13.

XXV.

SERMON tongues of angels-and yet prove devils at the last, grow proud upon it; light others up to heaven, and yet go down to hell ourselves; shine gloriously for a blaze, and go out in a stench; have our Sóxiμos here, and be adókiμos for ever; have our reward and glory here, and be cast away for ever.

And now, if the strongest cedars shake, what shall the reeds do? If the first preachers of the Gospel, the grand Apostles, those stars and angels of the churches, stand so trembling, and must deal so roughly with their bodies, for fear of being" castaways," who is it can dream himself Rom. viii. exempt? Unless ye "mortify the deeds of the body," (it is to all of us it is said so,) there is no living. If we keep not our bodies low, they will keep us low; if we bring not them into subjection, they will bring us into slavery; they will cast us away, if we cast away too much upon them. There is no way to cure our fears, to confirm our hopes, to help our weaknesses, to beat back temptations, to establish our titles and rights to heaven, to make God's grace effectual upon us, to sanctify our prayers, and preachings, and all our labours, to the glory of a reward,-but to watch, and fast, and deal severely with our bodies; to study temperance, and exercise ourselves to do and suffer hard things. It is no will-worship, surely, (as men brand it,) that is pressed and practised here, under so great danger of being "castaways" if we do it not: it is not, sure. Nor is it so hard a business as men would seem to make it: none of all the ways I told you of for the subduing of the body are so at all. We can sit up whole nights to game, to dance, to revel, to see a mask or play; make nothing of it. We can rise up early and go to bed late, for months together, for our gain and profit, and be never the worse. We can fast whole days together, and nor eat nor drink, when we are eager upon our business or sport, and never feel it. We can endure pain and cold and tendance, affronts and injuries and neglects, slightings and reproaches too, to compass a little honour and preferment, and not say a word. We can be temperate too, when we please, for some ends and purposes. Only the soul's business is not worth the while; whether "castaways" or no, is not considerable; all is too much, on that account: mole-hills are mountains, and there

XXV.

is a lion always in the way,-watching will kill us, fasting SERMON will destroy us, any kind of strictness will impair us; temperance itself will pine us into skeletons; every good exercise takes up too much time; every petty thing that crosses but the way is an unconquerable difficulty, a lion,-when the soul's business is to be gone about. Hear but S. Austin a chide you, as once he chid himself: Tu non poteris quod istæ et istæ et istæ; "What," says he, "canst not thou do that, which so many weak and tender women, so many little children, so many of all sexes, ages, and conditions, have so often done before thee, and thought so easy? It is a shame to say so."

But suppose thou art infirm indeed, and canst not do so much as perhaps thou wouldst do else, canst thou do nothing? If thou canst not watch, canst thou not fast sometimes? If thou canst not fast, canst thou not endure a little hunger, thirst, or cold, or pains, for heaven, neither? If all these seem hard, canst thou not be temperate neither? canst thou not bring thyself to it by degrees, by exercise, and practice, neither? Or if thou canst not watch a night, canst thou not watch an hour-do somewhat towards it? If thou canst not fast from all kind of meat, canst thou not abstain at least from some-from dainties and delicates? If not often, canst thou not at such a time as this, when all Christians ever used to do it? Sure, he that cannot fast a meal, may yet feed upon coarser fare. He that cannot do any of these long, may do all of them some time; may exercise himself in a little time to the hardest of them all. Let us, then, however, set a-doing somewhat; for God's sake let us be Christians a little at the least; let us do somewhat that is akin to the ancient piety-watch, or fast, or somewhat, in some degree or other-that the world may believe that we are Christians. Why should we be castaways from the profession too?

But, indeed, he that will do nothing for fear of being a castaway" in the text, I despair he should do any thing upon any other concernment. He that values his body above his soul, his ease and pleasure above heaven, his temporal satisfaction above his eternal salvation, there is no more to * [This has not been found.]

a

SERMON be said of him: if S. Paul say true, he must be a castaway."

XXV.

