03.01. CHAP. I. The occasion of the words of the text
CHAP. I. The occasion of the words of the text — The principal contents of it — The origin qf true religion — All souls the offspring of God, and a more especial portraiture qf him; hut pious souls yet more especially — God the author of religion from without, in several respects; God the author qf it from within, enlightening the faculty — Religion something of God in the soul — A discovery qf religious meti by the affinity they have to God — God alone to be acknowledged in all holy accomplishjnents — The origin qf sin from hence discovered.
“ But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water, springing up into everlasting life.’ This chapter contains an excellent, profitable familiar discourse of the blessed Saviour of the world, into whose lips gi’ace was poured, and he ceased not to pour it out again. That which is said of the wise, is fully verified of wisdom itself, His lips dispersed knowledge. A poor woman of Samaria comes to draw water, and our Saviour takes ocassion from the water to instruct her in the great and excellent doctrines of the kingdom of heaven. O the admirable zeal for God, and compassion for souls, which dwelt in that divine breast! and O the wonderful, unsearchable counsels of an all-wise God! He ordains SauPs seeking of asses to be the means of his finding a kingdom upon earth; and this poor woman’s seeking of water, to be an occasion of her finding the way to the kingdom of heaven. She comes to the well of Jacob, and, behold, she meets with the God of Jacob there. The occasion, passages, and issue of this discourse, would each afford many good and profitable observations, but I think none more than this verse that I have pitched upon; in which the mystery of gospel-grace is rarely unfolded, and true christian religion is excellently described. For so I understand our Saviour, not as speaking of faith, or knowledge, or any other particular grace, but of grace in general, of the Holy Spirit of God; that is, the gifts and graces of it, of true godliness; or, if you will, of christian religion; for that word I shall choose to retain throughout my discourse, as being most intelligible and comprehensive. In which words we find the true christian religion unfolded in the origin, nature, properties, consequences, and end of it. The origin of it is found in those words, “ I shall give him;” the nature of it is described by “a well of water;’’ the properties of it will be found in the phrase of ’ springing up;’“’ the consequence of it, that the man that is endoTA’ed with it “shall never thirst;”’ the end or perfection of it is “everlasting life.”“ Of,ali these, by God’s assistance, in this order.
’ First, I begin at the origin of it, as it seems meet I should; for indeed it is first found in the words, “The water that I shall give him.” And here the proposition that I shall go upon must be,.
“ That the true Christian religion is of divine origin.” All souls are indeed the offspring of God.
Those noble faculties of understanding, and a will free from constraint, do more resemble the nature of God than all the world besides. There is more of the glory, beauty, and brightness of God in a soul, than there is in the sun itself. The Apostle allows it as a proper speech spoken in common of all men, “for we are also his offspring.” God hatk transferred more lively prints of himself, and his divine essence, upon a rational soul, than he hath upon the whole creation: so that the soul of man, even as to its constitution, doth declare and discover more of the nature of God, than all the other things that he hath made, ’whereof the Apostle speaks.
He that rightly converseth with his own soul, will get more acquaintance with God, than they that gaze continually upon the material heavens, or traverse the dark and utmost corners of the earth, or “go down unto the sea in ships;” the serious consideration of the little world will teach more of him than the great one could do; so that I hesitate not to take the Apostle’s words concerning the word of God, and apply them to the nature of God — “ Say not in thy heart, Who shall ascend into heaven,” to bring a discovery of God from thence? or, “who shall descend into the deep,’“ to fetch it up from thence? The nature and essence of God is nigh thee, even in thine own soul, excellently displayed in the constitution and frame, powers and faculties thereof: God hath not made any creatures so capable of receiving and reflecting his image and glory, as angels and men: which hath made me often to say, “ That the vilest soul of man is much more beautiful and honourable than the most excellent body, than the very body of the sun at noon-day.”
And, by the way, this may render sin odious and loathsome; because it hath defiled the fairest piece of God’s workmanship in the world, and hath blurred the clearest copy which he had drawn of himself in the whole creation. But though all rational souls be the children of God, yet all of them do not imitate their father; though their constitution do express much of the essence of God, yet their disposition doth express the image of the devil. But pious souls, who are followers of God, are indeed his dear children.
Holy souls, who are endowed with a divine and God-like disposition, and do work the works of God, these are most truly and properly his offspring. And in this respect God’s children are his “ workmanship created unto good works.” Religion is of a divine origin: God is the author and father of it, both from without and from within.
