includes Go ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels God cannot inflict a greater punishment nor can a finite limited Creature bear greater Torments than Sin being of infinite demerit requires and calls for Now I have largely proved that Omissions are sins as well as Commissions and to speak properly and exactly there is no sin but the sin of 〈…〉 ion For even in Commissions their sinfulness consisteth in their want of that goodness which the Law requireth Were there not a deficiency in them of somewhat which they ought to have or a want of conformity to the Law there would be no sin in them Yea I have proved sins of Omission in some respect greater sins as more against the Mind of the Law-giver whose Will consists rather in the Affirmative than Negative part of the Command and as the ground of sins of Commission and as more directly against the Gospel than sins of Commission They are much mistaken who judge Omissions pure Privations or meer Negations little other than non-entities for Omissions are transgressions of an Affirmative Command and violations of a positive Precept and the greatest Contradictions to the Mind of the Law and therefore most justly liable to its Curse The Apostle tells us what Obedience the Law requireth and what the Condition of such as fail therein is Gal. 3.10 1. It requireth practical Obedience not hearing or knowing or speaking only of what is written in the Book of the Law but doing it To do them It 's doing that the Law requireth Do this and live c. And it's doers that the Law justifieth Rom. 2.13 Not the hearers of the Law but the doers thereof shall be justified Now under this doing sins of Omission are expresly forbidden and those Duties the neglect of which are sins of Omission are commanded 2. It requireth personal Obedience Every one It takes no notice of Obedience by a Proxy or a Surety but requires it in our own persons The Law admits not a Mediator 3. Perfect Obedience In every thing written in the Book of the Law It will not admit of the least deviation of any one step awry but presently curseth and condemneth for them If any thought word or deed be never so little too light it will not grant the least grain of allowance but damneth for them 4. It must be perpetual That continueth not If in one day one hour one moment of his life he fail he is undone If a man could be obedient to the whole Law all the time of his life and should in his dying-hour disobey it the Law would take no notice of all his former Obedience but sent him to Hell for his latter Disobedience For mark the state of those that yield not this perfect personal perpetual practical Obedience Their Condition is cursed Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things written in the Book of the Law to do them In the word cursed all evil is included So that Omissions or the neglect of those Duties which the Law requireth being sins they render the Creature liable to the Curse which is indeed all manner of misery here and hereafter Death and Hell are the end of every Sin though they are not the end of every Sinner they are the reward of every evil Work though not the reward of every evil Worker Free Grace in the blood of Christ doth sometimes interpose and put in an Exception to this general Rule The Gospel accepted and pleaded is a bar to those rigorous proceedings of the Law Therefore though this Reason will justifie Christ and condemn the Sinner in the judgment of his own Conscience especially this Sinner being under a Covenant of Works yet I shall give farther Reasons from the Sinners non-interest in the Priviledges of the Gospel 2. Christ will condemn men at the Reason 2 last day to eternal Torments for sins of Omission because they speak a man in a carnal natural estate The Gospel that is the only Ark for a Christian to shelter his Soul in against the Flood of the Laws Curses requireth a change of the nature and disposition as absolutely necessary to Salvation Christ the great Preacher and Purchaser of the Gospel affirmeth solemnly Verily Verily I say unto thee Except a man be born again he shall never see the Kingdom of God Joh. 3.3 This is indispensably requisite not only as a condition without which Heaven may not be had in regard of Gods pleasure but also as a disposition without which Heaven or Happiness cannot be enjoy'd in regard of the subject For 't is this that is meant by our being made meet to be partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints in light Col. 1.12 Again the Holy Ghost tells us That without holiness no man shall see God Heb. 12.14 This holiness as a due qualification of the Agent in relation to the beatifical Vision or sight of God the blessed-making Object is necessary by the Gospel How often are the Unregenerate and unsanctified by the Spirit of God doomed to Hell and excluded Heaven Joh. 3.18 Rev. 19. Into it can in no wise enter any thing that is defiled or unclean Again Turn ye turn ye why will ye die Ezek. 33.11 Implying that Death and Destruction are the portion of the Unconverted Now these Sins of Omission are evidences of a mans want of Regeneration Nay there is much more evil in a state of Sin than in an act of Sin which state of Sin consisteth most in Sins of Omission For this was the great evil and misery of the Ephesians by nature Eph. 2.12 That they were without God i. e. were without any inward regard of him or outward Obedience to him Sound Conversion and saving Repentance make clear work as the Flood drown'd all out of the Ark Noahs Friends as well as others So Repentance destroys all sins even sins of Omission as well as Commission It loves none it allows of none Restraining Grace will probably refuse the way of Disobedience but renewing Grace will close the way of Obedience Those that are in a wicked and unregenerate state are characterized in Scripture from their sins of Omission The wicked through the pride of his heart will not seek after God God is not in all his thoughts Psal 10.4 The Lord hath a controversie with the Land because there is no Mercy nor Truth nor Knowledge of God in the Land Hos 4.1 Nay the reign of Sin which ever speaks an unconverted and unregerate estate is as visible if not more in Omissions than in Commissions As there is as high an act of Authority and Soveraignty and Princely Power in a Negative Voice or denying such and such things to be done as in a positive Law enjoyning such and such things to be done So the omission of what is good or refusing to do what God commands may speak Sin reigning in the Soul as well as doing or commanding to be done what God hath forbidden It is indeed the
THE SINNERS Last Sentence TO Eternal Punishment FOR SINS of OMISSION Wherein is discovered The Nature The Causes and The Cure Of those Sins By Geo. Swinnock M. A. Deut. 32.29 O that they were wise that they understood this that they would consider their latter end Heb. 2.3 How shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation c. London Printed for Geo. Swinnock and are to be sold at the Bible and Three Crowns at the lower end of Cheapside 1675. TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE CHARLES Earl of Carnarvon Lord Dormer Viscount Ascot Baron of Wing c. May it please your Lordship FOr so mean a thing as I am to address my self to a Personage of your Honour and Quality may cause wonder in others and abashment in my self But for some Considerations which may give them satisfaction and me boldness and encouragement What I now present your Honour is a poor Widows mite such as being cast into the Treasury of Gods Temple may contribute something to repair the breaches of collapsed Piety and such as I hope the Lord of Lords will not despise Do I call it Mine I must correct my self it is indeed your Honours and my tendring it to your acceptance is but my paying you your own It is a Legacy left you by my dear deceased Husband who commanded me on his death-bed in all humble wise to present it to your Honour and publish it under your Protection So that although it was left with me it was left by him for your Honour Do I call it a Legacy I must again correct and confess It is a due Debt For our poor Family stands most deeply obliged to your Honour who have been pleased to exercise a generous bounty towards us and such as is suitable to none but a noble mind The Debt is humbly acknowledged by us and shall be undoubtedly repaid by the Lord to whom it was lent Your Lordship may with comfort read the Specialty in Gods own Word Prov. 19.17 which is very good security But as for us alas what have we to return except these gleanings of the Fruits of my dear Husbands Labours even some of those which were brought forth when he last laboured in the Lords Vineyard I desire for ever to adore the goodness of God towards me whose weak condition seemed to cry like that woman of the wives of the Sons of the Prophets unto Elisha saying Thy Servant my Hushand is dead and thou knowest that thy Servant did fear the Lord c. 2 Kings 4.1 To which Cry your Lordships overflowing munificence hath answered very like the Man of God vers 7. Go and sell the Oyl and pay thy Debt and live thou and thy Children of the rest As for the matter of this Discourse it is not proper for me to reflect thereon Only I have a good confidence That as your Honour hath been pleased to cast a favourable Eye on other of my Husbands Works professing profit and pleasure in the reading of them So these words of your dying Servant will not be unsuccessful but have the Good Reader BEing requested to recommend this Treatise to thy acceptance I readily complyed with the motion induced thereunto partly by my respect to the Author Mr. Swinnock a Name well known to most serious Christians by his former savoury and useful Works published for the good of the Church before one of which I have expressed my just esteem of his Gifts and Graces in an Epistle prefixed and therefore commendation is not my business now it needeth not but attestation and to assure thee that this piece is his delivered by his own hands to his Son a little before his to him blessed but alas to us untimely death * He died Nov. 0. 1673. in the 46th year of his Age. and accordingly thou wilt find the one spirit of the Author in it and the same holy lively way of discoursing which is so remarkable in his other Writings partly with respect to the matter which is about the eternal recompences as they are represented by our Lord in a Scheme or Draught of the last Judgment We are hedged within the compass of our Duty both on the right hand and on the left on the right hand with the hopes of a most blessed everlasting Estate on the left with the fears of endless and never-ceasing Torments Reflections on the former are comfortable what is sweeter than to live in the expectation and fore-sight of endless Glory But the consideration of the latter is also profitable We need many Sermons about Hell to keep us out of Hell therefore in this Treatise the worthy Author insisteth on the dreadful Doom and Sentence that shall pass on the Wicked at the last day There is also another thing largely represented which is of great use the hainousness of Sins of Omission Sin in the general is a transgression of the Law 1 Joh. 3.4 Now the Law may be transgressed either by omitting what is commanded as a Duty to God or by committing what is forbidden when we directly transgress an affirmative Precept that is a sin of Omission but when we do any thing against a negative Precept that is a sin of Commission in both there is Disobedience and so by consequence contempt of Gods Authority When Saul had not done what God bids him to do he telleth him That Rebellion is as a sin of Witchcraft and stubbornness as Idolatry 1 Sam. 15.13 Implying that Omission to be Rebellion and Stubbornness for which God would rend the Kingdom from him So for a sin of Omission he put by Eli's Family from the Priesthood 1 Sam. 3.19 I will judge his House for ever because his Sons had made themselves vile and he restrained them not Now the more necessary the Duties omitted are the greater is the sin as Heb. 2.3 especially if the Omission be total Psal 14.3 Jer. 2.32 Or when the Duty is most seasonable Prov. 17.16 Or the performance easie for this is to stand with God for a trifle he is denied a drop that would not give a crum Luke 16.24 Or when we are fully convinced that it is our Duty James 4.17 Briefly these sins of Omission are the ruine of most people in the World yea the Children of God oftner offend in these kind of Sins than in fowler excesses Oh how many of them go out of the World bewailing their neglects and omissions the best might have done much more for God than ever they have yet done But I detain thee too long from the Book its self read and peruse it and the Lord give thee understanding in all things I am Thine in all Christian Observation Tho. Manton D.D. MATTH 25.41 42. Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels For I was an hungred and ye gave me no meat I was thirsty and ye gave me no drink CHAP. I. The Preface and Introduction
