reioycing in it boasting of it yea pleading for it and applauding our selves for our wickednesse Between sin prevailing as a Tyrant and sinne raining as a lawfull Soveraigne Against the intention and with full resolution Between being hunted by sinne and Satan untill we be overborne by the violence and strength of his temptations and our owne corruptions and so led captive against our wils and besides our purpose and contrary to our resolution and yeelding full consent yea hunting after sinne and the occasions thereof Yea drawing sinne unto us as with cart-ropes and committing it even with greedinesse Between being better and more carefull afterward as Peter after his deniall and being hardned through the custome of sinne growing worse and worse because iudgement is deferred and thou hast hitherto scaped punishment Between yeelding to one sinne and entertaining all that offer themselves So adding sinne unto sin and heaping up wrath against the day of wrath Between being surprised on the suddaine when Satan hath us at some extraordinary advantage of time place company c. and committing it upon deliberation advisedly and of set purpose Yea studdying plotting and devising how to make others joyne with us in the same sin Between rising up againe by true and unfained repentance being sensible of our owne weaknesse bewailing the same carefully looking to our feet striving to â—unâ—â— more swiftly in the way of righteousnesse flying â—â—to God by fervent prayer desiring the assistance of his spirit whereby we may be able to mortefie our flesh and the corruptions thereof never resting untill we have throughly washed our poluted soules with the blood of Christ applyed unto us by a lively faith and willfull impenitencie joyned with hardnes of heart Even blessing thy selfe in thine owne heart saying J shall have peace although J walke according to the stubbornenesse of mine owne heart Yea the difference is such that the Holy Ghost in favour of the sinceere and upright will not vouchsafe to the one the name of sin As see 1 John 3. 9. Who so is borne of God sinneth not that is with full consent of will and what saith the Law it selfe If violence be offered to a virgin if she cry â—ut shee shall not dye but if she cry not out she shall be punished with death Deut 22. 25. 26. 27. Sect. 29. Which being so may make thee of another mind that is to thinke much better of them whom thou condemnest and far worse of thy selfe 1. Better of them for no mortall creature can be so vigilant or Argus eyed but sometimes he may be surprised by an enemie Sometimes grace is asleep in the holiest and wariest breasts while they are miscaried by their passions to their cost To be alwaies and unchangeably good is proper only to the glorified spirits in Heaven For in the Church militant here below a man may be a good Archer though he doe not alwayes hit the marke Yea it hath ever been held that a few times hitting countervailes often times missing 2. Worse of thy selfe For have they committed such and such sinnes and so broken their promise and vow made unto God in baptisme It was full sore against their wils but thou never hadst the least desire to performe thine Yea it hath ever been thy whole delight to breake the same And certainly he is an honester man that owing a great sum of money and promising payment thereof payes what he is able though he fall never so short of it then he who owing the like sum making the like promise is so far from paying what he should that he squanders away what he hath and never intends to pay a farthing Are their sins in them great sinnes as great in them as in thee what then There is sinne in the regenerate there is nothing but sinne in the unregenerate Even the Spouse in the Caticles justly complaines of her blacknesse yet she is faire among other women Cant. 5. Though the Publican was not simply and sufficienrly justified yet he was rather justified then the Pharisee Our good actions cannot iustifie us because in them the flesh lusteth against the spirit Nor yet can our ill actions condemne us because in them the spirit lusteth against the flesh Wee are all bound to keep the Law and might have kept it perfectly had it not been our own fault But since the Fall we cannot keep one tittle of it so sinne we muâ—t of necessity and the wages of every sin is death by that law yet no necessity of dying the death except we love death more then life For God in his infinite wisedome and goodnesse hath not only found out a way to satisfie his justice and the law but given his only begotten sonne to dye for us and to redeeme us that whosoever beleeveth in him should not perish but have everlasting life Iohn 3. 16. A mercy offered and a way found out that may astonish all the sons of men on earth and Angels in Heaven But are we beleevers or unbeleevers this is the maine of all for First God esteemes of faith above all other graces deeds or acts of ours John 6. 28. 29. Secondly If we are beleevers we have Chriâ—t for our sur ety and he hath redeemed and delivered us from the rigor and curse of the Law Gal. 3. 13. and 5. 1. Rom. 7. 6. and 10. 4. Neither are we any longer under the law but under grace Rom 6. 14. and shall be iudged by the perfect law of liberty Gal. 5 1. James â— 25. Because Christ hath sufficiently satisfied his fathers justice for all the sinnes of the faithfull and paid our debt even to the utmost farthing Isay 53. 4. 5. 2 Cor. 5. 21. Heb. 9. 26. 1 Pet. 2. 24. Rom. 3. 25. 26 1 John 1. 7 9. Yea if we lay hold on him by a lively faith our sins are his sinnes and his righteousuesse our righteousnesse Jer. 23. 