men now the sin of their hearts alienated them from the life of God Quest Now you will say What do you mean when you speak of the Life of God and that the Soul of Man is capable of the Life of God and shew how sin is opposite to God Certainly if I should come and tell you of the flames of Hell and torments of Hell due to sin perhaps I might scare some more that way but for those that have any understanding and truly know the excellency of man their hearts will more rise upon the opening of this than if I should spend many Sermons to open the torments of Hell to you well then what is this Life of God Answ 1. That everlasting Principle of grace in the souls of men united unto Christ by his Spirit whereby men come to act and work as God doth act and as God doth work for his own glory as the utmost end As life is a Principle whereby the Creature moves within himself unto perfection unto that which tends to perfection an active Principle within it self to move towards perfection that we account life Now that Principle whereby a man shall come to move and work just as God moves and works still speaking after the manner of man that is to have the likeness of God not in the very same thing but the same in proportion of likeness as the Creature is capable of How is that you will say Thus This is the Life of God so far as we can conceive of him that God is a continual act alwaies working for himself and willing of himself as the last end of all the very Life of God consists in that and in that consists the nature of Holiness Now then when a man hath such a Principle within him as that he can work unto God as his last and highest end and obey God as his chiefest good he works as God himself doth Now Brethren this is the Life of God that the Children of men be capable of above all other Creatures and it is this that makes them fit to converse with God himself I say it is that which makes the children of men to be fit to converse with that infinite glorious eternal first-Being of all things and here is the happiness of man That he is of that Nature that he is capable of this excellency to have to do with the infinite eternal first-Being For many know no more excellency than to converse with meat and drink that Swine and Dogs and other Peasts do but know you be of more Noble Natures than so God hath made the meanest and poorest in this Congregation God hath made you of so Noble a Nature that you may come to converse with the infinite glorious first-Being of all things As we know the excellency of men that which puts a difference between man and man is this that this man that lives in a mean condition their meanness consists in this that they spend all their daies in converse with bruit Beasts and turning the clods of the Earth but Noble and great men are busied in State Affairs they be raised higher because they converse with Princes and great Affairs of State the things they converse about are higher and therefore they are more noble and higher than other men As some children of men know no other excellency than to eat and drink and play and be filthy and have nothing but that which the Beasts have but others to whom God hath revealed himself and hath made them of such a noble Nature that when others be in base acts of uncleanness that know no other way of rejoycing in time of Joy but laughing and eating and drinking and filthiness but others can get alone and there contemplate of the glory of the great God and their souls be opened to God and God lets in beams of himself to them and they let out beams of their love to God and their desires to God there is an intercourse between Heaven and them God opens himself to them and they open their souls to God and so enjoy communion from God and they because they have the Life of God in them they be fit to converse with God For mark those things that converse one with another they be such things that must live the same life as now man can converse with man why because he lives the same life that man lives but man is not so fit to converse with beasts because they live not the same life though some men live even the very life of beasts as a beast cannot converse with plants but only devours them because they live not the same life but those that live the same life be fittest for converse So if man did not live the same life God doth he could not converse with God Hence wicked and ungodly men cannot converse with God because they live not the same life of God When you talk of conversing with God it is a riddle to many men why because they are strangers to the Life of God they have nothing of the Life of God in them but it is strange to them therfore they cannot converse with God But now that which strikes at this Life and is the death of the soul is sin for sin is the death of the Soul therefore Ephes 2. beginning You be dead in trespasses and sins sin brings death he means not a bodily death though that be a truth but there is this death the Life of God is gone all men by nature have the Life of God gone and if ever it be renewed it is by a mighty work of Gods Spirit but sin strikes at the Life of God in us at this Candle of the Lord in this Earthen Pitcher 2 Again The excellency of the Life of God will consist in this as to make a man converse with him so in this That God must needs take infinite delight in the souls of those that live his life as before in looking upon his Image now much more when he can see his Creatures work as he himself works this is the delight of God to see his Creatures work just as himself As a man takes delight to see his Pictute but abundantly more to look upon himself in his Child and to see his life in his Child that comes from him to see it able to work as he works As suppose any Artificer or one skilled in Navigation suppose he see a Picture drawn of Navigation he takes delight in that because there is somthing of himself in it but now suppose he hath a Child and he puts skill into him and he seeth him work as he works and discourse about Naval Affairs as he discourseth this is wonderfully delightful to him So when God shall see the same life in his Creature that is in himself that he works and wills as he doth this takes the very heart of God and this shews the excellency of grace But sin is that which strikes at this Life of
waies are that God in all thy life thou hast walked quite cross unto in all thy life I say it would have a great deal of power in it to humble the proudest heart in the world And this is the second particular of the operations of sins workings it is a going cross to God There are two more in this Branch how sin is opposite to God Sin wrongs God and sin is a striking at God But because the fourth is shorter than the third I shall begin with the fourth and make the third last I said before sin was continually working against God but now I say CHAP. X. Sin is a striking against God 1 The sinner wisheth God were not so Holy c. 2 It seek the destruction of God Also sin is a wronging of God THirdly Sin is a striking against God I told you sin was an opposing of God and all his waies but now I say Sin is a striking at God at the very life of God A man may fight with another and yet not seek to take away his life to destroy him but sin strikes at the very Being of God I remember an expression in the 24 of Levit. 16. speaking of the Blasphemer that blasphemed the Name of God the words are translated in the Latine He did strike through the Name of God Certainly Sin is a striking of God Indeed God is not a Body that we can strike through him with our hands but God is a Spirit and so the Spirits of men may by their sins strike through God Himself so strike at God observe it as for the maintenance of thy sin thou dost wish God might cease to be God this is horrible wickedness you wil say indeed What will you say to such a wickedness as this that it should enter into the heart of any Creature Oh that I might have my lust and rather than I will part with my lust I had rather God should cease to be God rather than I would leave my lust I had rather God should be no more this is horrible wickedness But what wil you say if I convince your consciences that this is in your bosoms that you have been guilty of this sin yea in some measure every sin may justly be charged with this that rather than the sin should not be committed thou wouldst rather have God to cease to be You will say Lord have mercy upon us though you have told us some other things hard and strict and yet they seem to be true but you shal never make me beleeve this all the men in the world shal never make me to beleeve this that I should be guilty of so much wickedness as to be set upon my lusts so as to desire rather God not to be God at all rather than I lose my lust I hope there is not such wickedness in me I beseech you hearken and I hope to convince you that there is so much wickedness in the heart of man that they be set upon their sins so that they had rather God were not God at all than they lose their lusts and to this end observe these two things 1. First Do you not think it in the nature of a sinner so far as sin prevails in his heart to come to this so far as sin prevails I say that he could wish God were not so holy as he is hated not sin so much as he doth that he were not so just and so strict and severe against sin as he is Is not this in every sinners heart in the world ' Certainly you deceive your selvs if you do not own this I say so far as sin prevails in your hearts could not you wish that God were not so holy to hate those sins you love and not so just to be so severe against sin as he is is not this in your hearts It is impossible for any Creature to love any thing and yet not wish that another did not hate it so much as he doth Well if there be this in thee that thou lovest such a sin that thou couldest wish God did not hate it so much as he doth that he were not so just holy and severe against sin as he is this is to wish in thy heart that God were no God at al that the Life of God and Being of God were gone so that thy heart in this sinful frame and disposition of it it is no other but to strike at the very Being of God For it is the work of the heart wishing that God were not God for if he did