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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A77976	The eighth book of Mr Jeremiah Burroughs. Being a treatise of the evil of evils, or the exceeding sinfulness of sin. Wherein is shewed, 1 There is more evil in the least sin, than there is in the greatest affliction. 2 Sin is most opposite to God. 3 Sin is most opposite to mans good. 4 Sin is opposite to all good in general. 5 Sin is the poyson, or evil of all other evils. 6 Sin hath a kind of infiniteness in it. 7 Sin makes a man conformable to the Devil. All these several heads are branched out into very many particulars. / Published by Thomas Goodwyn, William Bridge, Sydrach Sympson, William Adderly, [double brace] William Greenhil, Philip Nye, John Yates.	Burroughs, Jeremiah, 1599-1646.; Goodwin, Thomas, 1600-1680.	1654 (1654)	Wing B6063; Thomason E819_1; ESTC R207405	254,421	485

take a man that lies as it were scalding in Gods wrath his conscience burning and bringing even Hell to him that he cries and roars in the anguish of his soul for sin one would think certainly this man will never have to do more with sin that is in this horror and anguish and trouble for sin certainly he will never keep company be drunk be unclean or cozen any more But this may be to the admiration of Men and Angels to see how men and womens hearts are set upon sin that notwithstanding al that anguish and horror that they have many times for it yet they will to it again and that as greedily as ever yea and somtimes more greedily for if once a man consider I beseech you what I say hath overcome the trouble of conscience for Sin and fallen to it again he will then be more greedy he will slight conscience then and scorn at conscience then and make nothing of it if once he have out stood conscience As an unruly horse if he have but once cast his Rider then let him come on his back he cares not for him he contemns him he will quickly throw him off again So when the stubborn unruly lusts of a mans heart have once cast off conscience that a man or woman have been once under terrors of conscience for sin and yet fall to it again such a mans condition is very lamentable I● say not wholly desperate I dare not say so for Gods thoughts are higher than ours as high as the Heaven is above the Earth but this mans condition is very lamentable there is this strength in sin in the soul that all the terrors in the world will not breed a devorce between sin and the soul But when once the soul can come to say with David Against thee against thee only have I sinned in my Sins I have gone against that God who is so infinitely above all praise and glorie This is the humiliation if any thing make a devorce between Sin and the Soul this will do it This is the third Corollarie That therefore there be verie few humbled for Sin aright because not thus humbled CHAP. XVIII The Fourth Corollarie Admire the Patience of God in seeing so much Sin in the World and yet bear it FOurthly If this be so that sin is so much against God doth so much wrong God Hence then we have all cause to stand and admire at the infinite patience of the great God that shall behold so much sin in the world from such poor wretched vile Creatures and yet shall bear it 'T is true those that do not know how sin doth make against God strikes at him and wrongs him they are not so much taken with the patience of God and with the long suffering of God But now that man or woman that comes to know how sin wrongs God and comes to understand this such a one cannot but to amazment stand and wonder at Gods infinite patience that such a great God who seeth himself so struck at fought against opposed and wronged by such wretched Creatures that yet he doth forbear crushing them too pieces presently I beseech you Brethren consider do but take along with you what I have said about Sin how it is against God and then consider how all sins that are committed God is present at it stands and looks upon it Do but think somtimes with your selves when you are among a great concourse of people among a company of prophane wretched people as in Markets Fairs Taverns Inns and Ale-houses how is Gods Name blasphemed there What daring of the blessed God what scorning and contemning of his Word and Sacraments and Ordinances well and now carry along that thought how God is wronged in all these struck at in all this and what an infinite God this is and then think how God stands by them heareth every Oath seeth every filthy act of Uncleanness seeth every Drunkard and yet when the least word of his mouth were enough to sink them to the bottomless-pit yet God is patient the first second and third time yea a hundred times Perhaps thou hast been a Blasphemer twenty years forty years a Swearer and when thou comest in company Oh the wicked Oaths that come from thee and hidious Uncleanness and abominable wickedness and yet God stands by and looks upon the Swearer and is patient all the while Certainly Brethren there is no man in all the world that is wronged as God is and yet man is not able to bear wrong from his equal if he have power in his hand to prevent it What! Shall he wrong me I will make him know what it is to wrong me You cannot bear any wrong from your fellow Creature Oh consider what wrong God hath born from you and others stand and admire at the infinite patience and long-suffering of the Lord Truly Brethren when any mans Conscience comes to be inlightened and awakened then the greatest wonder in the world to such a Conscience is the Patience and