1. God is the author of it from without. When man had fallen from God by sin, and so had lost his way, and was become both unwilling and unable to return, God was pleased to set up that glorious light, his own Son, “ the Sun of righteousness,’’ in the world, that he might guide our feet into the way of peace, who is therefore called, “ A light to lighten the Gentiles,’’ and compared to a candle set upon a candlestick. God of his infinite free grace, and over-flowing goodness, provided a Mediator, in and by whom these apostate souls might be reconciled, and re-united to himself; and “ to as many as receive him, to them he giveth power to become the sons of God.”
Yet further, it pleased God in his infinite wisdom and mercy, to chalk out the way of life and peace in the holy scriptures, and therein to unlock the secrets of salvation to succeeding generations.
Herein he hath plainly laid down the terms of the covenant of peace which was made in the Mediator, and given precepts and promises for the direction and encouragement of as many as will inquire into the same. These are the sacred oracles which live clear and certain answers to all that do consult them about their future state. Christ Jesus opened the way into the holiest of all, and the scriptures come after and point it out unto us: he purchased life and immortality, and these bring it to light. And yet further, that these might not be mistaken or perverted to men’’s destruction, which were ordained for their salvation, which sometimes doth come to pass, God hath been pleased to commit these records into the hands of his church, and therein to his ministers, whom he hath appointed, called, qualified, instructed, for the opening, explaining, interpreting, and applying of them: so that they are called “ scribes instructed unto the kingdom of God, and stewards of the mysteries, stewards over the household of God, to give unto every one his portion.’ These apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, God hath given “ for the perfecting of the saints, for the edifying of the body of Christ;’
These things hath God done for us, from without us; he hath set up a light, chalked out our way, and appointed us guides. To which I might add the many incitements and motives which we call mercies or comforts of this life; and the many affrightments of judgment and afflictions which God hath added to the promises and threatenings of his word, to bring us into the way of life. But all these are too little, too weak of themselves to bring back a straggling soul, or to produce a living principle of true religion in it. Therefore, 2. God is the author of religion from within.
He doth not only reveal himself and his Son to the soul, but in it; he doth not only make discoveries to it, but lively impressions upon it; he doth not only appoint, and point out the way of life, but breathes in the breath of life. He hath not only provided a Saviour, a Redeemer, but he also draws the soul unto him. He hath not only appointed pastors and teachers, but he himself impregnates their word, and clothes their doctrine with his own power, using their ministry as an instrument whereby to teach; so that the children of God are said to be “ all taught of God.” Ministers can only discover, and as it were, enlighten the object; but God enlightens the faculty, he gives the seeing eye, and does actually enable it to discern. Therefore the work of converting a soul is still ascribed to God in scripture; he begets us again; he draws the soul, before it can run after him; Christ apprehends the soul, lays powerful hold of it. God gives a heart of flesh, a new heart; he causes men to walk in his statutes. He puts his law into their inward parts, and writes it in their hearts. To which I might add many more quotations of the same value. But yet, methinks, we are not come to a perfect discovery of religion’s being the offspring of God in the minds of men. For it is God who enlighteneth the faculty as to the learning of all other things also; he teacheth the grammar and the rhetoric, as well as the divinity; he instructeth even the husbandman to discretion in his affairs of husbandry, and teaches him to plough, and sow, and thrash, &c. Not only the gift of divine knowledge, but indeed “ every good gift cometli from the Father of lights/’ God doth from within give that capacity, illumination of the faculty, ingenuity, whereby we comprehend the mysteries of nature, as well as of grace.
Therefore we may conceive of the origin of religion in a more inward and spiritual manner still.
It is not so much given of God, as itself is something of God in the soul; as the soul is not so properly said to give life, as to be the life of man. As the conjunction of the soul with the body is the life of the body, so verily the life of the soul stands in its conjunction with God by a spiritual union of will and affections. God doth not enlighten men’’s minds as the sun enlightens the world, by shining unto them and round about them, but by shining into them, by enlightening the faculty, as I said before, yea, which seems to be somewhat more, by shining in their hearts, as the Apostle phraseth it.