not as I told you hate sin as much as he doth he could not be a God at al. Now this is plain and there is scarce any one bosom but is guilty of this scarce any of you but may lay your hand upon your hearts and say This Breast of mine is guilty of this that when my heart is set upon any evil way I could wish that God were not so holy to hate this I had rather God should like of this I hear of Gods Justice but doth not my heart rise against Gods Justice and I could wish that God were not so just as he is Certainly there is this in some degree or other therfore charge your hearts with this and know That so far as you have been guilty of this you have struck at the Being of God and this horrible wickedness is charged upon you That your hearts have been set so far upon sin that you could wish God had not been God rather than you lose your sin You would think it a horrible wickedness for any man to be so far in lust with another woman as to wish his Wife dead that he might have his fill of lust with that woman this were a horrible wickedness and yet this is in your hearts to wish God had no Being so that you might have your sin especially those that be prophane ones they if they could have their wish would desire there were no God at al. The Scripture saith That the fool saith in his heart that there is no God at all That man or woman that could wish that there were no God at all so he might have his lust and to wish God were not so holy and did not hate sin so much as he doth so he might have his lust this is a horrible wickedness Oh that God would make thee fall down and think Oh the horrible wickedness and abomination of my heart that I should be set so far upon any base lust as to wish that God were not God rather than I not be satisfied with my lust and yet this is in sin I and in every sin so far as it prevails in thy heart Secondly It must needs be thus because it it is the nature of Contraries to seek the destruction of one another as it is the nature of fire to seek the destruction of water so of any thing contrary to another it is the Nature of it to seek the destruction of
order to God we seek for it in God though in the Creature if in order unto God but when we come to seek for any good any comfort in any way of sin as no sin can be committed but there is this in it Though deliberately you do not say that you think there is not comfort enough in God but you will have it in this sinful way you do not say so but there is this in thy walking in the way of sin God seeth this in the Nature of every sin Would not a Father think it a wrong to him or a Master think it a wrong to have his Son or his Servant go and complain to his Neighbor and say he hath not meat enough That wrong you would think your Child doth to you in going to shark at your Neighbors door for meat this you do to God when you go to sin As if you should say notwithstanding there is so much said of the infinit goodness of God and that infinite satisfaction in Him for my part I find not enough in Him I must have it elswhere This is a wrong to Gods Al-sufficiencie in this first regard Secondly A sinner going in waies of sin wrongs God thus he holds this forth That there is more good to be had in a sinful lust than there is to be had in all the glorie and excellencie in the infinite blessed God This you will say is a wrong if this can be made out that there is this evil in sin holding this forth That there is more good to be had in a base sinful lust than in all the glorie in Heaven and comfort in God Certainly this is so and God seeth it so and except God be satisfied for this sin in Christ God will charge this upon thy soul another day that hast been guilty of this great sin And that I may cleer it to your Conscience That in every evil way there is this Thus it appears Because everie sinful way is a departing from God and all that good in God now this in the account of Reason may appear to the weakest capacity That where there stands two goods propounded and I depart from one and chuse the other by my chusing though I say nothing when I chuse the one when I cannot injoy both together I do thereby profess I account more good to be in that other I chuse than in that former I parted from Thus it is in the waies of Sin God sets forth himself to the Soul and shews his goodness and excellencie as appeareth in all his glorious works and those that live under the Gospel as appeareth in his word to them and God woes the Soul My Son give me thy heart and here I am willing to communicate my self to thee and all that good in me to thy Soul if I have anie good anie thing in that infinite Nature of mine to comfort thy Soul and make thee happie here I am willing to let it out and communicate it to thee Thus God professes to all the world all the Children of men to whom at least the Ministerie of the Gospel comes if thy Soul will come in and close with him in that way he reveals to thee he is readie to communicate that goodness in him to thy Soul to make thee blessed But now anie man or woman in anie sinful way though they do not say so yet they profess by their practice this That though there be such goodness in thee yet here is such a sinful lust I expect more goodness in this than in thy blessed Majestie Certainly there is this in everie Sin and God seeth it and God will deal with a sinner according to this if he come to answer for his sin himself For Brethren thus it stands we cannot enjoy God and sinful waies both together so far as any decline to sinful waies so far they venture the loss of God eternally and all that good in God It may be God may have mercie upon thee and bring thee into Christ and Christ may satisfie God for that wrong thou didst to him this is nothing to thee but there is this evil in thee there is not one sinful way that thou closest with but thou venturest the loss of all that infinite good to be injoyed in the blessed God in that sin here is the evil of sin And is not this a wrong to God what is God if not better than a base lust The Devil himself is better than a base lust that is the Devil hath an Entitie in him he is of God though he be a Devil by sin yet he is a being that is of God but sin hath no good and therfore sin is worse than the Devil It is that which makes the Devil so evil as he is and yet thou in thy sinful way doest profess thou accountest more good to be in sin than in all the good of God himself as if sin were better than God himself For thou venturest the loss of God that thou maiest have thy sinful way Oh sinner stop in thy way and consider what thou doest and know all thy life long which thou hast lived hath been nothing else but a continual profession before all the world by thy sinful life That thou accountest more good in a lust than all the good in the blessed God to be enjoyed to al Eternitie II. Thou wrongest God in the way of thy sin thus in his Omnipresence and Omnisciency to put them both together 1 In that thou darest do that before the very face of God that God infinitely hates Is it not a wrong to any King yea to your selves though mean for those that are your inferiors to do that before your face that you hate above all things in the world thus a Sinner doth al the wayes of thy Sin are before the very face of God and they are such things as God infinitely hates yet thou darest do that before the face of God in some Sin that thou darest not do before the meanest boy or girle in thy house What a wrong is this to Gods Omnisciency and Omnipresence Nay perhaps thou darest not do it before a Child of six years old and yet darest do it before the face of the infinite blessed God if a man should be afraid to do a thing before any Servant in his house the very Scullion of the Kitchin and yet when he comes before the King doth it there were not this a wrong to his Majesty that any dare be so bold before him 2 Again Thou wrongest his Omnipresence in this in that thou darest to cast that which is filthy before his presence to cast Carrion a dead Dog before a Prince is a wrong men in sinful wayes do nothing but cast vomit and filth before the presence of a most holy God thus thou wrongest God in his Omnipresence and Omnisciency Thirdly Thou wrongest God in his way of Wisdom because in Sin thou professest Gods wayes are not wayes of Wisdom but thou
Child of Cressus that was born dumb he seeing a Soldier readie to strike at his Father and kill him the affection to his Father brake the bars of his Tongue and he cried out Oh why will you kill the King Then he cried out thus though he never spake before but the stroke against his Father made him speak So thou man or woman shouldest have thy heart dead in other things and have no mind to speak yet when you see wretched men and women strike at God as they do as I have shewed in their sin if thou have any heart in the world any life in the world when thou seest this stroke at God now speak Oh that should burst all bars asunder Though thou beest never so meek in thy Familie and canst bear other things yet thou shouldest shew that thou canst not bear sin against God Oh I beseech you consider this and see how neer this comes to you How many if any thing be done in your Familie against you or among your neighbors that is against you you cannot bear it but you can bear that which is done against God and never be troubled at it As many a Master let the Servant neglect his work and displease him he cannot bear it but let his Servant be wicked and break the Sabbath denie God his time let his Servant perhaps swear or do such wickedness he goes away and saith it may be Why do you so or you should not do so or it may be takes no notice of it Certainlie that man knows neither God nor sin or hath little relation to God that takes so little notice of that done against God and yet that done against himself he cannot bear it Take this along with you If you have anie relation to God your hearts will be more troubled for the wrong done to God by your Children and Servants than when your selves are wronged by your Servants or Children Oh how manie men and women would go and wring their hands to their neighbors and friends Oh! never man or woman so miserable as I my own Child out of my bowels wrongs me and doth what hurt he can