long-suffering of God Oh! that God should be so patient and long-suffering unto me all this time of my life that I am out of Hell he stands and wonders that he is out of Hell and wonders at others that others should not be affected with the patience of God Certainly brethren that wrong is done unto God by sin as that if any one man that had all the patience of all the men and women in the world put into his heart all the patience and meekness that ever was in all the Saints since the beginning of the world if it were all distilled into the heart of one man or woman and suppose that this man or woman were but wronged as God is it were impossible but that that man or woman should break forth with revenge against those wrongs done to him or her it were impossible for such an one to bear so far as he can see himself able I mean to right himself so far he could not bear the wrongs done to him But now God shews himself here to be infinite in patience and long-suffering as well as infinite in any other Attribute of his Brethren it wil be an especial part of the glory of the great day of Judgment that when all the wrong that ever was done to God from the beginning of the world by sinners shal then be opened at the day of Judgment Alas we see but little wrong done to God now we look upon notorious wretches and think they wrong God now we see but little but at the day of Judgment then all the secret villanies and wickedness that ever was committed in secret places since the beginning of the world in all places of the world then shal it all appear And then how will it appear to Men and Angels how God was wronged by his Creature and then there will be the patience of God seen that he should be so patient so many thousand years together notwithstanding

the contrary But now you have heard there is nothing contrary to God to speak properly but only sin and if sin be the only contrary that God hath then certainly sin doth seek the destruction of God so much as it can though it be true a sinner can never do God hurt nor cannot hinder Gods working or Being at al whatsoever become of this wretch though he be destroyed and perish to al Eternity God will remain blessed for ever But this is the Nature of sin to seek the destruction of the Eternal God of glory Oh charge your hearts with this do not stay till God come at the day of Judgment to charge you with this for many poor sinners that went on blind-fold all their daies and never saw sin what it was then comes God upon their death bed and chargeth them with this and then their hearts are full of horror And so at the day of Judgment when God comes to charge them with this then they will be amazed and will see the truth of this Therfore seeing God doth it now before the day of Judgment do you now charge it upon your own hearts that so you may be humbled This is the Third Particular It strikes at God Fourthly Sin wrongs God exceedingly It doth that wrong unto God that all the Angels in Heaven and men in the world cannot make up again Any one sin take but the least sin that thou dost commit I say it doth that wrong unto God that all the Angels in Heaven and Men in the World can never make up again if all the Angels in Heaven and Men in the world should come and say Lord God this poor wretched Creature hath committed this sin this day O Lord we are content to suffer ten thousand yeers torment in Hell to satisfie for that wrong that is done to thee by this man or womans sin God would say it cannot be done by all Men and Angels they can never make up this wrong and yet as I shall shew hereafter God wil have this wrong made up or thou must perish Eternally Many men plead thus Who can challenge me and say I have wronged them in al my life they think this enough well suppose thou hast lived so that thou hast not wronged man either in word or deed Oh but thou hast wronged God the Living Eternal God can charge thee though man cannot that thou hast done him that wrong that all the Creatures in the world cannot make it good It were a sad thing if a man had done that wrong to a Kingdom that all the Blood in his Veins and in ten thousand generations more could not make up again he would be weary of his life You have done that wrong to the God of Heaven that all the Angels in Heaven and Men in the World can never make up again Well to conclude Though the things be hard and sad to think on God knows I treat in tender bowels and compassion to you and I do not know that ever I spake to any people in the world with more compassion and that in this particular And know though I speak of these things now yet if God give liberty I shall be as glad and willing to be large in shewing you the riches of the grace of the Gospel in Christ and Gods mercy in Christ And I hope your hearts will be as free and large in this as I am in speaking of this And if I were now treating never so much of the riches of Gods mercy in Christ I could not do it with more Bowels of Compassion than I do this but I do this that you may come to know your selves that you may come to know Christ that Christ may be precious in your thoughts For the special end of Christs coming was To take away sin to deliver from sin therfore we must know sin and charge our souls with sin that Christ may be precious Therefore if any soul shal go away and say Wo to me what have I done yea then such a soul is fit to hear of the Doctrine of grace and mercy in Christ and that in due time if God give liberty may be declared to such a soul But now for the present I beleeve this is a necessary