God the Sonne under-went had a cup mingled him of his Father more bitter than if all the evils in the world had beene strained in and he dranke it off heartily to the bottome but not a drop of sinne though sweetned with the offer of all the world would goe downe with him Thirdly other evils the Saints have chosen and imbraced as good and refused the greatest good things the world had as evill when they came in competition with sinne So Moses those rather to suffer much rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sinne Heb. 11. from 24. to 28. So Chrysostome when Eudoxia the Empresse threatned him goe tell her sayes he Nil nisi peccatum timeo I feare nothing but sinne Fourthly take the Devill himselfe whom you all conceive to be more full of mischiefe than all the evills in the world called therefore in the abstract spirituall wickednesse Eph. 6. 12. yet it was but sinne that first spoiled him and it is sinne possesseth the very devils he was a glorious Angell till he was acquainted with it and could there be a separation made betweene him and sinne he would be againe of as good sweet and amiable a nature as any creature in earth or heaven Fiftly Though other things are evill yet nothing makes the creature accursed but sinne as all good things in the world doe not make a man a blessed man so nor all the evills accursed God sayes not blessed are the honorable and the rich nor that accursed are the poore but cursed is the man that continues not in all things Gal. 3. 10. a curse to the least sinne and on the contrary blessed is the man whose iniquities are forgiven c. Rom. 4. 7. Sixtly God hates nothing but sinne Were all evills swept downe into one man God hates him not simply for them not because thou art poore and disgraced but onely because sinfull It is sin he hates Rev. 2. 15. Isa 27. 11. yea it alone and whereas other attributes are diversely communicated in their effects to severall things as his love and goodnesse Himselfe his Sonne his children have all a share in yet all the hatred which is as large as his love is solely poured out upon and wholly and limited onely unto sinne All the question will be what transcendencie of evill is in the essence of it that makes it above all other evills and hated and it onely by God Christ the Saints c. more than any other evill Why It is enmity with God Rom. 8. 7. abstracts we know speake essences the meaning is it is as directly contrary to God as any thing could be for contrary it is to God and all that is his As 1. contrary to his essence to his existence and being God for it makes men hate him Rom. 1. 30. and as he that hateth his brother is a murtherer 1 Ioh. 3. 15. so hee that hateth God may be said to be a murtherer of him and wisheth that he were not Peccutum est Dei-cidium 2. Contrary it is to all his attributes which are his name men are jealous of their names Gods name is himselfe as 1. It makes a man slight Gods goodnesse and to seeke happinesse in the creature as if hee were able to be happy without him And 2. it deposeth his soveraignty and sets up other Gods before his face 3. It contemns his truth power and justice And 4. turnes his grace into wantonnesse And as to himselfe so to what ever is his or deare to him Besides A King hath 3. things in an especiall manner deare to him His Lawes His favour it es his image stampt upon his coine and so hath God First his lawes and ordinances God never gave Law but it hath beene broken by sinne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the definition of it The transgression of the Law 1 Ioh. 3. 4. yea it is called destroying the Law Psal 119. 126. And know that Gods Law the least tittle of it is more deare to him than all the world For ere the least tittle of it shall be broken heaven and earth shall passe The least sinne therefore which is a breach of the least law is worse than the destruction of the world and for his worship as envying God should have any it turns his ordinances into sinne Secondly for his favourites God hath but a few poore ones upon whom because God hath set his love sinne hath set its hatred Lastly for his image even in a mans owne breast the law of the members fights against the law of the mind and endevoureth to expell it though a man should be damned for it Gal. 5. 17. The flesh namely sinne lusteth against the Spirit for they are contraries Contrary indeed for me thinkes though it hates that image in others that yet it should spare it in a mans selfe out of self-love but yet though a man should be damned if this image be expelled it yet laboureth to doe this so deadly is that hatred a man hates himselfe as holy so farre as he is sinfull It abounds now so high as our thoughts can follow it no farther Divines say it aspires unto infinity the object against whom it is thus contrary unto being God who is infinite they tell us that objectively sinne it selfe is infinite Sure I am the worth of the object or party offended aggravates the offence an ill word against the King is high treason not the greatest indignity to another man Sure I also am that God was so offended with it as though he loves his Sonne as himselfe yet he though without sinne being but made sinne by imputation yet God spared him not and because the creatures could not strike a stroake hard enough he himselfe was pleased to bruise him Esay 53. 16. He spared not his owne Sonne Rom. 8. 