defiles it thus in an instant Take the most glorious Angell in heaven and let one of the least sinnes seaze upon his heart he would in an instant fall downe from heaven stript of all his glory the ugliest creature that ever was beheld you would count that the strongest of all poysons that would poyson in an instant as Nero boiled a poison to that height that it killed Germanicus as soone as he received it now such an one is sinne Thirdly sinne defiles it totally it rests not in one member onely but beginning at the understanding eates into the will and affections soaks through all Those diseases we account strongest which seaze not on a joynt or a member onely but strikes rottennesse through the whole body Fourthly it defiles eternally it being aterna macula a staine which no nitre or sope or any creature can wash out Ier. 2. 21. There was once let in a deluge of water and the world was all overflow'd with it it washed away sinners indeed but not one sinne And the world shall be a fire again at the latter day and all that fire and these flames in hell that follow shall not purge out one sinne Thirdly it hath robbed the soule of the image of God deprived us of the glory of God Rom. 3. 23. the image of Gods holinesse which is his beauty and ours wee were beautifull and all glorious once within which though but an accident is more worth than all mens soules devoid of it it being a likenesse unto God a divine nature without which no man shall see God Though man in Innocency had all perfections united in him via eminentiae that are to be found in other creatures yet this was more worth than all for all the rest made him not like to God as this did without which all Paradise could not make Adam happy which when he had lost he was left naked though those his other perfections remained with him which is profitable for all things as the Apostle sayes The least dramme of which the whole world emballanced with would be found too light without which the glorious Angels would be damned devills the Saints in heaven damned ghosts this it hath robbed man of Fourthly it hath robbed man even of God himselfe Your sinnes separate sayes God betwixt you and me and therefore they are said to live without God in the world and in robbing a man of God it robs him of all things for all things are ours but so farre as God is ours of God whose face makes heaven he is all in all his loving kindnesse is better than life and containeth beauty honours riches all yea they are but a drop to him But its mischiefe hath not staid here but as the Leprosie of the Lepers in the old Law sometimes infected their houses garments so it hath hurld confusion over all the world brought a vanitie on the creature Rom. 8. 23. and a curse and had not Christ undertooke the shattered condition of the world to uphold it it had fallen about Adams cares And though the old walls and ruinous palace of the world stands to this day yet the beauty the glosse and glory of the hangings is soyled and marred with many imperfections cast upon every creature But as the house of the Leper was to be pulled downe and Traitors houses use to be made jakes so the world if Christ had not stept in had shrunke into its first nothing and you will say that is a strong carrion that retaines not onely infection in it selfe but infects all the aire about so this that not the soule the subject of it onely but all the world Lastly it was the first founder of hell and laid the first corner stone thereof sinne alone brought in and filled that bottomlesse gulfe with all the fire and brimstone and treasures of wrath which shall never be burnt and consumed And this crucified and pierced Christ himselfe poured on him his Fathers wrath the enduring of which for sinne was such as that all the Angels in heaven had crackt and sunke under it But yet this estimate is but taken from the effects of it the essence of it which is the cause of all these evills must needs have much more mischiefe in it Shall I speak the least evill I can say of it It conteins all evills als◠in it therefore Iames 1. 23. the Apostle calls it filthinesse and abundance of superfluitie or excrement as it were of naughtinesse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As if so transcendent that if all evills were to have an excrement a scumme a superfluitie sinne is it as being the abstracted quintessence of all evill An evill which in the nature and essence of it virtually and eminently containes all evills of what kinde soever that are in the world Insomuch as in the Scriptures you shall finde that all the evills in the world serve but to answer for it and to give names to it Hence sinne it is called poyson and sinners serpents sinne is called a vomit sinners dogs sinne the stench of graves and they rotten sepulchres sinne mire sinners sowes and sinne darknesse blindnesse shame nakednesse folly madnesse death whatsoever is filthy