to me this is accounted matter of bitter lamentation But now why should not thy heart melt and lament when thou canst say Oh the Child out of my Loins and Bowels how doth he wrong the blessed God of all the world Oh that I should be so miserable to bear in my Bowels one an Enemie to the infinite blessed God! Oh that an Enemie to God should ever come out of my Loins My thinks this should move tender hearted Mothers to see that they should bring forth such that should go on in waies of enmitie against God himself Suppose one out of your Bowels should be a Traitor to the Parliament and do mischief to the State would not this trouble you that one out of your Bowels should be a Traitor to the Common-wealth this would be a grievous vexation Now is it not more if that thou hast a wicked Child one out of thy Bowels that strikes at God and is a Traitor to the God of Heaven these do more mischief than to destroy a whol Nation I say if a man should live to destroy to undo a whol Land for their outward estate there were not so much evil in it as in one sin against God You would say that were a Misereant that should be born to undo a whol Nation and wo to me that I should bear one that should live to do such mischief to undo a State Now if thou bear one that strikes against God and wrongs God in waies of sin this should trouble thee as much as the other therefore never be at quiet till thou see some work of grace till thou see the heart of thy Child called in I remember Augustine saith this of his Mother and I propound this for Mothers example he being verie wicked a while and his Mother godlie Oh it grieved her heart that she should have a Child go on in such wickedness against God and she praid and wept so that Augustine saith of her after God had enlightened his eyes to consider what she did for him saith he I perswade my self my Mother did as much labor and endure as much pain for my second Birth as ever for my first Birth this is his testimonie of her that by her prayers and tears for her Childs Salvation that was wicked he did verilie beleeve it cost her as much labor for the second Birth as for the first upon which when she comes and complains to Ambrose of her Child well saith he Be of good comfort surely a Son of so many prayers and tears can hardly perish and he did not indeed for he proved a worthie Instrument of Gods Glorie afterward in the Church Now is there anie Mother in this Congregation that can say I have labored as much and it hath cost me as much pain for the second Birth of my Child as ever it did for the first Certainlie did you know what sin were and how against God it would cost you a great deal of travail when you see your Children wicked and much prayer and cost that you might not have a Child an Enemie to God a Traitor to the Crown Scepter and Dignitie of Jesus Christ Oh Brethren doth it not pitie your souls to see that infinite blessed holy dreadful God so much wronged in the world as he is It should move us to pitie to see any Saint a man or a woman of an excellent gracious Spirit to see such a soul abused and wronged as Solomon saith there was a wise man in the City and not regarded though he delivered the Citie to see but one man of wisdom that hath but any excellencie in his Spirit to be wronged it should trouble any ingenious heart But then I reason thus if it would be and should be such a trouble to any ingenious heart to see any one man of a gracious Spirit wronged and abused then how should it trouble any ingenious any gracious heart in the world to see the infinite blessed glorious God to be wronged in the world by sin as I have alreadie shewed he is in everie sin when I discovered to you how sin is against God that I might possess your hearts with this Principle for I know no Principle of greater power through the strength of Christ to do good upon your Spirits than this CHAP. XXI A Seventh Corollarie If Sin hath done thus much against God then all that are now converted had need do much for God SEventhly Another is this If Sin have done so much against God and so much wronged God hence it follows That all those that have heretofore lived in a sinful way and God hath now been pleased to enlighten them and work upon their hearts had need now do much for God This follows cleerly thou didst heretofore live in waies of sin and what didst thou do in all this Nothing but
God and brings death to the soul wholly takes away this life and were it not for the Covenant of grace even one sin would take away this Image of God for sin did it in Adam and so would in the Regenerate if it were not for the Covenant of grace My Brethren Life is the most excellent of any thing as Augustine saith The life of a Fly is more excellent than the Sun it is his expression not mine because the Sun though an excellent Creature hath not life but a Fly though little yet it hath life though we know little of it yet it shews the excellency of God to make a living Creature but if the life of a Fly or a Beast be so excellent much more the life of Man Now then what is the life of God! now if that be evil which strikes at the natural life of the Body the life of Man we account those Diseases most grievous that are mortal as if a man have a Disease only painful this is not so much if they be painful if not mortal as those that be mortal If a Physitian come and tell one you must endure pain but be of good cheer your life is sure this comforts him but take a Disease that he feels no pain of it may be the sence of pain is gone but if the Physitian come and tell him Oh you be dangerously ill because your distemper is like to prove mortal we account that without pain that strikes at life more than that with a great deal of pain that doth not strike at life Skin for skin and all that a man hath will he give for his life Now that which strikes at the highest life even the life of God and makes the Creature appear so vile before God as certainly sin makes the Creature more vile than any dead Carrion that lies stinking in a ditch sin is more vile in Gods eyes than any dead Dog on the Dunghil is in your Eyes This is the third Particular How sin is most opposite to mans good more than affliction therefore a man were better bear the greatest affliction than commit the least sin because affliction never strikes at the life of God nay many live not the life of God so gloriously as they do in affliction many seem to have their hearts dead in times of prosperity but when afflictions come then they manifest a glorious life of God CHAP. XXVII Fourthly Sin is opposite to mans good because it is most opposite to the last end for which man was made A Fourth thing wherein the evil of sin consists as most opposite to mans good is this Because it lies most opposite to the last end for which man was made In that other passage I opened before I shewed how sin opposeth God in his own end therfore there was a great deal of evil in sin But now I must shew how sin opposeth Man in that end God made man for I am afraid some of these things are such that some cannot go along with me in them it is my endeavor to make things though spiritual and above our natural reach to make them as low as I can but if there be some that do not understand I hope others do and such I hope will make use of what I speak For certainly these things I speak of do more declare the evil of sin and will keep an ingenuous spirit more from sin than all the evils and torments of Hell It is more against mans last End Now we use to say the end and the good of a thing is the same That which is the last end is better than the thing it self therfore whatsoever strikes at the last end is the greatest evil of all That is the happiness of any Creature to enjoy its last end As thus The greatest good or the last end of a Plant or a Tree is to flourish and bear fruit and be sitted for the service of man this is its end And what is the evil of a Tree When it comes to flourish and when fruit hangs full upon it if it be blasted and never come to attain to its utmost end to be serviceable for that for which it was appointed that is the evil of it And we account it a great evil if we see this flourishing Tree when it is full of fruit if before it come to maturity it be blasted So look upon mans end and if that be blasted that is his great evil Now the end of man is this To live to the eternal praise of God in the everlasting injoyment of him God made the Children of men for this end That they might eternally live to his praise in the eternal injoyment of himself Now if man be blasted in this there is his great evil to blast man in this end for which he was made Now no Affliction doth it all the Afflictions in the world doth not hinder man from the attaining to his end But Sin comes and directly opposeth that end for which man was made and crosseth him in this Excelleney of his in living to the praise of the infinite eternal first-Being of al things Now before I could not shew you the evil of Sin but by shewing you the Excellency of the Image and Life of God So here I cannot shew the evil of Sin being opposite to mans last end but by shewing you the Excellency of mans last end Now the Excellency of mans last end I mean the good God hath made man for it appears in this 1 It is such a kind of Excellency as is worthy of all the good that there is in mans Nature or that mans Nature is capable of For the end and happiness of any thing must be that that must have as much excellency in it that all in the thing must tend to the making of him happy Mans nature is capable of the Image and life of God Now that which must be the happiness of such a Creature must be worthy of such an Excellency as the Image of God and the life of God in man therfore it must be a very high and glorious Excellency 2 That which is mans happiness and end is that which is worthy of al the wayes of God toward mankind Now I beseech you observe this thing The wayes of God towards the Children of Men in bringing them to his last end be the most glorious of all Gods wayes to any Creature God did never manifest so much glory in all the world nor never wil manifest so much glory to al eternity in any thing as he hath manifested in these waies of his to bring mankind to the attaining his last end for which he made him Now if God be so glorious in that way of his concerning his working in bringing man to his last end then certainly that end of man that happiness man was made for must be very glorious because it must have so much glory and excellency in it as must be worthy all the glorious wayes
