by, and God in his Providence gave me the Success I desired; why these Confiderations (let the Action in itself have been never so bad) do so buoy up a Man's Spirits against all the Reflections which otherwife his Confcience would be apt to make upon such an Action, that really he cannot call himself to account for it, nor confefs it before God as a Sin. But this is but another Way of covering of Sin; and he that useth it shall not profper. Let us all know and remember, that no Neceffity, no Conveniency, no good Ends, will ever justify an Action that is bad in itself. St. Rom.3.8. Paul having long ago told us, That those which do Evil that Good may come, their Damnation is juft.

3. But, Thirdly, A Man may be truly faid to cover his Sins, when he doth what he can to extenuate them; when, tho' he doth not justify them as in the former Cafe, yet he leffens them; when instead of representing to God, or to himself, his own Wickedness, and manifold Miscarriages in their just Dimensions, and with their just Circumstances, he is wholly intent upon those Points that take off from the Heinouf ness of them, and would seem to render that which was a Crime to be but a venial Sin..

And thus really Men do frequently deal with God and with themselves. apt to say of their Sins as Lot,

They are when he faw

saw Sodom on fire, once faid of the City Zoar, which he would have had preserv'd, Is it not a little one? and my Soul Jhall live. Gen. 19.

To what Purpose but this were all those foft and genteel Terms invented by which we usually cenfure great and notorious Sins both in ourselves and others? How usual is it to represent Faults of a more than ordinary Malignity by such easy Characters as shall affright no Body from the doing of them? How many wilful deliberate Tranfgreffions are not only called, but thought to be Sins of Surprize or pure Infirmity? A Course of Drunkenness and Debauchery passes often for no more than an Excess of Sociableness, or a little too much good Nature: And the worst Brand of it is, that the poor Man who is guilty of it, is the least kind to himself. Do not many of us excuse our violent ungovernable Paffions, our furious, wrathful, quarrelsome, uneasy Conversation to all about us, by such foft Censures as these, that, alas! we are of fomething too hafty a Disposition, and are too apt to be put out of Humour? Doth not intolerable Uncharitableness and Cenforiousness often pass under no heavier a Name than of a little too much Freedom of Speech, without any other Mark of Infamy? What amongst a great many is Pride and Contempt of others, but only Refervedness of Temper? Covetousness and Op

pression, but only Frugality and careful Manage

20.

4

Management of one's Affairs? Uncleanness and Fornication, but only a Heat and Folly of Youth? And abundance of other Instances of this kind may be given.

And as we thus lightly pass Censures upon the greatest Sins, whether of ourselves or others, in our Discourses, so it is much to be feared we have the fame Apprehenfions between God and ourselves, when we come to reflect upon them, and to exercise Acts of Repentance for them. Even in this Cafe how extremely apt are we to catch at every Twig, to take Advantage of every Circumstance that any ways feems to contribute to the alleviating the Sins that we find ourselves burden'd with ? What new and uncouth Measures have we made to ourselves for the estimating the Greatness or Littleness of Sins? We do not make a Judgment of them by the Word of God, and the Rules of Reason, but by other fantastick Rules, by the Commonness and Frequency of them among Mankind, by the Reputation they have in the World, by our own Inclinations and Tempers, and by the Powerfulness of the Temptations by which we were follicited to them.

As for Instance; If we be among the Number of the common Sinners; if our Sins be of that Kind that we fee daily and every where practised among us, why then it naturally falls into our Minds that we are not the first, nor the only Persons, that are guilty of this Fault. There are Thousands about us that are as deeply concerned in this Matter as we: And fure, where so many are concerned, the Punishment will not light so heavy upon one. If it be a fashionable Sin we are engaged in, a Sin that hath gained Credit and Reputation among the Generality of Men, why still that doth more either vindicate us, or excuse us. For what Prudence is it for any Man in this Age to be fingular? Who can bear the Taunts and Derisions that will be thrown upon us for not complying with the Humour of the Times, but living like Men of another World? If we be in the Briskness and Gaiety of our Youth, when we thus fly out into extravagant Actions, why that is a Salvo for them all. A Trick of Youth is always at least excuseable: As our juvenile Heats wear off, and our Judgment encreases, we shall of ourselves return to more fober Counsels. In the mean time both God and the World will pardon our youthful Extravagancies. If the Iniquities we labour under be those which we are prompted to by our particular Tempers and Inclinations, why sure we shall never be called to a strict Account for them, fince it is not in any Man's Power to alter or new model his Constitution. At the worst, this is but an human Frailty, which every Man in our Circumstances is too apt to fall into.

But

But what are all these Pleas and Pretences, but so many Instances of covering our Sins? If we meant honestly, and dealt with Uprightness between God and our Souls, we should not be thus fagacious in contriving Ways to mitigate our Offences, nor so forward to make use of them if they were contrived to our Hands. A fincere honest Penitent would think of none of these Things, at least he would not regard them. The main Thing he would confider, would be his strict Duty, and what Obligations he had to perform it. What the Laws of God and Jesus Christ had obiged him to; and what Strength and Power he had to live up to those Laws, and how highly he was engaged, by the Oath he had taken to Jesus Christ, so to live. What folemn Vows and Resolutions he had made to renounce the World, the Flesh, and the Devil, and to yield up himself entirely to the Service of his Saviour. Such an honest Man would not insist much on the Corruptions of the Times, and the bad Examples before him, and the Strength of natural Inclinations, and the like; but he would think seriously of his Duty, and what his Conscience had often suggested to him about it, and what Assistances God in his Word had made over to him by his Holy Spirit for the performing of it, and how intolerably he should be felf-condemned if he did neglect it,