THE words of the Text are introduc'd up­on the subject of Charity and Love to our Brethren, the Argument so much recom­mended through the whole Epistle, by the Loving and most Belov'd Apostle. What occasion the Di­sciples had given for the Discourse, or wherein they had offended, St. John in the same Spirit of Charity conceals: not exposing the particulars to common notice; but referring the inquiry to their [Page 6]private thoughts, and leaving the prosecution to their own hearts: adding only this necessary inti­mation, That if upon the examination they found themselves innocent, they might then appear be­fore God with confidence, assur'd of his Favour; but if they were conscious to themselves of any Sins they cherish'd, they were then to think that the same Observations were made by the Almigh­ty, and had nothing to expect but his Displeasure. For if our Heart condemn us, God is greater than our Heart, and knoweth all things.

Where the Apostle we see proceeds from a dou­ble supposition: for in the same insinuation, where these Christians are Accus'd, it is presum'd too, that they are not of reprobate profligate Minds; that they have retain'd Sence enough to discern their faults, Ingenuity to acknowledge, and Justice to condemn them. But why then, infers the Apostle, do they not forsake them? and what have they to pretend before their Maker? They stand already convict, and pre-condemn'd by themselves; and what have they to say in Arrest of Judgment? How shall they escape the Condemnation of God? If our Heart condemn us, God is greater than our Heart—

According to the tenor of these words, the Dis­course which now begs your Patience, is de­sign'd,

• I. First, To consider the Supposition of St. John; And then,
• II. Secondly, To reinforce his Conclusion.

I. First, The Supposition consists of Two Parts;

• First, The Knowledge these Christians had of their Duties; And,
• Secondly, Their Offence against it.

What the Measure of their Knowledge was, and what the Particulars of their Offence, they them­selves were to consider by the Direction of the Apostle: we are neither inform'd about it, nor concern'd. It may be enough for us to take that for granted which we cannot deny; That, in general, Mankind is so knowing, as to be sensi­ble of a Duty; and so unhappy, as not to perform it: this may be enough to confess with shame before Men and Angels, with fear and trembling before our GOD.

And First, That Man is born obnoxious to some Duties, and is conscious to himself of several Obligati­ons bound upon him by Nature; This is a Principle so well known, and universally own'd, that no other of any the most certain Science can pretend to a clearer light: the Notions of Equal and Unequal, Streight and Crooked not being more easie and na­tural, than those of Just and Unjust, Merit and [Page 8]Demerit: a Truth therefore not to be called in que­stion by the Attempt of a Proof, nor now to be insisted on for greater Evidence; but only for the Weight that hangs upon it, and the great Conse­quences that attend it.

For what we here suppose, amounts to no more than this: That as all Animals have peculiar to them a Sence and Perception of what comes with­in their Sphere, and is necessary for the Uses of their Life; as they distinguish by Taste, Smell, and Sight, find some things grateful, others ungrateful, receiving their Impressions with Pleasure and Pain; as they have such a Consciousness, which attends not the Growth of Plants: So in Man, the Being of the next higher Rank, there is a new Sense, if I may so speak, added, a farther Perception given, of what is Just and Unjust, Decent and Indecent; A Sense not only of the Congruity or Incongruity of Bodies to Bodies, of an Object to the Organ; but of our Will to our Reason, of our Actions to our Rule, of our particular Designs to the Design of humane Nature: and that such a Sense as this, like the other outward, to be felt and not expres­sed, is not neither without its Satisfaction or Dis­satisfaction, its Pleasure or its Pain. That is; As the Eye, besides the serviceable notice it gives us of the Figure and Countenance of Things, their [Page 9]Magnitude and Parvitude, Distance and Approach; has in it too a pleasing Perception of the beauty of Colours, and Symmetry of Proportion: and as the Ear is made to give us an account of the motions and meetings of Bodies, in the Effect or Signification of which we may be concern'd; and has besides a distinctive Notion of the Agreeableness or Disa­greeableness of Sounds: in like manner, the Rea­sonable Part of Man is not only endued with the Faculty of being able to reflect and look back, to view and compare, to foresee and provide, so to con­duct our Actions in particular; but has in it too some sence of their Suitableness or Unsuitableness to the common Intentions of its Being; comprehends the difference of Good and Ill, Beneficence and In­humanity, Generosity and Ingratitude, Justice and Injustice, and is it self thence as differently affect­ed. For as a considering Man, after all Philosophi­cal Attempts to the contrary, cannot but acknow­ledge an intention and contrivance in the Fabrick of Plants and Animals, in the Nourishment and Growth of both, in the Actions and Motions of the last, especially those towards the Production and Preservation of their Young; those brute Crea­tures constantly pursuing the original Intention by an orderly course, and well-manag'd conduct; seeming to have a design of their own, but exe­cuting [Page 10]that of their Creator: So in us Men, when our reason gives us a new Life above that of com­mon Animals, we suppose it brings along with it new dispositions and higher intentions; such as are those, to live Sociably, to deal Justly, to relieve Charitably: to these things we Men are orderly prompted, and gently inclin'd, by the frame of our Constitution, by I know not what Spring, by some thing our Maker has put within us, which we find to be there, but know not how to de­scribe.