defective infective painfull Now as the holy Ghost sayes of Nabal as is his name so is he so may wee say of sinne for if Adam gave names to all things according to their nature much more God who calls things as they are Surely God would not slander sinne though it be his onely enemie And besides there is reason for this for it is the cause of all evills God sowed nothing but good seed in the world He beheld and saw all things were very good It is sinne hath sowne the tares all those evills that have come up sorrowes and diseases both unto men and beasts Now whatsoever is in the effect is via eminentiae in the cause Surely therefore it is to the soule of man the miserable vessell and subject of it all that which poyson death and sicknesse is unto the other creatures and to the body and in that it is all these to the soule it is therefore more than all these to it for corruptio optimi pessima by how much the soule exceeds all other creatures by so much must sinne which is the corruption poyson death and sicknesse of it exceed all other evills But yet this is the least ill that can be said of it There is 2. some further transcendent peculiar mischiefe in it that is not to be found in all other evills as will appeare in many instances For first all other evills God proclaimes himselfe the author of and ownes them all though sinne be the meritorious cause of all yet God the efficient and disposing cause There is no evill in the City but I have done it He onely disclaimeth this Iam. 1. 13. as a bastard of some others breeding for he is the Father of lights ver 17. Secondly the utmost extremity of the evill of punishment
AGGRAVATION OF SINNE AND SINNING Against KNOWLEDGE MERCIE Delivered in severall Sermons upon divers occasions BY THO GOODVVIN B. D. LONDON Printed by M. Flesher for Iohn Rothwell and are to be sold at his Shop at the signe of the Sun in Pauls Churchyard MDCXXXVII AGGRAVATION OF SINNE BY THO GOODWIN B. D. LONDON Printed by M. F. for Iohn Rothwell and are to be sold at the Sun in Pauls Church-yard M DC XXXVII A TABLE OF THE CONTENTS OF the Aggravation of sin THe subject is the sinfulnesse of sin page 2. The mischievous effects of the evill of sin ibid. 1. It hath debased the soule ibid. 2. It defiles the soule 1. In an instant 2. Totally 3. Eternally 3 3. It robs the soule of the image of God 4 4. It robs a man of God himselfe 5 5. It was the first founder of hell 6 The essence of sin is the cause of all these evills ibid. Sin an evill that contains all the evils in the world 7 1. It is the cause of sorrowes and diseases and all evills ibid. 2. There is some peculiar mischief in sin not found in other evils as appears in divers instances 8 Quest What transcendencie of evill is in the essence of sin that makes it above all other evill 10 Answ It is contrary to God and all that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1. It is contrary to his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being ibid. being ibid. 2. It is contrary to all his attributes which are his name is to himselfe and what ever is his ibid. 1. To his lawes and ordinances 2. To his favourites 3. To his image in mans owne breast 11 Sinfulness of sin aggravated from the person suffering being God and man 12 The least sin virtually more or lesse containes all sin in the nature of it proved ibid. Every sin inclines our nature more to sin 13 Sin containes not onely all other evils in it but also all of its owne kind ibid. Sinne a perfect evill ibid. Reasons why sin is the chiefest evill 1. Because it is simply to be avoided for its selfe 2. Because there can be no worse punishment than it selfe 3. Because it cannot have a worse epithete given it than it selfe 14 Use Wonder at the abounding nature of sin 15 Examine our owne estates ibid. Quest When a mans sins may be said to be his own Answ 1. Then he commits sin out of his owne 2. Then he hates it not but loves it 3. Then he nourisheth it cherisheth it 4. Then he provides for it 5. Then he lives in sin 17 Use 2. Consider the punishment of sin is out of measure fearfull 18 It containes all miseries in it 19 What the damned speake of sinne in hell ibid. Use 3. Onely Iesus Christ can conquer sin 21 Christs righteousnesse abounds sins sinfulnesse 22 Come to God through Christ and take him to be our Lord and King 23 Sinne and Christ cannot stand together ibid. We will not take Christ while sin appears sinfull to us ibid. IMPRIMATUR THO WEEKES R. P. Ep o Lond. Cap. Domest AGGRAVATION OF SINNE ROM 7. 