forlorn in hope. Armies of saints have stormed heaven before you and have left it behind them that the work is possible and the reward certain. The other have not this; if they get satisfaction in their lusts, they are the first. They see thousands before them, who have laboured as hard as they, disappointed, and are lain down in sorrow. This labour has inward helps. Christ bears the heaviest part of his own yoke; he gives strength, he works the will for the work; and the work for us, when we have the will: Phil. ii. 13, "For it is God that worketh in us, both to will and to do of his good pleasure." Isa. xxvi. 12, "Thou also hast wrought all our works in us." The others have not. True, they have that within them which puts them on to this labour, but the more of the one, the harder is the other, as the wearied beast is goaded by the spur, and worn out by their being beaten when no straw is allowed them. But where is the help to work satisfaction and happiness out of the creatures, or from the law?

7. We call you from a wearisome to a lightsome pleasant labour. I have proved the first; for the last, see Prov. iii. 17, "Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace." But let us hear what can be said for both.

(1.) Is there much pleasure in sin? Ans. In some there is none. What pleasure has the passionate man, that kindles a fire in his own bosom ? What pleasure has the envious, that gnaws himself like a serpent for the good that others enjoy? What pleasure has the discontented, that is his own executioner. Consider the calm of spirit that the contrary graces bring, and judge who has the better part. As for those sins in which pleasure is found,

[1.] It is common to them with these creatures with whom they will not desire to be ranked. For these things that gratify men's sensual appetite are common to them with beasts, as gluttony, drunkenness, filthiness, &c. A sow can drink, and be as drunk as the greatest drunkard, and so on. And they have the better of them, as being under no law, and therefore they can go the full length of their appetite.-2. They do it without remorse.-3. They find satisfaction in these things, seeing they are not capable of desiring greater things. Now, put these together, where is the pleasure? Is it not surpassed by the pain? As to the desires of the mind, these are common to them with devils. The greatest swearer, liar, and proud opposer of religion, have the trade but from the second hand. The devil can satisfy his curiosity better than the most curious, reason more closely against religion than any atheist. Only obstinate despisers of reproof and mockers surpass the devil, for the devils believe and tremble: whereas for a time they do not.

(2.) The pleasure is but momentary, the pain follows hard at the heels, and is eternal. What pleasure can be devised, for which a man would hold his finger over a burning candle for a quarter of an hour? how much more dreadful to endure eternal burnings!

(3.) The struggle that conscience makes against corruption, brings more torment than that which corruption makes against grace. Conscience is more dreadfully armed than corruption; there is here as much difference as there is betwixt the hand of God and the hand of the devil. See now what becomes of the pleasure!

(2.) The labour in religion is truly pleasant. It is truly holy labour; for of that we speak, and scripture-testimony proves its pleasantness; see Prov. iii. 17, "Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace." Ask David, and he will tell you, in Psalm lxxxiv.; Paul, in 2 Cor. xii. 10.

(1.) It is a labour suited to the nature of the soul, the better part, their divine supernatural nature, 2 Pet. i. 4. Believers are partakers of a divine nature. This must needs create ease and delight; the stream easily flows from the fountain; birds with pleasure fly in the air. The reason of the difficulty in religion to many is, they are out of their element when engaged in it.

(2.) Therein the soul carries on a trade with heaven; entertains communion with God, through the Spirit of Christ, by a mutual intercourse of grace and duty, the soul receiving influences, and returning them again in duties: as the rain falls on the earth freely, so the waters run freely toward the sea again.

(3.) Great peace of conscience usually attends this; and the more labour, the more peace: Psal. cxix. 165, "Great peace have they who love thy law." Here is a feast which nothing but sin mars: 2 Cor. i. 12, "For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world." Men cannot take it from us, John xiv. 27.

(4.) Sometimes they have great manifestations of Christ, evidences of the Lord's love raising a high spring-tide of joy in their souls, greater than that which the whole congregation of the world enjoys, Psalm iv. 6, 7. It is joy unspeakable, and full of glory, 1 Pet. i. 8.

(5.) It is a lightsome way they walk in, whereas the other is darksome; the light of the Lord's word shines in it. The Mahommedans have a tradition, that Moses' law and Christ's gospel were written first with ink made of pure light. Sure the scripture points out duty, as if it were written with a sunbeam.

8. We call you from a labour against yourselves, to a labour for your advantage. We must either do the work of God or the devil.

Every sin is a new impediment in your way to heaven, a new stone laid on the wall of separation. What a mad thing is it to be working out our damnation, instead of our own salvation!