32. His love might have overcome him to have passed by it to his Sonne at least a word of his mouth might have pacified him yet so great was his hatred of it and offence at it as he powred the vialls of his wrath on him Neither would entreaty serve for though he cryed with strong cryes it should passe from him God would not till he had out-wrastled it And as the person offended aggravates the offence as before so also the person suffering being God and man argues the abounding sinfulnesse of it For for what crime did you ever hear a King was put to death their persons being esteemed in worth above all crime as civill Christ was the King of Kings And yet there is one consideration more to make the measure of its iniquity fully full and to abound to flowing over and that is this that the least sinne virtually more or lesse containes all sinne in the nature of it I meane not that all are equall therefore I adde more or lesse and I prove it thus because Adam by one offence contracted the staine of all no sooner did one sinne seaze upon his heart but he had all sinnes in him And
able to hold weight in the ballance Dan. 5. 22. what puts he into the other scale against him to weigh him up and to shew he was too light ver 21 22 he tells him how his father knew the God of heaven and how that his knowledge cost him seven yeares the learning among wild beasts and thou sayes he his sonne knewest all this and yet didst not humble thy selfe Here is the aggravation weighs downe all he knew the God of heaven against whom he sinned and that judgement on his Father for his pride and then withall he tels him that this God in whose hands is thy breath and all thy wayes thou hast not glorified I name this place among many others because it is parallel with this in the text I le name no more but give reasons and demonstrations for it First Demonstrations The greatnesse of this kind of sinning might many wayes be made appeare we will demonstrate it onely by comparing it with other kinds of sinning To sinne though out of simple ignorance when that ignorance is but the causa sine qua non of sinning that is so as if a man had knowne it a sinne he had not done it doth not yet make the fact not to be a sinne though it lesseneth it For Luke 12. 48. He that did not know his Masters will was beaten when the thing committed was worthy of stripes though he did not know so much because the thing deserves it And the reason is because the Law being once promulged as 1. to Adam it was and put into his heart as the common ark of mankinde though the tables be lost yet our ignorance doth not make the Law of none effect For the Law of nature for ever binds that is all that was written in Adams heart because it was thereby then published in him and to him for us But positive lawes as I may call them as to beleeve in Christ c. anew delivered bind not but where they are publisht Iosiah rent his clothes when the booke of the Law was found because the ordinances were not kept although they had not knowne the Law of many yeares yet because they ought to have knowne it therefore for all their ignorance he feared wrath would come upon all Israel So also Lev. 5. 17. sinnes of ignorance were to be sacrificed for yet however it lesseneth the sin therefore he shall be beaten with few stripes And sure if ignorance lesseneth them knowledge aggravates for contrariorum eadem est ratio therefore he that knowes shall be beaten with many stripes Yea such difference is there that God is said to wink at sins of ignorance Acts 17. 30. The time of this ignorance God winks at Whiles they had no knowledge God tooke no notice yea and he abates something for such sinnes because the creature hath a cloake hath something to say for its selfe as Christ sayes Iohn 15. 22. but when against knowledge they have no cloak Yea farther Christ makes a sinne of ignorance to be no sinne in comparison So there If I had not spoken and done those workes never man did they had had no sinne That is none in comparison but now they have no cloak no shelter to award the stripes or plea to abate of them And that you may see the ground of this vast difference betweene sinnes of ignorance and against knowledge consider first that if a man sin suppose the act the same out of ignorance meerly there may be a supposition that if hee had knowne it he would not have done it and that as soone as he doth know it he would or might repent of it So 1 Cor. 2. 8. If they had knowne they had not crucified the Lord of Glory The like sayes Christ of Tyre Sidon and Gomorrha that if the same things had beene done in them they would have repented But now when a man knowes it afore and also considers it in the very committing it and yet doth it then there is no roome for such a supposition and lesse hope For what is it that should reduce this man to repentance is it not his knowledge now if that had no power to keepe him from his sinne then it may be judged that it will not be of force to bring him to repentance for it for by sinning the heart is made more hard and the knowledge and the authority of it weakned and lessened as all power is when contemned and resisted Rom. 1. 21. their foolish heart becomes darker Aristotle himselfe hath a touch of this notion in the third of his Ethicks that if a man sinne out of ignorance when he knowes it he repents of it if out of passion when the passion is over he is sorry for what he hath done but when a man sinnes deliberately and out of knowledge it is a signe he is fixed and set in mischiefe and therefore it is counted wickednesse and malice And hence it is that those that have beene enlightned with the highest kind of light but that of saving grace Heb. 6. 