VARIOUS SUBJECTS,

DOCTRINAL, EXPERIMENTAL and PRACTICAL.

VOL. I.

HARTFORD.

1798.

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BOOK-SELLERS AND STATIONERS, HARTFORD,

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EXCERPT 1. ( Pg. 147.)

"Evil men have evidence of truth and duty—they feel a natural conviction of what is right—how they ought to treat GOD and his commandments, and of the divine authority over them. The word and providence of GOD, is continually reminding them of their duty, and their obligation to obey. Their hearts resist this information, and go abreast to the rational judgment. A conflict is raised in the mind, so that the man is divided against himself; his heart against his reason and conscience, which must be a state of wretchedness. This unhappiness of a guilty conscience is often great in this world, and we have reason to suppose, that in another it will be the gnawing worm that never dies. By a guilty conscience the sinner becomes an accuser, a judge, and an executioner to himself. He forms the charge, is the witness, and is unable to plead not guilty. This part of his punishment is inbred, and must be coeval with his existence, unless removed by the sanctifying grace of GOD."

EXCERPT 2. ( Pg. 150.)

"5thly. To place the matter beyond all doubt, GOD hath assured us there is no peace to the wicked; and that the connection between sin and misery which now appears, shall continue forever."

EXCERPT 3. ( Pg. 154.)

"May the view we have taken of the natural connection between sin and misery, excite us to repentance and to seek deliverance from our own unholiness.—Let us bless GOD for a way of escape opened in the gospel, and pray for his Spirit to accompany the means of grace, and to draw us to the blood of CHRIST for cleansing from all sin. AMEN"

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HOSE who practice sin are seeking happiness. None love their own peace better, though they are going directly away from it. Among all delusions, it is one of the greatest, to hope sin will end happily ; yet, it appears that evil men act under the influence of such hope. In many cases, they seem to expect, what they know to be impossible; and after a thousand experiments which have ended miserably, rush again, with high expectations, into the same disappointing scenes.

WE have the greatest evidence, that sinners, while they remain such, cannot find a satisfying happiness. There is the word of a true and infinite GOD, who created all things, gave a particular nature to every object, and appointed the laws by which all things material and intellectual exist, act, perceive and feel. All things are, and

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ever will be, in his hand. We have the evidence of experience that he is true; also, it may be inferred, from such other perfections of an infinite nature, as he clearly possesses. If there were no evidence, beside his word, of the connection between sin and misery, this would be sufficient to conclude the point; and every sinner, ought to depend on being wretched, until his heart is changed. But in this case we have other evidence. We need not depend on abstract speculations, drawn from the nature of GOD; nor need we depend solely on his word, for nature with which we are acquainted, the laws of existence under which we act and feel, and experience which gains strength every day, confirm the truth of revelation, that, there is no peace for the wicked. They have no present peace, amid there is no foundation, in the existing nature of things, for them ever to obtain it. To be carnally minded is death, or misery. The death is begun—it hath been felt by every sinner, and must continue until sin is taken away. So that the unholy are, as much, acting against the appearances of nature and experience, as they be against the word of GOD. This necessary exposure to unhappiness, is not confined to such as perpetrate the most atrocious crimes, nor to such as give themselves away to indecent appetites; but is common to sinners of every description.

By the wicked, the text means all unholy persons—all who do not love GOD and his law—all who have not been delivered by sanctifying grace from their natural depravity. In the verses before the text, GOD describes himself to be the giver of all true peace. There is, also, a description of those, who are capable of receiving, and to whom it is given. Thus saith the high and lofty one that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is holy, I

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dwell in the high and holy place; with him also that is of a humble and contrite spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.—For the iniquity of his covetousness, was I wroth and smote him.—He went on frowardly in the way of his heart. I have seen his ways, and will heal him: I will lead him also and restore comforts to him, and his mourners. I create the fruit of the lips; peace, peace to him that is far off and to him that is near, saith the Lord, and I will heal him. It is the humble and contrite heart, that is healed by GOD, and receiveth happiness. Then immediately folows a description of sinners.—But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my GOD, to the wicked.