He sets up a candle, which is his own light within the soul; so that the soul sees God in his own light, and loves him with the love that he hath shed abroad in it; and religion is no other than a reflection of that divine image, life, and light, and love, which from God are stamped and imprinted upon the souls of true Christians. God is said to enlighten the soul, but it is not as the sun enlightens, that you see; so he draws the soul too, but not ab extra only, as one man draweth another with a cord, as Jupiter in Homer draws men up to heaven by a chain, and Mahomet, his disciples by a lock of hair; but he draws the soul, as the sun draws up earthly vapours by infusing its virtue and power into them; or, as the loadstone draws the iron, by the powerful insinuations of his grace. God doth not so much communicate himself to the soul by way of discovery, as by way of impression, as I said before; and indeed not so much by impression either, as by a mystical and wonderful way of implantation. Religion is not so much something from God, as something of God in the minds of good men, for so the scripture allows us to speak, it is therefore called his image, and good men are said to “ live according to God in the spirit;” but, as if that were not high enough, it is not only called his image, but even a participation of his divine nature, something of Christ in the soul, an Infant-Christ as one calls it, alluding to the Apostle, where the saving knowledge of Christ is called Christ himself, — “ until Christ be formed in you.’ True religion is, as it were, God dwelling in the soul, and Christ dwelling in the soul, as the Apostles St. John and St. Paul do express it: yea, God himself is pleased thus to express his relation to the pious soul — “ I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a humble spirit;”’ and again — ’’ As God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them.”
Pure religion is a beam of the Father of lights, lumen delumiie; it is a drop of that eternal fountain of goodness and holiness, the breath of the power of God, a pure influence flowing from the glory of the Almighty, the brightness of the everlasting light, the unspotted mirror of the power of God, and the image of his goodness, more beautiful than the sun, and above all the orders of stars; being compared with the light, she is found before it, as the author of the book of Wisdom speaks, chap, vii. What is spoken of the eternal Son of God, may in a sense, be truly affirmed of religion considered in the abstract, that it is “ the effulgency or beaming forth of divine glory,” Hebrews 1:3; for there is more of the divine glory and beauty shining forth in one pious soul, than in all things in the world beside; the glorious light of the sun is but a dark shadow of the divine light, not to be compared with the beauty of holiness. An immortal soul doth more resemble the divine nature than any other created being; but religion in the soul is a thousand times more divine than the soul itself. The material world is indeed a darker representation of divine wisdom, power, and goodness; it is as it were the footsteps of God: the immaterial world of angels and spirits does represent him more clearly, and are the face of God: but holiness in the soul doth most nearly resemble him of all created things; one may call it the beauty and glory of his face.
Every creature partakes of God indeed; he had no copy but himself and his own essence to frame the world by; so that all these must needs carry some resemblance of their Maker. But no creature is capable of sucli communications of God as a rational immortal spirit is; and the highest that angel or spirit, or any created nature can be made capable of, is to be holy as God is holy. So then, if the poet may call the soul, and St. Paul allows him in it, a particle of the Divine essence; sure one may rather speak at that rate of religion, which is the highest perfection that the soul can attain to, either in the world that now is, or that which is to come. One soul, any one soul of man, is worth all the world beside for glory and dignity; but the lowest degree of true holiness, pure religion, conformity to the divine nature and will, is more worth than a world of souls, and to be preferred before the essence of angels. I have often admired three great myssteries and mercies, God revealed in the flesh, God revealed in the word, and God revealed in the soul, this last is the mystery of godliness which I am speaking of, but cannot fathom; it is this that the Apostle says transcends the sight of our eyes, the capacity of our ears, and all the faculties of our souls too, “ Eye hcith not seen,” &c. Christ Jesus formed in the soul of man, incarnate in a heart of flesh, is as great a miracle, and a greater mercy, than Christ formed in the womb of a virgin, and incarnate in a human body. There was once much glorjang concerning Christ in the world, the hope of Israel; but let us call out to the powers of eternity, and the ages of the world to come, to help us to celebrate and magnify Christ in us “ the hope of glory;’’ or, if you will, Christ in us the first-fruits of glory. What has been said may,
First, Help us in our discoveries of that precious pearl, religion. There is nothing in the world that men do generally more seek, or less find: no nation in the world but hath courted it in one way or other; but alas how few that have obtained it! At this day there are many claims laid to it, all pretending a just title; the men of Judah cry. She is of kin to us; the men of Israel say. We have ten parts in this queen, and we have more right in religion than ye; according as they contended of old about King David. They say of Christ, as it was foretold, though perhaps not in the same sense as was foretold, Lo, here he is; and lo, there he is; which hath made many say, he is not at all: or, if I may go on in the same allusion, they live by the rule that there follows, they will not go forth to seek him any where. Mighty strivings, yea, and wars there have been about the Prince of peace, whose he should be; and at this day no question more debated, nor less decided, than, Which is the religious party in the land.’ O would to God men would dispute this controversy with works and not with words, much less with blows! Religion is of an eminent pedigree, of a noble descent; you may find her name in the register of heaven, and look where God is, there is she. She carries her name in her forehead: the divine disposition that she is of, the divine works which she worketh, which no one else can work, the same do bear witness which is she.