more hainous but that they are less scandalous Sins of Commission as Drunkenness Uncleanness Theft Swearing Murther these make a great noise in the World are taken notice of by all and with the Snail leave a slime and filth behind them wheresoever they are But sins of Omission as not praying in our Closets not examining our own Hearts not relieving the Poor and Needy not bringing up our Children in the Nurture and Admonition of the Lord c. These are more still and quiet observed by few or none 5. They differ in this that sins of Omission are the aversion of the heart from God and sins of Commission are the conversion of the heart to the Creature or somewhat below God Omission turns the heart from God Hence we read of mans going far from God Jer. 2.5 and of their departing away from the living God Heb. 3.12 Which is not meant in regard of local motion for so none can depart from God Psal 139.2 3 4 5. but in regard of their inward carnal Affections and disobedient Conversations Jer. 17.5 Whose heart departeth from the Lord. Commissions are a turning to the Creature Whose heart is after covetousness They imagine mischief in their hearts Psal 140.2 Eccles 9.3 The heart of the Sons of men is full of evil Having spoken to the nature of sins of Omission in general and more particularly by their several distinctions and their agreement with and difference from sins of Commission I come to the second thing promised in the explication of the Doctrine and that is the danger of them CHAP. XXII The danger of sins of Omission in the hainous nature of them and their offensiveness to God Secondly THe danger of sins of Omission though men are ready to conceive that sins of Omission because they make no great cry in the World are but infirmities are venial sins and are not much to be regarded as having little of danger to the Soul in them yet the contrary will appear plainly if we consider these particulars 1. The malignity and sinfulness of them speaks their danger The more venome and poyson there is in any Cup or Dish the more dangerous it must needs be the more sinfulness there is in any sin the more hazardous it is to the Soul Now I shall shew the sinfulness of omissions 1. They are most against the mind and will of God Those sins are the greatest which most cross the Will of the Law-giver For sin is a transgression of the Law or Mind of God And every one knoweth that the Mind of God is more in the Precept or Affirmative part of the Law than in the Prohibition or Negative part of it The Precept or performance of the Duty commanded is the main thing the Prohibition is as it were accidental in order to our Obedience to the Precept Mens legis est lex therefore sins of Omission being against the substance and principal part of the Command and so most directly against that which is the special Mind of the Law-giver must needs be the greatest Sins It is more good to do good than not to do evil Omissions are not to be esteemed bare Negations or Privations but as breaches of a positive Law wherein the mind of God is most discover'd Now how great a Sin and how dangerous is it to cross the Mind of God surely it 's bad thwarting him that can cast Body and Soul into Hell Vide ante The second difference between sins of omission commission I say unto you saith Christ fear him Matth. 10.28 2. Sins of Omission are the ground of and make way for Sins of Commission The want of love to God and our not believing his Word which are Sins of Omission are the ground of all abominations When a man once casteth off daily reading the Word and seeking God by Prayer or performs those Duties coldly and carelesly he throws himself out of God's Protection and so becomes a Lacquey to the Devil and a tame Slave to every Lust to trample on and tyranize over at pleasure Psal 14.3 4. They are all gone aside they are altogether filthy there is none that doth good no not one Negligentiam in orando semper aliqua notabilis transgressio sequitur saith One always some notable Sin followeth upon slothfulness in prayer David's not watching his Eyes and Heart and his not imploying his time better at that hour of the day brought forth Drunkenness Murder Adultery Lying c. Some Sins of Omission are like great men that never go without many Followers admit their Persons you must admit their long train which they bring with them So a Gad a whole troop of ugly lusts will throng in upon our neglect of one Duty Not doing good fits the heart for doing evil The ground not sown with good Corn doth naturally of its own accord bring forth evil weeds Indeed it 's impossible for him that doth no good not to do evil He that doth not gather with Christ scattereth and he that is not with me is against me Matth. 12.30 He that fights not for his Prince in a day of Battel is his Enemy and that Servant who helps not his Master in Harvest hinders him Not to save a life when we may is to destroy and murther it The Negative Christian will quickly fall to be a positive Atheist and Heathen If the Heart be empty of good and swept clean of Grace the unclean Spirit will quickly take up his logding in it Besides God doth often judicially give up them to commit Evil who refuse to do good Because they received not the truth in the love of it here is a Sin of Omission God gave them up to strong delusions that they might believe a lye c. 2 Thess 2.10 11. Now how great and dangerous is this Sin that ushers in so many Sins Alas one Sin is too weighty for thy Soul to bear how heavy then will that whole rabble and regiment of sins be that one sin of Omission may bring along with it If I live in Sins of Omission Sins of Commission will follow both naturally and judicially 3. Sins of Commission do exceedingly grieve the Spirit of God Indeed every Sin is offensive to the Holy Ghost or Spirit of Holiness as directly contrary to its nature but the Spirit of God sets a particular special brand and mark upon these Sins as grievous to him Follow that which is good rejoyce evermore pray without ceasing In every thing give thanks quench not the Spirit despise not Prophesying 1 Thess 5.15 16 17 18 19. Observe the Duties are all positive the neglect whereof is a Sin of Omission to which he exhorts them if they would not quench the Spirit The Spirit is not only grieved but also quenched by Sins of Omission Fire may be quenched by with-drawing fewel from it as well as by throwing water on it By scandalous Sins of Commission we throw water on this heavenly Flameâ— quench it but by
prayer would make them leave such sinning but indeed such sinning makes them leave of though possibly they did sometimes begin to seek God in a formal way praying Those in the 5. of James who oppressed the Labourers who condemned and killed the just gross Commissions had their Riches corrupted and Garments moth-eaten i. e. were guilty of Omissions would rather their wealth should waste with rust and their Rayments with moths than bestow any on the Poor Those in the 4. of Hos 1 2. who were guilty of Swearing and Lying and Killing and Stealing and Adultery omitted Truth and Mercy and the Knowledge of God 2. Sins of Commission I mean those gross Crimes do more openly dare God than Omissions do By Omissions we deny him but by such Commissions we dare him and defie him Such Sinners as it were bid God do his worst they fear him not They do at least implicitly mock at his Threatnings and deride his Reproofs and slight his Judgments that are executed on their Fellows before their own faces They speak in the Language of the Jews Isa 5.19 That say Let him make speed and hasten his work that we may see it and let the Counsel of the holy One of Israel draw nigh and come that we may know it These jear at Gods Judgments and mock at his Menaces they credit not his Comminations nor expect their Execution They look on the words of their Prophets as meer wind and the matter of their Prophesie as a meer mockery Let him make speed c. and the Counsel of the holy One of Israel draw nigh i. e. you have much and long told us that your holy One forsooth who cannot abide sin and who is of purer eyes then to behold Iniquity will execute his Judgments on us for our sins and that this is by Counsel established and cannot be reversed we would willingly see these Judgments so much talked of and do wish that they may hasten and not linger as they do for we neither believe you nor fear them But who were these who spake at this desperate rate truly those that lived in Commissions who brought forth wild Grapes Isa 5.4 who brought forth filthy naughty abominable fruit in stead of Grapes the Vineyard brought forth Thorns and Briars These were they who dared the Divine Justice as if they had been incarnate Devils 3. Gross sins of Commission are more directly contrary to the very light of Nature Indeed it is against the light of Nature not to feed the Hungry and cloath the Naked and help the Distressed but it 's much more against the light of Nature to oppress the Poor and Needy and slay the Widow and Fatherless Because natural light is much more disturbed by gross Commissions than by bare Neglects it appears that those are more against a natural Conscience than these We read that the natural light of the Heathen did discover the sinfulness of their Commission and condemn them for them Rom 1. 