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
that is alone by themselves so Beza and Theophilact understand it which he makes there the first degree of unnaturall uncleannesse which is therefore unnaturall because thou destroyest that which nature gave thee for propagation quod perdis homo est Then 2. the uncleane love of boyes men burning in lust with men ver 27. be it discovered in what dalliance it will though not arising to an act of Sodomie doing that which is unseemely ver 27. which hee therefore sayes is the perverting the use and intent of nature and so is a sin against nature leaving the naturall use of women My brethren I am ashamed to speak of such things as are done in secret These kind of sinnes by the Apostles ranking them are in a further degree of unnaturalnesse than any other because they are made the punishments of other sinnes which yet were against the light of nature also namely not glorifying God when they knew him yet that being a sinne the light of nature was not so clear in comparison of these therefore these are made the punishments of the other as being more against nature So for men to be disobedient to Parents stubborne to them and without naturall affection as the Apostle sayes ver 30 31. this is against nature even the instinct of it So unthankfulnesse and requiting evill for good is against a common principle in mens mindes Doe not the Gentiles doe good to those that do good to them your hearts use to rise against such an one out of common humanity or if you see one cruell and unmercifull which is another reckoned up ver 31. there being usually principles of pitty in all mens natures by nature therefore for one man to prey upon and tyrannize over another as fishes doe over the small ones as Habakkuk complaineth this is against nature which teacheth you to doe as you would be done to So covenant-breakers and lying and forswearing mentioned ver 30. inventers of evill and truce-breakers are sins against nature and natural light lying is against a double light both morall both juris which tels us such a thing ought not to be done and facti whilest we affirm a thing that is not the knowledge of the contrary ariseth up in us against though there were no law forbade it therefore of all sins else the Devills lusts are expressed by two lying which is a sinne in the understanding and malice in the will Iohn 8. 44. Secondly to sin against that light which thou didst suck in when thou wert young to sin against the light of thy education this is an aggravation and a great one There is a Catechisme of a blessed mother Bathsheba which shee taught Solomon when a child put in among the records of sacred Writ Prov. 31. wherein she counsels him betimes not to give his strength to women she foretold him of that sinne and because it is incident to Kings most they having all pleasures at command she tells him particularly it destroyes Kings and so also not to drink wine was another instruction there he was forewarned of this aggravated Solomons fault the more for reade the 2. Chapter of Ecclesiastes and we shall finde there that hee was most guilty in the inordinate love of these two but hee had not beene brought up so his good mother had not thus instructed him And thus also when God would aggravate his owne peoples sin unto them he recalls them to their education in their youth in the wildernesse So Ierem. 2. 2. Goe and cry to them Iremember the kindnesse and towardlinesse of thy youth he puts them in mind of their education by Moses their Tutor and their forwardnesse then And so Hos 12. when he was a child I loved him and then God had their first fruits ver 3. this he brings to aggravate their back-sliding ver 5. Therefore the Apostle urgeth it as a strong argument to Timothie to goe on to persevere in grace and goodnesse That he had knowne the Scriptures from a child and therefore for him to fall would be more hainous The reason is because the light then infused it is the first a virgin light as I may call it which God in much mercy vouchsafed to pre-possesse the minde with before it should be deflowred and defiled with corrupt principles from the world and did put it there to keep the mind chaste and pure and this also then when the minde was most soft and tender and so fitter to receive the deeper impression from it And hence ordinarily the light suckt in then seasons men ever after whether it be for good or for evill it fore-stalls and pre-judgeth a man against other principles and though a man comes to have more acquired knowledge and reasons after put into him when he is come to perfect age yet the small light of his education if it were to the contrary doth bias him and keeps him fixt and bent that way So we see it is in opinions about Religion the light then entertained can never be disputed out so in mens wayes and actions Traine up a child in his way and he will not depart from it Prov. 22. 