Such a Direction there is implanted within us by our Creator: neither matters it much by what Physical Method it is wrought, whether it pro­ceeds from Innate Notions already form'd, or from an Original Aptitude in us to form these Notions our selves. As a Fowl of the Air no less Naturally builds its Nest, whether it sets on the work from an Idea or Model before trac'd in the imagination, or is stirr'd up to it regularly by a Mechanical Im­pulse. Whatever Phrase we will chuse to use, whe­ther Nature has wrote these Laws Her self, or Dictates them to be writ by us, the Law and Course of Humane Nature is still the same: by that we are conscious to our selves we should guide our Actions, and by that we judge them, our Thoughts Accusing or Excusing us. From that ground there [Page 11]arises a Complacency and satisfaction in what we do well, in our selves it is remember'd with De­light, Applauded and Approv'd in others: thence too is our Dislike of what is ill; it is Unseemly, Improper, Absurd, and Odious, always in other Men, and not without difficulty conniv'd at, and dissembled at home.

For take from Man any concern of his own, set him out of the Commerce, and disengage him from the Interest of the World; let him stand by but as an Indifferent Spectator; and as he cannot forbear to commend what is Beautiful to the Eye, or Har­monious to the Ear, so neither what is apt, and fit and suitable to the Mind. He that shall be found Regular and Temperate, Just and Impartial, Cha­ritable and Beneficent, Contributing to the Good of the Universe, Grateful to all, but with a pecu­liar duty to his Almighty Benefactor; must be suppos'd to act Rightly and Commendably, ac­cording to the Law of his Creation, the Delight and the Admiration of his kind. And he on the contrary that should offend by Intemperance a­gainst the excellency of his own Nature, or by In­justice, Unmercifulness or Cruelty against the Lives or Fortunes of other Men; must be allowed to have acted Wrong, and Disorderly, unsuitably to the intent of his nature, and design of his Ma­ker; [Page 12]a disagreeable sight; unworthy of the Fa­vour of his God, and obnoxious to his Displea­sure.

With such a notion of good and ill are the Cha­racters of Men in story transmitted and receiv'd, and the Bad censur'd often by those that are not Better. So true generally and free is our judgment con­cerning the actions of others, though perverted or restrain'd at our own. But this natural sence of Good and Ill never shows it self more certainly than when we come to suffer the Cruelty or Inju­stice our selves, then we quickly find a Law of Nature, and understand the difference of right and wrong; then we speak it out loudly and sensibly; appeal to the World for the unworthiness and un­reasonableness of the action; and expect it should be condemn'd by the rest of Men.

