the Apoftle, I Cor. v. 6. And Behold how great a matter a little Fire kindles, faith St. James,Chap. III. 5. And doth not Experience tell us, (tó ufe the Words of a certain Divine) how an unchaft Thought affented to, foon welcomes Delight; Delight, Confent; Confent, Action, Action, Cuftom, Custom, Habit; Habit, Perfeverance; Perfeverance, an obduracy of Heart; which, (without God's miraculous Providence interpofes) leads to final Impenitence.

A Man may avoid fcandalous, great and clamarous Sins, fuch as Murther, Adultery, Curfing, Blafphemy, Theft, Extortion, Prophanefs, &c. and yet all this while have not one grain of true Love to God; for all this he may do meerly out of regard to his Eafe, and temporal Intereft; and if you confider what St. Paul protefts, that if any Man love not the Lord Jefus, let him be Anathema, Maranatha, Curfed, and for ever Curfed, 1 Cor. xvi. 22. What fatisfaction can that Man enjoy within, that notwithstanding his fhunning fome fcandalous Sins, hath not any tolerable affurance, that he loves God, and the Lord Jesus Christ? If you love him, you must keep his Commandments; and if Love obliges you to keep one, why not another? Do not they all come from the fame Law-giver? Are not they all deliver'd with the fame Seriousness, and by the fame Authority? Who makes them to differ? Who told you, you may obferve one, and not another? Where are the diftinguishing Marks, to difcern, which is to be practifed, and which is not? Doth not the fame Spirit C

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run through all? In a word, if you love God to any purpose, you will not only dread cry. ing Sins, but even those which loofer Men make no great matter of; and its certain,that Soul is not yet truly converted, that doth not feriously watch against evil Thoughts, Defires, Paffions, Affections, &c. (for thefe are ufually counted leffer Sins,) as well as against greater Abominations. And therefore,

You may easily perceive, that we are not to break a Command of our dear Lord and Mafter, because it seems little, or because the World esteems it fo. What hath the World to do with my Religion? Doth God govern himself by the Verdict of the World, and fenfual Men? What if Men, who have no right Apprehehenfions of God, make nothing of corrupt Communications, muft I be guided by their Example? Can any Commandment, that proceeds out of the Mouth of God, be termed little? Might not we as well fay, that God fpoke in jeft? If God commands me to follow Righteousness, Faith, Charity, and Peace,with all them that call on him out of a pure Heart, and to flee youthful Lufts, fhall I neglect this Command, because the World makes a pifh of it? Hath the Great God of Heaven and Earth thought fit to fend his Son into the World to tell me, that private Revenge is unlawful; and conforming to the World in their Vanities, and Fooleries, and Revellings, and Extravagancies, is difpleafing to him; and my covetous Thoughts and Defires are offenfive to his Holinefs, and have not I all the rea

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fon in the World to stand in awe of his Com. mand, though a thousand wicked Men say, it's either needlefs, or impracticable? How can a Divine Command be little, that concerns Mens Immortal Souls? Is there any thing greater in this World, than the good and welfare of their precious Souls? Doth God tell me fuch a Sin (though it feems never fo fmall In the eyes of the World) will help to kill my Soul, and is Ingratitude to him, in whom I live, and move, and have my Being; and fhall I venture upon it? God forbid. Yea, let God be True, but every Man a Lyar; as it is written, that thou mightest be justified in thy faying, and be clear when thou judgeft, Rom. iii. 4

II. Let none of you wonder at Christ's peremptory Determination here, Whofoever shall break one of thefe leaft Commandments, and shall teach Men fo, he shall be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. You'll fay, What! break but one of thefe Commandments, and one of the least, and be damn'd! Where then is the Grace of the Gofpel! What becomes then of the vaft Treasures of Mercy, which came in with Jefus Christ? At this rate our Yoak is heavier than that of the Jews. Marvel not hy Brethren, the greater the Grace is, the greater will be the Account; the greater the Mercy, the greater will be the Reckoning. And yet this ought to be no difcouragement to any of us; for the meaning is, not that every furprize, or accidental Failing, or breaking one of thefe Commands against our Will, of

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before we are aware, or after we have used all poffible Watchfulness, excludes from the Kingdom of Heaven; for then no Flesh could be faved. But he that wilfully breaks one, and makes a Trade of it, knows, or hears God's Will in that particular, and yet will not be perfwaded to do it; and teaches others too, either by his Difcourfe or Example; neglects fuch a Command, and feels no Remorfe, knows the Judgment of God, that they which commit fuch things, are worthy of Death; and not only doth the Same, but hath pleasure in them that do them; as it is faid, Rom. i. 32. That's the Man, who fhall be called leaft in the Kingdom of Heaven. And do not you think there is a great deal of Justice in all this? What! For a Man first to difregard an exprefs Command of Chrift, and then, that he may not think himself obliged to it, to call it little, and inconfiderable, and fo to neglect it, and after all, prompt others to do fo too; Is not this a manifeft contempt of God's Sovreignty, and Mercy, and Love, and Charity, in Chrift Jefus? Doth not this look like Enmity against God? Is not this a fign of a fecret Hatred and Indignation against the ways of God? Is not this an Argument of Obftinacy and Stubbornnefs? Doth not this infer want of Senfe, and want of Fear? And would you have God fave a Man that doth not fear him? Would you have him receive Men into the Kingdom of Heaven, that do not only not think it worth while to obey him in fo fmall a matter, (fmall in their own account, and therefore furely the cafier) but encourage others

others to do the like? Doth not this argue a delight in a finful fenfual Life? And what! Do you think God will let a Man or Woman in at the Gates of Glory, that looks upon the Prophet as mad, because he bid him do so small a thing, Wash in the River Jordan seven times, that he may be clean?

God measures our Actions by our Hearts; and if the Heart be averfe from him, or from the ways of Righteoufnefs, Is fuch a Perfon fit to fing with Angels, to triumph with Martyrs, and to fit and rejoice with Souls, that loved God with all their Hearts, and with all their Minds?

Ay, but to break one of these least Commandments, and to teach another to do fo, What great matter is there in that? My Friends, He that breaks one, will break another, and is in a Disposition to offend against more: He will never stop there,one Sin engages him into the Practice of another; and if he propagates the Evil too, and like a rotten Sheep, infects others, doth not that one Folly discover a Heart, that hath no Defire, no Inclination to take Christ's Yoke upon him; and loth, unwilling, backward to entertain Chrift upon his own Terms; and is this following him iu the Regeneration? And he that doth not follow him in the Regeneration, How fhall he be able to fit with him in his Throne? And this puts me in mind of another Obfervation.

III. That he that lives ill, teaches another to live ill too. He that fhall break one of thefe