13. Was that then which is good made death unto mee God forbid But sinne that it might appeare sin working death in mee by that which is good that sinne by the commandement might become exceeding sinfull WEE finde our Apostle in the 9. verse to have been alive but struck upon the sudden dead by an apparition presented to him in the glasse of the law of the sinfulnesse of sinne Sin revived sayes the 9. verse appeared to be sinne sayes the 13. verse lookes but like it selfe above measure sinfull and hee falls downe dead at the very sight of it I dyed sayes he in the 9. it wrought death in me sayes the 13. that is an apprehension of death and hell as due to that estate I was then in But yet as the life of sinne was the death of Paul so this death of his was but a preparation to a new life I through the Law and dead to the Law that I might live to God Gal. 2. 19. and here hee likewise speakes of Gods worke upon him at his first conversion for then it was that hee relates how sinne became in his esteeme so above measure sinfull The subject then to be insisted on is the sinfulnesse of sinne a subject therefore as necessary as any other because if ever we be saved sinne must first appeare to us all as it did here to him above measure sinfull And first because all knowledge begins at the effects which are obvious to sense and interpreters of the nature of things therefore wee will begin this Demonstration of the evill of sin from the mischievous effects it hath filled the world withall it having done nothing but wrought mischiefe since it came into the world and all the mischiefe that hath beene done it alone hath done but especially towards the poore soule of man the miserable subject of it Which first it hath debased the soule of man the noblest creature under heaven and highest allyed made to be a companion fit for God himselfe but sinne hath stript it of its first native excellency as it did Reuben Gen. 49. 41. debased the soule more worth than all the world as Christ himselfe saith that onely went to the price of it yet sinne hath made it a drudge and slave to every creature it was made to rule therefore the Prodigall as a type is said to serve swine and feed on huskes so as every vanity masters it Therefore we find in Scripture that men are said to be servants to wine Tit. 2. 3. servants to riches and divers lusts c. And hence it is that shame attends upon it Rom. 6. 21. Now shame ariseth out of an apprehension of some excellencie debased and by how much the excellencie is greater by so much is the shame the greater and therefore unutterable confusion will one day befall sinners because sinne is the debasement of an unvaluable excellencie Secondly it not onely debaseth it but defiles it also and indeed there was nothing else that could defile it Mat. 15. 20. for the soule is a most pure beame bearing the image of the Father of lights as farre surpassing the sinne in purenesse as the sunne doth a clod of earth and yet all the dirt in the world cannot defile the sunne all the clouds that seeke to muffle it it scatters them all but sinne hath defiled the soule yea one sinne the least defiles it in an instant totally eternally First one sinne did it in the fall of Adam Rom. 5. 17. one offence polluted him and all the world Now suppose you should see one drop of darknesse seazing on the sunne and putting out that light and eye of heaven and to loosen it out of the orbe it moves in and cause it to drop downe a lump of darknesse you would say it were a strange darknesse this sinne did then in the soule to which yet the sunne is but as a Taper Secondly it
many are said to doe in 1 Tim. 4. 2. he foretels they should speake lyes in Hypocrisie and invent lyes that should have a pretence of holinesse which they know to be a lye or else they should not be said to speake lyes in hypocrisie but they doe it to maintaine their honour and greatnesse which must downe if their doctrine prove false and though many are given up to beleeve their lyes 2 Thes 2. 11. as a punishment of their not loving the truth yet others of them shall know they are lies and yet vent them for truths Thus when men fashion their opinion to the times and wayes of preferment and their dependances on Great ones or to maintaine and uphold a faction or out of pride having broached an error maintaine it though the pulling out that one tile doth untile all the house These are the two causes given of perverting the truth 1 Tim. 6. 4 5. namely pride and covetousnesse and supposing gaine godlinesse and so fashioning their religion accordingly when men are Knights of the post that will write or speak any thing whereby they may get gaine and preferment Secondly men sin against knowledge in regard of others First by concealing it the Apostle indeed sayes in a certaine case Hast thou knowledge keepe it to thy selfe He speakes it of opinions or practices about things indifferent which might scandalize the weake but if thou hast knowledge which may edifie thy brother thou oughtest to communicate it Socrates knowing there was but one God said in his Apologie for his life that if they would give him life upon condition to keep that truth to himselfe and not to teach it to others hee would not accept life upon such a condition and I remember he expresseth his resolution in words very nigh the same words the Apostles used Acts 4. 