〈…〉 lt And that the Barbarians by the ligâ—â— of Nature could discover the evil of Murder and how Vengeance like a Blood-Hound did pursue the violent man to take and slay him Act. 28.4 Now that which so directly opposeth not only Scripture but Nature and that which a man will do as it were violence to his own Conscience that he may commit must unquestionably be dreadful and out of measure sinful As the Apostle saith To him that knoweth to do good and doth it not to him it is sin James 4.17 ult So say I to him that knoweth he should not do these evils and doth them to him they are sins i. e. a wickedness with a witness They have more of enmity against God and contempt of his Mind and have sadder marks of Divine Vengeance But what sins are more against knowledge than those that are not only committed in spight of Scripture but also of Nature it self No Vinegar so sharp as that which is made of the sharpest Wine He that knoweth his Masters Will and doth it not shall be beaten with many stripes He that knoweth his Masters Will is that he should forbear such sins and yet commits them shall be beaten with many stripes Luke 12. 4. Gross sins of Commission are more scandalous to men and bring more dishonour to God They give greater offence to men good men are grieved by them Lots righteous Soul was vexed with the unclean conversation of the Sodomites 2 Pet. 2.7 David tells us Rivers of Tears ran down his eyes because the wicked broke Gods Law Psal 119.136 Jeremiah wept in secret for the sins of Israel Jer. 13.17 Wicked mens sins cause godly mens sorrow They need not disturb the Righteous by their Persecutions of them they do it sufficiently by their Transgressions against God As these gross sins grieve the good so they harden the bad Others are encouraged to dress themselves by such foul and false Glasses Jer. 23.14 Vile Sinners presume their states good though their lives be bad because they are no worse than such and such possibly who are learned and rich and therefore counted wise men and therefore whatever befals them they shall fare as well as others Alas how many walk more by Patterns than by Commands and so are led by following others to Hell And how deep will they be damned who draw others after them to Sin and Hell They who forsake the Law praise the wicked Prov. 28.4 i. e. commend them for their wickedness as they who keep the Law condemn them Gross Commission dishonour God most they cause others to speak ill of God and disgracefully of Religion Nathan tells David That by his Uncleanness and Murder He had caused the Enemies of God to blaspheme 2 Sam. 12. If a Child of God commit one such noisome act the wicked quickly take the scent and a Cry is raised among the whole Pack who with open mouth upon this pursue and blaspheme God and godliness By these particulars it appears that gross Commissions are sins of the greatest size and therefore must have the greatest severity If they are used as Bastards who met not Israel with bread and water how will God use them at last who meet his people with Bonds and Fetters with Fire and Fagot If Christ pronounce such a dreadful Sentence in the Text against the Comparative green Tree what shall become of the dry CHAP. XXVII Negative godliness is not enough Christs impartiality in Judgment IN the second place Second use of Information If Christ will condemn men at the Great Day for sins of Omission it may inform us that a negative Religion or negative Christianity is not enough Many please themselves that they are Gracious because they are not openly Vicious and that they are Pious because they are not scandalously Prophane but they mistake and deceive themselves It is good not to do evil but it is evil not to do good Negative Christians are as it was said of Galba Potius extra
and negative must be written out by the Magistrate that we might observe it and it was also written in a Book by Moses and put into the Ark as a witness against the Israelites if they should not observe it Deut. 31.24 25 26. Joshua succeeds Moses in his Charge over the Jews and in his Commands to them both affirmatively and negatively Joshua 23.7 Samuel follows after and speaks the same Language Serve the Lord with all your heart fear him and serve him in truth And turn ye not aside for then ye should go after vain things which cannot profit or deliver for they are vain 1 Sam. 12.20 21 24. David doth the like Depart from evil and do good Psal 34.14 Solomon writes after his Fathers Copy in the very qualifications of those whom he intreats Mercy for If they sin and afterwards bethink themselves and turn i. e. from their sins and return unto thee with all the Heart and with all the Soul then hear thou from Heaven from thy Dwelling-place 2 Chron. 6.36 to 40. Isaiah calls on men not only to forsake their evil ways and evil thoughts but also to return unto the Lord Isa 55.7 Jeremiah crieth to his people Not to oppress the Stranger the Fatherless and the Widows and also throughly to execute Judgment between a man and his Neighbour Jer. 7.5 6. So Ezekiel and the rest of the Prophets Ezek. 18.21 Our Saviour in his Exposition of the Law doth forbid what is Evil and command what is Good Matth. 5.43 44. So Matth. 7. per tot The Apostle St. Paul commands Not to be conformed to the World there is the Prohibition but to be transformed by the renewing of our mind proving what is the good and perfect and acceptable will of God there is the Precept Rom. 12.1 2. Again Put off the works of Darkness put on the armour of Light Put off the old man which is corrupt according to his deceitful lusts And put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness Ephes 4.23 24. Lye not one to another but speak the truth The Apostle St. James tells us Religion consisteth in Negatives and Positives also James 1.21 22 26 27. So St. Peter 1 Pet. 1.14 15. 1 Pet. 2.11 12. St. Joh. 3.9 10. Jude vers 21 22 23. Thus we see through the whole Bible the Mind of God by his Messengers to be Positive as well as Negative and this Mind of his he hath ordained to be the rule of our Hearts and Lives and what shall we answer when we shall be called to an account for our Disobedience To what purpose is a Rule if it be not followed and to what end is the Penalty denounced against the Ungodly if it be not executed This is the Voice of the Law of God and therefore Reader either thou must betake thy self to practical godliness or else disown the Scriptures for thy rule and square Thy Duty must at least in thy desires and endeavours carry some proportion to thy standard and rule or else thy Religion is a meer cypher and signifieth nothing So far as the best come short of the Law they sin 1 Joh. 5.3 Sin is a transgression of the Law And that because the Law is given to him as a rule of Life God hath therefore qualified it with the porperties of a Rule 1. A Rule must be perfect and not defective not redundant The Law of the Lord is perfect Psal 19.7 2. A Rule must be plain not dark All her ways are plain to him that understandeth 3. A Rule must be published and known otherwise it 's a snare to intrap men God hath proclaimed his Law The Command is not hidden from thee nor far off Deut. 30.11 It 's not in Heaven that thou shouldst say Who shall go up for us thither and fetch it thence that we may hear it and do it Nor beyond the Seas But the Word is very nigh unto thee in thy mouth and in thy heart 12 13 14 verses that thou mayst do them 4. A Rule is that by which men shall be judged so is this Law Joh. 12. 48. The Word that I have spoken the same shall judge you at the last day 2. The Mercies of God to thee are positive as well as privative and why should not thy Duty be suitable to the Divine Bounty God is not only a Shield to defend thee from evil in thy Body in thy Soul in thy Person in thy Relations in thine Out-goings and in thine Incomings by Night and by Day at all times and in all places but he is also a Sun to refresh thee with good with temporal good Food Raiment Friends Relations Sleep Liberty Wealth esteem in the World c. With spiritual good with Sabbaths Scriptures Sacraments seasons of Grace with the tenders of Pardon and Peace and Adoption and eternal Salvation upon excellent and equitable terms And what reason can we give why our Obedience should not bear a proportion to his Beneficence He is a Sun and a Shield and gives Grace and Glory and with-holdeth no good things from them that walk uprightly Psal 84. Shall God with-hold no good thing from thee and canst thou find in thy heart to deny the doing of any good thing for him Is his Bounty of so large an extent as to comprehend protection from all Evil and the fruition of all good and must thy Duty be so narrow and scanty as if he did not deserve so much as he requireth Is it honest to receive or buy in by one Measure and to return and sell out by another Divers Weights and divers Measures both of them are abomination to the Lord. A Weight and a Weight a Measure and a Measure one to buy with that 's large another to sell with that is less I only allude to it It 's abominable for thee to receive of God by the largest measure and to return to him by the least Reader if thou art born of God and guilty of these partial temporary Omissions consider it seriously let ingenuity plead for God When he first wrought upon thy Soul he did not only translate thee out of the Kingdom of Darkness but also bring thee into the Kingdom of his dear Son He did not only turn thee from Satan but also cause thee to return to himself He brought thee out of a state of Wrath and brought thee into a state of Love and Favour 1 Pet. 2.9 He redeemed thee from those Enemies which had carried thee Captive Sin Satan Death Hell Rom. 6.11 Ephes 2.3 4. Heb. 2. 2 Tim. 1.9 10. 1 Thess 1. ult But this is not all he hath also brought thee into the glorious liberty of the Children of God 1 Joh. 12. 1 Joh. 3.1 He hath delivered thee from this present evil World that its affrightments its allurements that all its power and policy shall not be able to destroy thee but this is not all he hath made thee an Heir of a better
