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
AGGRAVATION OF SINNE AND SINNING Against KNOWLEDGE MERCIE Delivered in severall Sermons upon divers occasions BY THO GOODVVIN B. D. LONDON Printed by M. Flesher for Iohn Rothwell and are to be sold at his Shop at the signe of the Sun in Pauls Churchyard MDCXXXVII AGGRAVATION OF SINNE BY THO GOODWIN B. D. LONDON Printed by M. F. for Iohn Rothwell and are to be sold at the Sun in Pauls Church-yard M DC XXXVII A TABLE OF THE CONTENTS OF the Aggravation of sin THe subject is the sinfulnesse of sin page 2. The mischievous effects of the evill of sin ibid. 1. It hath debased the soule ibid. 2. It defiles the soule 1. In an instant 2. Totally 3. Eternally 3 3. It robs the soule of the image of God 4 4. It robs a man of God himselfe 5 5. It was the first founder of hell 6 The essence of sin is the cause of all these evills ibid. Sin an evill that contains all the evils in the world 7 1. It is the cause of sorrowes and diseases and all evills ibid. 2. There is some peculiar mischief in sin not found in other evils as appears in divers instances 8 Quest What transcendencie of evill is in the essence of sin that makes it above all other evill 10 Answ It is contrary to God and all that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1. It is contrary to his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being ibid. being ibid. 2. It is contrary to all his attributes which are his name is to himselfe and what ever is his ibid. 1. To his lawes and ordinances 2. To his favourites 3. To his image in mans owne breast 11 Sinfulness of sin aggravated from the person suffering being God and man 12 The least sin virtually more or lesse containes all sin in the nature of it proved ibid. Every sin inclines our nature more to sin 13 Sin containes not onely all other evils in it but also all of its owne kind ibid. Sinne a perfect evill ibid. Reasons why sin is the chiefest evill 1. Because it is simply to be avoided for its selfe 2. Because there can be no worse punishment than it selfe 3. Because it cannot have a worse epithete given it than it selfe 14 Use Wonder at the abounding nature of sin 15 Examine our owne estates ibid. Quest When a mans sins may be said to be his own Answ 1. Then he commits sin out of his owne 2. Then he hates it not but loves it 3. Then he nourisheth it cherisheth it 4. Then he provides for it 5. Then he lives in sin 17 Use 2. Consider the punishment of sin is out of measure fearfull 18 It containes all miseries in it 19 What the damned speake of sinne in hell ibid. Use 3. Onely Iesus Christ can conquer sin 21 Christs righteousnesse abounds sins sinfulnesse 22 Come to God through Christ and take him to be our Lord and King 23 Sinne and Christ cannot stand together ibid. We will not take Christ while sin appears sinfull to us ibid. IMPRIMATUR THO WEEKES R. P. Ep o Lond. Cap. Domest AGGRAVATION OF SINNE ROM 7. 13. Was that then which is good made death unto mee God forbid But sinne that it might appeare sin working death in mee by that which is good that sinne by the commandement might become exceeding sinfull WEE finde our Apostle in the 9. verse to have been alive but struck upon the sudden dead by an apparition presented to him in the glasse of the law of the sinfulnesse of sinne Sin revived sayes the 9. verse appeared to be sinne sayes the 13. verse lookes but like it selfe above measure sinfull and hee falls downe dead at the very sight of it I dyed sayes he in the 9. it wrought death in me sayes the 13. that is an apprehension of death and hell as due to that estate I was then in But yet as the life of sinne was the death of Paul so this death of his was but a preparation to a new life I through the Law and dead to the Law that I might live to God Gal. 2. 19. and here hee likewise speakes of Gods worke upon him at his first conversion for then it was that hee relates how sinne became in his esteeme so above measure sinfull The subject then to be insisted on is the sinfulnesse of sinne a subject therefore as necessary as any other because if ever we be saved sinne must first appeare to us all as it did here to him above measure sinfull And first because all knowledge begins at the effects which are obvious to sense and interpreters of the nature of things therefore wee will begin this Demonstration of the evill of sin from the mischievous effects it hath filled the world withall it having done nothing but wrought mischiefe since it came into the world and all the mischiefe that hath beene done it alone hath done but especially towards the poore soule of man the miserable subject of it Which first it hath debased the soule of man the noblest creature under heaven and highest allyed made to be a companion fit for God himselfe but sinne hath stript it of its first native excellency as it did Reuben Gen. 49. 41. debased the soule more worth than all the world as Christ himselfe saith that onely went to the price of it yet sinne hath made it a drudge and slave to every creature it was made to rule therefore the Prodigall as a type is said to serve swine and feed on huskes so as every vanity masters it Therefore we find in Scripture that men are said to be servants to wine Tit. 2. 3. servants to riches and divers lusts c. And hence it is that shame attends upon it Rom. 6. 21. Now shame ariseth out of an apprehension of some excellencie debased and by how much the excellencie is greater by so much is the shame the greater and therefore unutterable confusion will one day befall sinners because sinne is the debasement of an unvaluable excellencie Secondly it not onely debaseth it but defiles it also and indeed there was nothing else that could defile it Mat. 15. 20. for the soule is a most pure beame bearing the image of the Father of lights as farre surpassing the sinne in purenesse as the sunne doth a clod of earth and yet all the dirt in the world cannot defile the sunne all the clouds that seeke to muffle it it scatters them all but sinne hath defiled the soule yea one sinne the least defiles it in an instant totally eternally First one sinne did it in the fall of Adam Rom. 5. 17. one offence polluted him and all the world Now suppose you should see one drop of darknesse seazing on the sunne and putting out that light and eye of heaven and to loosen it out of the orbe it moves in and cause it to drop downe a lump of darknesse you would say it were a strange darknesse this sinne did then in the soule to which yet the sunne is but as a Taper Secondly it
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
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