This is our apprehension concerning the Acti­ons of others; and for the most part too we fail not to have the same sence of our own. Our Thoughts cannot be brought always to favour us, and Nature will speak its Mind: in its Checks and Dissents before the fact, in its Regrets and Remor­ses after. Or if our youthful Passions prevail, give no time to consider, and hurry on; yet when the fury and heat is over, and we can think; or ad­versity put us to a stand, and we begin to look [Page 13]back; our sence of Good and Ill returns to us, and we see behind us the crooked Errours of our ways. Then when at a distance, and in our temperate thoughts we review our Actions; as an Artist ex­amines his Work, or a Writer revises his Compo­sition, we easily espy our Faults, come upon them as strangers, and censure them with an impartial eye. But if any one has not yet given himself this leisure, always in haste, or in a perpetual heat; yet a fatal stop will come, and a cooler time: then the fumes will be evaporated; and the for­ced thoughts, we have liv'd with, give place to those of Nature. Man, when he comes to own his Mortality in earnest, will acknowledge too the other Conditions of his Being: and when he is brought to pay his last Debt, confess the rest of his Obligations: going to obey the Will of his God now, and O that he had comply'd before! Think then, says Epicurus, of the Pleasures you formerly enjoyed: let him think of them then, if he can, without regret: but it would be happier much to have good Actions to think of; then he might look back with joy, and go on with assurance.

Such, certainly, is the sence of Mankind, gene­rally speaking, upon the first opportunities natu­rally arising in us, in our maturest Age, in our freest, soberest and least suspected hours: follow [Page 14]Man into his Retirement and see, whether these are not the Notions of his undisturb'd recollected Thoughts: Go to his Death-bed and ask him, see what he thinks there; hearken how he counsels his Friends, and directs his Relations.

There is therefore for such a moral sence of hu­mane Nature, all the moral evidence that can be expected: it admitting not of more Proof, because it needs it not; as we urge not Arguments to e­vince that Men see or hear, and believe it to be true, notwithstanding what may be pretended by the wittiest of the blind or the deaf. For in such Subjects as these the wonder is not, that Proof cannot be given, but that it should be demanded: it being enough that we have for its Truth, the general Attestation of Mankind in all Ages and Places, added to our own private Experience.

Neither is this common Opinion and universal Consent to be imputed to the Policy of Law-gi­vers, the Contrivance of Princes or Priests. For some Writers of Politicks have favoured the Truth but little; neither has Atheism always been made the secret it is sometimes called. The Doctrine of private Profit and Pleasure is not so difficult to comprehend, but that the Commonalty might learn it well; nor has it wanted it Apostles so, but that it has been very faithfully spread, and dili­gently [Page 15]recommended: It might have been quick­ly received too, had it been found as true, as it is easie and tempting; could the private Judgment and natural Apprehension of Man have been brought to consent, it would long ago have been the Catholick Doctrine, not continued a Paradox, not given its Abettors the Pleasure of Singularity. Those too that publish these Notions of Ver­tue and Vice, Punishment and Reward hereafter, give them not Authority, but receive it from them: from the Credit of such Truths it is that we are recommended to the People; who when they hear of these Dictates of Nature, believe only what they feel, and assent to nothing but what they know.

However we are not to expect, that this Supposi­tion should pass without contradiction; for what is that Truth which has not been disputed? This there­fore too, we may confess without any derogation to it, has been denied by two sorts of Men:

The One, who find this Notion of Good and Ill working within them, but own it not, esteem it a piece of weakness to confess their fears, and out of false bravery defie and tremble; these argue against themselves, and their words are condemn­ed by their hearts.

The other may seem more Ingenuous, who have made themselves as insensible as they pretend, and are in some measure to be believ'd for the Ignorance they profess: but they ought not then to set up for Patterns; to oppose their single instance against the conspiring testimony of all the rest, and by an Irregularity to shape the course of Nature.