I am ready to say with the man that had been blind, “ herein is a marvellous thing, that ye know not” religion who she is, and yet she is the mighty power of God opening the eyes, changing the hearts, and as it were edifying the souls of men. Why do we not also go about enquiring which of those many stars is the moon in the firmament? If ye ask which is the religious party? I will point you to the blessed and eternal God, and say, As he is, so are they, in their capacity, each one resembling the children of a king; or, I will point out the religious Christian by the same token as Christ himself was marked out to John the Baptist — “Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining, the same is he.” If ye enquire about the children of God, the Apostle shall describe them for you, the followers of God are his dear children. That which is most nearly allied to the nature and life of God, that call religion, under whatsoever disguises or reproaches it may go in the world. Examine the world by no lower a mark, than that character that is given of David, and the man that doth appear to be after God’s heart, namely, conformable to his image, compliant with his will, and studious of his glory, pitch upon him, for that is the man, under what name soever he goes, of what party or faction soever he is. And let no soul examine itself by any lower marks than this, iari tiq Qeog fv^ov, “ participation of the divine nature, conformity to the divine image/”’ Examine what alliance your soul hath to God, “ whose is the image and superscription.” Religion is a divine accomplishment, an efflux from God, and may, by its affinity to heaven, be discerned from a brat of hell and darkness.
Therefore, Christians, if you will form a judgment of your state, lay your hearts and lives to the rule, the eternal goodness, the uncreated purity and holiness, and see whether you resemble that copy: for conformity to the image and will of God, that is religion; and that God will own for his, when all the counterfeits and shadows of it will fly away, and disappear for ever. I fear it may be imputed as a great piece of vanity and idle curiosity to many counterfeit speculative Christians, that they are very inquisitive, prying into the hidden rolls of God’s decrees, the secrets of predestination, to find out the causes and method of their vocation and salvation; in the mean time they are not solicitous for, nor studious of the relation and resemblance that every religious soul bears unto God himself, the heaven that is opened within the pious soul itself, and the whole plot and mystery of salvation transacted upon the heart of a true Christian. There is a vanity which I have observed in many pretenders to nobility and learning, when men seek to demonstrate the one by their coat of arras, and the records of their family, and the other by a gown, or a title, or their names standing in the register of the university, rather than by the accomplishments and behaviour of gentlemen or scholars. A like vanity, I doubt, may be observed in many pretenders to religion: some are searching God’s decretals, to find their names written in the book of life; when they should be studying to find God”’s name written upon their hearts, holiness to the Lord engraven upon their souls: some are busy in examining; themselves by notes and marks without them; when they should labour to find the marks and prints of God and his nature upon them: some have their religion in their books and authors, which should be the law of God written in the tables of the heart: some glory in the bulk of their duties, and in the multitude of their pompous performances, and religious achievements, crying, with Jehu, “ Come, see here my zeal for the Lord f whereas it were much more excellent, if one could see their likeness to the Lord, and the characters of divine beauty and holiness drawn upon their hearts and lives. But we, if we would judge rightly of our religious state, must view ourselves in God, who is the fountain of all goodness and holiness, and the rule of all perfection. Value yourselves by your souls, and not by your bodies, estates, friends, or any outward accomplishments, as most men do: but that is not enough; if men rest there, they make an idol of the fairest of God’s creatures, even their own souls; therefore value your souls themselves by what they have of God in them. To study the blessed and glorious God in his word, and to converse with him in his works, is indeed an excellent and honourable employment; but O what a blessed study it is to view him in the communications of himself, and the impressions of his grace upon our own souls! All the thin and subtile speculations which the most eminent philosophers have of he essence and nature of God are a poor, and low, and beggarly employment and attainment, in comparison of those blessed visions of God which a pious soul hath in itself, when it finds itself partaker of a divine nature, and living a divine life.