4 5. and Heb. 10. If they sinne wilfully after such a knowledge of the truth God lookes on them as those that will never repent And therefore likewise the schoole gives this as the reason why the Devills sinne obstinately and cannot repent because of their full knowledge they sinne with they know all in the full latitude that it may be knowne and yet goe on Secondly the vast difference that in Gods account is put betweene sinnes of knowledge and of ignorance will appeare by the different respect and regard that God hath to them in the repentance he requires and accepts for them and that both in the acts of repentance and also in the state of grace and repentance upon which God accepts a man or for want of which he rejecteth him First when a man comes to performe the acts of repentance and to humble himselfe for sinne and to turne from it God exacteth not that sins of ignorance should particularly be repented of But if they be repented of but in the general in the lumpe be they never so great God accepts it This is intimated Psal 19. 12. Who can understand his errour cleanse me from my secret sinnes that was confession enough But sinnes of knowledge must be particularly repented of and confessed and that againe and againe as David was forced to doe for his murder and adultery or a man shall never have pardon Yea farther greater difference will appeare in regard of the state of grace and repentance for a man may lye in a sinne he doth not know to be a sinne and yet be in the state of Grace as the Patriarchs in Poligamie and in divorcing their wives but to lye in a sinne of knowledge is not compatible with grace but unlesse a man maintaineth a constant fight against it hateth it confesseth it forsaketh it hee cannot have mercy This cannot stand with uprightnesse of heart A friend may keepe
correspondencie with one hee suspects not to be an enemy unto his friend and be true to his friendship notwithstanding but if hee knowes him to be an enemie he must break utterly with the one if he leanes to the other Thirdly yet farther in the third place so vast is the difference that some kind of sins committed out of and against knowledge utterly exclude from mercy for time to come which done out of ignorance remained capable of and might have obtained it as persecuting the Saints blaspheming Christ c. Pauls will was as much in those acts themselves and as hearty as those that sin against the Holy Ghost for he was made against the Church and in these sins as himselfe sayes not sinning willingly herein onely but being carried on with fury as hot and as forward as the Pharisees that sinned that sinne onely sayes hee 1 Tim. 1. 13. I did it ignorantly therefore I obtained mercie Though it was ignorantly done yet there was need of mercie but yet in that he did it but ignorantly there was a capacity and place for mercie which otherwise had not beene But thus to sin after a man hath received the knowledge of the truth shuts a man out from mercie Heb. 10. and there is no more sacrifice for sinne for such sins I say such sins as these thus directly against the Gospell when committed with knowledge For sins against the Law though against knowledge there was an atonement as appeares Levit. 6. from the 1. verse to the 8. where hee instanceth in forswearing But to persecute the Saints and Christs truth with malice after knowledge of it there is no more sacrifice not that simply the sin is so great in the act it selfe of persecution for Paul did it out of ignorance but because it is out of knowledge so vast a difference doth knowledge and ignorance put betweene the guilt of the same sinne And therefore indeed to conclude this in the last place this is the highest step of the ladder next to turning off the very highest but that of sinning against the Holy Ghost which must needs argue it the highest aggravation of sinning when it ascends so high when it brings a man to the brinck and next to falling into the bottomlesse pit irrecoverably And therefore to sinne presumptuously which is all one and to sinne against knowledge as appears Numb 15. 26 27 28 29 30. it being there opposed to sinning out of ignorance such a sinne as David did of whom it is said 2 Sam. 12. 9. that he despised the word of the Lord which phrase also is used to expresse sinnes of presumption ver 31. of that 15. of Numbers To sinne I say presumptuously is the highest step So in Davids account Psal 19. 12 13. For first he prayes Lord keepe me from secret sinnes which he maketh sinnes of ignorance and then next he prayes against presumptuous sinnes which as the opposition shewes are sinnes against knowledge For sayes he if they get dominion over me I shall not be free from that great offence That is that unpardonable sinne which shall never be forgiven so as these are neerest it of any other yet not so as that every one that fals into such a sinne commits it but he is nigh to it at the next step to it For to commit that sinne but two things are required light in the mind and malice in the heart not malice alone unlesse there be light for then that Apostle had sinned it so as knowledge is the Parent of it it is after receiving the knowledge of the truth Heb. 10. 