6. Psal 4. 1. Not that we may sinne the more freely for even to beleevers the Law is given that grace may be required and grace is given that the law may be fulfilled by us evangelically for us by Christ whose righteousnesse is ours perfectly The Law is a glasse to shew us our spots the Gospel a fountaine to wash them away Wee looke upon the Law to keepe us from presumption and upon the Gospel to keep us from dispaire True every sinne a beleever commits deserves damnation but no sinne shall condemne but the lying and continuing in it Secondly so our failings be not willfull though they be manyand great yet they cannot hinder our interest in the promises of God For God that worketh in us both the will and the worke Will accept the will for the worke and that which is wanting in us Christ will supply with his owne righteousnesse He respecteth not what weâ— can doe so much as what we would doâ— and that which we would performe and cannot he esteemeeth as though it were performed Sect. 30. Heare this
little wedges make way unto greater or as little theeves being let in at a window will set open large doors for greater theeves to come in at Yea from very small evils not let at the beginning spring oftentimes great and mighty mischiefes as for example pilfering a few plums to please the pallat makes way for a lye a lye makes way for an oath and an oath having past both undiscovered and unpunished makes way for downright perjury And so in other cases asw ho would have thought that Davids wanton look should have begot murther which together with his adultery would have been prevented had he but with Job made a covenant with his eyes Whereas admit the serpents head his body will ask no leave Yea if the tempter but gets in his claw by our willing toleration and continuance of one lust it shall be hard but he will thereby procure room for greater evils to enter Neither can thy soul or mine be in safety without a resolute defiance of every sin for yeeld to one and ye invite many relieve one and all the rest will croud in for almes Neither is it any praise to be sparing of a vicious delight for the very last is deadly the least sinne serving in some measure to harden our hearts defile our consciences and blind our minds aswell as greater Sect. 41. Thirdly They scruple whatsoever is sinfull because no sin can be light or small in him whom God hath so much obliged honoured as of a bondslave to Satan and firebrand of hell to adopt him his son and assure him of an immortall kingdom for such know that sin is Gods mortall enemy whence he argues thus The great and holy God will not disgest that any shall make leagues of amity with the meanest of his enemies much lesse that his owne endeered child for whom he hath done so much should make the temple of the holy Ghost an habitation for that guest he hates so deadly And the holines of the person adds much to the unholinâ—s of the act Eminency of profession doubles both the offence and the judgement As how hainously did the Lord take that seeming small sin in Hezekiah when he did but shew the Babilonish Ambassadors all his treasures and what punishment did he threaten for the same which was accordingly accomplished 2 Kings 20. 15. 17. 18. What sin would a man think could be smaller then that of the Prophet when he but turned into the other Prophets house to eate bread being hungry and also presuming that he had a warrant from God so to do 1 Kings 13. yet he lost his life for it And we see how Vzza for onely putting his hand to the Arke to stay it when the oxen did shake it a small sin will a carnall heart say And yet the Lord for this small sinne in great wroth smore him that he dyed in the same place 2 Sam. 6. 7. The Philistims handled it far more rudely and irreverently and yet most of them escaped with far lesse punishment if any at all 1 Sam. 5. 1. 2 Yea read we not of more then fifty thousand Bethshemites stroke dead in the place For only looking into the Ark. 1 Sam. 6. 19. to teach us that no sin is light or small so long as it is forbidden The Church is to God as a House a Garden a Spouse And wee know that men who will abide durt in the streets will not endure it in their Houses they that will suffer weeds in the field will not permit them in their Gardens men that can beare with wanton carriages in a Strumpet will not endure an unchast looke in their Spouse No marvell then if God will not endure small sinnes in his beloved and deale more severely with them then with others Therefore it behoves all that have an interest in him to be carefull what they doe and not to offend him willfully by the least provocation But Sect. 42. Fourthly They make conscience of small sinnes because the wages of sinne be it small or great is death Rom 6. 23. Nor is any sin small but comparatively Luke 11. 