9. We call you not to more, but to other labour. We are all laborious creatures; the greatest idler is in some sort busy. Paul calls even them that work not at all, busy bodies, 2 Thes. iii. 11. Our life is nothing but a continual succession of actions, even as the fire is ever burning, and the rivers running. It is in some respect impossible to do more than we do; the watch runs as fast when wrong as when right. Why may we not then keep the highway while we are travelling.-Consider,

10. That the same pains that men are at to ruin themselves, might possibly serve to save them. There are difficulties in the way of sin as well as of religion. Does not sin oftentimes bereave men of their night's rest? Are they more disturbed when communing with their own souls, and with God? Do not men draw sin as with cart-ropes? Isa. v. 18. Why might not labour be employed in drawing the heart to God? If men would but change, and suck as greedily and incessantly at the breasts of God's consolations, as they do of the creatures, how happy would they be !

Lastly, Consider that the labour in religion is not greater, nay, it is less than in sin, for religion contracts our work to one thing: Luke x. 41, 42, "Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things, but one thing is needful." Sinners have many lusts to please, the saints have but one God to please; the work of religion is all of a piece, sin not so. There is a sweet harmony betwixt all the graces and all the duties of religion. But lusts are quite contrary, and as they war against grace, so against one another, James iv. 1, "From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not from hence, even of your lusts that war in your members ?" So that the sinner is dragged by one lust one way, by another, another. And how hard is it to serve contrary masters!

THE SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED.

SERMON XX.

MATTH. XI. 28,

Come unto me, all ye that labour, and are heavy laden, aud I will give

you rest.

I now proceed to the consideration of

Doctrine II. That all who are out of Christ, are under an heavy burden, which, by all their labour, they cannot shake off.

In illustrating of which, I shall only,

I. Offer a few observations.

II. Make some practical improvement.

I. I am to offer a few observations; such as,

1. That Satan has a load on all out of Christ; it is a load of sin; Isa. i. 4, "Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity." This load is twofold:

1st, A load of guilt, Gen. iv. 13, " And Cain said unto the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear," (Heb. "sin.") Guilt is the heaviest load ever was on the shoulders of men or angels. scriptures hold it forth,

The

(1.) As debt. He that is in debt is under a burden. It is the worst of debts, we cannot pay it, nor escape the hands of our creditor; yea, we deny the debt, care not for count and reckoning, we wave our creditor as much as we can; so it stands uncancelled. But it is a debt that must be paid: 2 Thess. i. 9, "Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power." They shall pay what justice demands. It is represented,

(2.) As a yoke tied fast on the sinner's neck; hence pardon is called a loosing of it, guilt being, as it were, cords of wrath, whereby the sinner is bound over to God's wrath. Pardon is also called remission or relaxation: Rom. iii. 25, "To declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God."-It is pointed out,

(3.) As a burden: Hos. xiv. 2, "Take away all iniquity." Take away, namely, as a burden off a man's back. Hence Christ is said to have borne our sins, the burden of the elect's guilt being laid on his back. What a heavy load is it! (1.) It makes the whole creation groan, Rom. viii. 22. It caused them take their pains five thousand years since, and they are not yet delivered of their burden.

66

All the groans that ever men gave on earth and in hell were under this burden; it sunk the whole world into ruiu: "Christ took our nature," to prevent us going down to the pit, Heb. ii. 16; (Greek, caught hold"), as of a drowning man, not of the whole seed of Adam, for great part of it fell to the ground, but of the seed of Abraham, the elect. (2.) This load sunk the fallen angels, made them fall as stars from heaven to the bottomless pit. And what a load was it to Christ, that made him sweat as it were great drops of blood, that made him groan and die !—It is,

2dly, A load of servitude to lusts, which of themselves are heavy burdens; the very remainder of which made the apostle groan : Rom. vii. 24, "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death ?" What greater burden can be, than for a man to have a swarm of unmortified corruptions hanging about him, whose cravings he is still obliged to answer. This is that which creates that weary labour, of which we have already spoken; better a man were burdened with serpents sticking in his flesh, than with these. I observe,

2. The law has a load on the Christless sinner; and that,

(1.) A load of duties, as great and numerous as the commandment, which is exceeding broad, can lay on. Though they perform them not, yet they are bound upon them by the commandment: and they shall sooner dissolve the whole fabric of the world, than make void this commandment. This is a heavy load. True, they that are in Christ have a yoke of duties laid on them, but not by the law, but by Christ. The difference is great; the law exacts perfect obedience, but gives no strength; Christ, when claiming obedience to his law, gives strength for the performance, which makes it an easy obedience.-There is,

(2.) A load of curses: Gal. iii. 10, "Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things written in the book of the law, to do them." Every commandment of the law is fenced with a curse, denounced against the breakers of it. How great must be the load, then, where every action is a sin, and every sin brings a curse! This is a heavy load, that makes the earth reel to and fro, like a drunkard, under the weight of it.—I observe,

3. That God has a load on the Christless sinner, that is, of wrath: Eph. ii. 3, "And were by nature children of wrath." This is an abiding load: John iii. 36, "He that believeth not the Son, shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him." This load is far heavier than mountains of brass; it is weightier than can be expressed. II. I am now to make some practical improvement. From what kas been said, I infer,