point for you to know and this is that though some may perhaps rise against it that thousand thousands wil have cause to bless God for to all eternity when it is preached home upon their Consciences by the Spirit of the Lord which convinceth of the sinfulness of sin CHAP. XI How sin wrong God 1 In his Attributes 2 Relation of Father Son and Holy Ghost 3 His Counsels 4 In the End for which God hath done all he hath done And First Sin wrong Gods Attributes 1 His All-sufficiency shewd in two particulars 2 It wrong his Omnipresence and Omnisciency 3 Sin wrong his Wisdom 4 Wrong his Holiness 5 Sin wrong God in setting mans will above Gods 6 Sin wrong Gods Dominion 7 Sin wrong Gods Justice 8 Sin wrong God in his Truth THis was that which we proposed in the third place but we shall handle it in this fourth place that we may enlarge upon it But how doth sin wrong God The wrong you do to God by sin is such wrong that if all the Angels in Heaven and Men in the World would be content to endure thousands of yeers of torment in Hell to make up that wrong it could not be any one sin that you commit doth such wrong to God How doth this appear To make it out I shal shew unto you four things 1 How sin doth wrong God in all his Attributes 2 How it wrongs God in his Personal Relations Father Son and Holy Ghost 3 How it wrongs him in his Counsels in that order he hath set in the World in all Creatures 4 How it wrongs God in the very End for which he hath done all that he hath done in the end of all his Works even his Glory First Sin wrongs God in his Attributes As thus First Sin doth hold forth this That there is not a sufficiency of good in God for the satisfying of a soul this language is apparant in every sin and it holds this forth so far as sin doth appear it holds this forth before all and speaks this language That there is not enough good in God That is the Blessed Glorious Al-sufficient Eternal Unchangable good and Fountain of all good yet sin makes this profession That there is not enough good in God to satisfie this soul or else why doth the soul depart from him in any sinful way and go to the Creature for any good if there be enough in God himself Now there is great wrong done to that blessed God who is goodness it self for any Creature to hold this forth That there is not sufficient good there but that the Creature must be fain to seek for it elswhere out of God So long as we seek comforts in the Creature in

condition if he have but divers thousands of men come to plead against him and these cry out for Justice justice upon him but if a man have a whol Kingdom and everie one comes and cries Justice Justice upon this man that hath wronged this Kingdom this man is in a woful estate but I speak of everie Sinner before God if that thy sins be not done away in Christ know it is not a whol Kingdom speaks against thee but all the divine Attributes al the Attributes of God be continuallie before the Lord crying out against thee Justice against this sin he hath wronged me saith one and me saith another and me saith another and thus and thus and thus and therefore thou art in an evil condition and it is much that thou shouldest sleep quietlie when all Gods Attributes plead against thee it is a hard case when the Devil pleads against a man and but accuse him and plead against him before God but when all the Attributes of God plead against him as I might shew you more at large how woful is his condition Object But you will say though all the other Attributes plead against me yet I hope Mercy will plead for me Answ But that pleads against thee too for thou wrongest his Mercie also Indeed there is no Attribute more wronged by Sinners ordinarily than the Mercy of God is The Mercie of God doest thou think that shall plead for thee That is wronged especiallie Why Because there is no Attribute abused to be an Abettor to Sin more than the Mercie of God is and it s abused and made to harden the hearts of men and women in Sin no Attribute so much abused The Justice of God thou thinkest that pleads against thee but Mercie thou thinkest pleads for thee Justice is not so much wronged by Sin as Mercie is The Justice of God is not made an Abettor of Sin Now that is the greatest wrong that can be for Gods Mercie to be made a means to abet Sin and to harden mens hearts in Sin It is a great wrong to make use of any Creature to be serviceable to our Sin if a man make Meat or Drink or Cloathes or anie Creature serviceable to his Lust it is a wrong to that Creature and to God the Creator of that Creature that thou makest serviceable to thy lust but if it be a wrong to the Creature what is it to make the Mercie of God serviceable to your lusts and who is there almost but makes the mercy of God in some degree or other Serviceable to his lusts It is a horrible thing thus to abuse mercie how doest thou think the mercie of God should plead for thee when thou doest it such infinite wrong when thou venturest upon sin because God is a merciful God Thus you wrong the Attributes of God by sin CHAP. XII How sin wrongs God in his personal Relations 1 The Father 2 The Son 3 The Spirit SEcondly Now for the Personal Relations of God Father Son and holy Ghost how they be wronged in way of sin First God the Father Consider of these in those operations most proper and especially attributed to them As now that attributed to the Father is the work of Creation now thou wrongest God the Father in this especial operation In that thou abusest the gifts God hath given thee that Body and Soul God hath made thou