42. That distinction which the Papists use of mortall and veniall sinnes never tooke its ground from Gods word Or admit the act bee small yet the Cercomstances may make it deadly And by how much easier the Law by so much sorer the punishment for breaking that Law Quo levius mandatum eo gravius delictum saith Austine In difficult precepts the obedience is more acceptable but in light commands the omission is more Damnable saith Barnard We may say of this or that sinne as Lot of Zoar is it not a little one Or as Ananias might have said of his sinne I did it but once but that one little sin be it what it will will everlastingly damn us if wee sue not out a pardon for it in the blood of Christ Besides how were the Angels in Heaven punished for one fault Adam for one Apple Moses for one unbeleefe Ely for his indulgence only Ananias sold a possession for the Churches releefe he only told a lye nimed a little he thought the Holy Ghost had no need of it or could not misse it but that lye that little cost him deare Alasse one flaw in a Diamond takes away the lustre and the price One peece of Ward Land makes the Heir lyable to the King And one sin will keepe possession for Sathan as well as twenty 2 What is a Mountain of Earth but an acumulation of many little dusts Or what is a Flood but a concurrence of many little drops One haire doth not hang a man many haires twisted together will even our lusts are able to serve us like Absalom and halter us at the next bough Many threds make a Cord many Cordes a Cable and Cables hold huge Vessels If actuall sinne be a sword every little lust is a sharp thorne And a little prick with a thorne neglected may fester to an agangreen A little Pinne especially being poysoned may prove mortall as well as a great weapon And what matters it whether a man receive his death from a Pistol or a great Ordnance Yea oftentimes a wind that comes in at a crany or â—revice or some narrow passage doth a man more hurt then an open storme Sect. 43. Fifthly It hath beene ever Gods wont by small precepts to proue mens dispositions as hee proved Adam in the prohibited fruit and the evill servant with one talent Yea had not the rest well improved their talents they had been taken away instead of being doubled But God first credits 〈◊〉 with lesse things as men prove vessels with water before they trust them with Wine And small precepts from God are both as strong bands and least things as great tryalls of a good conscience as the greatest Obedience is as well tyed and tryed and disobedience as well punished in a little as in much Many think they may ly a little for advantage or answer when told
is Satans mind in their mouth his heart in their lips 119. No possibility of beeing saved untill wee find our selves in a lost condition 32. Every Atheist upon occasion can seem a saint 146. Scandals are traps and ginns laid to destroy wicked men 75. while they scoffe at us God laughs at them 127. if they cannot seduce us they will traduce us 116. Signes of a wicked man 39. Sinne is so bred in the bone that it will never out of the flesh 52. the godly see sinne in all they speake think or do 8. but naturall men want eyes to see their sinnes 22. trouble for sin a good signe 78. the lesse sensible the more sick 33. naturall men will either deny their sins or justifie them or shift them off to some other 18. or by subtile distinctions make them no sinnes 18. petty sinnes no sinnes with them 19. they are never troubled for sinfull thoughts vain words c. 16. or for Sinnes of omission 16. the true Catholick hath a Catholick care of all sinne 92. a vast difference betweene the sinnes of the Godly and wicked in divers particulars 62. Sinne in the regenerate nothing but sinne in the unregenerate 65. the sinnes of the Godly and wicked so differ that in comparison the former are said not to sinne 63. where sinne now abounds grace may asmuch abound 48. to be the same alone and in publique a notable signe of sincâ—rity 96. They slander us to mitigate their own shame 117. If we scruple small matters they say wee stumble at strawes and leap over blocks 82. but it is themselves that strain at gnats and swallow Camels 82. Six reasons of making conscience of smal sins 85. 87. 88. 89. 93. to scruple smal sins the best evidence of sincerity 95 examples of severe punishment for small sinnes 89. 90. least things great tryalls of a good conscience 92. hee that is unjust in the least will rather in the greatest 92. 93. the wages of the least sin is death 90. one sin will keep possession for Satan as well astwenty 91. no sinne small but comparatively 90. They speak evil of us because they cannot doe evill to us 120 or that they may have some colour to persecute us 120. or that they may incite others to do the like 121. The spirit only â—onvinces of sinne 34 36. How to know whether we be spirituall or no 14. They forestall the simple with strange surmises against the godly 125. If we refuse to sweare or drink with them we are puritans 81 T. A good signe to know the true religion by 12 to know the truth wee must become spirituall 4. the truthes adversaâ—ies pretend as great love to it as heâ— best friends 154. nothing must bee yeelded to that may prejudice the truth 108. some as deeply in love with vice and error as others are with vertue and truth 2 V. Why God permits his people to vary 6. The better vice is the worse it is 135. The uprightnesse of Lewis the 12t 126. W. The Waldenses cleared 126. God will not see weaknesses where he sees truth 36. Wicked men flint unto good wax to what is ill 105 they cannot but tell others that they are wicked 43. they honour us by deriding us 175. God in his accepts of the will for the work 66. We can do nothing without a million of witnesses 96 we may judge of men by their workes 41. and by their words 42. 43. it is only in Christ that we or our works are accepted 32. Z A description of Zeale 104. naturall men preferre a quiet prophanes before a Zealous devotion 106. FJNJS Errata The Reader is desired to expunge two lines and a halfe in page 31 beginning at the 22. line which by an over-â—iâ—ht escaped and in page 137. line 5. for Herod-like read Pilate-like Other litterall mistakes and points misplaced there are which the reader may be pleased to beare withall