O labour to view God and his divine perfections in your own souls, in those copies and transcripts of them which his Holy Spirit draws upon the hearts of all pious men. This is the most excellent discovery of God that any soul is capable of; it is better and more desirable than that famous discovery that was made to Moses in the cleft of the rock. Nay, I should much rather desire to see the real impression of a God-like nature upon my own soul, to see the crucifying of my own pride and self-will, the mortifying of a mere sensual life, and a divine life springing up in my soul instead of it; I would much rather desire to see my soul glorified in the image and beauty of God put upon it, which is indeed a pledge, yea, and a part of eternal glory, than to have a vision from the Almighty, or hear a voice witnessing from heaven, and saying, “ Thou art my beloved Son, in whom my soul is well pleased.”“ This that I am speaking of is a true foundation of heaven itEielfin the soul, a real beginning of happiness; for happiness, heaven itself, is nothing else but a perfect conformity, a cheerful and eternal compliance of all the powers of the soul with the will of God: so that as far as a pious soul is thus conformed to God, and filled with his fulness, so far is he glorified upon earth.
Sed hen qziantum didamiis ah illo!
Secondly, Let wisdom then be justified of her children; let the children of God, those that are his genuine offspring, rise up and call him blessed, in the imitation of their Lord and Saviour, that eldest Son of God, that “ first-born amongst many brethren,”“ who rejoiced in spirit, and said, “I thank thee. Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast revealed these things,”“ or, according to the style of the apostle Peter, “• Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again!’“
There is no greater contradiction in the world, than a man pretending religion, and yet ascribing it to himself; whereas pure religion is purely of a divine origin: besides, religion doth principally consist in the subduing of self-will, in conformity to, and compliance with the divine will, in serving the interest of God’s glory in the world. Then, and not till then, may a soul be truly called religious, when God becomes greatest of all to it and in it, and the interest of God is so powerfully planted in it, that no other interest, no self-interest, no crcature-Iove, no particular private end, can grow by it, no more than the magicians could stand before Moses, when he came in the power of God to work wonders. So that what Solomon saith of self-seeking, “ For men to seek their own glory is not glory;” the like I may safely say upon that double ground that I have laid down, self-religion is not religion. How vainly and madly do men dream of their self-religion carrying them to heaven; when heaven itself is nothing else but the perfection of self-denial, and God’s becoming all things to the saints. Instead of advancing men towards heaven, there is nothing in the world that doth more directly make war against heaven, than that (Siracides calls it) that proud and petulant spirit of self-will that rules in the children of disobedience. So that when the Holy Ghost would describe David one of the best men, to the best advantage, he describes him with opposition to self and self-will, “a man after God’s own heart;’’“ and again, “ he served the will of God in his generation.”
There have been of old a great number of philosophical men, who being raised up above the speculations of their own souls, which is the logical life, unto a contemplation of a deity; and being purged, by a lower kind of virtue and moral goodness, from the pollutions that are in this world through lust, did yet ultimately settle into themselves, and their own self-love. They were full indeed, but it was not with the fulness of God, as the Apostle speaks, but with a self-sufficiency; the leaven of self-love lying at the bottom made them swell with pride and self-conceit. Now these men, though they were free from gross external enormities, yet did not attain to a true knowledge of God, nor any true religion, because they set up themselves to be their own idols, and carried such an image of themselves continually before their eyes, that they had no clear and spiritual discerning of God. They did, as it is storied of one of the Persian kings, enshrine themselves in a temple of their own. But what speak I of heathen philosophers? Is there not the same unclean spirit of self-adoration to be found amongst many Christians, yea, and teachers of Christianity too? witness that whole brood, those men, who, whilst they suspend the grace of God upon man’s free will, do utterly rob him of his glory. Some of these have impudently given a short, but unsavoury answer to the Apostle’s question, “Who maketh you to differ from another.’’ “ I make myself to differ.?”“’ These men, while they pretend to high attainments, do discover a low and most ignoble spirit: to fasten and feed upon anything in the creature, is the part of a low and degenerate spirit; on the other hand, it is the greatest perfection of the creature, not to be its own, not to be anything in itself, or any way distinct from the blessed God, the Father and Fountain of light and grace. Holy Paul is all along in a different strain, as, “ I, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.” I told you before what a fair and honourable character the Holy Ghost hath given of holy David, “a man after God’s own heart:”“ now you may also find a description of these men too in scripture, not much differing from the other in phrase, but very much in sense; it is the same that is given of the proud prince of Tyrus — “ They set their heart as the heart of God.’’ But we, if we do indeed partake of the divine nature, shall not dare to take any part of the divine glory; if we conform to God’s image, we shall not set up our own. This self-glorying, in the predominancy of it, is utterly inconsistent with true religion, as fire is with water; for religion is nothing else but the shinings forth of God into the soul, the reflection of a beauty and glory which God hath put upon it.