knowledge make way for the sin against the Holy Ghost Matth. 12.32 Heb. 6.4 5 6. Sins against the Gospel are greater than sins against the Law Those sins are against the natural Law the moral and the Law of Faith Rom. 3.27 and are committed in the face of the Sun as they are against the clearest Light so they are against the sweetest Love and therefore the more sinful A Taper in the hand of a Ghost makes it look the more gastly This is the condemnation Joh. 3.19 Sins repeated and reiterated are much greater than sins once committed Hereby the habit of Sin is strengthened frequent acts root the habits Hereby the long-suffering of God is abused for the more patient he is the more he is provoked Rom. 2.4 As in Numbers one in the first place stands but for a single one in the second place ten in the third place for an hundred the fourth place for a thousand so here each Repetition is a great aggravation Prov. 29.1 He that being often reproved hardneth his heart shall be see the grievousness of his punishment not afflicted but destroyed the quickness of it speedily and the irrecoverableness of it and that without remedy It 's one thing to fall into the water another thing to lie there 't is the latter that drowns men The Sins of the people of God are greater respectively than the Sins of others therefore they are said only to do evil as if all the World beside were innocent Jer. 32. The Children of Israel and the Children of Judah have only done evil before me Deut. 32.6 1. As these Sins are committed against the greatest Obligations on Gods part against the electing calling pardoning adopting saving-love each of these is an aggravation of Sin God accents Israels Sin from his special kindness Hos 11.1 Although I was an Husband to them 2. As they are committed against the most solemn ingagements on our part Every of Gods people doth expresly before God Angels and Men promise and covenant to be the Lords wholly universally and eternally the Lords The Israelites avouched God to be theirs And David swore that he would be Gods obedient Servant Psal 119. I have sworn and I will perform that I will keep thy righteous Judgments And it 's no mean Sin to be guilty of Perjury God aggravates the Sin of his people by this They all like men have transgressed the Covenant 3. As these Sins are committed against the greatest helps to Obedience An enlightned Mind a renewed Will sanctified Affections an awakned Conscience and a principle of Life or new Nature are all opposed and resisted by their Disobedience This cut the heart of David that God made him to know Wisdom secretly Psal 51.6 4. As the Sins of these men cause God to be more blasphemed and dishonoured than the Sins of others Levit. 22.31 Nathan tells David By this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of God to blaspheme 2 Sam. 12.14 Indeed these by falling into sin after their Repentance seem to repent of their Repentance and to lick up their Vomit Sins of Omission may be greater in respect of the person committing them a Believer in regard of the means the Offender enjoyeth The Word of the Divine Grace in regard of the matter he omits the Duties of the Gospel and in many other respects than Sins of Commissions in others who have not such circumstances It is very evident and cannot be denied that Sins are unequal for though Original Sin as the Logicians say of Substantia be not capable of magis minus of intension or remission of aggravation or diminution yet actual sins are like qualities and quantities which receive more or less addition or substraction and have their Latitude and Degrees For this cause under the Law there were diversity of Sacrifices for diversity of Sin Levit. 4. 2. I answer that no sins are little simply Though there is a difference of sins consider'd comparatively and so sins may be said to be little if compared with those that are more hainous yet no sins absolutely consider'd are little The least Sin resembleth the Earth which though but a point to the Heavens yet is a vast immeasurable Body in it self 1. Because all sins are against a great and infinite Majesty Reader it 's the excellency of the Person whose Authority is contemned and Commands violated and whose Name is dishonoured by sin that gives sin its name speaks its hainous Nature and is the highest aggravation of it Numb 32.23 and this is done in all Sins Friend till thou canst hear of a little God contemned abused disgraced and resisted by Sin speak no more of little sins in excuse for thy allowance of them Zach. 1.5 2. Because the price paid to make satisfaction for all sins of what size or sort soever was a great price It is the blood the precious blood of the Son of God Liv. 5.17 18. and that only that can wash away the least Sin 1 Joh. 1.7 Aaron must offer Sacrifice for pollution in a mans dream that he never thought of possibly but in sleep And for the Sins which the Jews committed ignorantly not understanding them to be any offence to God and in answer to those Types our Redeemer is said to die for the ignorance the errors of the people Reader till that thou canst tell of a Sin so little that somewhat less than the death of him who was God will satisfie for it call no Sin little 3. Because no little punishment is the due and desert of every Sin The wages of Sin is Death and Hell and infinite Wrath of an Almighty God and therefore it s the wages of every Sin Rom. 6. ult A quatenus ad omne valet consequentia Because fire as fire burns therefore every fire burns because Sin as Sin damneth therefore every Sin damneth So that all Sins bring greater intollerable eternal Sufferings Endless banishment from the blissful presence of God and Christ everlasting burnings amongst Devils and damned Ones is the desert of every Sin Reader when thou canst tell of a little Fire and little Torments in Hell and little horrors and terrors of Soul there to be the fruit of Sin Call not any of thy sins little Another thing Reader I would advertise thee of No Sin is little to him who thinks it so Sins may be said to be mortal or venial 1. In respect of their own Nature and so no Sins are venial but the least is mortal 2. In respect of the Divine Favour 3. In regard of the Issue In the two last respects all the sins of such as believe and repent are venial not in the Popish sense so as to be in their own nature no transgressions but praeter-praeter-transgressions of the Divine Law and not properly sins but analogically but they are venial as God for Christ's sake doth forgive them Either those Sins which they term venial are forbidden by the Law of God or not if not they
are no Sins or the Law of God is imperfect if they be forbidden they are mortal For cursed is every one that continueth not in all things written in the Book of the Law to do it Gal. 3.10 3. I answer suppose Sins of Omission were little yet it is folly and madness upon this to allow of them A mote in the eye is a little thing it hindereth our sight of the Sun and is big enough to put us to great pain and to disturb our whole Body The Flies and Lice of Egypt were little Creatures but great Plagues The sting of a Bee is a little thing but it puts us to grievous torment He who refused to give a few crumbs was denied one drop Luke 16.21 A flie spoils an Alablaster Box of Oyntment a little poyson spoils much wholsome Liqour 1. If they were little yet they are Sins and that enough to set a good man against them It 's as much Treason to Coin a peny as a twenty shillings piece because the Royal Authority is as much violated in the one as in the other There is the same rotundity in a little Ball or Bullet as in a great one The Authority of God is as truly despised in the breach of the least Commandments as some are called as in the breach of the greatest as others are called Matth. 22.36 37. A sprig of Wormwood hath the same bitterness with the Plant. A drop of Sea-water hath the same saltness with the Ocean The smallest Sin is a breach of the Royal Law as well as the greatest 1 Joh. 3.4 Though the Object may be different yet the Command is still the same And the wise man tells us That the Law must be kept as the apple of the Eye which is offended by the smallest dust Prov. 7.2 The brats of Babylon must be dashed against the Wall as the strongest men must be destoyed It 's worth the while to observe in Scripture how lesser Sins being of the same nature have given to them the names of the greater Malice is called Murder lustful looks Adultery sitting at Idolatrous Feasts though which no thought of worshipping the Idol Idolatry Job 31.27 28. This is argument enough against the smallest Sin that it is a Sin As the Will of God is the highest motive to Obedience so also against Disobedience All Sin as Sin affronts the Divine Dominion as if he had not Authority to command us and to the Divine Wisdom as if God did not know what were fit for us to do and to forbear and to the Divine Grace as if he had no respect to our good in his Precepts and is not this sufficient reason for our hatred of it and watchfulness against it Reader I Know thou wouldst not venture upon a spoonful of Poyson but wouldst consider it s of the same nature with a pint or a quart and why wilt thou venture on any Sin be it never so little in thine eye when it is of the same nature a transgression of the same Law a contempt of the same Lord with the greatest It is Murder to stifle an Infant in the Womb as well as to kill a grown person Reader whatsoever hath the nature of Sin must be the Object of thy hatred let it be comparatively little or great 2. These little sins if they be so will make way for greater Little wedges open the way in the most knotty wood for bigger As Thieves when they go to rob an House if they cannot force open the doors or break through the Walls let in a little Boy at the window who unbolts and unlocks the door and so lets in the whole Rabble Thus the Devil when men startle at greater sins and by them he hath no hopes to get possession of their Souls he puts them upon those sins which they think little and by these insensibly enters for they once admitted open the doors of the Eyes of the Ears and of the Heart too whereby the whole Legion enter and rule and domineer in their Souls to their ruine Men do not indeed they cannot imagine the woful consequences of neglecting their watch against the least Sin How many who have been so modest and maidenly at first that they would not so much as give a lascivious person the hearing when he hath spoken wantonly yet by giving way to their own foolish thoughts have at last prostituted themselves to their pleasure without any shame Sinners increase to more ungodliness when they once venture down hill they know not where nor when to stop Work-men bore holes with little Wimbles which make way for the driving of great Nails When Pompey saith Plutarch could not prevail with a City to billet his Army he yet perswaded them to take in a few weak maimed Souldiers but those soon recovered strength and let in the whole Army to command and govern the City Thus Satan by sins of Infirmity prevails at length for sins of Presumption Great storms arise out of little gusts and Clouds no bigger than the palm of a mans hand comes in time to cover the whole Heavens The greatest River is fed with drops and the biggest Mountain made up of atomes As Sylla said when in his Proscription time that he slew so many one pleaded for the life of Caesar In uno Caesare multi Marii In one little Youth many old subtle men so in one little Sin there may be many great ones When one evil Spirit hath got lodging in the Heart he prepares it and makes room for seven more wicked and worse than himself Keepers first ply their Deer with little Beagles till it be heated and blown and then they put on their great Buck-Hounds So the Devil first plies us with little sins afterwards when we are used to them with greater One circle made with a stone in the water makes way for a second greater than it the second for a third greater than that c. Rivers far from their Springs grow as they go along greater and greater and enlarge their Chanels till at last they empty themselves into the Ocean Thus Sin incroacheth by degrees upon the Soul if it can get but one of its claws into us it will quickly follow with its head and whole body A little Leaven leaveneth the whole lump Unfaithfulness to God is first discovered in the smallest matters then it proceeds to greater things As the decay of a Tree is first visible in its twigs but by degrees it goeth on the bigger Arms and from them to the main body As it is the nature of a Cancer or Gangreen to run from one Joynt or part of the Body to another from the Toe to the Foot from the Foot to the Leg from the Leg to the Thigh and thence to the vital parts Do we not sometimes see a whole Arm imposthumated with the prick of a little Finger and have we not sometimes heard of a great City betray'd by the opening of a little Postern These little sins will