continue in the waies of sin it is a thousand to one whether ever they be wrought upon afterward usually we find where the means of grace comes to any place it works for the most part at the first I do not nor will not limit God but for the most part at first it works upon men and women before they have by sin hardened themselves against it if once they have continued some little time under it and their hearts have followed their sin and so come to be hardened it is I say a most dangerous thing and manie times God for ever leaves them to their hardness yea such evil there may be in sin as if a man or woman hath an enlightened conscience and shal go against the light of their conscience when they live under the means of grace any one sin against the light of conscience may for ever harden them Thou that hast come to the Word and hast heard these things thou knowest hath come neer to thy soul and yet there hath been that violence of corruption to go against the light of thy conscience and that particular truth that hath been made known unto thee from God that one sin may be enough evil to harden thy heart that the means shall never do thee good therefore there is a great deal more evil in sin than in any affliction I beseech you consider of this one note further in it God comes manie times yea usually with abundance of grace to the souls of men and women in their affliction and that in the continuance of their afflictions and in the encrease of their afflictions yet the means of grace work but God can never come with grace while they sin except sin be decreased I say God never comes to make any means of grace effectual but it must be with the decrease and with the taking away of sin the means of grace may be effectual with the encrease of affliction but the means of grace can never be effectual but with the decrease of sin therefore there is more evil in sin than in affliction as against our selves CHAP. XXXVIII XV. Sin is worse to us than Affliction because Sin brings more shame than Affliction XV. THere is more evil in Sin than in Affliction as against our selves In regard of the shame that it doth bring Sin brings more shame than any Affliction brings Rom. 6. 20. What profit or what fruit had you in those things whereof you be now ashamed Sin it is that which brings shame not only to a man or woman in particular but likewise to a whol Nation when sin prevails Prov. 14. 34. Righteousness exalteth a Nation but sin is a reproach to any People Afflictions are not a reproach any further than as they be the fruit of sin and then there is shame in them but this we shall speak of afterward but sin is the proper cause of any reproach and shame and certainly this Scripture hath been fulfilled concerning us our sin hath been a reproach to this Nation there was a time this Nation was honored among other Nations and a terror to them but of late since we have sinned and grown Superstitious and come neerer unto Poperie since there hath been more wickedness among us This Nation hath been an exceeding reproach we may apply for that that in the 13 of Hosea according to the Interpretation of most When Ephraim spake trembling he exalted himself in Israel but when he offended in Baal he died thus Interpreters carrie it There was a time when Ephraim spake then was trembling in all Nations about him and he exalted himself above other Nations but when he sinned in Baal then he died his Honor died he was a dead Nation and no body regarded him True time was when England spake there was trembling and England exalted himself above other Nations but since we sinned in Baal and there hath been so much Idolatry and Superstition we have been a dead Nation in respect of what we have been before Sin is a reproach to any Nation a shame There is no such shame in Affliction as there is in sin that brings shame That which argues worthlesness in any that which argues there is little good or worth in any or if any one should do any thing unbeseeming either his own excellency or that supposed to be in him as to lie in the mire or to go naked or in their carriage or by any deportment to behave themselves besides that excellency supposed to be in him this brings shame Job 30. 7. Those that went up and down braying among the bushes it was contemptible and it was a shame So for any man to do any thing beneath the excellency of a man is a shame Now there is nothing so below the excellency of a man as sin no Affliction brings a man under his excellency as sin doth therefore no Affliction can be such a shame to man as sin Now the Rational Creature that is guided by Counsel in his actions is the proper subject of shame Bruit beasts cannot be capable of shame because they have no Counsel to be the cause of their Actions but the reasonable Creature failing in that which is his aim coming short of the rule of his work through his unskilfulness this causeth shame As now Take any workman if he do any work beneath the rule of the work through unskilfulness it causeth shame he comes to be ashamed of it Now sin must needs bring shame because it comes beneath the Rule of eternal Life and therefore must needs cause shame It is true in natural things to fail through ignorance is a greater shame than to fail through wilfulness but in spirituals the greater shame is to fail through wilfulness And the greater the Art the greater the shame to come short of the Rule of that Art As suppose a General it is a greater shame for him to fail and come short of the Rules of Military Art than for a Country-man to come short of his Rules of Husbandry because one is more noble than the other Now Brethren The Art of Divinity to guide to eternal Life is the most Noble of any Art and for any Creature to fail and come short of this Art is the greatest shame that can be Though men be ashamed of any thing else take a Painter or any Workman or a Husbandman if he come short of the Rule he is ashamed but if men fail of the Rule of eternal Life they are not ashamed then I Remember Augustine hath this Expression saith he A Scholler if he fail in pronouncing a word and pronounce it amiss if he pronounce Omer for Homer he instanceth in that he is ashamed of that but men be not ashamed of breaking the Rules of Divinity And there is more failings in the Breach of the Rule of Divinity and in failing there than in any Art whatsoever Now sin is the greatest shame and the Reason why sinners be not ashamed is Because they
into the soul God useth self arguments and self motives to further the abstaining from sin and it is Lawful to do so yet self motives and self arguments be not the chief and highest of all But 3. That which I most pitch upon and most fully answereth this Question is this That if we did but know wherein our self good consists which is certainly to live to God our self good is in this not only the glory of God but our own good and happiness our self good is in our living to God that infinite first-Being of all things Now if we understand this I say that thing which is our self good we may make to be our highest aim in abstaining from sin and in doing any good that thing w ch is our self good but we must not make it our highest aim as it is our self good we must look to God above our selves but still the same thing that is our self good our own good may be made our highest aim of all which is our living to God and his praise Thus God hath connexed our good and his glorie together that the same thing which is the highest end of all I must aim at to wit Gods glorie and his praise that is also our highest good and so we may aim at it in our chief aims Secondly If sin make so against us I shall give you Three uses of it Vse 1. Then we from hence see the desperate maliciousness that is in sin It follows thus What for a Creature to sin against the blessed God and to get no good to himself neither yea to do hurt to himself too this is horrible mischief and malice We account it horrible malice against man if any man be so notoriously malicious that he seeks to do mischief to another man though he get no good yea though he hurt himself by it yet he will do another man a mischief certainly if this be maliciousness against man then there is certainly malice in sin against God for when thou sinnest against God suppose thou shouldest get never so much good suppose thou by sin one sin couldest get the the greatest good that ever any Creature had yet thou must not commit it it were wickedness to do it But what sayest thou to this that when thou sinnest against God thou mischiefest thy self not only gettest no good but doest that which is the greatest wrong and evil to thy self and yet wilt thou go on in sin against God Oh what dost thou think of God and what hurt hath God done to thee that thou shouldest be so malicious against him that thou wilt dishonor him and strike at him though thou gettest nothing thy self nay though thou doest undo thy self by it men will rather go on in that way that is dishonorable to God though they venture their own damnation to do it It is one of the highest expressions we can have against our Enemies I will be even with him I will have my mind of him or I wilspend al I have to a groat this is desperate malice in man we account it so Thou dost more against God though thou saiest not so it may be in word yet God sees that there is this language in it well I will do that which the Word forbids though I undo my self I will venture my own perishing my own eternal destruction rather than that shall not be done that I hear God will not have done there is this in every Sin Brethren because we do not examine what is in sin we think it but a little we see but the outside but when God comes to unravle out Sin and to pick out all that his Omniscient eye seeth in sin then it will appear to be evil transcendantly evil Vse 2. If Sin have so much evil in it more than Affliction as against our selves Then it