27 28. These are the Demonstrations of it the Reasons are First because knowledge of God and his wayes is the greatest mercie next to saving grace Hee hath not dealt so with every Nation Wherein In giving the knowledge of his wayes and as it is thus so to a nation so to a man and therefore Christ speaking of the gift of knowledge and giving the reason why it so greatly condemneth Luke 12. 48. sayes For to whom much is given much is required As if hee had said To know his Masters will that is the great talent of all other There is a much in that Thus it was in the Heathens esteeme also They acknowledged their foolish wisdome in morall and naturall Philosophie their greatest excellencie and therefore Plato thank'd God for three things that he was a man an Athenian and a Philosopher And Rom. 1. 22. the Apostle mentions it as that excellencie they did professe And Soloman of all vanities sayes this is the best vanity and that it exceeds folly as light doth darknesse Eccles 2. But surely much more is the knowledge of the Law and of God as we have it revealed to us this must needs be much more excellent And so the Jewes esteemed theirs as in this second Chapter of the Romanes the Apostle shewes also of them that they made their boast of the Law and their forme of knowledge of it and approving the things that are excellent And what doe the two great books of the creatures and the word and all meanes else serve for but to increase knowledge If therefore all tend to this this is then the greatest mercie of all the rest For secondly God hath appointed knowledge as the immediate guide of men in all their wayes to bring them to salvation and repentance for to that it leads them It is that same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Philosopher call'd it and therefore the Law Rom. 7. 1 2. is compared to an Husband so farre as it is written in or revealed in the heart that as an Husband is the guide of the wife in her youth so is the Law to the heart And whereas beasts are ruled by a bit and bridle God hee rules men by knowledge And therefore if men be wicked notwithstanding this light they must needs sinne highly seeing there is no other curbe for them as they are men but this if he will deale with them as men this is the onely way and therefore if that will not doe it it is supposed nothing will It is knowledge makes men capable of sin which beasts are not therefore the more knowledge if men be wicked withall the more sinne must necessarily be reckoned to them so as God doth not simply looke what mens actions and affections are but chiefly what their knowledge is and accordingly judgeth men more or lesse wicked I may illustrate this by that comparison which I may allude unto That as in Kingdomes God measures out the wickednesse thereof and so his punishments accordingly principally by the guides the governors thereof what they are and what they doe as in the 5. of Ieremie the 4. verse it appeares where first God lookes upon the poore people but he excuseth them these are foolish and know not the way of the Lord and therefore God would have beene moved to spare the Kingdome notwithstanding their sins But from them at
the 5. verse he goes to view the Rules I will get me to the great men for these have knowne the way of the Lord and when he saw that these had broken the bands then how shall I pardon thee for this So is it in his judgement towards a particular man when God lookes downe upon a man and sees him in his courses exceeding loose and wicked hee lookes first upon those rude affections in him which are uncleane profane debaucht greedy of all wickednesse Ay but sayes he these are foolish of themselves but I will looke upon his understanding and upon the superiour faculties which are the guides of these affections and see what they dictate to these unruly affections to restraine them And when he findes that the guides themselves are enlightned and have knowne the way of the Lord and that the will and the affections though informed with much knowledge yet break all bands then how shall I pardon thee Thee who art a knowing drunkard and a knowing unclean person c. so as thus to sin aggravates and maketh sin out of measure sinfull Now that knowledge and reason is a mans guide will further appeare by this That even erroneous knowledge doth put an obligation a bond and a tye upon a man which can be in no other respect but because knowledge is appointed to be a mans guide Thus if a man thinkes a thing which is in it selfe common and indifferent to be a sinne and forbidden as Rom. 14. 