6. To sin therefore against it and to put out the beames of it or defile it and to weare out the impressions of it how wicked is it and what a wretch art thou to do so Many of you young schollers have had a good Bathsheba that instructed you not to poure out your strength to drinke or women but to pray privately and to feare God and love him and when you come hither you have good Tutors also who teach you to pray Ministers who instill blessed truths into you from which one would think you should never depart yet you doe Think how grievous this is for if it is made an excuse for many a man in sinning that it answers but his education that he never knew or saw better as you say of many Papists then must it needs on the contrary be an aggravation of sinfulnesse And as it was Timothies commendation that hee knew the Scriptures from a child so it will be thy condemnation that thou knewest better from a child and yet rebellest against thy light Thirdly the more reall and experimentall the light is men sinne against still the more sinne as when they have learnt it from examples of godly men whom they have lived amongst or the observations of Gods dealings with themselves or others and not onely from the word notionally To sinne against such light this addes a further degree not onely to sinne against the bare light of nature but also further when nature hath besides lighted her torch at the Scripture and then when beyond all this the reall examples and observations made of Gods dealings with a mans selfe and others shall confirme all this this makes a mans sinfulnesse much more grievous for as exempla efficacius docent quà m praecepta so the knowledge got by experiments of mercies or judgements is of
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
dung Mal. 2. 3. and a menstruom cloath yet thou owest it already as thou art a creature and one debt cannot pay another If then we should goe a begging to all the Angels who never sinned let them lay all their stock together it would begger them all to pay for one sinne no it is not the merit of Angels will doe it for sinne is the transgression the destruction of the Law Psal 109. 1. and the least 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is more worth than heaven and all that is therein Onely though it be thus unconquerably sinfull by all created powers it hath not gone beyond the price that Christ hath paid for it the Apostle compares to this very purpose sinne and Christs righteousnesse together Rom. 5. 15 20. 'T is true sayes hee that sinne abounds and that one sinne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and instanceth in Adams sinne which staineth all mens natures to the end of the world yet sayes he the gift of righteousnesse by Christ abounds much more abounds to flowing over 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sayes the Apostle 1 Tim. 1. 14. as the sea doth above mote-hills Malach. 7. 14. Though therefore it would undoe all the Angels yet Christs riches are unsearchable Eph. 3. 8. hee hath such riches of merit as are able to pay all thy debts the very first day of thy mariage with him though thou hadst beene a sinner millions of yeares afore the creation to this day and when that is done there is enough left to purchase thee more grace and glory than all the Angels have in heaven In a word he is able to save to the utmost all that come to God by him Heb. 7. 5. let their sins be what they will But then wee must come to him and to God by him and take him as our Lord and King and head and husband as he is freely tendered we must be made one with him and have our hearts divorced from all our sinnes for ever And why not now doe we yet look for another Christ and to allude to us as Naomi said to Ruth Is there yet any more sonnes in my wombe that they may be your husbands So say I Hath God any more such sonnes or is not this Christ good enough or are we afraid of being happy too soon in being married to him But yet if we will have Christ indeed without whom we are undone how shall we thou continue in sinne which is thus above measure sinfull no not in one The Apostle speaks there in the language of impossibility and inconsistencie Christ and the raigne of one sinne they cannot stand together And indeed wee will not so much as take Christ untill first wee have seene more or lesse this vission here and sinne appear to us as to him above measure sinfull naturally we slight it and make a mock of and account it precisenesse to stick and make conscience of it but if once sinne thus appeares to any but in its owne colours that man will looke upon the least sinne then as upon hell it selfe and like a man affrighted feare in all his wayes lest he should meet with sinne and starts at the very appearance of it he weepes if sinne doe but see him and hee doe but see it in himselfe and others and cryes out as Ioseph did How shall I doe this and sinne and then a man will make out for Christ as a condemned man for life as a man that can no longer live oh give me Christ or else I die and then if upon this Christ appeares to him and manifests himselfe as his promise is to thē that seek him Ioh. 14. 