should teach us all to look with pity and abundance of commisseration upon men and women that go on in waies of sin Ah poor Creatures they undo themselves their waies are against themselves and they wil work their own ruine and misery by these waies of theirs You that are Tradesmen if you see a man going on in way of Trading so that you know certainly that he will undo himself you look upon him with pitie poor yong man he goeth on in such a way as he will undo himself you pitie him upon that ground because he undoes himself the more hand a man hath in doing himself hurt the more he is to be pitied As you Marriners if you see one at Sea go through ignorance so that he will be by and by split into the Sea or you know he will be by and by upon the Rocks and Sands and he is wilful in his way you pitie him he is an object of pitie Doest thou see any man or woman thy father or mother brother or sister husband or wife or any thou lovest dearly going on in wayes of sin Oh pity them let thy heart bleed over them poor wretches they will undo themselves split themselves eternally If thou shouldest see a Company of men stab and murder themselves and lying dead in the streets if it should be asked how came they dead and it should be answered every one of them murthered himself were it not an object of pity if you see men women go on in sin every one stabs and murders and mischiefs themselves and cuts their own throats this is the way of sin and though they do not see it themselves yet if God open their eyes they will see it and certainly they shall see it ere long and they will be forced to cry out in the bitterness of their souls Wo to me wo to me I am lost and undone and I have uddone my self Therefore Brethren we should not look upon sinners now as they are in the height of their prosperity and the rufe of their pride but look upon them as within a little time they will be look upon them in their end and then learn to pity them Although sinners go on conceitedly and boast themselves in their evil wayes for the present pity them so much the more for the more any sinner is conceited and boasts in his way the more dangerous is his condition the more dangerous sign the seal of God is upon him to seal him to destruction The more conceited any man is in any thing that will ruin him the more lamentable is the object therfore Though we many times when we see men under grievous Afflictions you go to your neighbors and see them lie under Gods hand grievous pains and tortures of body Crying out dolfully it makes your hearts bleed and drawes tears from your eyes and you say Oh the lamentable condition this man or woman is in you pity them in affliction because they are in such grievous pain But now you have another neighbor by and you hear him swearing certainly though you pity the other neighbor under affliction yet to hear him swear
was his Tyrany If you should have a dead man or woman tied about your bodies may be the face of a dead man is hidious to you but if they should be tied about you so that when you lie in bed and when you rise when you sit at meat it should be alwaies with you and you should indure the stink and putrefaction what a sore evil would this be now if in the presence of a dead Carkass there is so much evil than in the presence of the devil there is much more Now sin any one sin tied close to your hearts that you carry about with you wheresoever you go know there is in that a greater evil upon you than if a dead Carkass should be tied to you yea than if the devil should haunt you wheresoever you go because the presence of the devil is not so much as turning of the souls of men and women into the nature of the devil and making the Souls of men and women so like to him CHAP. XLVII The Fourth Corollarie It s worse to be given up to any way of Sin than to be given up to the Devil Quest How the Delivering up to Satan can be for the saving the Soul A Fourth Corollarie hence is this That for any man or woman to be left to one Sin it is worse than to be given up to the Devil I say it is a greater evil a greater judgement for any man or woman to be left to any way of Sin than to be given up to Satan is thy soul given up to the power of any one Sin I dare here as I stand in the presence of God To speak the truths of God I dare avow it you are in a worse condition than if you should be given up to the devil I make that good thus In Scripture 1 Cor 5. 5. we have an example of one that was given up to the Devil and that in a right way there is an Incestuous person that committed that horrible wickedness not named among the Gentiles that had his fathers wife and committed Incest with her the Apostle commands him to be delivered to Satan for the destruction of the flesh that his spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus He was delivered to Satan but for the destruction of the flesh but to the end that he might have his Spirit saved in the day of the Lord Jesus So that the delivering up to Satan was a means appointed by God to save his soul But to deliver up any one to the power of Sin is no means to save his soul that is a means to damn the soul and not to save it So then you see the reason grounded cleerly upon Scripture That it is worse to be delivered up unto any sin than to be delivered to the Devil for he that was delivered to Satan it was for the saving of the soul but he that is delivered to Sin it is for the damning of his soul This requires a little opening Quest You will say How can the delivering up to Santan be for the saving of the soul Answ It will be needful for cleering of this to tell you what this delivering up to Satan was and the truth is this delivering up to Satan or excommunication from the Church this was a most dreadful thing when done in a right way it was done when the Church was gathered together by the power of Jesus Christ As certainly where there are a company of Saints that at least outwardly so appear a Church that in a solemn manner is gathered together through the power of Jesus Christ having their Elder going before them the Officer of the Church when they in a solemn manner in the power of Christ shall cast out any one deservedly from Church Communion this is a delivering a man or woman to Satan this is another manner of business than ordinarily we were wont to have by the Ordinary or Commisâ—ary and Dean in the Prelates Courts certainly they were but wooden Daggers in comparison of this dreadful Sword to cut off from the Communion of the Church it was when the Church was Assembled not the Commissary and Officers but when the Church was gathered together to cut such a one from the Church of Christ for some vile act not for not paying of their Fees or the like these things only scared people but if this Censure of Excommunication were in a right way executed it were the most dreadful thing in the world it is that which hath awed and terrified the most proud and stout sinners the very sight of anothers Excommunicating it hath terrified the conscience of those that have been by It is a delivering them to Satan and putting them from under the protection of God giving them up to the devil to take power over them except they come in and repent and this is a way to save the soul because if there be any way in the world to cause men to see their sin and repent and be humbled and come in this is it and when no other way would do it this many times hath done it And therefore those people that live in such a condition that want this Ordinance of Excommunication in the right way want an especial means to keep off sin both to keep them from sin before they are fallen and of delivering of them from sin when they have fallen into it But to be given over to the power of sin is a greater evil than to be delivered to Satan CHAP. XLVIII The Fifth Corollary It is worse to be given up to one sin than to be actually possessed by the Devil FIfthly Shall I say further and this will make it plaâ—â—ly appear what abundance of 〈◊〉 â—ere â—s iâ— Sin more than in Affliction for though â—…oken abundance of it yet all this 〈…〉 draw the Point higher and higher and â—…ve the nail deeper and deeper that this Truth of God might settle upon your spirits and therefore a Fifth is this which follows from this reference sin hath to the Devil That it is worse to be given up to any one Sin than to be actually possessed by the Devil than for the Devil to come and actually possess us as those poor Creatures were in the Gospel and this is worse than to be given up to Satan There is a spiritual possession of Satan as in Judas and that is a spiritual possession of their hearts to rule them but there is a temporal possession spoken of in the Gospel and that is of their bodies that the Devil possest them and caused them to rage and foam at the mouth and rend and tear and the men we reade of in the Gospel that lived among the graves and dead people and cut themselves with knives and stones this was a grievous thing to see men thus possest Many men have extraordinary fits of the Convulsion and the like and men think they be possessed we ordinarily mistake and it is but a meer fit of