abusest it to Gods dishonor abusest his Creatures takest Gods own Creatures and abusest them to his dishonor yea thy own Members that God made thee to honor him withal thou takest them and with his own weapons fightest against himself not only fightest against him but with his own weapons faculties and gifts he hath given thee thou fightest against him Thus thou wrongest God the Father in his work of Creation Secondly Thou wrongest Christ in the Work of Redemption 1 Because the least sin thou committest if ever it be pardoned it is that which stab'd Jesus Christ to the very heart I say thy sin was that which pierced Christ and brought forth blood and water from him it was that which whipt Christ it was that which put Christ to death that shed the blood of Christ that crucified Christ I may say to every sinner that expects to be saved by Christ as Peter in the 2. Acts said to those Jews Whom you have crucified and the text saith that then they were pricked to their hearts Certain it is thou sinner man or woman whosoever thou art that dost expect to have part in the blood of Christ Thy sin crucified Christ made Christ cry out upon the Cross My God my God why hast thou forsaken me What dost thou think of thy sins now And if thou be such an one as hath never been affected with the Blood of Christ that was shed for thy sins then thou wrongest the Blood of Christ more for then thou dost trample the Blood of the everlasting Covenant under thy feet and accountest it a common thing Most men and women be such that live under the light of the Gospel that like Swine trample the very blood of Christ under their feet and make nothing of the Blood of Christ go to the Sacrament hand over head unpreparedly and so come to be guilty of the Body and Blood of Christ Certainly these be not strains of wit above the truth and reality of things there is a reality in it that thy soul is charged from God this day of wronging Christ the second Person Thirdly Thou wrongest the Spirit of God in defacing of the work of Sanctification what in thee lies in opposing the work of Gods Spirit in thy soul in resisting the motions of Gods Spirit Who is there but is guilty of resisting the motions of the Holy Ghost Who is there but at some time or other when they have been at the Word but they have had some stirrings of the Spirit of God within them when they have heard such and such truths of God But they have gone to company and laughed it away drunk and played it away talked it away What a wrong is this to the Holy Ghost thou wrongest the Holy Ghost by defiling thy Body which should be the Temple of the Holy Ghost CHAP. XIII Sin wrong the Counsels of God in setting that Order in the World that he hath set THirdly Thou wrongest the Counsels of God in setting that order in the world which he hath set To understand it know this God in his Eternal Counsel hath set a due order in all his Creatures they walk in an orderly way to fetch about that end that he himself did intend As a Workman that makes a curious work puts everie wheel and piece in a right frame and due order that so by that order his Art hath placed in the work the work may attain unto that end he made it for So God hath done he hath made all things by weight and measure in due order God made all things good very good and

shall be worth all his work Now God had some end therefore in making thee and he must needs have some excellent end but now what do I think in my conscience was the End of God in making of the World and me what was it for no other end but that men and women might live and eat and drink and lye and swear and commit such wickedness was this Gods end I put it to your conscience every sinful man or woman think how hast thou lived what hast thou done in all thy life look back to thy former life and think how hast thou spent it I have gotten money and what to do is it only to eat and drink and the like and thou hast lived in a Course of Nature thy Conscience tells thee thus now I put this to thee Doest thou think in thy conscience this is the end thou livest in the world for Did God when from all Eternity he intended to make such a Creature as thou art to live in such a time in such a place and preserved thee all this while from such dangers at Sea or at Land I say did God aim at no other end but this that thou shouldest live to do thus Certainly thy Conscience will condemn thee if thou hast but a heart for to think of it Thou wert upon thy sick bed and then thou cryedst to God to spare thee well thou didest escape now I put this to thee Dost thou think God spared thee and gave thee thy life to live to no other end but this dost thou think this was the only end Take heed thou dost not go on in waies of crossing God in his end for God will have his end one way or other If a man have been at a great deal of cost to deliver another man from misery redeemed him from Captivitie and when he hath brought him home he rails at him that did this for him and doth him all the mischief he can And in any mans account he is exceedingly wronged that hath done thus and thus for one that is thereby as it were his Creature and yet he live and do thus and thus wrong and abuse him Certainly then God is wronged when he hath given thee a Body delivered thee from such and such dangers and thou livest to no other end but to satisfie thy lust thou exceedingly wrongest God This is so cleer that a man would wonder where mens consciences are that they live quietly and that their consciences flies not in their faces continually Certainly when