4. although the Law forbids it not yet to him it is uncleane though in Christ it is not uncleane that is by the Law of Christ For this his knowledge and judgement of the thing hath to him the force of a Law for it propounds it to him as a Law and as from God which reason of his God hath appointed as his immediate guide and the will is to follow nothing that is evill which is represented to it as evill this is the Law of meere nature in all conditions therefore if a man should doe an action which is in it self good if he thought it to be evill he should sinne and so è contra for he goes against the dictate of nature So that erroneous knowledge though against the Law is a law to me though not per se yet per accidens Now therefore if to go against a false light of conscience be yet a sinne though it proves that the commandement allowes the thing was done and was for it then to go against the true light of the Law how sinfull is it Againe thirdly the knowledge of the law binds the person so much the more to obedience by how much the more he knowes it so as though it would be a sinne when he knowes not the Law to transgresse it yet when he knowes it it is a greater sinne 'T is true indeed that conscience and the Law when they meet make up but one Law not two distinct Laws and therefore in sinning against knowledge though a man doth not commit two distinct sinnes yet the knowledge of it doth adde a further degree of sinfulnesse to it As a cloath is the same cloath when it is white that it was when it is dyed with a scarlet dye yet then it hath a dye a tincture given it which is more worth than the cloath and so when you sinne not knowing the Law the sin is the same for substance it would be if you had known it yet that knowledge dyes it makes it a scarlet sinne as Esay speaks farre greater and deeper in demerit than the sinne it selfe and the ground of this is because Lawes then come to be in force when they are promulged and made known so as the more they are promulged and knowne the more is the force of their binding and so the greater guilt Therefore Deut. 11. 12. 3. 8. God straitens the cords more the binding force of the law more upon those Jewes consciences to whom he at the first personally with majesty had promulgated it than upon their children though upon theirs also Now if all Gods Lawes being made knowne to Adam binde us and are in force and this when we know them not then if we do know them or might know them they binde much more and still the more clearely wee know them the obligation increaseth and the guilt insuing with it and the rather because now when wee come to know them they are anew promulged in a way of a peculiar mercie wee having defaced the knowledge of them in our fall Fourthly when the Law being knowne is broken there is the more contempt cast upon the Law and the Law-giver also and so a higher degree of sinning And therefore Numbers 15. 30. He that sinnes out of knowledge is said to reproach the Lord and to despise the word And therefore Saul sinning against knowledge Samuel calleth it rebellion and though it were but in a small thing yet he parallels it with witchcraft So also Iob 24. 13. they are said to rebell when they sinne against light because rebellion is added to disobedience For knowledge is an Officer set to see the Law executed and fulfilled and makes God present to the conscience Therefore Rom. 2. 14. it is called a witnesse and therefore in sinning against knowledge men are said to sinne before the face of the Lord himselfe now what a great contempt is that Therefore also Psal 50. the hypocrite sinning against knowledge is said to cast the law of God behind his back so as there is a contempt in this sinning which is in no other Fiftly the more knowledge a man sinneth against the more the will of the sinner is discovered to be for sinne as sinne Now voluntarium est regula mensur a actionum moralium willingnesse in sinning is the standard and measure of sinnes The lesse will the lesse sinne so much is cut off the lesse the will closeth with it at least wise so much is added by how much the will is more in it and therefore the highest degree of sinning is exprest to us by sinning willingly and this after knowledge Heb. 10. Now though an ignorant man commits the act as willingly as when Paul persecuted the Church yet he commits it not considered as sinne till he hath the knowledge of it but then when it is discovered to be sinne and the more clearely it is so discovered the will may be said to joyn with it as sinne Therefore the Apostle sayes To him that knowes to doe well and doth it not to him it is sinne Iames 4. 17. because by his knowledge the thing is represented as sinne and so he closeth with it the more under that notion and apprehension Sixtly in sinning against knowledge a man condemns himselfe but when out of ignorance meerely the Law onely doth condemne him So Rom. 2. 1. A man having knowledge in that wherein hee judgeth another he condemneth himselfe So Rom. 14. Now as self-murder is
the highest degree of murder and an aggravation of it so self-condemning must needs be reckoned God tooke it as a great advantage over him that hid his talent that out of thine owne mouth I will condemne thee thou wicked servant The doctrine being thus proved First I will explaine what it is to sin against knowledge Secondly I will give the aggravations of it Thirdly I will give rules to measure sinnes of knowledge by and the greatnesse of them in any act Lastly the use of all For the first what it is to sinne against knowledge First to explaine it I premise these distinctions The first distinction That it is one thing to sinne with knowledge another thing against knowledge There are many sinnes doe passe from a man with his knowledge which yet are not against knowledge This is to be observed for the removall of a scruple which may arise in some that are godly who else may be wounded with this doctrine through a mistake A regenerate man is and must needs be supposed guilty of more knowne sinnes than an unregenerate man and yet he commits fewer against knowledge than he First I say hee is guilty of more knowne sinnes For he takes notice of every sinfull disposition that is stirring in him every by-end every contrariety unto holinesse deadnesse to duty reluctancie to spirituall duties and when regenerated beginneth to see and know more evill by himselfe than ever he did before he fees as the Apostle sayes of himselfe Rom. 7. 