For when we suppose a Natural Conscience in Man, we suppose too that it may be much Opprest, and in some few it may be well-nigh Extinguisht. What was begun in Adam may be perfected by his Sons; and the original Bent of our Constitution weaken'd at first by Him, at last wholly destroy'd by Us. For these Inclinations of our Rational part to Good, move not in us necessarily, nor act ir­resistibly, as those of other Animals: they are ac­companied with a freedom of the Will, which should Direct, but may Overrule. For that free­dom of Choice given to Man, may check and di­vest our very Natural desires, may refuse to eat or drink; so easily may we imagine the same power over the other spiritual propensions: however nei­ther of them, though disturb'd by Man's Will, are therefore Imaginary; to be Cross'd and Disorder'd, but not to be Deny'd. A Mother that shall be able, by the unhappy exercise of her freedom, to restrain her Natural Affection to her Infant, is not [Page 17]therefore a good Argument against that Kind De­sign of Nature: nor shall a Man, that has prevail'd upon himself to be Unmerciful, Ungrateful, In­sensible of a God, and Unapprehensive of the Fu­ture; perswade us therefore that this is Human, or the genuine result of his First Constitution.

As Man is Lord of himself, and enjoys his Li­berty, so he may use it against himself; and de­stroy what he was intrusted to preserve: by de­bauch he may weaken and enervate the tone of his Body, and he may soften the Firmness of his Mind; he may deform God's Outward Image, and may efface the Characters within: he may put out his Eyes, and cut off his Hands or his Feet, ei­ther wilfully, or as some have done, upon design to escape the Service of their Country; but the de­sign can never be this, to make Men believe that the Maim'd Trunk was the Original Shape; and that the Eyes and Limbs of other Men are Artifi­cial things, and Additions to Nature.

It is not therefore to be wondered that some Men have effected, what they labour'd so much; and that all the Industry and contrivance against themselves, of those that are the suppos'd Masters of Wit, should in some measure succeed. The pleasures of one outward sense may be so violent as to supersede the perceptions of the other; and the Soul strongly [Page 18]diverted at the Eye, may forget it has an Ear: so easily, when it is call'd outward at all the senses, may it disregard the notices of the Inner; and suffer the gentle directions Within to be over-pow­er'd by a violence from Abroad. Then the Higher Rational part of Man is brought to submit to the Lower, and our Reason is put on the task to prove us Beasts. There are then other suppositions made than those we mention, of Chance and Hazard in the Universe, and of Ill Nature in Men: the one to be the cause of the Beauty and Regularity of the World, and the other the original of human So­ciety. Such suppositions are then made, not as would arise Naturally from our first Thoughts, but such as are Necessary for absurd Consequences; such as were attempted by one of the same Authors in other Learning, but did not succeed as well; when a Point was to be Big and a Line to be Broad: and those might, it may be, have been granted too, had the deductions been, not concerning the im­pertinence of a squar'd Circle, or a doubled Cube; could those rich Consequences have followed thence, that profit and pleasure were the chief end of Man; that there was no Controul now, nor Judgment hereafter.

For there is a great advantage design'd to be gain'd by the denyal of what we suppose: they [Page 19]that have overcome their Conscience, triumph as over a slain Enemy, and seem the only happy, the only free, Men: they are in perfect peace, and full security; by rejecting this single Principle, they are rid of all their Disquiets, Regrets, and Fears, they have chas'd away the Spectrum that haunted them, the peevish Monitor that disturb'd them.

And so there may be a deeper quiet about a Prince when his Guards are asleep; but it is but a dream of security: and a Man is at more ease without the Admonitions of his Friend, but in greater dan­ger. All this Gaiety is but as of those who have lost their Senses; who seem at ease, and better than ever, in the flattering Delirium, under the heighth of their Distemper.

For so the outward Sense of Feeling may be dul­led and deadned by Art, may be made a Boast, and exposed for a Show; such are capable of no Pain, and have not the afflicting Impressions that others suffer: but this Pain was design'd for their Use, and they are made sensible of Hurt, that they may avoid it, who otherwise might heedlesly suffer their Limbs to be lopp'd off, or their Life to be taken away.

In the same manner may Men boast they are without Pain within, but it is but an ill conditi­on: they are without the sense that should grieve [Page 20]them when they do ill, and feel not the satisfacti­on of those that do well; without it they cannot live to the Advantages of the present Life, nor ever arrive at that to come.