God shall enlighten the Conscience and bring these things with power to their Souls then Sinners will stand amazed and wonder they saw not this before These things be so clear that its a wonder I was so blind that I had not eyes to see these before and yet who laies these things to heart And thus we have done with this First thing in the Explanation the wrong Sin doth to God in his Nature working against and striking at God and in his Relations c. Now there are I confess those things I most aimed at in this work behind therefore I will wind up in a word or two in some Corollaries and Consequences to be drawn from hence Only thus much when I have told you Sin is a greater evil than Affliction yea a greater evil than all the torments of Hell as I said in the beginning Then you may see by what I have said how this Truth results out of these Consequences because it wrongs God and God is so infinitely good If anie man be afflicted or perish in Hell eternally it is but the good of a Creature and the comfort of a Creature crossed in this but in Sin there is the crossing of the good of an infinite God and of his glory and there is more good in Gods glory than in all the Peace and Comfort of all Creatures in the world and if so then certainly there must be more evil in Sin that is cross to Gods glory than in all pains and torments that are but only cross to the Peace and Comforts that are in the Creature I say Hence followeth these Corollaries CHAP. XV. The First Corollarie It appears by this That but few men know what they do when they Sin against GOD. FIRST from this Certainly it doth evidently appear that there are but few men that know what they do in sinning against God nor have not known all this while It was the Complaint of the Prophet Jeremiah No man saith What have I done Certainly men in waies of sin never say Oh Lord what have I done Give me but that man or woman that have gone on in waies of sin that have imagined they have wronged God so much that they have done so much against the infinite eternal glorious God They think indeed they have done amiss what they should not do but it is another manner of matter it is not only doing what you should not do but it is a wrong to the infinite glorious God and therefore certainly it appears but few men know God or know Sin neither know what that God is with whom they have to deal neither know what sin is and how it makes against that God with whom they have to deal if men did only know God it were enough to keep them from sin And there is a notable place in the 1 John 2. He that saith I know him and keepeth not his Commandements is a liar and the truth is not in him If there be any man in the Congregation that saith he knows God and keepeth not his Commandements he lies saith the Holy Ghost What doest thou know God man or woman Sinner Man or woman doest thou know God that infinite glorious eternal God with whom thou hast to do and not to keep his Commandements but goest on in waies of sin Certainly thou art a Liar It may be many of you are apt to say We know God what need we have so much of God Preached If you say you know God and keep not his Commandements you are a Liar But now joyn these together To know what a glorious God this is and how sin works against this God Some knows somwhat of Gods Attributes and can discourse of him yet perhaps never knew before how sin made against this God this is that people fail in certainly both together hath not been known by most people I remember a Speech I have read of a German Divine upon his sick Bed he cryes out thus In this Disease I have learned what Sin is and how great the Majestie of God is These together We cannot know what sin is except we know how great the Majesty of God is put these together and these Two together will make men understand that they did never consider of before what their lives are and how people go on in a resolute inconsiderate way and know not what they do and what God is Therefore we may pray as Christ in another case Father

sight of sin against God Oh what have I done against God what hath my life been against that infinite glorious eternal first-Being of all things When the soul comes to see that effectually then it falls down and falls down low too Certainly Brethren the heart is never humbled throughly till it come to feel the burden of sin to be heaviest there where it is heaviest mark I say till the heart feel the burden of sin to be heaviest where it is heaviest it is not brought low enough but the burden of sin it is heaviest as it is against God rather than as it is against the good of the Creature that though it be a wonderful burden yea if God put not under his hand an intollerable burden if the Conscience only apprehend sin as against the good of the Creature but the apprehension of sin as against God is a great deal more it doth shew the burden of sin and make the burden of sin to be far more weighty than the other can possibly be 2 The Apprehensions of sin any other way but this it doth not so sanctifie the Name of God as this doth When the soul shall be cast down before the Lord for sin as it is against himself as it is against his glory as it hath wronged him I say that this doth sanctifie the Name of God a great deal more than any other humiliation doth for other humiliation other trouble for sin for I will rather call it trouble for sin than humiliation if this be not in it there may appear in it much self-love and a forced perplexitie of spirit But now the Name of God is not sanctified so as when the heart shall