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and fet us above the rank of all other Beings upon Earth. And what a Dishonourable Downfall was it, what Horror and Confufion was miferableMan overwhelm'd with; when from being the fole Lord of this Glorious Universe, which God had fo exquifitely Fram'd for him, and with fo much Divine delight furvey'd and approv'd; for the sake of one only Sin he became the vileft Member of it; and inftead of his being the purest and beft Creature in the new made World, there was on a fuddain Nothing in the whole Creation, except only Man, but was Very Good? what could difcover more the Degenerous and Debafing Nature of Sin, by which that Man, whom God had made but little lower than the Angels, and had crown'd him with Glory and Honour, was in a Moment degraded from all this Excellence, and made worse than the Beasts that perish. And as the Natural, the Immediate and Neceffary Connection between Sin and Shame was visible in the Sinning of the first Adam, that One Man, by whom Sin came into the World; fo was it also in the Suffering of the fecond Adam, who for Us was made Sin. It was therefore because he bore the Iniquities of Us all, that He was to be Despised and Rejected of Men. For this it was, that it was written of the Son of Man, that he must not only Suffer many things, but be fet at nought also. And

among

among the Uses of the Crofs of Chrift, one, chiefly meant, was, by the Ignominy of that moft accurfed Infamous Punishment, the Punishment of meaneft Slaves, and basest Criminals, to represent the Vilenefs of Iniquity, to which Shame and Confusion were fo due, that there were to be Contumelies, as well as Agonies, in the Death that was to expiate it. It feem'd not fufficient, that the Blood of God fhould be shed for it, but that Blood too must be ftain'd with the Imputation of a Malefactor. Chrift, after having feen a Common Robber preferr'd before him, was to fuffer the infulting Scorns and Vilifying of his Crucifiers, his Honour must be facrific'd as well as his Life fuch infiniteDebafement andContempt being an Effential Ingredient in these Wages of Sin in the Death of our Lord, which was to atone for the Iniquities of Mankind.

2dly, The Dishonour and Basenefs of Sin appears, in that it brings us into the most wretched Eftate of Servitude and Bondage. This is a Subject that even the Wifer Hea, thens, the Ancient Philofophers, especially the Stoicks, and many of the Poets, with great force of Reafon and Sharpness of Wit frequently, and for Men that had no other than the common Light of Nature, nobly and Divinely Illuftrate. But I the rather choose to infift upon it, because the Apostle

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here

here, in this very Chapter of my Text, in culcates it fo often; Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourfelves Servants to obey, his Servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of Sin unto Death, or Obedience unto Righteousness ? But God be thanked, ye were the Servants of Sin, but ye have Obey'd, &c. and in feveral other places. Now what fo abject a condition as Slavery? and what Slavery fo mean as that of Sin? and it is yet the more base, because it is in our own power to be free. For Sin Lords over us, not so much by its own Strength as by Our Cowardice, by our want of Courage to caft of its Yoke; or what is worfe, by our baseness of Spirit, that prefers the Life of Bondage to Liberty. A Man, without Difgrace or lofs of Honour, may be overcome and made Captive by a more powerful Enemy; and if he have made a gallant Defence, he may Bleed, but he need not blush; he may be in Chains, but his Mind be free. But the Slavery of every one that is Captive in this Spiritual War, is truly dishonourable and without excufe. To yield to fuch an Enemy as we are affur'd by Truth itfelf, if we refilt will fly from Us; an Enemy against whom we have taken a Military Oath in Our Baptifm, and lifted ourselves to fight Manfully against, under Chrift's Banners; an Enemy, that if we had dy'd even in our

Infancy

Infancy we had overcome; is not only beneath the Dignity of our high Calling as we are Christians, but below any Man of Reputation or Honour.

3dly, It is manifeft how natural a Vilenefs there is in Sin by this, that the most profligate Wretches are fo confcious of it, that tho' they fear not to do Ill, they fear the Shame of it; and tho' free from Confcience, are Slaves to Reputation. They love Darkness rather than Light, because their deeds are Evil. For tho' fome indeed have the impudence to boast of their Wickedneffes, and act them in open day, debauch'd by the degeneracy of an Age, that has made fome Sins not only in fafhion, but in repute; yet they are but a very fmall number, in comparifon of the innumerable company of the clofe, and demure, and filent Sinners, who, as fond as they are of their Vices, know that the keeping of them to themselves is the only way of keeping their Credit too. By which plainly they confefs, that they ought to be afham'd to commit those things, which whenever the World finds out, they can't help being afham'd that they have committed.

But 4ly, The deteftable Vileness of Sin does not fo much appear by the Shame that it produces in thofe fly Sinners, which is rather to be ftyl'd Cunning or Hypocrify;

as it does in that fort of Shame, with which thefe Romans, to whom the Apostle writes, were affected; when after their Converfion, all the Abominations of their former unregenerate State, all the Filthiness of their Converfation, and the Bafeness of their Sla-. very, was laid open before their Eyes. The Shame of the Converted is a generous Shame, not regarding the Opinion of other Men, not fo much concern'd that there is no Fruit in these things, or that the End of them is Death; as arifing from the Senfe of the very Nature and Effence of the things themselves. With what Confusion of Face muft they needs be furpriz'd, when they first come to have a true Sight of the real Uglinefs and Deformity of thofe Monsters they fo long fofter'd in their Breafts? This is a Shame, by all devoutly to be wifh'd for; this is to be cherish'd, and whenever it happily feizes us after the Commiffion of any Sin, not to be turn'd away or put off; but entertain'd till it has made us entirely vile and defpicable in our own Eyes, and laid us in the Duft, and debas'd us fo low that God out of his tender Pity may think us fit to be reftor'd again, and lift us up. This is a Shame not to be asham'd of, and works a Repentance not to be Repented of. And indeed there can be no greater Security of a Repentance being fincere and true

than