of these Duties is the out-side of the Command and he who doth them though customarily obeys the Command literally but the sanctifying the Name of God in these Duties and the performance of them with Reverence Humility Faith Love Joy according to the several duties and several parts of them is the inside of the Command and he alone that performeth these Duties in such a manner obeyeth the Law spiritually The neglect of the former is an external Omission for which God threatens Families and Nations Pour out thy wrath upon the Heathen that know thee not and upon the Families that call not upon thy Name Jer. 10.25 They who will not deprecate the wrath of God must feel it and they who will not intreat his Favour must go without it So the not casting the incestuous Person out of the Church was an external omission 1 Cor. 5.2 The neglect of the latter i. e. of performing Sabbath-Duties in the forementioned manner is an internal omission Thus God complains of his people that though they pray'd and possibly made long Prayers yet God counts their prayers as no prayers for their internal Omissions There is none that calleth upon thy Name that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee They put up it may be some lazy Petitions but they pour out no hearty Desires Nay God curseth men for doing his work negligently Jer. 48.10 Cursed be he that doth the work of the Lord deceitfully CHAP. XXI The agreement and difference between sins of Omission and sins of Commission 2. IT will further explain these sins of Omission to consider the difference between Omissions and Commissions as also their agreement 1. They agree in the Authority forbidding them The same God forbids each sin He that saith Thou shalt not kill The same saith Thou shalt serve me diligently Exod. 20. Jer. 48.10 Matth. 22.37 With all thy heart Matth. 7.13 2. They are both against the same particular Command In the same Command wherein he forbids theft he commands diligence in our Callings and the use of all lawful means for the increase of our own Estates In the same Law wherein he forbids Vncleanness He commands Care and endeavour to preserve our own and our Neighbours Chastity 3. They are both a privation of that Rectitude which is required by the Law to the goodness of every action For if malitia moralis non est quid positivum If there be nothing positive in the formal nature of sin according to the Schoolmen as there can be nothing positive in it unless we will make God the Author of it but a want of a conformity to the Law then every Commission is an Omission in this respect and so they agree in their formal nature 4. They agree in their fruit and effect sins of Commission exclude Heaven and condem to Hell Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of Heaven Be not deceived neither Fornicators nor Adulterers nor Drunkards nor Covetous shall inherit the Kingdom of God 1 Cor. 6.9 10. Ephes 5.9 and so do sins of Omission as the Text doth abundantly prove The difference between sins of Omission and sins of Commission consisteth 1. In that sins of Commission are against a Negative Law and sins of Omission are against an Affirmative Law Oppression is against a Negative Law Thou shalt not oppress thy Neighbour Thou shalt not oppress a Stranger Neglect of Charity is against an Affirmative Law Give to him that asketh of thee and from him that would borrow turn not thou away Matth. 5.42 2. They differ in this Every Commission proceeds originally from a sin of Omission but sins of Omission do not proceed originally from sins of Commission All sin springeth from this The departure of the heart from God Jer. 2.5 Heb. 3.12 and the want of true love to and fear of his Majesty 1 Joh. 5.3 Joh. 15. which are sins of Omission Where there is no love to God there is no care to forbear what he forbids Joh. 14.24 He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings And where there is no fear of God all manner of wickedness will abound Psal 36.1.2 David concludes a wicked mans Omission from his sins of Commission The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart That there is no fear of God before his eyes i. e. His scandalous Practices and sins of Commission tell me That he is guilty of inward Omissions That there is no fear of God before his eyes He who casteth off fear will soon let the Reins loose to all Licentiousness They who called not on God will devour Jacob and make waste his dwelling-place Jer. 10. ult No sin comes amiss to them Rom. 3.9 to 14. The monstrous horrid unnatural sins of the Heathen had their beginning in sins of Omission When they knew God i. e. by the light of nature which plainly speaks a Deity they glorified him not as God e. i. did not love him fear him trust in him honour him as God neither were thankful did not acknowledge their Ingagements to him for their noble Beings and manifold Mercies These were sins of Omission but what followeth upon them Truly unnatural bestiality unrighteousness fornication wickedness covetousness maliciousness envy murther pride c. Rom. 21.21 to the end Men leave the fountain of living Waters and then hew themselves broken Cisterns which will hold no water Jer. 2.13 The first and great sin of Mankind proceeded from an omission Adam's heart was turned from God by Unbelief I humbly conceive before ever his Hand touched or Tongue tasted the forbidden fruit But now sins of Omission do not proceed originally from sins of Commission James 1.14 15. But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed Then when lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin and sin when it is finished bringeth forth death Barlow exercit 3. They differ in this that sins of Commission are founded in some act or habit Sins of Omission only in the Soul without acts or habits 1. There is somewhat positive about sins of Commission but nothing about sins of Omission and that is the reason 2. As Drunkenness is an immoderate use of Beer or Wine Here is an act of the Creature and much positive about this sin though nothing positive in the sin it self So in theft another sin of Commission there is somewhat positive about the taking away our Neighbours goods and keeping them as our own but in sins of Omission there is nothing positive as in not praying not hearing not believing not giving to the Poor there is nothing positive no acts but a neglect of acts required Sins of Omission are wholly privative and have nothing of positivity in them 4. They differ in this that sins of Commission are more scandalous in the eyes of men than sins of Omission I do not say sins of Omission are always less hainous than sins of Commission I shall prove by and by they may be
judgment of many that a Princes Negative Voice is a greater part and mark of his Royalty than any Affirmative Command of his for a King may have Power to Command that which he hath no Power to forbid As he may and should enjoyn his Subjects to Worship the true God according to his revealed Will but he hath no Power to forbid them Thus in Sins of Omission for a man to live without Prayer without the love and fear of God without delight in him and communion with him without care of and watchfulness over his own heart and life may be a greater sign of the reign of Sin and thereby of an unregenerate state than the commission of some gross actual Transgressions It is apparent that this man is under the power of Lust as a Servant to it Tit. 3.3 And under the dominion of the Devil carried captive by him at his will 2 Tim. 2.26 And an unregenerate unsanctified person because he lives in Disobedience to these positive Laws of God Whereas he that is born of God sinneth not 1 Joh. 3.9 with his whole will there is not a free voluntary chearful submission of his Will to the quiet undisturbed dominion of Sin And he that is born of God hath a tender regard to the whole Law I have esteemed thy Precepts concerning all things to be right therefore I hate every false way Psal 119.128 He hath respect to Affirmative as well as Negative Precepts He hath an equal uniform regard to all the Law to that part which commands the doing good as well as that part which forbids the doing evil Therefore the man that lives in Sins of Omission is not born of God and therefore uncapable by the Gospel of Heaven and so justly for this cause sentenced to Hell CHAP. XXV Farther Reasons why Christ at the Great Day will condemn men for sins of Omission 3. CHrist will condemn men at the Reason 3 Great Day for sins of Omission because those that live in such Sins have no interest in himself There is no way to escape Hell but by the Lord Jesus Christ 1 Thess 1. ult Jesus that delivereth from the wrath to come There is no way to attain Heaven but by Christ I give to them eternal life and they shall never perish Joh. 10.28 As Salvation is God's Gift Rom. 6. ult so it 's Christs Purchase There is no Name under Heaven whereby men may be saved but by the Name of Christ Act. 4.12 So that all who are without Christ not interested in him must of necessity perish He that hath the Son hath life he that hath not the Son hath not life 1 Joh. 5.12 Those that are without Christ are unpardoned All their sins are imputed to them Ephes 4. ult Rom. 3.25 And where-ever sin is imputed it condemneth Ezek. 18.3 Those that are not interested in Christ are Children of the Devil Joh. 8.44 and Children of wrath Ephes 2.2 3. And such Children must be with their Father the Devil and under wrath for ever Now those that live in Sins of Omission have no interest in Christ Our interest in Christ and so in Life is by Faith That Christ may dwell in your hearts by Faith Ephes 3.17 Gal. 2.20 I live by Faith in the Son of God It is Faith that causeth the Union between Christ and the Soul and joyns them together by virtue of which Union the Christian hath communion with Christ in his Merits and Righteousness that his Life and Death and Burial are the Christians are by God imputed to him as if performed in his own person Hence it 's said That the Christian lives with Christ is crucified with Christ and buried with Christ Rom. 6.4 And the Christian is said to be the righteousness of God in him 2 Cor. 5. ult By this Union with Christ which is the fruit of Faith the Christian is made a Son of God Gal. 3.26 and so an Heir of God and Joynt-Heir with Christ Rom. 8.17 As a Woman by marriage being united and made one with a Man hath communion with him in his Relations Honours and Estate So the Christian by Faith made one with Christ hath communion with him in his Relations Go tell my Brethren I go to my Father and your Father to my God and your God Joh. 20.17 In his Estate Christ is Heir of all things Heb. 1.2 and the Believer is a Joynt-Heir with him as is before proved Christ was the First-born among many Brethren and so the Inheritance did belong to him Col. 1.18 Believers are a Congregation of first-born and so the right of the Inheritance is theirs Heb. 12.23 But such as live in sins of Omission are without Faith and therefore without Christ and therefore must be without Heaven for ever Faith is a sanctifying as well as a justifying Grace Act. 26.18 And to give them an Inheritance among them that are sanctified through Faith in Christ and therefore will not suffer the Soul to live in any sin Faith will not suffer a man to live in the want of love to God in so great an Omission for when Faith certifieth the Soul of Gods love to it this kindleth in the Soul flames of love to God 1 Joh. 4.19 When Faith brings much fewel the fire of love will be great Faith will not suffer a man to live without Repentance The eye of Faith which beholds a Christ crucified for sin affects the heart with sorrow for and indignation against those sins that crucified him Zach. 12.10 They shall see him whom they have pierced and mourn Faith will not suffer a man to live without delight in Christ and rejoycing in the God of all Consolation Faith seeth so much good certainly laid up in the Covenant and Promises for the Soul that it fills the Soul with joy in the hope and expectation of the enjoyment of them Whom having not seen we love and in whom believing though now we see him not we rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory 1 Pet. 1.7 8. Faith will not suffer a man to live without waiting quietly on God Faith will not limit the Holy One of Israel but patiently stay Gods time for the mercies the Soul wanteth Faith knoweth his Bonds are good his Debts are in sure Hands The God that cannot lye hath promised Tit. 1.2 and therefore is not hasty to call them in He that believeth will not make haste Isa 28.16 Faith will not suffer a man to live without prayer He that knows his own wants and necessities how great and urgent they are and also where he may quickly have liberal Supplies and bountiful Relief will not long be kept from that Door You may sooner and easier put off a Beggar ready to starve who must needs perish if Charity do not help him and perswade him never to ask Alms more as keep a Believer from his daily waiting at Heavens Temple to ask spiritual Alms. An Unbeliever hath little hope to speed and therefore little heart to