But prudent Men will act according to the in­tention of their Creator; and think it most fit for a Rational Being to pursue the design of the All-wise: they will, as much as they can, quicken this inward sence, improve this discerning Power of the Mind, and encourage its Reflections; care­ful to maintain and keep up the Conscience, ten­der of its sight as of the Apple of their Eye.

To this necessary purpose are all Holy Times; so many pauses interpos'd, and stops made in our lives, that we may stand still, consider, and look back; a quiet from abroad, to hearken with­in; to hear what God speaks, not only in his loud, but in his still voice. To this purpose we come, as now, to the Word of God; to have the Law on our Hearts, refresh'd by that of the Holy Book; to have the fleshly Tables, injur'd in Adam, and in us, (as those first of stone were broke in Moses his hand) supplied again, if possible, and corrected by this Authentick Copy; to have our domestick Monitor check'd, it may be, at home, encouraged and assisted by the Publick; to hear the same Reflections made, Directions and Re­proofs [Page 21]seconded, by those that speak in our Maker's Name.

Thus far for the first Supposition, That there is in Mankind a Sence of Good and Ill, Natural Notices of our Duty, which may be suppress'd, but ought to be cherished and promoted.

The Other Supposition of the Text is harder to be imagin'd, though it will be granted more easi­ly: That Men may act contrary to what they know, and persist in that which they condemn. For it may not be difficult to conceive, how a Rational Crea­ture should understand its Duty, and be sensible of the design of its Frame: but hardly to be thought, he should oppose his Judgments by his Actions, and consent to what he disallows.

And yet this Real Contradiction, between our Will and our Reason, a seeming Contradiction in Nature, is too well attested by Practice, and un­derstood by each of us: it needs no Demonstration, is the Hypothesis of our Nature, and to be confes­sed by all the Sons of Adam. For it is the Case of all Mankind that St. Paul expresses; that which I do, I allow not; but what I hate that do I. Upon the sight of which desperate profligate Condition, He well cries out, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of sin? Who shall deliver me from this inconceivable mystery of Iniquity, [Page 22]this fatal perplex'd Absurdity? How shall I be reconcil'd to my self? But who will reconcile me to my Maker? For if my heart condemn me, God is greater than my heart.

For as there was certainly an Intention and De­sign in the Parts of my Body, and their Functi­ons; so in these Perceptions and Inclinations of my Mind: and if we Act not according to this our Creator's first Intention, what other he may have for us we may justly fear; we transgressing by the arbitrary Pleasure of our own Will, and obnoxious therefore to the Justice of His. Those Notions were imprinted in us by some superiour Cause, and will not an Account be taken of them by the same hand? So does the Sence of this Law prescrib'd, suppose a Law-giver; and the Con­science of our Trangressions, infer a Judge. But because infinite other Considerations would direct us to the Being of God, I shall therefore only fol­low these, as they lead us Prisoners to his Judge­ment seat, and as the Apostle has made the Chain; If our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts.

For if our hearts have condemned us, the Sentence is not a groundless trifling Thought; It is the voice of our Constitution, and was suggested by our [Page 23]Maker; It carries his Authority along with it, and proceeds from an Oracle in the breast of each Man, as sacred as that on the Breast-plate of Aaron. If our hearts have condemn'd us, this hath been only a Pre­paratory Hearing, nor can it be pleaded in bar to another Tryal. We may slight the Sentence, think to Revoke, or endeavour to Erase it: but the Record will be remov'd, and the Cause taken out of our hands; brought finally before a Judge, Omniscient, most Holy, and Omnipotent, from whose sight we can't be Hid, in whose Eye we can't be Innocent, and to whose Power we must submit. For God is greater than our hearts.

God is greater than our hearts, and knoweth all things, adds the Apostle: as if that Attribute alone were Great enough to confound the Sinners Pre­sumption.

From Men we may conceal the Sentence, and pass for Innocent; the judgment not to be read on the Forehead, and more gaiety it may be on the Face of the Self-condemn'd: but the great God was not a stranger to the whole procedure, he saw the fact committed, knew the particular Circumstan­ces of the Crime, and Articles of the Law, and was present at the whole Conviction; the guilty Person is still in his Eye, and his Justice knows how to find him.