fall down and be humbled because that God hath been wronged his Attributes wronged because he hath been opposed in his glory Now this humiliation doth especially lift up the Name of God and sanctifie the Name of God 3 Take any other humiliation and it is not such an abiding humiliation as this is this humiliation for sin will more abide upon the Spirit than any other doth many are troubled for sin have a great deal of horror and perplexity of Spirit in some fits in some moods at some times but this their trouble is but for a flash and it goes away vanisheth and comes to nothing when trouble is only from the apprehension of danger and miserie in it felf I say it usually vanisheth and comes to nothing why Because when there comes but any thing to make you to think that this danger may be in any degree over or that things are not so bad as I was afraid now the trouble presently vanisheth upon that In times of sickness the soul apprehends it self in danger of perishing I am now going I see my self at the brink of the Pit now the soul is troubled for sin but when the danger appeareth to be a little over the trouble for sin ceaseth But when the soul is troubled for sin as against God this trouble cannot but abide though afflictions be gone yet my trouble abide What 's the reason many people upon their sick beds be so troubled for sin as they think and cry out Oh! if God ever restore them they will never do as they have done and yet as soon as they are well they fall to their sin again here is the reason Because only their danger troubled them But now let the soul be kindly humbled for sin as against God Oh I have wronged God that infinite Deitie that infinite glorious First Being of all things let such an one be in sickness or in health whatsoever condition such an one is in the trouble abides upon the spirit yea Brethren it abides upon the spirit even then when the soul hath hope sin shal be pardoned yea when the soul knows certainly sin shal be pardoned yet will the humiliation abide upon the heart of such a man or woman There 's a great mistake in the world in the matter of trouble for sin they think Repentance or mourning for sin is but one act that if once they have been troubled for sin they need never be troubled any more It is a dangerous mistake for we are to know true sorrow for sin true repentance is a continual act that must abide all our lives and it is not only at that time when we are afraid that God will not pardon our sins when we be afraid we shall be damned for our sins but when we come to hope that God will yea when we come to know that God hath pardoned our sins yet then it will abide only working in another manner and it must needs be so if the heart be humbled for sin thus against God for suppose God come in and graciously tell the soul though thou hast wronged me yet through the Mediation of my Son I will forgive thee will this quiet the soul so as it will be no more troubled and sorrie for sin No. Now the sorrow comes in another way And is this the God I have wronged the gracious merciful God I have wronged that notwithstanding all the wrong I have done him that when he had my soul at an advantage and might justly have sent me down to the nethermost Hell and will he yet pardon though no goodness in me and yet will he have such thoughts of mercy as to send his own Son to make up that wrong and satisfie for the evil I have done Oh now the heart bleed afresh upon this and mourns more than ever it did before Many can say of this that after they have apprehended their sin to be pardoned then their souls have mourned and melted more than ever they did before in the apprehension of horror and fear of Gods wrath and all upon this because they did not see sin to be an evil only as it brings danger of punishment but they did see the evil of sin as against a God as I have wronged God stroke at the infinite glorious first-Being of all things and this will abide upon the heart therefore this is another manner of trouble for sin than the other and because this trouble for sin is so effectual and so good therefore it is that I have endeavored the more to open unto you how sin is against God Therefore when I come to the other to shew how it is against our selves I shal be but brief in that because I know that this is the Principal 4 The trouble for sin if it be apprehended evil any other way but this or if this be not chief cannot be so good because there is no trouble for sin but this that ever will make a devorce between sin and the soul all other trouble will not do it unless this come in And indeed it is to admiration to consider how strong the union between sin and the soul is and how hard to make the devorce that take a man or a woman that apprehends never so much the wrath of God against sin