Great Day These bid open defiance to the Prohibitions Precepts and Penalty of the Law and dare the Law to do its worst Either these must be condemned or all shall be saved But God is of an holier Nature than to dwell with such Sinners They may read their doom written under his own hand and like the Law of the Medes and Persians That cannot be alter'd 1 Cor. 6.9 10. Ephes 5.5 Rom. 8.5 To be carnally minded is death vers 13. If ye live after the flesh ye shall die 2. Proposition They who are guilty of total external Omissions are in a damnable Condition This is written in broad Letters that he who runs may read it They who pray not are under wrath and the effusions of wrath Jer. 10. ult They who neglect to pay their external Allegiance to the true God and deny him his outward Homage and Acknowledgment shall be denied and disowned by Christ before his Father and before his holy Angels The Holy God doth all along speak of these as Heathens Psal 79.6 and Sinners with a witness Psal 36.1 2 3. and threatneth that Christ shall come in flaming fire to render Vengeance on them 2 Thess 2.7 8 9 10. Those who are guilty of these total Omissions in regard of the matter of the Duties commanded them are ungodly in the highest degree for ungodliness strictly and properly speaks the neglect of our Duties to God and sins against the first Table as unrighteousness the neglect of our Duties to our Neighbour and our Transgressions against the Second Table and so none in the whole Scripture more obnoxious to wrath and ruine Psal 73.12 These are the Ungodly who prosper in the World but mark how soon they perish vers 18. Thou castest them down to destruction and utterly consumest them with terrours 2 Pet. 3.7 Jude vers 4. 15. 3. Proposition Those who perform external Duties and wholly neglect internal or please themselves in total inward Omissions cannot be in a state of Salvation God will not be put off with the Body without the Soul of Religion Indeed external Duties are but the Garments or Cloaths of Religion wherein it appears and whereby it is known to the World the life and power of it consists in internal Performances or those that are the motions and actions of the Understanding and Will and Affections as in the Knowledg of God his Being and Excellency and the kindness he hath for and the love he hath to Mankind in Jesus Christ as also in the choosing him for our richest Treasure and supream Lord and Law-giver and in loving him with all the heart and Soul and strength and desiring his love above all the World and delighting in his Favour as the Souls felicity and seeking to please him rather than to command the Creation A man without these is but the Picture of a Saint he hath somewhat of the resemblance but nothing of the reality of a Christian He hath a form but nothing of the power of godliness 2 Tim. 3.1 2 3 4 5 to 7. and therefore is in a state of perdition The neglect of believing repenting loving the Lord Jesus Christ are all inward Omissions for these are acts proper and peculiar to the Soul and condemned in Scripture with the most dreadful damnation Mark 16.16 John 3. ult Luke 13.3 1 Cor. 16.22 If a man pray and pray wholly without Faith and without fervency Jam. 1. Jam. 5. this is no way acceptable to God All such prayers are howlings and bablings and of no sweet sound in Gods Ears Hos 7. Isa 1.15 16 17. Whatsoever a man doth either by way of hearing or singing or praying or receiving if there be not that dread of God and love to his Name and Faith in Christ which are the essentials of these Duties all is as nothing 4. Proposition Those who allow themselves in partial Omissions whether external or internal are in no good Condition By partial Omissions I mean at sometimes as for prayer a man it may be prays in his Closet or Family usually but if any worldly business intervene and calls for his company he will as usually attend on that and wholly omit his Closet and Family-Duties for that Morning or Evening Or for a man to pray as some do only at the Evening and not in the Morning as if God were the God of the Night and not of the Day or as some others who will pray only upon the Lords-Day as if God had a right to them then but not all the week after Or when men perform some religious Duties and not others will pray but not read Scripture daily or pray and read the Word but not take notice of those under their Roofs to instruct and admonish and support them as occasion is Or some will perform their Duties which immediately concern God but will not be charitable to the Poor at least not in such a degree and measure as their Estates will bear and as God expects These and such like I understand by partial and external Omissions What is meant by internal partial Omission is next to be consider'd Partial internal Omissions are when men oftentimes though not constantly are negligent in the manner of performing their Duties and though they be formal and superficial and lazy and slothful in the Worship of God yet they take little or no notice thereof Indeed sometimes they find some heat and warmth and this pleaseth them but at other times they are cold and liveless in their Duties and this doth not much displease them They can commonly pray as if they pray'd not and read as if they read not and wait on God without any suitable and considerable affections towards him and not be disturbed at it These sudden heats at one time and colds at another time speak the Body out of order and the Soul not healthy The next thing to be explain'd is what is meant by allowing themselves in partial Omissions and indeed the stress of the Proposition depends on that To allow themselves in these partial Omissions notes these two things To know these partial Omissions to be sins and yet to continue in them without any great disturbance or trouble of Spirit They must know that they are sins otherwise continuance in them will not argue a total want of Grace or the predominant power of sensuality in the Soul I doubt not but in many dark places of this Nation there may be those who live in a total Omission of some Duties as praying with their Families and a strict sanctification of the Sabbath or who yet fear God in truth and make great Conscience of their Conversations These men neglect prayer and devoting the Sabbath wholly to God c. because they do not know them to be their Duties And where a man desires and endeavours to know his Masters Will and lives up to that Light God hath given him he may upon a general repentance expect pardon through the blood of Christ for
World Of a Child of the Devil thou art made a Child of God of a Slave to sin a Citizen of Sion nay he doth not only free thee from damnation and the curse of the Law but also give thee the blessing of eternal life in and with himself among his innumerable Company of Angels and the Congregation of the First-born Now Reader judge whether it be not very disingenious to receive from God all sorts of Mercies and to give to God not half the Duties we owe to him How canst thou mete to God one measure and expect from him another Friend God doth not put thee off with half-Happiness and why shouldst thou put him off with half-Holiness CHAP. XXXV Arguments against Omissions Christ purchased positive as well as negative Holiness and our Priviledges oblige to both 3. COnsider Christ died to purchase positive as well as negative godliness for men and wilt thou disappoint him of the Fruits of his Death Indeed if it had been possible for him to have bought mans deliverance from sin without the re-impression of Gods Image on the Soul he had been but half a Saviour and made us at the most but half happy But according to the Apostles phrase he saves perfectly or to the utmost upon all accounts and in all respects Heb. 7.25 and in order thereunto bought man off from sin and unto the Service of God He redeems us from sin We are redeemed saith the Apostle from our vain Conversation received by tradition from our Fathers Not with corruptible things as Silver and Gold but with the precious blood of Christ as of a Lamb without spot and blemish 1 Pet. 1.17 18 19. He redeems also unto his own Service Chap. 3. vers 18. of the same Epistle He suffered the Just for the Vnjust to bring us to God He died that we might die to sin and he died that we might live to God He suffered to bring us off from our cursed loathsome Lusts and he suffered to bring us to the Fear and Love and Service of the blessed and glorious Lord. We have both these ends of our Saviours Sufferings mention'd in Tit. 2.14 Who gave himself his Death is called a giving himself because it was voluntary and a freewill Offering for us here is his Passion but what ends had he in his eye truly both these that he might redeem us from all Iniquity make us negatively religious in freeing us from the bondage of sin and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works i. e. make them positively holy None are purified without positive qualifications and gracious habits in the Soul To be purified unto himself is to be thus qualified for the honour and service of Christ And to make it more plain the Apostle tells us To purifie unto himself a peculiar people a people that shall disown all other Lords and all other Work and shall be his Servants and do his Work only zealous of good works He did not die only to make men good and to enable men to do good but also to cause them to do good with heat and heart and fervency of Spirit Nay it is evident that to make men positively pious was the main and principal end of his Passion and that his delivering us from sin was only in order to this to his adorning us with Sanctity As a man cannot put on new Robes till he hath first put off his old Rags so a man cannot put on