for us, as covenant heads in the covenant of works. It is not a general case, that the son doth not bear the iniquity of the father, since God sometimes "visits the iniquities of the fathers upon the children," Exod. xx. 5. But in Ezek. xviii. 20, there is a mitigation of that righteous vengeance, on account of the covenant of grace. The son bears the iniquity of the father by virtue of the covenant of works, but not on account of the covenant of grace. See this Jer. xxxi.

28-31.

APPLICATION.

Behold, hearers, so glorious were ye created, and after the image of God, and so wretched and abominable are ye become through your birth! Do ye see it in yourselves? doth it affect you with grief? do ye humble and abase yourselves on account of it, as the matter requires? Surely ye do not, who are still such as ye were at your birth, and who have never yet departed out of Adam, and out of the covenant of works, and entered into Christ, the second Adam, and into the covenant of grace. For,

1. Ye have never yet come to yourselves, so as to see your natural guilt and abominable corruption, to bewail it, and to humble yourselves on account of it. Yea, as miserable and hatefully wicked as ye have been from your birth, ye are nevertheless proud and haughty on account of it. Ye know wonderfully well how to boast of your noble parentage, to relate from what family ye have sprung, this and that great personage was your kinsman; and ye consider not that your first father sinned, and was a covenant breaker, and that ye are by your natural birth "of your father the devil." John viii. 44. Ye boast of your good heart, of your great understanding, and your noble virtues, and require that every one should esteem and love you, and when they do not, ye are angry: do ye perceive that any one hath an esteem for you, your heart is immediately tickled, and swells with pride, as a bladder with wind, and ye speak, with a lofty air. Your foolish imagination, that ye are something, emboldens you to draw near to God, like the Pharisee, Luke xviii. 11, 12, in an arrogant manner, and to display your specious virtues before him: and ye doubt not but that God will be favourable to you, yea, ye think that if he did not bestow heaven upon you, he would deal unjustly by you; and so ye possess your father's disposition, who "would be. like God, Gen iii. 3, 22. Do ye once see your damnable sins, it doth not however render you concerned, but ye presently turn away from beholding them, and excuse them as weaknesses, which ye ought not much to regard.

2. Ye know indeed that ye are not as ye ought to be, and as your father Adam was before the fall: but ye never inquire by what means ye have become so miserable: ye do not concern yourselves therewith, but regard it as a matter, which hath happened long since, and which is far off, and doth not relate to you. Yea, many of you are still so ignorant, that they know not even from the word of God, and as a truth, that man is so miserable on account of Adam's sin through his birth: how should they then know from a thorough contemplation of themselves, their own misery and the causes of it?

3. Are ye ever led to a fair view of your iniquity, either by a wise reprover, or by the conviction of your own consciences, ye seek presently for the cause of the sin, which is discovered to you, yet ye do not find the true cause, but a false one, which ye do then pretend, in order to excuse yourselves: one thinks, or says, the flesh is weak, and he doth not see the wickedness of his flesh; another alledges, the devil is busy, and he says with Eve, "the serpent deceived me," Gen. ii, 13. It is as though the devil did every sin through the sinner, as he deceived the woman through the serpent, and as though the sinner himself were not abominable, and did not commit sin : a third pretends Custom, he knows not that he doth it, as if custom would excuse him, and as if it did not greatly aggravate his iniquity, that he was accustomed to sin, and it was become, as it were, his nature: a fourth will lay the blame upon his calling, that it is difficult and that it cannot be followed without a profanation of the name and day of God, or without cheating and wronging others: but such a calling is not lawful and is itself sinful; he will then also accuse his neighbour, he brought me to it, saith the sinner, when his iniquity is found, which is hateful or his parents have done it by an evil example, or a careless education: they have eaten sour grapes: or he excuses himself with the conduct of the man or the woman, yea, what is still more abominable, the sinner is so wicked, that he dares with Adam blame his Maker for his sin, and say that he is the cause of it, Gen iii 12. A man hath not made himself, saith he often O wicked monster, that thou wilt excuse thine own hateful heart and conduct, and accuse others, yea, even thy pure Maker.

4. Do ye know that the sinner is become so evil and perverse through the fall of Adam, ye know it only as a truth, which occurs in the word, but ye do not see it in yourselves; for ye have never yet looked into yourselves, in order to condemn yourselves with de testation and concern. All men are considered by you as abominable, according to the word of God: but when ye come to yourselves, ye then think that ye are not so wicked as this and that one, but

rather somewhat better. Ye are perhaps so expert in the word of righteousness, that ye are able to refute all the objections of the adversaries: but when ye are only a little concerned about your evil character, and fearful of eternal perdition, how do your hearts rise up in displeasure against the Lord, and say within you, with the wicked Jews "The way of the Lord is not equal,'' Ezek. xviii. 25, 29, and "why doth he yet find fault? for who hath resisted his will?" Rom. ix. 19. This is not a subtle injection of Satan into you, but it is a dictate of your own evil hearts, and ye cherish that wicked thought; yea, rise up against the Lord and seek to disengage yourselves from him and his service.