THE image is both forcible and just. As the pollution of the turbulent sea, is cast up by its own waters, and comes from its own bottom ; so the sinner’s want of peace, and his misery comes from the state of his heart. I will illustrate the following truth.

THERE is a necessary connection between sin and misery, so that all unholy minds fall short of the happiness they seek, and plunge themselves into eternal misery.

By necessary connection, I mean a certainty from the condition of things, and those natural laws under which they exist and act. To have it otherwise, another constitution must be given, to intellectual moral and material existence, which is perhaps impossible, and certainly not best. None can expect the certainty of a connection between sin and .misery, to be made plainer, than it is told in the word of GOD ; but it may be useful to inform the sinner, that all nature around him, and his own experience, if

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he would observe it, conspire with the scriptures, to warn him of his forlorn case, and urge a speedy repentance, lest the day of grace fail, and he fall under the wrath, from which there is no deliverance. We may go through the universe, and every thing shows the certain misery of sinners, and that there is no continuing peace to the wicked.

1. LET me begin by appealing to the sinner’s own feelings, and inquire of him, whether he hath ever sound the peace and happiness which he sought. He may say, he hath found some happiness. This I will grant, and shall afterwards show, that it doth not militate against the truth I am urging. Can any sinner say he hath sound contentment—found a satisfying portion, with which his heart was placed at rest, so that he wished nothing more, than a continued, enjoyment of his attained good. The unholy person hopes to do it, in his own way; but whether he hopes, and whether he hath obtained, are two questions. He hath been, and still continues hoping vainly, and the continued disappointment is misery.

LET us for a moment, suppose a thing which cannot be. That it was lawful, and no divine anger would rise against the attempt to put himself and the creatures, in the place of GOD, and love them supremely. This he hath done in the face of a divine threatening; but we will suppose the threatening taken away, and no fear of an offended GOD. Does he find in himself a fund of enjoyment? After he hath loved himself as he ought to love GOD, doth be find his own nature or any thing in himself, an object commensurate to his desires. With his whole self for a portion, doth he not find an emptiness, a want, a distressing thirst for something more? Suppose, that with such a nature and mind as he hath, he were

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placed at an infinite distance from all other objects, to contemplate, to know, to enjoy himself without molestation; his solitude from other objects, and confinement to self-companionship, would be a hell to him. A creature, who is the GOD of his own affections, if the case hath been stated truly, in himself, hath a miserable idol. The mind of man was formed by the all-wise creator to be happified by the love of meet and glorious objects without itself. There is no proportion, between the whole quantity and excellence of a created mind, and its powers of loving and desiring. No object, less than infinite, can satisfy the heart of a finite creature. This confinement of the affections to himself must therefore entail misery on the depraved mind.

2dly. If we take in all the creatures as objects of enjoyment, these also are insufficient to satisfy, and the unhappiness remains. King Solomon made the experiment, so far as can be done with the greatest advantages, and as the nature of the creatures admits, and having made it, wrote the universal motto, Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. Men often look forward in expectancy, to certain bounds of obtainment, and promise themselves, with these to be happy. Indeed, this delusion is the sinner’s happiness, and when it ceases his happiness will cease with it, and despair take the place of all his expectations. He thinks, if he could attain to such a point of honor, wealth, or means of sensual gratification, he might have peace, and say to himself, as the fool recorded in revelation, soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years, take thine ease, eat, drink and be merry. But the sinner, who said this, had not attained contentment, for his barns were still to be pulled down,

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and larger ones built. Before this was done, his naked soul was called away from the whole. So it ever is. Life is not long enough to obtain happiness in the creatures, and if it were an eternity, the difficulty would not be removed. There is nothing in the nature of the creatures, to satisfy that sense of want and emptiness, which pursues the soul after it is alienated from GOD. Therefore, we find by experience, the world cannot take away the misery of an unholy heart. Something is