the new man the beautiful Image of the heavenly till he hath put off the old man the abominable Image of the earthly Adam Luke 1.74 75. We are delivered out of the hands of our Enemies that we should serve him in holiness and righteousness all the days of our lives He plougheth up the fallow ground of the Heart and kills the weeds of sin in order to the casting in the seed of Grace into the Soul Now Reader consider if Christ died to purchase positive Holiness for thee what hope canst thou have of an interest in his Death without it Canst thou think he bought one for thee without the other or that thou mayst be a partial sharer in his Death And what wilt thou do without an interest in his Sufferings Except he wash thee in his blood thou hast no part in him and if thou hast no part in him thy part must be among Devils and damned Spirits Again wilt thou by thy Omissions deny and deprive Christ of that Service which he hath bought so dearly Alas how little is it that thou art able to do for him when thou dost all thou canst And how much did that cost him what pangs and throws did he bear what rage from men what wrath from God how did he wrastle with the Frowns and Fury with the Power and Policy of the World and Hell And after all this dost thou grudge him that poor Service for which he was hungry and thirsty and weary and tempted and betrayed and crucified Whether we live saith the Apostle we live to the Lord whether we die we die to the Lord whether we live or die we are the Lords To this end Jesus died and rose again that he might be Lord both of the Dead and Living Rom. 14.7 8. Thou wouldst take it ill thy self to be denied the Service of that for which thou hast so dearly paid O think of it when thou art guilty of Omissions in the matter or manner of Duties I now rob Jesus Christ of that which he bought with his most precious blood and let him see the travail of his Soul upon thee and be satisfied 4. Consider the Priviledges thou enjoyest call aloud upon thee to mind positive Holiness and to do good as well as to forbear evil I am sure thy Priviledges are positive and so should thy Piety be What is the Gospel but a Cabinet of precious Jewels a River of living water a Case of the richest and costliest Cordials a Counterpart of Heavens eternal Court-Rolls concerning the Philanthropy or kindness of God to Mankind wherein are all sorts of blessings for Body and Soul in every condition treasur'd up The enjoyment of it is a special singular Priviledge the Ministration of the Spirit 2 Cor. 3.8 9. The Ministration of Righteousness far above the Legal Ministration The Psalmist tells us The Laws God gave to the Israelites were a special distinguishing Mercy He sheweth his Word unto Jacob his Statutes and his Judgments unto Israel He hath not dealt so with every Nation as for his Judgments they have not known them Psal 147.19 20. But his Gospel-Dispensation is an higher and greater Favour But what doth this Gospel-Priviledge call for surely positive as well as negative godliness The Grace of God the Gospel is so called because it declares it to us 2 Tim. 1.10 and interests us in it as an Instrument thereof Rom. 1.16 which bringeth Salvation which proclaimeth Life upon holy Conditions teacheth us that denying all ungodliness and worldly lusts Commissions
step nearer to thee Did God or any of them send his only begotten Son to redeem thee out of the hands of the Law and Divine Justice and to purchase for thee a state of Peace and Love and Adoption and everlasting Life Did they or any of them bear the Curse of the Law and the Wrath of an infinite Majesty and the Rage of the Fiends of Darkness to deliver thee from them and to make thee blessed O Reader where are thy Wits what is become of thine Understanding If he that sends thee in all the good thou enjoyest and freeth thee from all the evil thou escapest doth not deserve all thou hast and art who doth I know not Hast thou laid the thousandth part of those Obligations on any Child or Servant thou hast which God hath on thee Didst thou make them dost thou preserve them canst thou redeem them Alas thou art but a poor Instrument in the hand of God to convey some small matters to them yet thou expectest positive as well as negative Obedience from them and why should not God who hath laid such millions of Obligations on thee look for the like from thee Once more to whom wilt thou call in thy day of Distress To whom wilt thou cry in thy time of trouble to God or any of those three fore-mentioned Masters is it to them or to God that thou wilt lift up thy Hands and Eyes and Heart on thy sick on thy dying Bed when all thy Friends and Kindred will be insignificant and helpless to thee and Devils will wait on thee to devour thee Who is it that offereth thee an unchangeable state of Pleasure and Happiness upon excellent and equitable terms that intreats and invites and wooeth and courteth thee to accept of freedom from misery and Hell flames and eternal damnation and also to embrace his tenders of fulness of joy and a Crown of Life and a Kingdom of Glory for ever and ever Ah Friend little dost thou know how much thou owest the blessed God I am sure thou canst not deny him any part of thy Heart or Life if thou wilt give him what he deserves thy Conscience must tell thee that it is his due And then if thou wilt give every one his due why shouldst thou put by the glorious Lord If thy Friends thy Neighbours thine Enemies all must have their due I beseech thee do not deny God but let him have thy positive Obedience which is unquestionably his due 8. Consider Sanctification Repentance or sound-saving Conversion consisteth in positive as well as negative Holiness nay more especially and principally in positive Holiness as that which consummateth and perfecteth the work And how then canst thou have any grounded hope that thy condition is safe without it When the Prophet mentions that Repentance which is never to be repented of that Repentance which shall find Mercy and obtain Pardon he enjoyneth both Isaiah 55.7 An aversion from Sin and a Conversion to God as their supream and chiefest good When the Apostle mentions that Sanctification which is the inseparable concomitant of Justification and the constant effect of our Union with Christ he mentions both Reckon ye also your selves to be dead unto sin freed from it Laws as a dead Wife from the Laws of her Husband and disabled unto its Service as a dead man is unto the actions of life here is negative Holiness but alive unto God obliged unto his Laws as a living Subject is unto the Laws of his Soveraign and enabled unto his Service as a living man is unto actions that are suitable to life here is positive Holiness through Christ This is the root upon which Sanctification groweth as the fruit Rom. 6.11 So vers 18. Being then made free from Sin ye became the Servants of Righteousness Being deliver'd from the former Usurper they became obedient to their rightful Lord and served him Now Friend what wilt thou do for an evidence of Repentance and Sanctification which are of such absolute necessity that thou canst not be saved without them Luke 13.3 Heb. 12.14 If thou neglectest positive godliness indeed thou mayst flatter thy self with an hypocritical Repentance but a sincere one respects both parts of the Law An Hebrician observes that in the word Tamim which signifieth upright or perfect there is a great Tau to note that an upright man observeth the whole Law from the first to the last letter thereof He may be too critical but this is certain the true Penitent chooseth the way of Obedience as well as refuseth the way of Disobedience He is described by this Character He chooseth the things that please God Isa 56.4 He doth not only refuse the things that displease God but also choose the things that please him yea and because they please him The natural Votary is what he is from the good temperament of his body which makes him more gentle and pliable than otherwise he would be The moral Religionist is what he is from the improvement or rather misimprovement of his natural Reason The Civilian is what he is from fear of man or out of respect to man He is still in the bond of Iniquity but he is so careful to line his Fetters that they do not clink to the disturbance of others or to his own shame But the true Christian is what he is from Conscience of and love to the Will of God and as he at his first implantation into Christ brings forth this good fruit so he continueth in it to the end of his life He that abideth in me and I in him the same bringeth forth much fruit Joh. 15.5 As Naturalists observe of the Bees that they are laborious in their youth and do not dispense with themselves to be idle in their age but as they increase in dextrousness so also in laboriousness being more early at work than the younger nay when their Bodies are over-spent and their wings ragged they will venture abroad to work though they often prove too weak to return home Thus the right Convert flourisheth as the Palm-Tree in his youth and is fat and flourishing and brings forth fruit in his old age Psal 92.12 13 14. CHAP. XXXVIII If God should omit his care of us a moment we are undone And if Christ had omitted the least in our Work of Redemption we had been lost irrecoverably 9. COnsider if God should omit his care of thee and neglect thee as often as thou omittest his Service and neglectest him nay if he should withdraw his positive Providence from thee one moment what would become of thee thy Body would be turn'd into a dead loathsome Carkass and thy Soul would be haled by Devils to Hell fire Is it not more just that God should neglect thee than that thou shouldst neglect him and hath he not much more reason to neglect thee a moment than thou hast to neglect him days and moneths and years He hath no Obligation to thee thou hast thousands to him