20. whether it be better to obey God than men judge you and we cannot but teach the things wee have heard and seene sayes Christ for knowledge is a thing will boyle within a man forvent and cannot be imprisoned It is light and the end why light was made was to be set up to give light And Christ argues from an apparent absurdity to put a light under a bushell which may give light to all the house Hast thou knowledge of God and of his wayes thou canst not but speake if withall thou hast but a good heart to all in the familie to thy wife in thy bosome c. God took it for granted that Abraham would teach his children what he should know from him The same disposition is in all the children of Abraham Secondly when men endeavour to suppresse knowledge As the Pharisees they kept the keyes of it in their hands and would not open the treasures of it themselves nor let others doe it neither So they Acts 4. 16. could not deny but a great miracle was done by the Apostles say themselves but that it spread no further let us threaten them and charge them that they speake no more in his name And this they did against their consciences by their owne profession we cannot deny it as if they had said if wee could we would but it was too manifest it was the truth So when Masters keep their servants from the meanes of knowledge they are thus guilty Thirdly when wee would make others sinne against their consciences The Pharises when the blind man would not say as they said they cast him out they would have had him say that Christ was a sinner when through the small light he had hee judged it evident enough that a sinner should not doe such a miracle as was never done since the world began And so Iezabel made the Judges and witnesses sinne against conscience in accusing Naboth and so some of the Gentiles that would hold correspondencie with the Jewes would have constrained the Galathians to be circumcised Gal. 6. 12. Those that knew that circumcision was to be abolisht yet they would perswade them to it by a clubb argument drawn from avoiding persecution not from evidence of the Truth or by reasons that might convince them and their consciences therfore he sayes they constrained thē The perswaders might indeed glory as having their cause and side strengthened but they wanne little credit to their cause by it for as the perswaders arguments were suited to flesh so the others yeelding was out of flesh and so they glory in your flesh and weaknesse sayes he as the Papists urged Cranmer not by arguments but threats and promises to recant this is the greatest cruelty in the world to have a man murder himselfe stab his conscience To offend a weak conscience is a sinne if but passively when thou dost something before his face which his conscience is against but if thou makest him wound his own conscience and to doe an act himselfe which his owne conscience is against it is much worse as if thou beest a Master and hast a servant who pleadeth conscience that hee cannot lye for thy advantage in thy shop or who will not doe unlawfull businesses on the Sabbath day and pleads conscience wilt thou smite him and whip him God will smite thee thou whited wall How darest thou smite him and so cause him to doe that for which God will whip him worser Shew mercy to those under you enforme their consciences wring them not you may hap to break the wards if you doe Now for sinnes committed collaterally or per modum circumstantia that I may so expresse it against knowledge they are done either when particular acts of sinne are committed and duties omitted against light and knowledge and so the Saints may and doe often sinne against knowledge Or Secondly in regard of a knowne estate of sinne and impenitencie persisted in when men continue and goe on in such a state against conviction of conscience that such is their estates For the first because particular acts of sin committed against knowledge are infinite and there will be no end of instancing in particulars therefore I will not insist Onely in briefe this distinction concerning such acts may be observed and the observation of it may be usefull That some acts of sinnes against knowledge are meerely transient that is are done and ended at once And though the guilt of them is eternall yet the extent of the act is finished with the committing it and reacheth no further as a vaine oath breach of the Sabbath c. which acts cannot be repealed though they may be repented of But others there are which though the act may be but once outwardly and professedly done yet have an habituall and continued permanency life subsistence given it such as that untill a man doth recall them hee may be said continually to renew those acts and every day to be guilty of them and to maintaine it and so habitually to cōmit them As it is with Laws which though made but once are