still wanted. There is no contentment—some unsatisfied wish, and generally a thousand of them remain. Something is feared; and is not of men, there is a dread of GOD, dread of futurity and another world. If power be given to the grasping mind, beyond certain limits, personal ability to act ceases, and others must execute. Here jealousy arises, so that the thirst for power, and the supposed possession of it, become a scourge. If riches become immense, the care of watching them is full more immense, and a great evil. There is nothing in all these things to remove the want and misery of a sinful heart. Nature itself forbids an intelligent spirit to be made happy by the creatures of this world. The sinner is alienated from his GOD, and his affections are terminated on himself. As this is not an object to satisfy, his lusts rove abroad among the other creatures, thinking thence to supply the want. These, beyond the supply of natural wants, are empty also, and the transgressor remains miserable. He, who might be happy by giving back his heart to GOD, and by contentment with so much of the world as would supply the real wants of his nature, is daily suffering the death of misery that follows a carnal mind. The penalty of the law hath taken hold of him, and in many respects he feels the

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beginning of eternal death. Every unsatisfied sinner is a living witness of JEHOVAH’S truth, when he said, In the day thou eatest thereof, thou shall surely die.

3dly. A GUILTY conscience is the natural consequence of sin, and becomes a fruitful source of misery. There must be an inward struggle, between the affections of the heart which are depraved, and reason and conscience, which forbid sin. Evil men have evidence of truth and duty—they feel a natural conviction of what is right—how they ought to treat GOD and his commandments, and of the divine authority over them. The word and providence of GOD, is continually reminding them of their duty, and their obligation to obey. Their hearts resist this information, and go abreast to the rational judgment. A conflict is raised in the mind, so that the man is divided against himself; his heart against his reason and conscience, which must be a state of wretchedness. This unhappiness of a guilty conscience is often great in this world, and we have reason to suppose, that in another it will be the gnawing worm that never dies. By a guilty conscience the sinner becomes an accuser, a judge, and an executioner to himself. He forms the charge, is the witness, and is unable to plead not guilty. This part of his punishment is inbred, and must be coeval with his existence, unless removed by the sanctifying grace of GOD. The spirit of a man may sustain his infirmities; but a wounded spirit who can bear? An innocent sufferer feels a fortitude to endure, and his conscious integrity gives him a strength almost above mortal. The guilty are deprived of all natural fortitude, and sink in despair under the weight of their wretchedness. No flight is possible, either from

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an injured GOD, or from themselves; and after the present day of grace is passed, there will be no alternative of peace, and all the pain of being conscious sinners must be endured.

FURTHER, sundry of the sinful passions include pain in their very exercise. This is the case with impatience, fretfulness, anger, malice, hatred, and sundry other wicked affections of the heart. To hate or to be impatient is to be miserable, and must thus remain.

Also, the disappointment of sinners, must make them unhappy. So long as GOD reigns, the devices of the wicked shall fail, and their pride be confounded, so that they cannot attain their desires. We all know the pain of disappointment. When the sinner is brought to his final punishment, the pain of disappointment must be extreme.

THE sinful, can have no peace in the social relations and affections, after all restraint is taken off from their evil hearts. To answer the present purposes of redeeming wisdom there are many restraints on the unholy. Acting from selfish principles they now form some alliances, which have a degree of peace, and some hours of harmony. But let sinners be removed to a condition of existing, which doth not admit of alliances formed on selfish motives, and there will be a total end of harmony. All will be discord, opposition, enmity, and mutual injury.

THE present ministration of sinners to their mutual comfort, arises from the singular nature of the state in which GOD hath placed us, and not from any natural tendency in sinful affections to unite and do good. Let wicked souls be

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taken from these bodies, and from this worldly state, in which they can be mutually advantageous, and placed in a condition where they have no personal benefit to expect; there will be no friendship, no mutual aid—no comforting expressions of benevolence. We may learn this from the events of time. The union of the wicked is short. Self-interest unites them, excites their zeal, their protestations of fidelity and love; and in the revolution of events, self-interest again separates and fills them with enmity, even to a thirst of blood.—We need no other proof, how unholy minds are united. The apostle James gives us this idea, when he says, From whence come wars and fightings among you? Come they not hence, even of your lusts. Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not. That the wicked can have no peace, in social relations, and affections, after all restraint is taken off from their hearts, is evidenced by the nature of depravity.

4thly. THE wicked are made miserable by their knowledge of GOD’s true character.