Court of Heaven is allowed in course for such small offences what should hinder but he should abound and continue in them to the end of his life unless his judgment of them be alter'd In all our converses and dealings we are most careless about matters which we judge to be of small concernment For 't is judged a part of folly to be very solicitous about toys and trifles If I have a slight cut on my Finger or my skin razed I possibly let it go and am nothing troubled about it but if a bone be broken or a vital part infected I am not a little perplexed and quickly apply the best means for the cure of it The less I apprehend the danger to be the less care I take to prevent it We see it by experience about the Laws of men that those Laws the breach of which they presume will be generally winked at and little taken notice of by the Magistrate as relieving Beggars and several others are seldom observed and men at most are indifferent whether they keep them or no but for those Laws which they believe will be severely reckon'd for if men break them as those against Thefts Murthers Ravishments Treasons and the like these they will be tender of and take care lest they should incur their penalties Truly so it is about the Laws of God we do usually make some conscience of those Laws which we apprehend have Death and Hell and Wrath and Damnation attending the breach of them but those Laws the breach of which we presume is no great matter and little minded by God we are careless and indifferent about To cure this Reader consider these three or four particulars 1. I grant that there are degrees of Sin All sins are not of the same size nor every Sinner of the same stature All ordinary Births which Satan begets upon the hearts of men are not of the same bigness yet sometimes we find Monsters born Some sins are compared to Camels others to Gnats Matth. 23.24 Some to Motes others to Beams Matth. 7.3 Some to Talents others to Farthings or Pence Our Saviour tells us of a Creditor who had two Debtors the one owed much more than the other Luke 7.41 So Luke 16.5 Some sins are pardonable other sins unpardonable Matth. 12.31 Wherefore I say unto you all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men The Stoicks as Tully observes in his Paradoxes and the Jovinians Epist 29. cap. 1. as St. Hierom testifieth in his Second Book against them sided with them held That all sins were equal because all sins are aberrations from the rule and a going beyond the bounds but it is to be considered that some may wander farther from their rule and out of their way than others Some may shoot wider than others though both miss the mark A sin against the First Table caeteris paribus is greater than a sin against the Second 1 Sam. 2.25 as being more immediately against God Whereas all sin hath its sinfulness from its opposition and offensiveness to so infinite a Majesty Psal 51.4 Against thee thee only have I sinned Thus we read that Witch-craft and Idolatry which directly disown God as the greatest sins 1 Sam. 15.13 And our Lord Jesus when asked what was the first and great Commandment answers To love the Lord our God with all our hearts c. Matth. 22.11 Spiritual sins are greater than bodily sins 1. As those by which we most imitate the Devil who is for spiritual wickednesses in high places Ephes 6. All sin is from Satan per modum servitutis but these sins per modum imaginis 2. As those sins by which we most directly oppose God who is a Spirit Joh. 4.24 and therefore God most directly sets himself in battel-array against them 3. As those sins that defile and pollute most the chiefest part of man his spirit in which regard the Apostle calls them filthiness of spirit and distinguisheth them from the filthiness of the flesh 2 Cor. 7.1 4. As those sins which are the spring of all bodily and outward sins Out of the heart proceed Murders Blasphemies Thefts c. Matth. 15.19 5. As those sins have more of the heart and spirit in them the malignity of sin in regard of its Object is from the immensity of that God against whom it is committed in regard of its Subject it 's from the degree of that heartiness and willingness with which it is committed To back-slide in heart is more than back-slide from God with our tongues and deny him vocally Prov. 14.14 Such a one shall be filled with his own ways and wickedness To err in heart is the provocation indeed Heb. 3.10 To err in heart is much worse than to err in our heads the more of the heart and spirit in any Service the more lovely and acceptable to God the more of the heart and spirit in any sin the more loathsome and abominable to God 6. As those sins which have their full scope and swing In bodily sins a man is curbed as in Uncleanness by the weakness or weariness of his Body in Prodigality and Luxury and Pride by the weakness of his Estate in Murder by his Antagonist's strength or his fear of the Law or want of opportunity But spiritual sins have none of these obstacles or hinderances He whose Body is so weak that he cannot know one Woman may yet in his Spirit defile hundreds in one day He whose Estate is so small that he can scarce maintain himself will yet in his thoughts keep a Table for a Prince throw away hundreds upon provision for the Flesh and be as great an Emperour as he pleaseth He whose sickness and lowness of quality and want of a convenient season hindreth him from doing his Neighbour the least actual injury may yet in his Spirit slay more than Sampson did with the jaw-bone of an Ass in a much less time Sins against Knowledge are greater than sins of Ignorance Our Saviour tells the Jews That if they had been blind they had had no sin but because ye say ye see therefore your sin remaineth Joh. 9. Sins against knowledge are sins against our own light and thereby we offer violence to our selves Rom. 1.21 to 28.2 More daring to God for he who is ignorant of his Masters will cannot do any thing or omit any thing to dare him or to provoke him because he doth not know what is displeasing to him but he who knoweth what God would have and omits what he commandeth or doth what he forbids may rather be supposed to commit the one or omit the other because of his enmity to God 3. As more against the mercy of God Knowledge is a great mercy The Vnderstanding of Man is the Candle of the Lord. And sins against it are therefore the more provoking because against the Divine goodness Joh. 15.4 These sins against
matter Truly the less the matter is the greater is the malice that will offend and provoke God for it How great is the unkindness to stand with God for a trifle How little dost thou esteem thy God the God of all Consolation how little dost value his Love and Grace and Favour and endless fruition to part with all for little or nothing The less Reader the thing is for or about which thou sinnest the greater is thy Sin Believe it that by which thou wouldst excuse thy sin doth increase it It hath been formerly said If a man will break his faith it should be for a Kingdom for something of worth yet this Sinner were a loser though by breaking his Faith he could gain the whole Earth what then is that man who will lye and forswear himself for a peny Though no man should presume upon Sin because its present profit will be great yet there is more unkindness more folly and more sinfulness in sinning for a little Some like Eagles will not stoop at flies scorn to sin for a small matter others as Ants will be busie about the least dust will break the Law for a very little the former are bad the latter worse 6. The less they are the more they call for thy care and caution for they are the harder to be cured As a wound made with a Bodkin if deep is hardlier cured than a wound with a Sword because the Orifice is so small and presently almost closeth up and so the wound bleedeth inwardly often to the death of the Patient It 's much more difficult for the Mariner to avoid Quick-sands that are hurried hither and thither then known Rocks though Sands are small things and Rocks are great vast bodies Besides our proneness to despise and slight them causeth our more frequent falling into them as also our lying longer in them without repentance 7. Small Sins are not expiated without infinite satisfaction and must they then be dallied with there is more malignity in the least sin than the whole Creation can expel and more Venome than Men Angels can antidote against Friend consider it thou sayst they are little sins therefore I may live in them Did Christ die for them and wilt thou live in them Dost thou not know what prodigious drops of sweat what clods of blood what strong cries and groans and prayers the least Sins cost thy Redeemer Dost thou not know that their weight was so heavy as little and light as thou fanciest them to be that they pressed and bruised his blessed Body that they oppressed and amazed his blessed Soul yea that they made him who is valour and courage it self obedience and dutifulness it self love and pity it self to shrink and draw back and pray against his Duty to his Father and his own Mercy to fallen man and decline the very end and errand for which he came into the world Reader think of it As Austin saith what matters it whether a Ship be overwhelmed with one great Wave or sunk by a small Cranny in the bottom whereat the water enters drop by drop And else-where what easeth it a man to be pressed to death with an heap of small sand more than with a sow of lead or to be strangled with a pack-thread rather than with an halter Reader I would not have thee think any of thy sins little It 's unbecoming a Christian to entertain such a thought of his sins nay it greatens his sin for him to presume it is little As we should not lessen the Mercies of God but always think them great and too great for us and our selves less than the very least of them so we should never lessen our sins but judge the least of them great and the lightest of them heavy and every of them too great and too heavy for us to bear and upon these accounts loath and leave them Friend think of what I have said of little sins and certainly thou wilt be of another mind than to allow of them because they are little and rather reject them because they are sins Is there any thing that God hates but sin and must that be the Object of his hatred Is there any thing that offends God or grieves his Spirit but sin and will nothing delight and please thee but what provokes and displeaseth him 4. I answer that Omissions are not little sins I have already largely proved that in some respects and as they may be circumstantiated they may be much greater sins than sins of Commission Reader consider what is written in the danger of sins of Omission before the Uses and then judge whether they are little sins or no. Are they little sins which do most oppose the Mind and Will of God which make way for whole herds of Sins of Commission and which do exceedingly grieve the good Spirit of God Are those little sins which God complains of so frequently threatneth so severely and punisheth with such dreadful Judgments on their Bodies on their Souls in this World on both eternally in the other World without any remedy But Friend consider farther 1. Can that sin be little which denieth God the highest Honour and greatest Homage and chiefest Respect which the Creature oweth to him What is that which is the choicest Jewel in the Crown of his Glory whence do the greatest Revenews of his Honour flow Are not our highest esteem our hottest love or strongest trust and our most reverential awe of his sacred Majesty the best and the most we can give him and can the omission of these be a little sin The forbearance of Commissions is but the skirt and garment and out-side of that Obedience which we owe to God it is the giving up our hearts and souls to him in our most enlarged desires after him and spiritual delights in him and superlative valuation of him which he requireth of us and principally looks after Micah 6.8 He hath shewed thee O man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God Surely if any sin be little it 's that which incroacheth least upon the honour of God not that which injures so greatly his Royal Prerogative He that robs his Soveraign of some petty goods cannot be so great a Transgressor as he who would rob him of his Crown and Kingdom 2. Is that a little sin which provoketh God to inflict the greatest punishment Either we must believe that God punisheth men more or less according to the nature of their offences whether greater or lesser or else we must accuse him of injustice The Apostle undertakes to prove him righteous because he renders to every man according to his works Rom. 2.5 6. If so where he inflicts the greatest Judgment there must be the greatest sin Now all Divines conclude the punishment of loss which they say is for our Omissions to be far greater than the punishment of sense which is for