He is therefore represented to laugh from above, at the folly of those that would abscond from Him; that think they are hid, when Man does not see. He sees the vain disingenuity of those that argue against their Sence, and deny what they Know: their solitary private thoughts are before him, what they own to Themselves, and forebode when they are Alone. He sees too the Arts that have been us'd to stifle the Evidence, and corrupt the Judge; the Practices to Alter the natural direction, and to defeat the Original Intention; how much we have indeavour'd to change our Constitution, and to new Make our selves, because we would disown our Creator. He was conscious to the Re­monstrances, we would not hear, and to the good thoughts, we were able to suppress; he took no­tice, when we would take none. The sense of good and ill might be taken away, but the nature of it was not: that Immoveable boundary stood fast, as the great Depth, as the Everlasting Moun­tains. Our Minds might be depriv'd of their na­tural light; but God was greater than our hearts, and his knowledge could not be impair'd: as Man may shut his Eyes, but that puts not out the Sun.

Knew our God, knew Man of us, but as much as we do our selves; we should call for the Rocks [Page 25]to cover us, and for the Mountains to shelter us. But what we have observ'd, is but a part of that which lies open to the All-seeing Eye: in the light of his Countenance are our secret Sins, such as our un­derstanding never mark'd, or our Memory has let go. He is greater than our hearts, the searcher of them; He knows how negligently they have watched over our actions, and how little they have im­prov'd their first notices: our very Conscience, though esteem'd by us too scrupulous, will be ac­cus'd of its defaults; our Judge will be condemn'd; and where then shall we appear?

Especially when we consider not only the know­ledge, but

Secondly, The Justice and Holiness of our Ma­ker. For though we may have complain'd of the Rigor of our Conscience, as if the Judge in our Breast were inexorable, and we had better appeal to a Stranger; yet we must have been favour'd still, and we have all the while been judges in our Cause: if we are condemn'd, it is with reluctan­cy; and the Sentence can't but be indulgent. But that we expect from God, cannot but be just: shall he accept our Person? or the Judge of all the Earth fail to do right, for our sakes? As if when he saw a Thief, then he consented with him; and would be partaker with the Adulterers.

If our own Hearts have not been able to bear with our Iniquities; have been offended, and griev'd, and complain'd under their intolerable burthen; if our Eclips'd darkned reason could not but discern the Guilt, and Dust and Ashes abhor the Impurity; if sometimes we have been pro­vok'd even to hate our selves: how must we ap­pear in the sight of Him, to whom the Heavens are not pure, nor the Angels without spot; the blessed Holy Being, the most Opposite to what is Irregular, and Impatient of what is Unclean? With what displeasure and Aversation must he have view'd us? and what doom are we to expect? No Pain certainly can be more contrary hereafter to Human Nature, than our Wickedness has been to the Divine?

If it is irksome to the disposition of our Nature, to be ill directed; and painful to our make, to be distorted, and put out of its first Order; how will the Author and Creator endure the perverse Change, this defacing his Workmanship, and op­posing his Pleasure? Will he not, think we, stand by his Laws, and justify his Intention? and how then (in the last place) shall we escape his Power, or abide his Indignation?

Little have some been able to endure the Re­grets of their own thoughts, and what would they [Page 27]have given to have been deliver'd from themselves? Under the judgment of their hearts, they have ap­pear'd indeed as condemn'd Men; and their own evil Spirit has sufficiently tormented them: so sen­sible were they of what they had deserv'd, that none but their God could afflict them more; but his terrors were Greater still, and they felt not yet his Almighty Arm.

Some indeed scape better here; they have the Address to Over-rule the Sentence of their hearts, or divert the Execution; find other entertainment for their thoughts, and by new guilt deliver them­selves from the past; call in Company for their help against themselves, to rescue, or to inter­cede; will not be at leisure to hear, nor suffer the Soul to speak; drown the Voice of Nature with a noise of Musick, and its fears in Wine.

