SERMON IX.

I JOHN iii. 4.

Whosoever committeth Sin, tranfgrefeth alfo the Law: for Sin is the Tranfgreffion of the Law.

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SECT of Hereticks in the Apoftle's Days had the Abfurdity to profefs themselves good Chriftians, at the fame time that they indulged all vicious Exceffes: They were fo far from concealing their Impurities, that they maintained the Lawfulness of them: In the Frenzy of Prophanenefs and Enthufiafm they declared that the Love of God towards

VOL. II.

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towards them, of which they boafted fome inward Whispers and Convictions, was a Security to them of their Salvation; and that the Love, which they had towards God, gave them a full Licence to gratify their fenfual Appetites, as they thought proper.

THE Apoftle throughout the Whole of this Epiftle is very large and forcible in refuting these scandalous Errors. The Words of the Text are Part of one moft powerful Argument against them: In order to preferve the true Profeffors of the Gospel found both in Faith and Practice, the Apoftle carries our Thoughts up to the Privileges and Rewards of the Gospel; we are at present the Sons of God, and fhall be enrich'd hereafter with the Sight, Likeness and Enjoyment of that perfect and adorable Being.

Behold what manner of Love the Father bath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the Sons of God.

Beloved, now are we the Sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that when He shall ap

pear

pear, we fhall be like unto him, for we shall fee him as He is.

FROM hence he infers the Neceffity of our purifying ourselves, even as God is pure; and makes fuch a Purification the only Teft of the Sincerity of our Christian Professions; and every Man that hath this Hope in him, purifieth himself, even as He is pure: An Inference this, as clear and ftrong as Reason and Religion can poffibly deduce, and which severely condemns allowing ourselves in Sin upon any Pretence whatever, especially on those impious Prefumptions which those Hereticks urged in Defence of their Impurities; and that for this plain Reason, Whofoever committeth Sin, faith the Apostle, tranfgreffeth the Law; for Sin is the Tranfgreffion of the Law: As if he had faid, It is abfurd to suppose, that Sin can confist with the Love of God, becaufe Obedience to God's Commands muft be equally the Teft of our Love towards him, and the Condition of his Love towards us; but a State of Sin is a State of Difobedience to the Divine Laws; Whofoever committeth Sin, tranfgrefleth the Law;

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Law; for the very Notion of Sin is, that it is the Tranfgreffion of the Law; the Law, i, e. the Law of God. Thus ftand the Words with refpect to the Context; they do in themselves give us a fhort but true Definition of Sin, and from this Definition we may take occafion in the following Difcourfe to confider the true Nature of Sin. Sin is the Tranfgreffion of the Law; the Term Tranfgreffion is an Allufion taken from a Course that is mark'd out with Boundaries on each Side in order to confine us to a direct Paffage, and the stepping over those Boundaries, and purfuing a different Course to that which is prescribed us, is properly Tranfgreffion. The Term is properly used here, because the Law of God is generally figured out to us as a Path, and the living in Conformity to that Law is call'd walking in the Ways of the Lord, inafmuch as a State of Motion is very expreffive of the Chriftian Duty, which is of an active Nature, and gives us for the End of our Being an Happiness in View, which must be attain❜d by zealously perfevering in the Practice of Gofpel-Precepts, and making

continually

continually Advances in Virtue and Piety. By the Law of God, which is the Law here intended, is meant the Declaration of the Divine Will to Mankind; for as the Almighty hath a full and abfolute Right to impose on us whatever Laws He thinks fit, his Will, in whatever Manner it is declared, must be the Rule of our Actions; and it hath pleased him to declare his Will to us two Ways, either by the Means of Conscience, which fuggeftsto us that which is call'd the Law of Na ture, or by Revelation, which Branch of the Divine Law is now entirely contain'd in the Holy Scripture, and furnishes out to us what is call'd the written Will of God. These are the Branches, and the only Branches of the Law of God to Mankind: The Law of Nature or Conscience is plainly a Declaration of the Divine Will to us; for what are thofe Notions of Good and Evil, which are fo deeply and univerfally impreffed on the Minds of Men, but the Remains of the Divine Image on our Souls? The Divine Image was at firft imprinted on the Soul of Man in large and lively Characters.