I am too long, but I must not end with so sad a word. All that has been said or preached, is not that any should be, but that not any should be "castaways,"--only "lest" they should. It is in our hands to hinder it: it is but a few hours taken from our sleep and employed on heaven—it is but a little taken from our full dishes and groaning tables and gorged stomachs, taken from our own bodies and bestowed upon the poor's-it is but a little strictness to our bodies, that sets all straight; it is but the keeping the body under, and the soul in awe, and all is safe. The keeping down the body now, shall raise up both soul and body at the last ; the holy fear of being castaways, shall keep you safe from ever being so; the bringing the body into subjection here, shall bring it hereafter into a kingdom where all our fears shall be turned into joys, our fasting into feasting, our watching into rest, all our hardships into ease and pleasure; and these very corruptible bodies here kept under, shall be there exalted into incorruption, where we shall meet the full reward of all our pains and labours-we, of our preachingyou, of your hearing-all of us, of all the good works we have done, all the sufferings that we shall suffer--the everlasting crown of righteousness, the incorruptible and eternal crown of glory.

Which He give us at that day, who expects such things from us in these days to approve us at that—God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. To whom be all glory, &c.

A SERMON

ON THE

THIRD SUNDAY IN LENT.

ROM. vi. 21.

What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.

"THOSE things" were sins and sinful courses-these words, an argument to dissuade from them; S. Paul's great argument to dissuade from sin and the service of it ;-an argument than which there can be no greater, nothing be said more, or more home, against it. Nothing more against it, than that nothing comes of it but shame and ruin; nothing more home, than that which comes home to our own bosoms, makes ourselves the judges, our own consciences and experiences the umpires, of the business. "What fruit had ye in those things whereof ye are now ashamed?" says our Apostle; "ye" yourselves tell me if you can.

"What had he then?" says he to the Romans here. What have ye, now say I to you-ye, whoever you are, still? or what had ye ever, any of you, who have at any time given up your members to uncleanness, or to any iniquity? What have ye gotten by it? Bring in your account; set down the income; reckon up the gains; sum up the expenses and receipts, and tell me truly what it is. Or, if you be ashamed to tell it, give the Apostle leave to do it. "Fruit" ye had none of it, that is certain; "shame" ye have by it, that is too sure; and "death" you shall have, if you go on in it

SERMON
XXVI.

XXVI.

SERMON nothing surer "for the end of those things is death.". What reason, then, to commit or continue in them? That is S. Paul's meaning by the question; as if he had said: Ye have no reason in the world at all to pursue a course so fruitless, so dishonourable, so desperate, as yourselves have found, and will still find, your sins to be.

Thus the text, you see, is a dissuasive from sin and all unrighteousness, drawn here from these four particulars: (1.) The fruitlessness and unprofitableness; (2.) The shame and dishonour; (3.) The mischief and damage of it; and (4.) Our own experience of them all. The unprofitableness in the enjoyment, the shame in the remembrance, the damage in the conclusion of every sin; and our own experience called in to witness to it.

The unprofitableness, (1,) without fruit: "What fruit had ye?" That is, no "fruit" had ye-none at all. the fruitlessness of sin-none for the time past.

There is

None, (2,) for the present; nothing but what "ye are now ashamed" of: there is the shame and dishonour of sin. None, (3,) for the future neither, unless it be death: there is the damage of sin; no fruit, past, present, or to come, but shame and "death."

And all this "ye know," says S. Paul, as well as I. I appeal to yourselves and your own experience: "What fruit had ye?" I dare stand to your own confessions; I dare make yourselves the judges.

Now sum up the argument, and thus it runs :-Were there, (1,) any profit, O ye Romans, in your trade of sin, I might, perhaps, be thought too hard to press so much upon you to persuade you from it. Or though there were no profit, yet, (2,) if there were some credit in it, something perhaps might be said for your continuance in it. Or though there were neither profit, nor credit for the present, yet if, (3,) there were some good might issue from it for the future, or at least the issue not so bad as death, somewhat, peradventure, might be pleaded in the case. Or if this, (4,) were all only in other men's opinions, and ye found it otherwise yourselves, ye might perchance have some excuse at least to go on in sin; but to sin when there is neither profit, nor credit, nor ope, nothing good at any time in it, neither when it is past,