21. his heart thereupon will much more detest and loathe it he saw it evill afore Out then it comes to have a new tincture added which makes it infinitely more sinfull in his eyes for he then lookes upon every sinne as guilty of Christs bloud as dyed with it though covered by it the grace of God appearing teacheth us to deny all ungodlinesse and worldly lusts The love of Christ constraines him Thinkes he Shall I live in that for which Christ died shall that be my life which was his death did he that never knew sinne undergoe the torment for it and shall I be so unkinde as to enjoy the pleasure of it No but as David when hee was very thirstie and had water of the well of Bethleem brought him with the hazard of mens lives powred it on the ground for sayes hee It is the blood of these men So sayes he even when the cup of pleasures is at his very lips It cost the blood of Christ and so pours it upon the ground And as the love of Christ constraines him so the power of Christ doth change him Kings may pardon Traytors but they cannot change their hearts but Christ pardons none hee doth not make new creatures and all old things passe away because he makes them friends favourites to live with and delight in and if men put on Christ and have learned him as the truth is in Iesus they put off as concerning the former conversation the old man with the deceitfull lusts and he ceaseth from sinne that is from the course of any knowne sin they are the Apostles owne words which shall judge us and if we should expect salvation from him upon any other termes we are deceived for Christ is author of salvation to them onely that obey him Heb. 5. 9. AGGRAVATIONS OF SINNING AGAINST KNOWLEDGE BY THO GOODWIN B. D. LONDON Printed by M. F. for Iohn Rothwell 〈…〉 be sold at the Sun in Pauls Church 〈…〉 M DC XXXVII Contents of Aggravation of sinning against knowledge Doct. TO sinne against knowledge is the highest aggravation of sinning page 34 1. Demonstrations of the point by comparing it with other kinds of sinning 36 How much sins against knowledge doe transcend sins of ignorance 37 1. In sins of ignorance there may be a supposition if he had known it he would not have done it but not so in these ibid. 2. The vast difference between them appears in the repentance God accepts for each a generall repentance for the one not so for the other 39 3. Some kinds of sinning against knowledge exclude from mercy which done ignorantly leave a capacity of it 40 4. Sinning against knowledge is the highest but that of sinning against the holy Ghost 41 6. Reasons 1. Because knowledge is the greatest mercy 42 2. Knowledge is the immediate guide of men in all their waies a man sins against his guide 43 That knowledge is so proved in that an erroneous conscience binds 45 3. Reason Knowledge layeth a further obligation to obedience ibid. Lawes come in force when promulged 46 4. There is the more contempt cast on the law 47 5. In sins against knowledge the will of the sinner closeth more with sin as sin ibid. 6. In sinning against knowledge a man condemnes himselfe 48 Three things handled concerning sins against knowledge ibid.
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
so every sinne in us by a miraculous multiplication inclines our nature more to every sinne than it was before it makes the pollution of nature of a deeper dye not onely to that species of sinne whereof it is the proper individuall act but to all else as bring one candle into a roome the light spreads all over and then another the light is all over more increased So it is in sinne for the least cuts the soule off from God and then it is ready to goe a whoring after every vanity that will entice it or entertaine it And this shewes the fulnesse of the evill of it in that it containes not onely all other evills in the world in it but also all of its owne kinde As you would count that a strange poyson the least drop of which containes the force of all poyson in it That a strange disease the least infection whereof brought the body subject to all diseases yet such an one is sinne the least making the soule more prone and subject to all And now you see it is a perfect evill and though indeed it cannot be said to be the chiefest in that full sense wherein God is said to be the chiefest good because if it were as bad as God is good how could he pardon it subdue it bring it to nothing as he doth and then how could it have addition to it one sin being more sinfull than another Ezek. 8. 15. Iohn 19. 