Give all therefore unto God; for whatsoever is kept back, is sacrilegiously purloined from him, glory we in the fulness of God alone, and in selfpenury and nothingness. The whole of religion is of God. Do we see and discern the great things of God?
It is by that light that God hath set up in us; according to that of the Apostle — “ The things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.” That love whereby we love him, he first shed abroad in our hearts. If our souls be beautiful, it is with his brightness, the beauty and glory of essential holiness, according to that of the Apostle — “ Partakers of his holiness.” If we be really and truly full, we receive it of Ids fulness, according to that of the Apostle — “ filled with all the fulness of God/”’ In a word, if we be in any God-like dispositions, like unto him, it is by his spreading of his image in us, and over us. By all which, it appears to be a thing not only wicked and unwarrantable, but utterly impossible for a pious soul to exalt himself against God, for grace to advance itself against divine glory; for grace is nothing else but a communication of divine glory; and God is then glorified, when the soul in holy and gracious dispositions becomes like unto him. How is it possible that grace should be a shadow to obscure divine glory, when itself is nothing else, as it comes from God, but a beam of glory? and as it is found in the creature, may properly be called a reflection of it. To conclude then, be ye persuaded, that a man hath so much of God as he hath of humility, and self-denial, and self-nothingness, and no more; he is so far of God, as he loves him, honours him, imitates him, and lives to him, and no farther.
Thirdly, By this discovery of the origin of religion, we come to understand the origin of sin and wickedness. And here, according to the method wherein I spoke of the origin of religion, I might show you how the origin of sin from without is of the devil, who first ushered it into the world, and ceaseth not to tempt men to it continually; as also of men, who are his instruments; and that it does, in a sense, spring from many occasions without. But these things are more improperly said to be the causes of sin. The inward cause is the corrupt heart of man, that unclean spirit, that diabolical nature, which is indeed the worst and most pernicious devil in the world to man. It is an old saying, one man is a devil to another; which though it be in some sense true, yet it is more proper to say, man is a devil to himself; taking the spirit and principle of apostacy, that rebellious nature, for the devil, which indeed doth best deserve that name. But yet, if we inquire more strictly into the origin and nature of this monster, we shall best know what to say of it, and how to describe it, by what we have heard of religion. Sin then, to speak properly, is nothing else but a degeneration from a holy state, an apostacy from a holy God. Religion is a participation of God, and sin is a straggling off from him. Therefore it is wont to be defined by negatives, a departure from God, a forsaking of him, a living in the world withovit him, &c. The souFs falling off from God, describes the general nature of sin; but then as it sinks into itself, or settles upon the world, and fastens upon the creature, or anything therein; so it becomes specified, and is called pride, covetousness, ambition, and by many other names. All souls are the offspring of God, were originally formed into his image and likeness; and when they express the purity and holiness of the divine nature, in being perfect as God is perfect, then are they called the children of God: but those impure spirits that do lapse and slide from God, may be said to implant themselves into another stock by their own low and earthly lives, and are no more owned for the children of God, but “ are of their father the devil.” By which you may understand the low and base origin of sin: nothing can be so vile as that which, to speak properly, is nothing else but a perfect falling off from glory itself. By this you may also by the way, take notice of the miserable condition of unholy souls. We need not call for fire and brimstone to paint out the wretched state of sinful souls. Sin itself is hell and death, and misery to the soul, as being a departure from goodness and holiness itself: I mean from God, in conjunction with whom the happiness, and blessedness, and heaven of a soul consist. Avoid it therefore, as you would avoid being miserable.