Sin is another manner of business than Melancholly or timerousness Use I. HEnce follows this plainly from all that have been spoken if sin be worse than any affliction and not to be chosen rather than Affliction Hence it follows Then that trouble of Conscience for Sin certainly is another manner of business than meerly Melancholly distemper it comes not from Melancholly nor foolish timerousness and the like There is another manner of business in trouble of Conscience for Sin then the world thinks for this is the First Use that followes from all that hath been delivered Me thinks all of you should yeild to the strength of this Consequence If you have heard or read what I have opened you that have heard al or read it it should take this effect in you all Well then by what I have heard now I come to understand what the meaning of trouble of Conscience for sin is I have heard heretofore of many men and women troubled for sin and I wondered what it meant I wondered what it was that troubled them many yong people may be heirs of great estates and excellent good friends of healthful bodies in good trades all well about them and yet mightily troubled for sin yea perhaps some that to the view of the world lived very civilly yet had in secret been guilty of some notorious profane course and yet when God shall but settle any one sin upon their hearts and trouble their Consciences for any one sin they could not bear the horror of their Conscience for this one sin Well this I have heard of the evil of sin tells me I have had mistaken thoughts about it I thought all was melancholliness and even madness and the Physitian must be sent for and merry company sent for because men and women have such poor and mean apprehensions of the evil of sin and therefore when any are troubled in Conscience for Sin Oh then get him into merry company get a pair of cards make them play a fit of Musick go to some business in the world put themselves upon business one thing or other drink down their trouble play down their trouble thus many have slight thoughts of trouble of Conscience And therefore when in their Children they cry out Oh! my Child will certainly run mad is grown mad many carnal men and women when their Children begin to think of sin they think verilie they begin to run mad I remember in the storie of Erancis Spira he saith thus because his friends thought it a kind of Frenzie and that it was not trouble of Conscience for sin Oh saith he to his friends I would to God it were Frenzie either feigned or real if it were feigned Frenzie then I could put it off when I pleased if it were a real Frenzie there were a great deal more hope of Gods mercy I should not apprehend Gods wrath as I do but it is otherwise with me Brethren those that have felt trouble of Conscience for sin upon whose hearts God hath setled but the guilt of any one sin what do you think of trouble of Conscience for sin they feel reallitie they find that there is reallie unto them that which is a greater burthen and grief and trouble than all the miseries of the world Dreadful expressions are many of them that Francis Spirâ—â— hath which is a most dreadful example of horror of Conscience for sin Oh! saith he I feel the very torments of hell within me and this afflicts my Conscience with intolleroble pain Oh! that some body would let out this tyred soul out of my body Oh! that I were in the place of the damned that I might be but free from FEARING any thing that is yet WORSE to come For though he did acknowledg there was greater torments in hell yet he professed he did desire to be in hell that he might be freed from the torture of his Spirit that was still in fear of worse that was to come And verily a most hidious story it is that shews the dreadfulness of a wounded and troubled Conscience for Sin Certainly if Sin be all that which you have heard or read well might the Holy Ghost say A wounded spirit who can bear A man may sustain his infirmities whatsoever his infirmities and troubles are in the world it is no great matter to sustain them but a wounded spirit who can bear for a wounded spirit seeth it hath to deal with the Infinite God the Glorious Eternal Deity and you must not tell such a one of Melancholliness and such grounds of trouble for such a one knows the Arrows of the Almighty stick in his heart and it is another manner of business than so I might here have enlarged my self and have spoken much to those that have such mean apprehensions of trouble of conscience for sin and have shewed the difference between melancholly and trouble of conscience for sin but I shall not at present only I shall wind up all now briefly and prosecute it further in the next Chapter Certainly it is not melancholliness it is another manner of business than melancholliness What think you of the Lord Christ himself in his Agony that sweat drops of water and blood which you see was the fruit of Sin was that melancholly certainly that was of the same nature that the troubled in conscience feel for sin The Angels that sinned against God the Devils themselves they are not capable of melancholiness they have no bodies and yet none have such horrors for sin as they have And so the souls of wicked men many times they have horrid apprehensions of the wrath of God for sin But certainly if the souls of wicked men and women go out of their bodies without pardon the very first instant the soul is departed from the body it hath other manner of horrid dreadful and dismal apprehensions of the wrath of God for sin then ever it had before I remember further Luther had such a Speech concerning trouble of Conscience for Sin in his Comment upon Genesis It is a harder matter to Comfort an Afflicted Conscience for Sin than to raise one from the Dead This was a Speech of Luther he saw what was in an Afflicted Conscience for sin Further Surely Melancholly 't is not no nor timerousness nor folly do but take an example or two and so I shall conclude â—hat of David you shall find in David that he was a man most free from melancholly for the temper of his body it was a most cheerful disposition and a warlike spirit and very wise And yet there is none in the Book of God more troubled in spirit â—or Sin than he was First I will shew you what manner of man David was and then what his troubles of Conscience were for sin Sure he was no melancholly man For First you shall find it in 1 Sam. 16 12. that he for his bodily Constitution was sanguine and not melanchollie he was of a ruddy and beautiful Countinance
you have wronged are dead you must not keep it if they have anie heirs or executors suppose you know not them then you must give it to the poor you must be rid of it So much stain and evil is in sin that anie thing that comes by way of sin must not be kept And this is not so strange a thing but that the heathen have been convinced of it I remember a storie of a heathen that did but owe to a Shoomaker for a pair of Shoos and no bodie knew he owed it when the Shoomaker was dead he thought to save it but his Conscience was so troubled though the man was dead and no bodie could charge him with it that he could not sleep or rest and be quiet but riseth with amazement and trouble in the night and runs to the Shoomakers house and throws the Money in and saith Though he be dead to others yet he is alive to me If a heathen had such convictions of Conscience that he must not keep that which was gotton by sin if he could see sin so sinful that what was gotten by sin must be cast out surely you Christians must be so wise Oh consider this you are a multitude come together is there never a man or womans Conscience now in the presence of God that tells them That there is something that they have gotten by such a sinful way Now this is the charge of God to you upon your spirits That as ever you do expect to find Mercie from God that you do forth with and immediatelie restore that which you have gotten by anie sinful way it will be your bane and your ruine you will venture your souls else that must be restored or your souls must go for it and all your sorrow and trouble will not do ezcept these be restored these be restored to your power either that or some other thing in lieu of it you must not think to live upon sin It may be servants in their Masters service pilfered and purloined whatsoever you got for your selves perhaps you have spent it but hereafter either your souls must perish or else you must if God have made you able restore it though it be all your estates you be bound to cast up those sweet morseâ—s you have taken There was once one that had wronged a man in five shillings and it was fiftie years after that wrong was done that he sent to these hands of mine those five shillings and desired me to restore it Conscience now did so sting him that he could not injoy it So though it be fortie fiftie or threescore years ago when you were yong that you did the wrong you be bound as you do expect mercie from God to restore what you have wronged because there can no prosperitie come in by sin no good there is so much evil in sin This is the First when a man comes to be prosperous by Sin then he may be miserable notwithstanding his prosperitie Secondly When a man comes to be sinful by Prosperity As when a man comes to Prosper by sin so when Sin comes in by Prosperitie And for this Three Considerations likewise Sin sometimes comes in by Prosperitie a man is more sinful because more Prosperous certainlie this man may be miserable notwithstanding his Prosperitie As First When Prosperitie is fuel for sin Secondly When it gives them further license and liberty to sin Thirdly When it more hardens them in sin Certainlie this man though he be freed from Afflictions all his daies yet is a most miserable man because he is delivered from Afflictions 1 He comes to have Prosperity fuel for sin That is matter for sin to work upon so that Prosperitie nourisheth and fattens up sin As manie men because they have Prosperitie their sins grow to a mightie height by Prosperitie Prosperitie is fuel for Lust fattens your malice and oâ—asions pride Were it not he had such an estate as he hath and a healthful lustie bodie then he could not be guiltie of so much Lust uncleanness drunkenness pride so much malice and revenge the more God doth deliver them from Afflictions sickness povertie the more feuel hath he for sin wickedness and the lusts of his heart to burn upon and grow up to a flame As it is with a bodie those humors of the bodie are matters for the disease to grow upon and feed the disease they be no good to the bodie but mischief to it some men have great big arms and legs but what bigness is it a bigness that comes by disease by dropsies such humors their bodies being full of them they feed the disease of the bodie now be these humors anie such things as that we should rejoice in do they make for the good of the bodie they make for the bigness but not the goodness of the bodie So anie mans estate that makes matter to feed lust upon and nourish and grow upon this such a man is so much the more miserable by how much the more Prosperous he is as usuallie wicked men through the malignitie in their hearts they do make all their Prosperitie to be nothing else but nourishment for lust to breed on As it is with a gracious heart it will turn al things he doth injoy