human frailty, but wilfully, through the stubbornness and perverseness of a depraved, distorted will. It will be easy to distinguish this malignant kind from either of the former. All premeditated offences, though the matter of them should appear slight, come under the name and notion of presumptuous sins: for wilful disobedience to a plain command, though in a small matter, is no small thing. This we see in the case of our first parents: the tasting of the forbidden fruit was seemingly a slight matter; but yet, because the command was express, and the disobedience wilful and presumptuous, God resented the contempt, and punished it with a very remarkable and memorable severity.

Among presumptuous sins we must reckon all those which are of a high and scandalous nature; such as murder, adultery, perjury, sacrilege, fornication, robbery, extortion, oppression, blasphemy, and the like; because those sins are in their own nature vile and mischievous, and known to be so; that a man cannot be supposed to fall into them through mere ignorance or infirmity, but through the wilfulness and stubbornness of a depraved will.

As to neglects or omissions of duty, many of these also are reducible to the class of presumptuous sins; such as customary neglect of known and plain duties; absenting from public worship, on the Sunday especially, without necessity; living in constant contempt or neglect of the holy Communion; refusing the common offices of humanity and Christian charity, when we see proper occasions for the exercise of them; neglecting to feed the hungry, or to clothe the naked, or to commiserate and assist the afflicted, in proportion to our abilities and circumstances. Those acts of mercy are so much the badges of our Christian profession, and are so strongly insisted upon as matters of indispensable duty, quite through both Testaments, that we can neither plead ignorance nor infirmity for our non-performance. Omissions of this kind are wilful, presumptuous, damning: so our blessed Lord himself intimates, where he tells us, that the articles of inquiry at the day of judgment will run chiefly on those heads; and men shall be either acquitted or condemned accordingly. So much in the general about the nature, quality, and kinds of presumptuous sins. I proceed now,

II.

To be more particular in setting forth the malignancy and

danger of them, and the concern we ought to have to stand clear of them.

You may observe of holy David in the Psalm before us, how he prays, that God would pardon his smaller sins, and cleanse him, by remitting, or not imputing them. But as to those greater presumptuous sins, he begs to be wholly kept back from them, to be undefiled with them. He speaks of them also as amounting to "great transgression," and which alone could debar him of the satisfaction of having an upright heart and a good conscience. His errors and infirmities, he believed, a merciful God would pass by and overlook, upon his general confession and repentance: but the presumptuous sins he was greatly afraid of, being such as might make a most fatal breach between God and him, hard to be made up again and reconciled. Nor were his fears, in this case, at all unreasonable or groundless, if we consider the malignant qualities and mischievous effects of presumptuous sinning.

1. For, first, presumptuous sins spring from the corruption of the heart, from some evil lust or affection, some predominancy of pride, avarice, or voluptuousness. Men will not run upon sins of that kind, to provoke Almighty God wilfully and daringly, till the world has taken hold of them, and estranged their hearts (in a great measure) from him. It is hanging out the flag of defiance, and entering into a kind of open war or rebellion against Heaven. While a man has ignorance or surprise to plead in excuse for himself, his heart may be still right with God: but when he wilfully and presumptuously offends, it is very plain that his heart is then alienated, and that he has struck up an alliance with the world in opposition to God.

2. We may consider further, that after sinning in this manner, and to this degree, it is very hard to repent. We see this in common friendships one with another. While a man knows that he intended no ill to a friend, but has unwarily done him a prejudice, loving and respecting him all the time; he easily returns, and with an open countenance makes his apology, and asks pardon but if he has acted against his friend with malice prepense, and has designedly affronted or injured him; he grows sullen and shy, and perhaps shuns the acquaintance ever after. There is something of the like affection left upon the mind of a presumptuous sinner with respect to God. He from that instant contracts a strange aversion to him; he is afraid to approach

him, conscious to himself, that he has been acting treacherously; nay, and perhaps strongly inclined, if not resolved, even to do so again; at least not fully resolved against it: he has therefore little or no heart to pray to God, or to ask pardon, except it be in a slight superficial manner, as words of course. By degrees, the breach grows wider between God and him; and he stands off more and more, till at length he renounces, in a manner, all further acquaintance with his Maker. This is often the result of giving way, at first, to presumptuous sins.

But,

3. Supposing, thirdly, that a man relents soon after, and is disposed to repent heartily and turn to God; yet it will be difficult for him so to heal the breach which those sins have made, as to come with delight and humble confidence to his God, as before. The remembrance of his sins of unfaithfulness will, for some time, bring a cloud over his mind; and he will, of course, be full of fear, doubtfulness, and anxiety; hardly knowing how to trust himself for the future, hardly daring to look up with cheerfulness to God.