Is it not thus with you? attend only to the workings, the thoughts and imaginations of your hearts, to the words of your mouths, and your whole conversation, and ye will see it. Do not make light of it by thinking, I know that it is sad enough, and not meddling any further with it but stand still a while by it, and see your great misery, that ye come short of the image and glory of God, Rom. iii. 23. Ye have the sinful image of your father Adam, Gen. v. 3, whereby ye have apostatized from God to yourselves, yea, to his enemy: "your actions and birth are of the land of Canaan, your father was Ammonite, and your mother a Hittite:" your birth is hateful and oathsome, Ezek. xvi. 3, 4, 5. Ye are "a seed of evildoers, and transgressors from the womb," Isaiah i. 4. xlviii. 8. Your hearts Work up nothing "but mire and dirt,” Isaiah Ivii. 20. Ye are "by ature children of wrath," Eph. ii. 3. And know that if ye remain 29 ye are, heaven will be shut against you, as Paradise was against your parents: for "there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, or worketh abomination, or maketh a lie," Rev. xxi. 27. Alas! friends, endeavour to escape from your destruction, and to surmount your miserable condition and situation. And for this pur

an

pose.

1. Look upon Adam's condition as yours. Ye were indeed contained his loins, ye have sprung from him, and were born under his coveant, and the covenant of works was established with you in him, ad ye do yet daily enter into that covenant, when ye say inconsiderrely with the carnal Israelites, Exod. xix. 8. "All that the Lord ath spoken will we do:" and when ye rest and seek your life in your doings. Yea, ye have broken the covenant in Adam, and ye break it daily, when ye commit the same sin that Adam committed by transgressing the law of God, aiming at high things, seeking the creature more than God, listening to the suggestions of Satan, and following them. Do not all the judgments which were threatened

Matt. iv. 11. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you," James iv. 7.

7. Parents, who are favoured by God with children, oppose betimes the corruption of your children: inform them of their corrup tion and damnable condition, and how they must be delivered by Christ. Ye have connected them by their birth with Adam, endeavour therefore to connect them also with Christ: "Ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord," saith Paul, Eph. vi. 4. So Abraham conducted, Gen. xviii. 17, 18. David, Prov. iv. 3, 4, 5, 6, and the mother and grandmother of Timothy, 2 Tim. i. 5 . iii. 15.

How happy are they who have fled to the second Adam, and sheltered themselves under the shadow of his wings! Whatsoever they had lost in the first Adam they obtain again in him: "Of God they are in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto them wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification and redemption," 1 Cor. i. 30. Adam was seduced by the wicked one, but, partakers of Christ, "the Lord will establish and keep you from the wicked one," 2 Thess. iii. 3. Adam, and ye in Adam, broke the covenant of God: but "the Lord hath now made another," and better "covenant with you, which cannot be broken," and which is everlasting, that he will not turn away from you, to do you good; he hath put his fear into your hearts, so that ye shall not depart from him," Jer. xxxii. 40. Ye lost the image of God in Adam, but in the Son of God ye are "again become partakers of the divine nature," 2 Peter i. 4. And how will his image be glorified in your immortality, and eternal happiness! 4 For " as ye have borne the image of the earthly, ye shall also bear the image of the heavenly," 1 Cor. xv. 49. Yea, "ye shall behold the face of God in righteousness; ye shall be satisfied, when ye awake, with his likeness," Psalm xvii. 15. Adam was dismissed out of Paradise, but the second Adam, Jesus the King will call you into the Paradise of God, the third heaven; and how happy will ye be, when he will say, according to Matt. xxv. 34. "Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared from the foundation of the world!" Amen.

THE

INABILITY OF THE SINNER

TO DO GOOD.

SEQUEL OF THE III. LORD'S DAY.

Rom. viii. 7. The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

Q. 8. Are we then so corrupt, that we are wholly incapable of doing any good, and inclined to all wickedness?

A. Indeed we are, except we are regenerated by the Spirit of God.

IV. LORD'S DAY.

Q. 9. Doth not God then do injustice to man, by requiring from him in his law, that which he cannot perform.?

A. Not at all: for God made man capable of performing it: but man, by the instigation of the devil, and his own wilful disobedience, deprived himself and all his posterity of those divine gifts.

To be

O be miserable, and to be unable to help one's self, renders one doubly miserable When a person falls into the fire or water, and cannot deliver himself, he must perish, unless another, moved to compassion by his misery and crying, help him. The sinner is become both abominable and miserable by his sins; for he hates the most lovely God and his neighbour, who is made after the image of God; "We were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice, and envy, hateful and hating one another," saith the apostle, Tit. iii. 3. God had created him in the beginning after his image, he was a partaker of the divine nature; but he hath sinned, hath defaced that image, and "comes short of the glory of God," Rom. iii. 23, and he hath now an abominable

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