But these are but methods to practise upon them­selves; Arts that can succeed only on our own weak Minds; God is Greater: that Judge is not in our power, nor to be diverted by such Amuse­ments. The Sentence therefore aggravated by these unprofitable criminal Delays, will at last be pro­nounc'd, and as certainly executed: whisper'd before, but then spoke out, by the glorious God that maketh the Thunder; by the God, that speaks [Page 28]to the Dead, and they hearken, to the old Crimi­nals of Ages past, and they rise up and appear. Then our Maker must be own'd, when He has twice form'd us; must be confess'd, at least by Torture. Then the Difference of Good and Ill, will be sensibly felt; the wide difference plainly discern'd; wide, as the great Gulph betwixt Hea­ven and Hell.

Let us therefore now begin to consider, and timely enter upon the necessary Review: let us examine our selves for the Reflections we have neg­lected, and for those we have been able to prevent: let us recover the Notices we have stifled, and re­store the Judicature to GOD within us. Let us judge our selves, that we be not judged; and pre­vent the Condemnation to come. Let our Appre­hensions of GOD be as Great as His Majesty; and let us think of reconciling our selves to a Power we must obey.

For if our hearts condemn us, and we persist to offend; where is our Hope? Or who is it that shall give the Pardon? Will GOD be less Holy than our selves, and our Sins less disagreeable to Him? Or will His Judgment want of the Righte­ousness of ours? And is Iniquity like to find fa­vour there? To practise, what we cannot but con­demn, [Page 29]is the highest disingenuity: but to expect that what we can't but condemn, should not be condemned by GOD, is a Blasphemous Presum­ption.

And if, in the Course of a vicious Life, our hearts condemn us not; (a Supposition St. John would not make): we have then more yet to dread, lest we should have been already condemn'd by the Al­mighty, and given up to this reprobate Mind; lest our Consciences, sear'd so as with a hot Iron, should have been branded by a Judicial Sentence from above. Our Case is desperate indeed, aban­don'd by our selves, and given over by our Ma­ker. We hear no more of the Inferiour Judge de­puted to fit in our hearts, to enquire and to deter­mine: but we shall not so escape, he is assaulted and slain by our Treason; a Treason added to our other Crimes, committed against the Sovereign, the proper Conusance of the Great and Terrible Day.

But if, when our hearts have condemned us, we repent and amend; are griev'd for what we can­not recall; and resolv'd hereafter to obey the Di­rections of our Reason: Our future good Deeds cannot indeed blot out the committed Ill; nor our Hearts pardon us, and reverse the Sentence it has justly pass'd: but, to our Comfort, God is greater; [Page 30]He can pardon our Faults, and will do away our fences; by Him we are restor'd as at the begin­ning, and it is the part then of Satan, not of our Hearts, to accuse us. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's Elect, is the Challenge then of St. Paul? It is God that justifieth, who is he that con­demneth?

And then when a New Life shall have proceeded from this Beginning; a Life clear of Ʋnjustice, Intemperance, Profaneness; Actions always unnatural to Man, but at last his surest Aversion, and most dreaded Horrour: when Temperance in our selves, Charity to Men, Services and Duty to our GOD, shall have traced out a fair and happy way to Heaven; a course, upon the Reflection, the most delightful and agreeable sight to a Humane Mind: when at the Even of our Days we shall come to review our Actions, and see, with a satisfaction like to that of our Creatour, That all is Good: with Him we shall enter into a Sabbath too; and on our Death­beds be in a State of Rest and unspeakable Joy, greater than Voluptuousness, Honour and Riches ever afforded the ungodly Offender; the same In­stinct that prompted us before to our Duty, assu­ring us now of a Reward; and adding, to the pleasing View of the past time, the glorious Pro­spect [Page 31]of an infinitely happy Eternity to come. With those then who have so liv'd, like the Crea­tures of GOD, and according to the Truth of their Humane Nature; He will likewise deal accord­ing to the infinite Goodness and Kindness of his own; acknowledging them for His, whom He finds after his Image, and advancing them to a greater Likeness, and nearer Approach: Well done, thou Good, thou Faithful and Obedient Creature, enter thou into the Joy of thy Maker.