THEY may be pleased with him, thro’ a misconception of what his character really is. They may think him such an one as themselves ; that he will approve the things they love; protect and bless them abundantly in all the designs of their hearts, so that through his providence they expect to rise higher, than they could by any other means.—But all these pleasing contemplations arise from a false opinion of his nature and will. A sight of his true character, always makes the wicked miserable ; for it discovers him opposed to their whole temper, their desires, their

actions, and the objects of their love.—GOD prescribes one rule of right, one object of chief affection;

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the evil heart another. A direct opposition arises to the divine character, and every attribute of his nature is dreaded. Even his goodness is disliked, for having an object different from the sinner’s wishes. His justice and righteousness are dreaded.—His knowledge and power insure success to a government, conducted on principles, which are disapproved by the heart.—His, immutability makes it certain, that his government and purposes will always be the same.— Thus every divine attribute is feared. The certainty of being always under the control of an infinite being, who is disliked; the certainty of his displeasure, and of perpetual disappointment, will fix the soul in deep despair. This character of GOD is now set before the unholy, both by natural and revealed evidence. The evidence will be forever increasing, and the point of opposition between a holy GOD and wicked creatures coming into more distinct view; a view glorious for him, and confounding to them. I might go much farther, in describing the misery of wicked—minds, which necessarily arises from the construction and laws of created existence, as they are, at present, brought to our knowledge by experience.

5thly. To place the matter beyond all doubt, GOD hath assured us there is no peace to the wicked; and that the connection between sin and misery which now appears, shall continue forever.

HE who created and upholds the universe, and knows his own purposes, can neither deceive nor be mistaken. How presumptuous! How unsounded in respect of probability, and how much without excuse, is the hope of the wicked to prosper in sin. The word of infinite truth forbids the thing and when we see all nature

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prepared to fulfil this word, and actually doing it every moment, the delusion appears like madness. The wicked in heart, may turn to their own experience in self-enjoyment, and in an enjoyment of the creatures; to their own experience in the social relations; to their own knowledge of GOD, and find a confirmation of sacred truth, that a fearful punishment is prepared for all who disobey. There is every reason to suppose, that as the divine government progresses, new sources of sorrow to the sinful will be opened.—The scripture plainly intimates one which I have not yet mentioned. By an immediate act of divine power, GOD will impress a sense of his displeasure on the guilty. It will be a fearful thing, to fall into the hands of the living GOD.

To all this, the wicked may object, that they have sound some happiness in the principles and practice of sin, and therefore the preceding arguments do not absolutely exclude their safety.

LET us attend to the kind of happiness sinners may now have, and why it is permitted by a holy GOD, for a short season.

THE greatest part of their happiness is in hope or expectation, and not the peace of enjoying a present good. Their expectations are contrary to nature, and the fulfillment of them impossible. Their happiness therefore, is all a delusion, and must cease in the light of eternity. GOD now suffers it, that the blinding, deceiving nature of sin in the heart may appear; but it will not continue in the world of retribution.

THE unholy do also enjoy worldly happiness, they are fed, have animal pleasure, the waters of a full cup are often poured out to them, they enjoy, sinful objects, and sport themselves with their own deceivings. Infinite wisdom hath a reason

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for suffering this. If the condition of sinners did not admit happiness of this nature, the world would not befitted for the ingathering of CHRIST’S church, as infinite wisdom designed it should be. We have before shown, that in all this, there is no enjoyment which amounts to true peace of mind. It is not a happiness from moral qualities of the heart, delighting in excellent objects; but solely from the particular structure of things, in this transitory world, and when taken from it, their quiet will cease. When divine long suffering hath ended, other scenes will commence, and the divine prediction have a complete fulfillment, there is no peace to the wicked.