I do not know a more affecting or more melancholy example of what I am mentioning, than David himself. From the time he fell into presumptuous sins, in the matter of Uriah, (though he was penitent for it, and a pardon was granted him by the hand of a prophet,) yet how sorrowful and troubled was his afflicted mind all his life after! He never recovered his wonted courage and vivacity; he hung down his head, and went mourning all the day long; his spirit was bowed down with grief, and he was scarce able to bear up under the afflicting hand of God. He seems not to have been the same man as formerly, nor to have kept up either the figure or the character in life which ho had before done. What with the afflictions God sent him in his family and his kingdom, and what with his remorse for his transgressions, he appears to have been, as it were, unmanned, and sunk in his spirits for the rest of his life, and to have behaved and acted below his character. Repentance is the best thing we can retreat to, and is indeed the only plank left whereon to escape, in such a case: but in the mean while, how much better is innocence, than the most holy and solemn repentance!

It may indeed be said, that David's sin in that instance was very great for the matter of it, as well as its being presumptuous. Very true but every presumptuous sin, in proportion, brings its

train of mischiefs with it. We see it in its best light, when we take a view of it in a person who was sincerely penitent. The most melancholy consideration of all is, that presumptuous sins generally harden the conscience, and carry the man off from bad to worse, till they sink him down to a state of stupidity here, and to perdition hereafter. From all which it is manifest, how highly it concerns every man to be extremely cautious how he ventures upon sins of this kind, and to use all possible endeavours to stand clear of wilful and deliberate, that is, presumptuous sins. It remains now thirdly,

III.

To offer some proper advice and directions how to avoid them. 1. The first care, most certainly is, to be instant in prayers to Almighty God, to preserve us, by his preventing grace, from falling into them. There is no firm security but in God's mercy, so disposing the affairs of life, and all outward occurrences, as not to expose us to temptations beyond our strength. There lies our principal security, to throw ourselves into his arms, and to commit ourselves entirely to his protection. This, as I said, is to be done by our constant and fervent prayers. God expects to be asked and entreated by us, and has made it the condition and instrumental means of conveying his grace and blessing to us. But besides this, prayer has naturally a good effect upon the mind of the supplicant: it preserves a constant awe and reverence for God; and is keeping up a kind of acquaintance and intercourse with heaven. It carries in it a repugnancy and opposition to all wilful sins, and has the force of a standing declaration or remonstrance against them. With what heart, with what face, can a man carry on a daily correspondence and converse with God in prayer, and at the same time be in confederacy with Satan, presumptuously rebelling against the God he prays to? One would conclude, that, either continuing to pray would make a man afraid and ashamed to sin in that high manner; or else, that his so sinning must make him leave off his prayers for those two things seem to stand at the greatest distance possible, and are scarce consistent with each other. But secondly,

2. After prayers to God to assist us, we must next use our best endeavours to help ourselves; exerting to the utmost those powers and faculties which God hath given us, for his glory, and for our own happiness. We should consider seriously, of all the

most proper and likely means to be made use of, in order to prevent our falling into presumptuous sins.

The first and principal is, to look well to our hearts, that they be set right, and "kept with all diligence." We may observe, that sinning presumptuously is, as it were, revolting from God, and running off into another interest. Our hearts are not whole with God when we do it. We have let our affections go astray from him, placing them somewhere else; upon the alluring objects of worldly riches, honour, or pleasure. This is undoubtedly the case, as often as men run into presumptuous sins. Wherefore the true and most effectual way to prevent our doing so is to look well to our hearts, and to keep them fixed where they ought to be, upon God alone. "Set your affections on "things above, and not on things on the earth." This is striking at the root of all presumptuous sins, is stifling them in their birth. We shall not wilfully sin against God, till we have learned to love the world more than we love him; till we have suffered Satan and his emissaries to steal our affections from God, and to transfer them to other objects. Take we care then, in the first place, to govern our affections, and to point them to their true object.

And in order to do this the more effectually, our next care should be to be often reflecting upon the infinite value of heavenly things above all earthly enjoyments: how far eternity is preferable to time, and God to the world: how slight, empty, and transient all secular things are; not worthy to be compared with the joys that shall be hereafter. These and other the like considerations, often repeated and treasured up in our minds, will be of use to fix our affections upon things above, and so to prevent our falling into presumptuous sins.

Our further care should be to keep out of temptations as much as possible; that so we may carry the same good thoughts the more constantly about us, and not let them slip. The misfortune of man is, that, though he has resolved ever so well, and has armed himself with many excellent meditations; yet new occasions and unexpected occurrences may suggest new thoughts, and give quite another turn to the mind. The safest way therefore is to avoid, as much as we can, all such occasions: and, as we pray not to be led into temptation, so let us take care not to run into it of our own accord.

The last thing I shall mention is, to be watchful and cautious,