to be matter for his grace to work upon and to further the work of grace so a wicked heart will turn all he doth injoy to be matter for his lust to work upon and to further his lust the excellencie of grace appears in the one and the malignitie of sin appears in the other Now if sin be so great an evil then whatsoever a man injoys if it be a furtherance of sin and nourish sin it makes him the more miserable a miserable creature though a prosperous man yet this man is miserable because his Prosperitie makes him more sinful 2 If his Prosperitie doth give him further liberty in Sin As thus Manie men that be poor be quicklie restrained they have manie restraints alas they be afraid the Law will get hold of them if they be drunk or unclean he is quicklie restrained may be he dares not for fear of the displeasure of some friend he depends upon a hundred things keeps in men in affliction from taking their libertie in Sin which otherwise his heart would have committed whereas a man Prosperous in the world takes libertie and who shall controule him he will be drunk and unclean and break the Sabbath and who dares controule and speak to him and I beseech you observe this manie men account that the greatest happiness of Prosperitie that by this means they may come to have their wils their sinful wills that they shall live without controul in the satisfying their sinful lusts this they account the happiness of Prosperitie This is a most abominable cursed happiness to account the good of Prosperitie to consist in this That it gives more libertie to sin Oh it is a most Pestelentious Power that inables to do mischief
thee lies been a means to undo an immortal soul yea and to cause them to sin against the infinite God so that thou art guiltie of everie sin thou hast been a means to draw others to and thou art worse than those that have sinned for thy act in drawing them to it is a dreadful evil and then that which they have done is thine too Hast not thou sins of thine own enough to answer for before the Lord but thou must have the sins of another also Dost thou know what thou hast done in enticing others to sin either to uncleanness drunkenness to companie keeping and breach of the Sabbath and other sins Perhaps thou hast brought them to pilfering and purloining and many other particulars and other waies that might he named for indeed if we should enlarge our selves in this Point it might well require a whol Treatise but we must contract our thoughts It may be there are some in this Congregation that have been a means to draw others to sin and they be now in Hell at this instant for that sin thou wert a cause of What a sad thing is this for any man or woman to have this to lay to heart I know I have drawn such and such to sin I have been a means at least to further sin in them well they be dead and gone and they manifested no repentance before they died and therfore for ought I know yea it is much to be feared that they be now in Hell and now a tormenting for that verie sin I was the cause of and if the Lord gives me wages according to my works I must thither to them What shall they be in Hell for the sins I brought them to and shall I escape is it anie way likelie and probable but that I must follow when as they be there for the sins I brought them to what shall the Accessarie be condemned and executed and shal not the Principal I am the Principal and the other is but the Accessarie Certainly there had need be a mightie work of humiliation for thou art in exceeding danger that art the cause of bringing anie other to sin for it is that must needs lie exceeding heavie upon the soul of anie man and woman if God never give you a sight of this great evil certainlie you perish but suppose God do give you the sight of so great an evil and you begin to be humbled Oh this very meditation wil cause your humiliation to be full of bitterness and will cause it to be very hard for you to lay hold upon mercie and pardon when you shall think thus Ah were it for my own sins only I were to answer for I might have greater hope but there be others sins I drew them into and they be condemned perhaps and in Hel and how shall I escape condemnation my self I do not say that there is an impossibilitie of pardon for the Grace of God is infinite and were it not infinite it were impossible for such a soul to perish and thou that art the cause of it come to be saved I say there is a possibilitie but it is as if it were through the fire if ever thou escape do but thou consider if it should be that thou shouldest die in impenitencie also as the other did and that thou didest go to Hell when you two should meet at the day of Judgment and he should see thee the cause that drew him to sin Oh what a grief it would be to thee how would he curse thee and the time that ever he saw thy face that ever he lived in that Familie where thou livedst It may be some Parents have been a means to draw by counsel and advice the Child to sin Oh the Child when he sees his Parent at the Day of Judgment how will he curse the time that ever he came from such Loyns and such a womans Womb Oh that rather he had been the off-spring of a Dragon and the generation of a Viper than from the Loyns of such a man and woman you encouraged me to such and such waies of sin to opposition and hatred and speaking evil against the People of God the Servants of God that were strict in their way and now you and I must perish eternally sure in Hell they will be readie to cast fire-brands in one anothers faces that have been the cause of sin in one another in this world and so Husband and Wife that lie in one anothers bosoms if they be the cause of any sin in one another it may cause woful terror to them and appear worse than if a Serpent had lay in their bosom for those that draw others to sin do worse mischief than any Serpent or Viper in the world can do You had need look to it betimes I shall wind it up with this one Note Whosoever hath been the cause to draw others to commit any Sin know this That the least that can be required if God do give thee a sight of thy sin and to be humbled for it if thou doest go away out of the presence of God as having an Arrow darted into thy bosom for this then I say go away with this one Note You be bound to make some restitution in a spiritual way as much as you can For this you know I shewed before in a mans temporal Estate when you have wronged you must make restitution if you will have mercie you must make up the wrong as you are able much more here when you have wronged any in their souls a Soul wrong calls for Spiritual Restitution as well as Body wrong or Estate wrong calls for a Bodilie or Estate Restitution Quest What do you mean will you say by this Spiritual Restitution Answ This I mean That if those be alive that thou hast drawn to sin thou art bound to this part of Restitution that is To go to them and to undo what possibly thou canst what thou hast done and now to tell them of the evil of that sin and to do them all the good for their Souls that possibly thou canst Now to shew to them how God hath convinced thee and what the work of God hath been upon thee and how heavie and dreadful sin hath been made to thee and to beseech them for the Lords sake to look to themselves and to consider of their estates and to repent of that their sin that you were the cause to bring them to And so if there be anie means in the world wherbie thou canst do good unto their Souls thou art bound to do it yea to them their children their friends as you are bound to make restitution unto the next friends and heirs of those that you have wronged in their goods if the partie wronged be dead So if those should be dead thou hast drawn to sin suppose when thou wast yong thou drewest such a man to drunkenness adulterie or the like and they be dead and gone thou art bound to
from thy self 4 Thou art not like to hold out Also two Answers to an Objection of those that think they avoid sin for fear of Hell 1. Thy Sensitive part may be most stirr'd by fear but yet thy rational part may be most carried against sin as sin 2. Those that avoid sin meerly for fear never come to love the Command that forbid the sin 3 They are willingly ignorant of many sins 4. Those that avoid sin and not out of fear even when they fear God will destroy them then they desire God may be glorified 5. Those that avoid sin out of fear do not see the excellency of Godliness so as to be inamored with it Thirdly It reprehends those that will sin to avoid affliction Fourthly It rebukes such as when they are under affliction they be more sensible of affliction than of sin Also there is five Discoveries whether mens affliction or sin trouble them Fifthly It reprehends those that get out of Affliction by sinful courses and yet think they do well Sixthly It reprehends those that after deliverance from affliction can bless themselves in their sins Use XVII COme we now to the last thing The last Use is this I wil but shew what might have been said and so wind up all There are six sorts of People that from this Point are reprehended You shall see all Naturally follow from the Point in hand that there is greater Evil in Sin than in Affliction First Such kind of people as be more afraid of Affliction than of sin There be many people very â—hy of Affliction and solicitous to prevent Affliction but not to prevent Sin Many reason thus I had need be a good Husband and lay up somwhat I know not what I may meet withal before I die I may want before I die many are penurious and covetous and will not enlarge themselves to good uses when God calls because they be afraid they and their Children may want before they die who knows what we may meet withal and thus they are careful to prevent Affliction But for Sin they do not lay up to prevent that whereas we should be very solicitous least we should be drawn into temptation and therefore we are taught to pray Lead us not into temptation as well as Forgive us our trespasses True God keeps me from such and such sins but what if God should leave me to temptation what a wretched Creature should I be if ever this corrupt heart of mine should prevail against me as I have cause to fear I find such wickedness boyling and bubling up