11. But yet it hath some analogie of being the chiefest evill as God the chiefest good For 1. as God is the chiefest good who therefore is to be loved for himselfe and other things but for his sake so also in sin the chiefest evill because it is simply to be avoided for its selfe but other evills become good yea desirable when compared with it Secondly as God is the chiefest good because he is the greatest happinesse to himselfe so sin the greatest evill to it selfe for there can be no worse punishment of it than its selfe therefore when God would give a man over as an enemie he meanes never to deale withall more he gives him up to sinne And thirdly it is so evill as it cannot have a worse Epithete given it than it selfe and therefore the Apostle when he would spek his worst of it and wind up his expression hightest usque ad hyperbolem calls it by its own name sinfull sinne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 7. 13. that as in God being the greatest good quicquid est in Deo est Deus ipse therefore his attributes and names are but himselfe idem praedicatur de seipso so it is with sinne quicquid est in peccato peccatum est c. he can call it no worse than by its owne name sinfull sinne USE AND what have I beene speaking of all this while Why but of one sinne in the generall nature of it There is not a man here but hath millions of them as many as the sands upon the Sea shore yea as there would be Atomes were all the world pounded to dust it exceeds in number also and therefore ere we goe any further let all our thoughts break off here in wonderment at the abounding of sinne above all things else for other things if they be great they are but a few if many they are but small the world t is a big one indeed but yet there is but one the sands though innumerable yet they are but small your sinfulnesse exceeds in â—oth And next let all our thoughts be wound up to the most deepe and intense consideration of our estates for if one sin abounds thus what tongue can expresse or heart can conceive their misery who to use the Apostles phrase 1 Cor. 15. are yet in their sinnes that is stand bound to God in their owne single bond onely to answer for all their sinnes themselves and cannot in the estate wherein yet they stand of impenitencie and unbeleefe plead the benefit of Christs death to take off and ease them of the guilt of one sinne but all their sinnes are yet all their owne which to a man in Christ they are not for his owne bonds are cancelled and given in and Christ entred into bonds for him and all his sins translated upon him Now for a proper character of their estate and sutable to this expression First then a mans sinnes may be said to be still his owne when he committeth sinne out of his owne that is the full frame and inclination of his heart Thus the devill is said to sinne Ioh. 8. 44. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out of his owne the whole frame of his spirit is in it which a man in Christ cannot be so fully said to doe for hee hath a new creature in him that sinneth not 1 Ioh. 3. 1 9. that can say even when he sins It is not I but sinne And secondly then sinne is a mans owne when he hates it not but loves it The world loves his owne saith Christ Ioh. 15. 29. and so doth a wicked man his sinne more than any good which is Davids character Psal 52. 3. And thirdly what is a mans owne he nourisheth and cherisheth therefore Eph. 5. 19. No man hates his owne flesh but loveth it and cherisheth it so doe men their sinnes when they are their owne Those great and rich oppressors Iam. 5. 5. are said to nourish their hearts in wantonnes and in pleasure as in a day of slaughter as living upon the creame of sinning and having such plenty they pick out none but the sweetest bits to nourish their hearts withall 4. So what a man provides for that is his own so sayes the Apostle A man that provides not for his owne is worse c. When therefore men make provision for the flesh as the phrase is Rom. 13. 14. have their Caterers and contrivers of their lusts and whose chiefest care is every morning what pleasures of sinne they have that day to be enjoyed it is a signe that their sins are their owne In a word when men live in sinne 't is the expression used 1 Tim. 5. 6. She that lives in pleasure is dead while she lives When the revenewes of the comfort of mens lives come in from the pleasures of sinne and that supplies them with all those necessaries that belong to life as when 't is their element they drink in like water their meat they eate the bread of wickednesse Prov. 1. 7. and it goes downe and troubleth them not their sleepe also they cannot sleepe till they have done or contrived some mischiefe ver 16. their apparell as when violence and oppression covers them as a garment and pride compasseth them as a chaine Psal 73. their recreation also It is a pastime for a foole to doe wickedly he makes sport and brags of it Prov. 10. 23. yea their health being sick and discontented when their lusts are not satisfied as Ahab was for Naboths vineyard Amnon grew leane when hee