10. all concupiscence and the holier a man is the more he discernes and knowes his sins So sayes the Apostle Rom. 7. 18. I know that in me dwels no good thing And ver 21. I finde when I would doe good evill is present with me And 23. I see another law All these he sayes he perceived and found daily in himselfe and the more holy that he grew the more he saw them For the purer and clearer the light of Gods Spirit shines in a man the more sinnes he knowes he will see lusts steaming up flying in his heart like moates in the sun or sparkes out of a furnace which else he had not seene the clearer the sun-beame is which is let into the heart the more thou wilt see them But yet in the second place I adde that neverthelesse he sinnes lesse against knowledge For then wee are properly said to sinne against knowledge when wee doe take the fulfilling of a lust or the performance of an outward action a dutie or the like into deliberation and consideration and consider motives against the sinne or to the dutie and yet commit that sinne yeeld to it and nourish that lust and omit that dutie Here now we sinne not onely with knowledge but against knowledge because knowledge stept in and opposed us in it comes to interrupt and prevent us but now in those failings in dutie and stirring of lusts in the regenerate afore mentioned the case is otherwise they are committed indeed with knowledge but not against it For it is not in the power of knowledge to prevent them for motus primo primi non cadunt sub libertatem but yet though such sinnes will arise againe and againe yet sayes a good heart they must not think to passe uncontrouled and unseene Therefore let not poore soules mistake me as if I moant throughout this discourse of all sins which are knowne to be sinnes but I meane such sinnes as are committed against knowledge that is when knowledge comes and examines a sinne in or before the committing of it brings it to the Law contests against it condemnes it and yet a man approveth it and consenteth to it when a dutie and a sinne are brought before knowledge as Barrabas and Christ afore Pilate and thy knowledge doth againe and againe tell thee such a sinne is a great sinne and ought to be crucified and yet thou cryest let it goe and so for the duty it tels thee again and againe it ought to be submitted unto and yet thou omittest it and committest the sin choosest Barrabas rather than Christ these are sinnes against knowledge now such sins against knowledg break a mans peace and the more consideration before had the more the peace is broken The second distinction is that men sinne against knowledg either directly or collaterally objectively or circumstantially First directly when knowledge it selfe is the thing men abuse or fight against becommeth the object the terminus the butt and mark shot at this is to sin directly against knowledge it selfe The second way collaterally is when knowledge is but a circumstance in our sinnes so as the pleasure of some sinne we know to be a sin is the thing aimed at that our knowledge steps but in between to hinder us in it and we commit it notwithstanding though we doe know it here knowledge is indeed sinned against yet but collaterally and as a stander by but as a circumstance onely shot at per accidens concomitanter and by the by as one that steps in to part a fray is smitten for labouring to hinder them in their sin as the Sodomiâ—es quarrelled with Lot they are both found in this Chapter and therefore come fitly within the compasse of this discourse First This collaterall kinde of sinning against knowledge is mentioned in the 21. verse where he saies They knew God yet they glorified him not there knowledge is made but a circumstance of their sinning they sinned against it but collaterally But then that other kind of sinning directly against knowledge is mentioned ver 28. They liked not to retaine God in their knowledge that is they hated this knowledge it selfe so as now they did not onely love sin they knew to be sin but also they loved not the knowledge of it so that because both are thus clearly instanced in wee will speake of both more largely Now sinnes directly against knowledge it selfe are many I will reduce the chiefe heads of them into two branches First in regard of our selves Secondly in regard of others First in regard of our selves five wayes we may thus sin against knowledge it selfe First when we abuse knowledge to helpe us to sinne as first to plot and contrive a sin as Iudas plotted to betray his Master if hee could conveniently so the text sayes Mark 14. 11. hee would doe it wisely and thus those that came to intrap Christ with most cunning questions did sinne and those who plot against the just as Psal 37. 12. So secondly when men use their wisedoms to tell a cunning lye to cover a sin as Plato sayes men of knowledge sunt ad mendacia potentiores sapientiores whereas fooles though they would lye yet often tell truth ere they are aware But also thirdly when they abuse morall knowledge which yet as Aristotle sayes is least apt to be I am sure should least be abused so as to make a shew of
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