and such pronenesse to such and such sin if the Lord be not infinitely merciful to me I shall break out to the dishonor of his Name scandal of Religion and wounding of my Conscience and this God knows causes the most solicitous care that I ever had least my heart should break out against God to the scandal of that holy Profession I have taken upon me Oh is it thus with you Oh this were a happy thing indeed As when men hear of one that is broke they wil inquire what is the reason he had such an Estate what is the reason he broke One may be saith he trusted Servants too much and that caused him to break Oh this will cause him to look so to it that he will never trust his Servants too much Another may be saith Because he lived above his means and this makes him that he will not live above his means And another He will have his Country House and his Servants riot at home when he is abroad And another He trusted too much and such like Reasons Now we will be wise to take heed of that which brings others to afflictions So it should be with us when we see any fall into sin Professors that made a shew of Religion and afterwards fall foully inquire now what is the matter this man broke he broke his Conscience what is the matter one that had such admirable gifts and made such a Profession Oh may be all the time he had a proud heart therefore I will keep my heart humble Oh he had Excellent Gifts and enlargements in Prayer but he had a slight vain Spirit Oh let me take heed of this root of bit ternesse in my Soul He is broke now but what is the matter Oh he began to be sluggish and cold in Closet work and such duties in his Family Oh let me take heed and keep up communion with God in secret in my Closet and in my Family He broke indeed but how Oh some secret sin he kept in his bosom there was some secret sin he let his heart hanker after and now God hath left him to it now by Gods grace I will look to my self I will by the grace of God take heed of secret sins Thus Brethren if we were sensible of the evil of Sin we would be thus careful to prevent the evil of sin as well as the evil of affliction And so many for their Children Oh they will be providing for their Children that they may live like men and have somwhat to take to but if you were apprehensive of the evil of sin you would provid for their Souls as well as their Bodies and therefore Oh let me put him in a good Family and there he may learn to prevent sin This is the First To reprove those that labor to prevent Affliction but not Sin Secondly It serves to reprove those that be careful to keep themselves from sin but 't is meerly for fear of affliction only upon that ground as if there were not evil enough in sin it self but all the evil were in affliction Certainly these men and women understand not this That there is more evil in Sin than in Affliction if thou didest understand and wert sensible of this Point I have treated upon thou wouldest find Arguments enough from sin it self to keep thee from sin though no affliction should follow Thou abstainest from sin what is the reason not because of any great evil thou seest in sin but because of affliction thy Conscience tells thee it will bring thee to trouble and into affliction and this keeps away sin 'T is true it is good for men and women to avoid sin upon any terms and this is one motive God propounds to avoid sin by but this is not all or the chief motive because of affliction and trouble Conscience tells thee God will be even with thee and the wrath of God pursues thee very few come so far to have such apprehensions of the evil consequences of sin and to avoid sin upon them grounds But you should labor not only to avoid sin from the evil consequences of sin but for the evil of sin it self for if thou avoid sin only from the evil consequences of sin Know 1 This may be without change of Nature a man or a woman may be in such an estate as they may not dare to commit some sin out of fear
bread from door to door than have got their estate by sin Seeing there is so much evil in Sin let these men consider these things Such as have Prosperity by Sin let them consider 1 This thy Prosâ—… it cost dear exceeding dear of thou make up thy reckoning and put all in that it cost thee you will find you be no gainers at all When men have got any thing in possession they usually reckon I but what did this cost me thus much or thus much and if they see that the costs and charges comes not so high as the benefit then they applaud themselves as gainers Well you have gotten Estates Preferments Honors be it what it will in the world but what did it cost you Some sin or other did you not strain your Conscience in that benefit you have got And if did so certainly if this be put in the reckoning if there were any sin in it thou hast got nothing by the bargain What hope hath a hipocrite though he hath gained though he may seem to have gained his own hearts desire yet if all be reckoned put in what Sin it cost and there is no gain at all If any of you should go to Sea and when you come there you suffer shipwrack and yet thou makest a shift to get home by boat or some other way saving your life and when you come home you have brought a toy or trifle to your wife now hath this been a good voyage do you reckon this a good voyage perhaps it was for a toy you suffered shipwrack and you bring this home do you think this will make the voyage good when you have cast up your reckoning How many men and women in the world for trifles and toyes suffer shipwrack of a good Conscience when you look upon that you have got it is but a trifle and a toy you might have been happie without it and you have ventured shipwrack of a good Conscience for this do you think your prosperitie to be delighted in that you have got in sinful and vile evil waies I remember the Prophet when he came to Ahab when he had gotten Naboths Vineyard by most cursed sinful wicked waies 1 Kings 21. 19. God bad him go and meet Ahab and say What hast thou killed and gotten possession As if the Prophet should say Oh wretched man that thou art thou hast gotten possession of the Vinyard but hast thou killed and gotten possession So may I say to anie wicked man or woman in the world that hath got by waies of sin What hast thou sinned and gotten possession lyed and gotten possession cozened and cheated and gotten possession Dost thou think good will come of this art thou happie in the enjoyment of this Well 2 Know Whatsoever thou hast gotten by sin it is accursed to thee Thou maiest look upon every bit of bread thou eatest that thou hast got by sinful waies look upon it as having death in it and everie draught of beer wine thou drinkest thou maiest look upon it as having the wrath of the Almightie mixed with it You have got an Estate perhaps you were poor and mean before but now you have wronged and cheated and cozened others in sinful waies and now you have your tables furnish't and can go to the Tavern and drink in this meat and drink of thine there is the wrath and curse of God Suppose a man had stollen a garment and it proved to be in a house that had the plague suppose a theef got into a house that hath the plague and hath got cloathes and perhaps the bed-cloathes of one that died of the plague and if one tel him what they be can he have delight in them perhaps he hath them upon his bed but the plague is in them Certainly whatsoever any of you in all your lives have got by any way of sin the plague is in it that is a certain truth there is the plague the very curse of the Almightie in it 3 Therefore Whatsoever is got by sin it must be cast away or else thy soul is cast away It must be restored again there must be restitution made to the utmost of thy power for any thing got in a sinful way for there is so much evil in the way of sin that God will not have any man by any means in the world enjoy comforts that come that way God himself doth so hate Sin and he would have all his people so hate Sin that he would not have any one in the world have any comfort by Sin Therefore as soon as ever anie ones Conscience comes to be enlightened to understand what Sin means if they find that there be any thing in the house got in a sinful way they can never be quiet til they have render'd it back again the sight of it strikes terror into them they cannot endure to come into the room to see that got in a sinful way There have been some have got much by waies of Sin and when they have lain upon their sick and death beds and conscience awakened Oh they have cried for Gods sake take them from my sight they could not bear such things in their sight that they have got in the waies of sin As â—udas got thirtie pieces out of a covetous huâ—or he would have money and not be so poor as the other Disciples but he gets mony in a sinful way but when Conscience came to be awakened and terrified he goeth and a kind of vengeance goeth with him he goeth and throweth it to the Scribes and Pharisees he throws them down they were to hot for him he could not indure the scalding of them in his Conscience they were even as it were melted in his Soul he could not keep the thirtie pieces they were so terrible to him So certainly that 's thy 30. peeces any houshold stuffe any thing thou hast got in a sinful way oh it will be terrible to you one day I beseech you brethren take notice of it any one that hath got by waies of sin anie thing it is not enough to the salvation of that soul that it hath been never so much sorrowful all the sorrow in the world and repentance thou canst have for sin will not save thy soul except thou dost restore except restitution to the utmost of your abilitie be made you can never have comfort and assurance that sin is pardoned It is an old speech of an ancient The Sin is not remitted till that taken away be restored There are many men and women they think if they can get anie thing by sinful waies they will repent and pray to God for forgiveness and be sorrie and yet keep that gotton in a sinful way No that will not serve the turn all thy praying to God with never so much sorrow yet there must be restitution of what you have sinfully gotton to the utmost of your abilities though the partie be dead you must not keep it Suppose whomsoever