicting hand, 136. 3. Committing a sin clearly discovered, and directly pointed at by the word of God, either written or preached, 138.

4. Committing a sin against passages of Providence, particularly threatening the commission of it, 140.

5. Sins against the inward checks and warnings of conscience, 141.

6. Sins against that inward taste, relish, and complacency, that men have found in their attempts to walk with God, 142.

7. The returning to and repeated commission of the same sin, 144. III. Proposing some remedies against these sins. As,

1. Let a man endeavour to fix in his heart a deep apprehension and persuasion of the transcendent evil of the nature of sin in general, 146.

2. Let him most seriously consider and reflect upon God's justice, 148.

3. Let him consider, how much such offences would exasperate

Second general head: shewing the reason of the Psalmist's so earnest praying against these sins, 151.

The prosecution of the first head might be argument enough: but yet, for a more full discussion of the point, these further reasons, which might induce him to it, are considered.

1. The danger of falling into these sins. 1. From the nature of man, which is apt to be confident, 151. 2. From the object of presumption, God's mercy, 152. 3. From the tempter, who chiefly concerns himself to engage men in this kind of sin, 153.

2. The sad consequences of them, if fallen into. Amongst which are, 1. Their marvellous aptness to grow upon him that gives way to them, 154. 2. That of all others they prove the most difficult in their cure, 155. 3. They waste the conscience infinitely more than any other sins, 156. 4. They have always been followed by God with greater and fiercer judgments than any others, 157.

SERMON XIII.

PSALM CXXXix. 3.

Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. P. 159.

The metaphorical expressions in the text being explained, 159. this doctrinal observation is gathered from it; viz.

That God knows, and takes strict and accurate notice of the most secret and retired passages of a man's life; which is proved by reasons of two sorts.

I. Such as prove that it is so, that God knows the most secret passages of our lives, 162.

1. He observes them, because he rules and governs them, 162. Which he does three ways: 1. By discovering them. 2. By preventing of them, 163. 3. By directing them for other ends than those for which they were intended, 164.

2. Because he gives laws to regulate them, 165.

3. Because he will judge them, 165. First, in this life, wherein he often gives the sinner a foretaste of what he intends to do in the future, 166. 2. At the day of judgment, 167.

II. Such reasons as shew whence it is that God takes such notice of them.

He observes all hidden things:

1. From his omniscience, or power of knowing all things, 167. 2. From his intimate presence to the nature and being of all things, 168.

The application of the whole lies in shewing the uses it may afford us: which are,

1. A use of conviction, to convince all presumptuous sinners of the atheism of their hearts, 169.

2d use. It speaks terror to all secret sinners, 170. Now secret sins are of two sorts, both of which God perfectly knows. As,

1. The sins of our thoughts and desires, 172. And he will judge of men by these, 1. Because they are most spiritual, and consequently most opposite to the nature of God, 172. 2. Because man's actions and practice may be overruled, but thoughts and desires are the natural and genuine offspring of the soul, 174.

2. Such sins as are not only transacted in the mind, but also by the body, yet are covered from the view of men, 175.

3. As God's omniscience is a terror to secret sinners, so it speaks no less comfort to all sincere-hearted Christians, 176.

SERMON XIV.

ECCLES. vii. 10.

Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days were better than these? for thou dost not inquire wisely concerning this. P. 178.

In the days of Solomon, when Jerusalem was the glory of the whole earth, these complaints of the times were made; and yet a little backward in the calendar, we have nothing but tumults, changes, and vicissitudes, 178.

The words run in the form of a question, yet include a positive assertion, and a downright censure, 179. The inquiry being determined before it was proposed, now the charge of folly here laid upon it may relate to the supposition, upon which it is founded, in a threefold respect; viz.

I. Of a peremptory negation, as a thing absolutely to be denied, that former times are better than the following.

II. As of a case very disputable, whether they are so or no.

III. As admitting the supposition for true, that they are better, 179.

In every one of which respects this inquiry ought to be exploded. And,

I. That it is ridiculous to ask, why former times are better than the present, if they really are not so, 179. And that they are not, is evinced, 1. From reason, 181. 2. From history and the records of antiquity, 181.