know not the Excellency of man they know not wherein the excellency of the Rational Creature consists and therefore they are not ashamed of that which brings them under the excellency of the Rational Creature Besides They know not Gods infinite Holiness therefore are not ashamed They be now among other sinners and they think though some seem to be Religious yet they think others are as bad as themselves in their hearts at least though not in Practice As Nero because he was bad he thought others were as bad as himself So a wicked man when he cannot see others break out in such great sins as he doth yet he thinks they are as bad some other way and have some other sins as great And because they live among them that are as bad as themselves and live in the same sins therefore they are not ashamed For as a Collier living among Colliers is not ashamed but if he lived among Princes and Noblemen he would be ashamed So wicked men in this world because they live in this world among sinners they conceive to be sinners like themselves they be not ashamed but when God shall come to open what sin means and what the Holiness of God means and they see themselves stand in the presence of the holy God then they will be ashamed But certainly sin is a greater-shame than Affliction none need be ashamed of Affliction any further-than it hath a Connexion to some great sin but sin in the greatest prosperity hath shame with it CHAP. XXXIX He that Sins wrongeth dispiseth and hateth his own Soul Use 1. Then see the malitiousness that is in Sin Use 2. To pitty those that go on in sinful wayes Use 3. Let Sin be dealt hardly with THus we have Discovered how Sin makes more against our good than Affliction doth Now there be divers things which follow hence as Consequences I spake of one or two before I will name them no more But only thus far Hence we see that sin makes more against our selves than any thing else Therefore it is the worst way for any to provide for themselves by giving way to live in any sinful course And for this I shall ad Two or Three Scriptures I spake not of before to shew how men go against themselves and those men that think to provide best for themselves the truth is in the wayes of sin they go most against themselves You have these Three notable Expressions for this in Scripture First That men by Sin wrong their own Souls Secondly That they Dispise their own Souls Thirdly They Hate their own Souls If I should Charge these Three things upon the most vile sinner at this present before the Lord Oh thou dost wrong thy own soul Thou dost despise thy own soul Thou hatest thy own soul he would be loth to yeild to it and yet the Scripture chargeth this upon sinners Prov. 8. 36. He that sins against me wrongs his own soul he doth not only wrong God that was in the first thing we opened but by sin he wrongs his own soul You will say somtimes I do no body wrong I thank God none can say I wrong them but thou wrongest thine own soul and certainly it is as great an evil to wrong thy own soul as to wrong the Body of another and a great deal more Nay further mark All they that hate me that is Wisdom and Instruction the Rule of Lise they love death It is a strange expression if any Minister should say thus to you you love death you would think it a rash speech from us the Holy Ghost saith so of al that hate Instruction if there be any Truth of God revealed against sin and thy heart rise against it thou lovest death thy own ruine and thy own destruction And what pitie is it for men and women to die who can pitie them that die eternally when as they love death if they love death they must have it So the Holy Ghost saith they wrong their souls and they love death and Prov. 15. 32. He that refuseth Instruction destiseth his own soul when you come and hear any Instruction against any sinful way and refuse it you despise your own souls as if your own souls were worth little Hence it is that men and women though they hear Sin tends to the death of their souls to their eternal ruine yet if they have but any temptation but to get a groat or sixpence they will venture upon it what is this but to despise thy soul that is to despise a thing to account it little worth though thy soul be worth a whol world There is none so poor in this place the meanest boy servant or girl but hath a soul more worth than Heaven and Earth but though the meanest here hath a soul more worth than the World yet we see it ordinarie that to get twopence or a groat they will venture the ruine of their souls Is not this to despise their souls as if they were not worth a groat or sixpence and they will lye or steal to get that which is less Nay not onlie so but they are haters of their own souls and this you have Prov. 29. 24. He that is partner with a Thief hates his own soul there is an instance in that one sin but it is true of everie sin for this must be taken as a rule to help you to understand the evil of sin Know what is said of any one sin is vertually true of all that evil which is in any one sin is vertually in any sin he hates his own soul that goes on in anie one sin therefore if you will provide for your own good you must abandon sin Object But it may be said Is that Lawful for a man to abstain from sin out of self respects for this I am upon I am shewing how sin is against our selves and therfore urge you to abandon and take heed of sin as it is against our selves then this Question ariseth What should we abstain from sin out of self respects what good is in this is that from grace To that I answer three things Answ 1. That at first when God doth begin to work upon the soul God doth usually move us from self most and these self grounds works most to take men and women off from the acts of their sin from outward acts at least and to stop them from the commission of sin and bring them to the means of grace self motives God makes use of at first but yet the work is not done till the soul goeth beyond these it is good for men and women to abstain from sin upon any grounds there is so much evil in sin that upon any grounds men and women abstaining from sin it is well but only except it be such a ground that the ground it self be a greater sin than the sin I abstain from But yet the work is not done Therefore 2. Know That though when grace is come