1. THIS subject teaches us, how much the word of GOD is confirmed, by the established laws of nature. In the present day, many either really do or affect to disbelieve the holy scriptures. Some speak of them with great levity; and many disobey in the most careless manner. They especially try to reject the representations of misery that is coming on sin. Such persons are strangely deluded. Their eyes are as much shut on nature, as on the word of GOD, and they do not know what a task they have taken on themselves in attempting to overturn revelation. To do it, they must first overturn nature itself, that is, the established laws under which minds exist, act, and are acted upon, in the intelligent universe. Many doctrines of GOD’s word are proved by reason, and experience. If the holy scriptures, contained a scheme of truth, which appeared, in all respects, unfounded in nature and experience, it would be a hard thing to prove their certainty; but this is not the case. Nature and experience confirm the being of a GOD—they confirm many

things concerning his character, which the scripture

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teach—they show us the fitness of the moral law—the tendency of a virtuous temper and practice to produce happiness, and of sin to produce misery. They teach us a connection between sin and misery. When we read divine threatenings against sin, and then look on the human mind and a social state, and behold a natural preparation to fulfil these threatenings; it must be a great evidence of truth. Those, who feel a fixed unholiness of heart, and a rising opposition to the doctrines of revelation, are hoping for safety against all probability. If they will first overturn the preparation in nature to punish them; we will then give the scriptures up to their rage. If they will make the creatures satisfying to the soul; if they will make the selfish depravity of the heart consistent with social happiness, and destroy its tendency to misery; if they will convince us a sight of GOD’S true character, may give peace to an unholy heart, there will be some room for them to contend with the scriptures of GOD. Until these things can be done, though all written threatenings were destroyed, the danger of misery is not removed, nor its cause in any degree taken away.

SOME great truths of revelation will not admit natural evidence of their certainty. Such, are the way and means of salvation by JESUS CHRIST, and for evidence of their certainty, we must depend wholly on the revealed word. Other truths do admit a natural evidence from reason and experience; such, as the connection between sin and misery. When we find reason, experience and revelation, perfectly harmonious, concerning all truth which admits both kinds of evidence; we may thence determine, that revelation may be firmly trusted, in all things which admit no

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other kind of evidence. A creature must be mad indeed to reject their united testimony.

2dly. THE natural connection between sin and misery, shows the folly of men, in hoping so favorably of their state, while destitute of evidence, that the reigning power of sin in their hearts is broken.

LAW and gospel harmonize in the same scheme of holiness. What avails a gospel to such hearts as are opposed to the gospel spirit? If misery must be connected with sin, what avails a gospel to those, who are as much under the power of sin, as they ever were? It follows, that they are as much under the power of misery as they ever were; and have no release from the curse. So long, as sin reigns in the heart, the curse will reign over the whole man. So long, as sin is supremely loved, the penalty is in execution, tho' not to the extreme degree, it will be after a day of grace is ended.

THERE is a class of persons who believe the scripture—who believe that impenitent sin will be punished—who also confess they have no reason to think their own hearts changed; and still they are in perfect security. I request such to look on their own conduct—to consider and mark it well, and say if it be not strange. A rational creature, with knowledge of his danger, a danger for eternity, and yet not taking a single step to escape it. Living without any anxiety, without prayer and spending in useless amusement the only time, which was given, for preparation. All this is done, against the admonition of GOD in his word, and in such knowledge of the miserable end to which sin is coming, and even under the beginning execution of the penalty, for such are all the pains and distresses of the sinner’s life.

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By this security the folly of sin is proved, beyond what we could suppose possible if we did not see it.

3dly. THOSE, who fall under final punishment will not be able to plead, that they have come to an unhappy end without warning.

GOD hath warned them in his word, in his law and in his gospel. He warns them every day of life. All the miserable fruits of sin in this world—all our pains of body and mind—all dissatisfaction of the heart in its present worldly attainments—all the stings of conscience—all the painful feelings of sinful passion—all the mutual enmities and hatred of wicked men—all the dread of GOD’s presence—all these are warnings that the wages of sin is death. With what remorse and self-condemnation must the mind look back, on its present blindness and security.— This conviction will stop the mouth, though it will neither change the heart, nor remove its pains. May the view we have taken of the natural connection between sin and misery, excite us to repentance and to seek deliverance from our own unholiness.—Let us bless GOD for a way of escape opened in the gospel, and pray for his Spirit to accompany the means of grace, and to draw us to the blood of CHRIST for cleansing from all sin. AMEN.