II. Supposing the case disputable; which being argued, 1. On the side of antiquity, 183. 2. Of succeeding times, 184. this inquiry is shewn to be unreasonable,

1. In respect of the nature of the thing itself, 186.

2. In respect of the incompetence of any man living to judge in this controversy, 186.

III. Supposing it true, that former times are really best; this querulous reflection is foolish,

1. Because such complaints have no efficacy to alter or remove the cause of them, 187.

2. Because they only quicken the smart, and add to the pressure, 188.

3. Because the just cause of them is resolvable into ourselves, 189, &c.

SERMON XV.

A FUNERAL DISCOURSE.

MATT. V. 25, 26.

Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him: lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing. P. 191.

In these words, Christ enforces the duty of an amicable concord and agreement betwixt brethren, from the unavoidable misery of those obstinate wretches that persist in and perpetuate an injury, 191.

Some understand the words in a literal, some in a figurative sense, 192.

The several terms therein explained in the spiritual sense of them; according to which, by the word adversary is meant the divine law, or a man's own conscience, as commissionated by that law, 192. By the way, the time of this life, or rather the present opportunities of repentance, 193. By judge, the great God of heaven, 193. By officer, the devil, 193. By prison, hell, 193. By paying the utmost farthing, the guilty person's being dealt with according to the utmost rigour and extremity of justice, 193.

The text is parabolical, and includes both senses. For the better understanding which, a parable is explained to contain two parts. (1.) The material, literal part, contained in the bare words. (2.) The formal, spiritual part, or application of the parable; which is sometimes expressed, and sometimes understood, as in this place,

194.

The sense of the text is presented under three conclusions:

1. That the time of this life is the only time for a sinner to make his peace with God, 195.

2. That this consideration ought to be a prevailing, unanswerable argument to engage and quicken his repentance, 195.

3. That if a sinner lets this pass, he irrecoverably falls into an estate of utter perdition, 195.

The second conclusion, the subject of this discourse, the truth whereof made appear three ways:

I. By comparing the shortness of life with the difficulty of this work of repentance, 196.

The difficulty of repentance appears,

1. Because a man is to clear himself of an injury done to an infinite, offended justice, to appease an infinite wrath, and an infinite, provoked majesty, 198.

2. Because a man is utterly unable of himself to give God any thing by way of just compensation or satisfaction, 200.

II. By comparing the uncertainty of life with the necessity of the work, 201.

III. By considering the sad and fatal doom that will infallibly attend the neglect of it, 203.

The misery and terror of this doom consists in two things: 1. That it cannot be avoided, 203. 2. That it cannot be revoked, 204.

Application in urging over the same duty from another argument, namely, that so long as there is enjoyment of a temporal life, there may be just hope of an eternal. Therefore kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and so ye perish from the way, 206.

SERMON XVI.

MATT. xxiii. 5.

But all their works they do for to be seen of men. P. 208.

This notable instance of religious ostentation in the Pharisees leads to an inquiry, how far the love of glory is able to engage men in a virtuous and religious life, 208.

I. A love of glory is sufficient to produce all those virtuous actions that are visible in the lives of those that profess religion: because,

1. It has done so this shewn from the examples of the noblest and most virtuous of the heathens, 209. from the abstinence of the ancient athletics, 210. from the character of the ancienth Parisees, 210. and from that of many modern Christians, 211.

2. There is nothing visible in the very best actions, but what may proceed from the most depraved principles, if acted by prudence, caution, and design, 212.

II. The reasons, whence this affection comes to have such an influence upon our actions, are these:

1. Because glory is the proper pleasure of the mind; it being the complacency that a man finds within himself arising from his conceit of the opinion that another has of some excellency or perfection in him, 213.

2. Because it is founded in the innate desire of superiority and greatness that is in every man, 215.