fhall defire to ferve the Devil rather then God, the God that made us, and that made heaven for us, doe we not deferve to be given up to him? For his fervants, we are whom we obey. And thus we fee how fearful a thing it is to be delivered up to our felves, and to the Devil, Pfal. 81. 11. First they for fake God: God comes and offers hiaifelt unto them, I will be thy God, thy Father, thou shalt want nothing; yet notwithy ftanding Ifrael would not hear, they would have none of me And then, if thou wilt have none of me, I will have none of thee, faith God. Then fee what follows, v. 12. God commits the prifoner to himself: I gave them up to their own hearts lufis, &c. And there's no cafe fo defperate as this, when God fhall fay, If thou wilt be thine own Mafter, be thine own Mafter. Thus to be given up to a mans felf, is worse then to be given up unto Satan: To be given up unto Satan may be for thy fafety; but there's not a mountain of Gods wrath greater, then to give a man up unto himfelf. We would fain goe over the hedgess but when God loves us, he bedges up our ways,Нos. 2.6. If God love us, he will not leave us to our felves, though we defire it. But when God fhall fay, goe thy wayes if thou wilt not be kept in, be thy own Master, this is a moft fearful thing: And this is the third woe. Firft the foul is polluted with fin it forfakes God, and God forfakes it: then the world, the flesh, and the De vil, thefe fill up the room; and then what fol lows when these three rufe within? but all kinds

of fin: And fo all kinds of pnnishment, which is the next woe.

4. And this woe brings in all the curfes of Almighty God, an Iliad of evils. Sin calls for its wages, viz. Death, Death. That's the payment of all: The wages of fin is death. And this is the next thing which I fhall open and explain.

Now in handling hereof, I will first fhew how death in general muft of neceffity follow fin, that thou who haft for faken the fountain of life, art liable to everlasting death. And for this fee fome places of Scripture, Rom. 6. 2, 3. The wages of fin is death. Confider then firft what this wages is. Wages is a thing which must be paid: If you have an hireling, and your hireling receive not his wages, you are fure to hear of it, and God will hear of it too, James 5.4. He which keeps back the wages of the labourer, or of the hireling, their cry will come into the eares of the Lord of Sabbath. As long as hirelings wages are unpaid, Gods eares ate filled with their cries, Pay me my wages, pay me my wages. Sofin cries, and it is a dead voice, Pay me my wages, pay me my wages, the wages of fin is death. And fin never leaves crying, never lets God alone, never gives him reft till this wages be paid. When Cain had flain Abel, he thought he thould never have heard any more on't; but fin hath a voice, The voice of thy brothers blood cries unto me from the ground. So Gen. 18. 20. the Lord faith concerning sodom, Because the cry of Sodom is great, and their fin very grievous, therefore I will goe down and fee whether they have done according to the

cry

cry that is come up into mine eares. As if the Lord had said, It's a loud cry, I can have no rest for it, therefore I will goe down and fee, &c. If a man had his eares open, he would continually hear fin crying unto God, Pay me my wages, pay me my wa ges, kill this finful foul: And though we do not hear it, yet so it is. The dead and doleful found thereof fills Heaven it makes God fay, I will goe down and fee, &c. Till fin receive its wages, God hath no reft. Again, fee Rom. 7. 11. Sintaking occafion by the commandement, deceived me, and by it flew me. I thought fin not to have been fo great a matter as it is. We think on a matter of profit or pleasure, and thereupon are enticed to fia; but here's the mifchief, fin deceives us. It is a weight, it preffes down, it deceives men, it's more then they deemed it to be. The commit. ting of fin is as it were running thy felf upon the point of Gods blade. Sin at first may flatter thee, but it will deceive thee: It's like Joabs kifle to 4mafa. Amafa was not aware of the fpear that was be hind, till he fmote it into his ribs that he died. When fin entices thee on by profits and pleasures, thou art not aware that it will flay thee: But thou fhalt find it will be bitternesse in the end. A finner that acts a tragedy in fin, fhall have a bloody Ca taftrophe. Rom. 6. What fruit had you then in thofe things whereof you are now afhamed? Blood and death is the end of the Tragedy. The end of thofe things is death. The fting of death is fin, 1 Cor. 15. What is fin? It's the fting of death: Death would not be death unleffe fin were in it. Sin is more

deadly

deadly then death it felf: It's fin enableth death to sting, enableth it to hurt and wound us: So that we may look on fin, as the Barbarians looked on the viper on Pauls hand, they expected continually when he would have swollen and burft. Sin bites like a snake which is called a fiery ferpent, not that the ferpent is fiery, but becaufe it puts a man into fuch a flaming heat by their poyfon: And fuch is the fting of fin, which carries poyfon in it, that had we but eyes to fee our uglineffe by it, and how it inflames us, we should continually, every day look when we should burft with it. The Apostle, James 1.15. ufeth another metaphor: Sin when it is accomplished bringeth forth death. drone, faith the Original, fin goeth as it were with child with death. The word is proper to women in labour, who are in torment till they are delivered. Now as if fin were this wo man, he useth it in the fæminine gender. Ausria. So is it with fin, fin is in pain, cries out, hath no reft till it be delivered of this dead birth, till it have brought forth death: That is, fin growes great with child with death, and then it not only deferves death, but it produceth and actually brings forth: This is generally fo.

Now confider with your felves, death is a fear ful thing. When we come to talk of death, how doth it amaze us? The Priests of Nob are brought before Saul for relieving David, and he faith, Thou shalt furely die Ahimelech. And this is your cafe, you shall furely die: death is terrible even To a good man. As appeares in Hezekiah, who

though

1

1

though he were a good man, yet with how fad a heart doth he entertain the meffage of death? the newes of it affrighted him, it went to his heart, it made him turn to the wall and weep. How cometh it to pass that we are focareless of death? that we are to full of infidelity, that when the word of God faith, Thon fhalt die Abimelech, we are not at all moved by it? What, can we think thefe are fab'es? Do we think God is not in ear neft with us? And by this means we fall into the temptation of Eve, a questioning whether Gods threats are true or not? That which was the deceit of our first Parents, is ours. Satan difputes not whether fin be lawful or not: whether eating the fruit were unlawful: whether drunkenneffe, &c. be lawful; he'l not deny but it is unlawful. But when God faith, if thon doft eat, &c. thou shalt die: he denies it, and faith, ye shall not die. He would hide our eyes from the punishment of fin. Thus we loft our felves at the first, and the floods of fin came on in this manner: when we believed not God when he faid, If thou daft eat thon fbalt furely die. And fhall we renew that capital fin of our Parents, and think if we do fin we shall not die? If any thing in the world will move God to fhew us no mercy, it's this, when we flight his judgments, or not believe them. This adds to the heigth of all our fins, that when God faith, if thou doft live in fin, thou fhalt die, and yet we will not believe him: that when he fhall come and threaten us, as he doth, Dent. 29. when he shall curfe, and we shall bless Q

our