see what a deadly destructive and killing thing thy sin is Bvery mouth must be stopped there 's no room for complaint against God or his Law for thou art as all others are by becoming guilty sallen short of the glory and subject to the judgment of God Rom. 3 -19.-23 So that by the Commandment sin appears to be a desperate malignant thing the proper true and only cause of mans condemnation and death From this brief yet clear account of the Text and Context these following truths are deducible 1. Observations from the Text. That the Law of God in whole and every part is good not only not sin i. e. culpable or criminal as v. 7. or only holy and just v. 12. or spiritual v. 14. but good v. 12 13. good not only in it self but relatively in its institution with respect to man for 't was ordain'd to life v. 10. Yet 2. This good Law transgressed makes man over to death Patience that temperate and harmless thing if abused turns to rage and fury so the Law good though it be yet abused it condemns and kills But 3. Though the Law condemn mans fault and man for his fault yet still the Law is good and is not to blame nor to be blam'd The Law is as good as ever 't was 't is to be justified by man even then when it condemns man As man had no reason to break the Law so none to sind fault with the Law though it bind men over to death for breaking of it For 4. 'T is not the Law but sin that works mans death and ruine sin aims at no less and if grace prevent not it will end in no less for the end and wages of sin is death Rom. 6.21 22. Yet 5. Sin 't is true worketh mans death and destruction by that which is good scil the Law when sin hath used man to break the Law it useth the Law to break man to undo him by condemnation and death And 6. Sin is therefore exceeding sinful and wicked most unmeasurably spiteful poysonous and pernicious because it kills men and not only so but kills them by that which is good and was appointed to man for life it turns food into poyson ut agnoscatur quam sceleratus peccator sit hoc peccatum quam pestisera res dum per mandatum rem salutiferam exserit virus suum Clarius Like the horrid and cursed wickedness our stories tell us of so wickedly committed in poysoning a man yea a King by the Cup of Blessing So that 7. And lastly Sin by the Commandment appears to be excessively sinful Vt evidens sit quam perniciosum quam grave quam scelestum sit ipsum peccatum Zegerus If we look on this through the Microscope-glass of the Law it will appear a most hideous devillish and hellish thing the most wicked villanous mischievous virulent and deadly thing that ever was Sinful sin worse then the Devil c. of which anone I may not prosecute any of these particulars apart for I shall have occasion enough to speak to every and each of them in handling the sinfulness of sin in relation whereunto I intend to observe this method and to manifest thereby 1. What sin is The subject and method of handling it the thing so much and so deservedly evil spoken of whereof none can speak well but they that speak ill of it for they speak best who speak the worst of sin 2. Wherein the sinfulness of sin doth especially consist and so to lay open not only its effects but its nature also 3. What witness and evidence there is to make good this Indictment and Charge against Sin that it is so vile and abominable so sinful as the Apostle calls it And 4. What use and improvement is to be made of the Doctrine of Sins excessive sinfulness 1. To begin with the subject 1 Whââ ãâã is and to shew what sin is Sin is the transgression of a Law yea of a good Law yea of a Gods Law Sin supposeth a Law in being for where there is no Law there is no transgression Rom. 4.15 but where there is sin there is a Law and a transgression of the Law 1 Joh. 3.4 whosoever committeth sin transgresseth the Law for sin is a transgression of the Law and this is the sin intended here in the Text as appears by v. 7. Now the Law not only forbids the doing of evil whether by thought word or deed but also commands the doing of good so that to omit the good commanded is sin as well or ill as is the doing of the evil that is forbidden against the fruits of the spirit there is no Law but against the works of the flesh as the opposition holds there is Law for they are all against the Law as the Apostle tells us Galat. 5 19.-24 what ever then doth transgress the Law of God in whole or in part James 2.10 is therefore and is therein a sin whither it break an affirmative or a negative precept i. e. whither it be the omission of good or commission of evil 2. 2 Wherein the sinfulness of sin To proceed and lay open wherein especially the sinfulness of sin doth consist which is easily and readily known from its definition or description just now set before us Sin being a transgression of Gods Law which is not only holy and just as made and given by an holy and just God but good also as it respects man for whom God made it according to the Text and Context and as 't is in Deuter. 5.29 and 6.24 with many other places I say sin being a transgression of Gods Law which was made for mans good the sinfulness of sin must needs lie in this that it is contrary 1. To God 2. To Man These then are the two Heads I shall insist upon to declare the malignity and wicked nature of sinful sin and both these are evident from the Law for by it as our Text speaks sin appears sin and by the Commandment sin clearly and undeniably becomes most exceeding hyperbolically or above measure sinful i. e. extremely guilty of displeafing and dishonoring God of debasing and destroying man and on both accounts justly obnoxious to and deservingly worthy of the hatred of God and man as to which I do heartily wish the issue to be that man may hate it as God doth who hates it and nothing else but it or to be sure he hates none but for it Of sins contrariety to God 1. 1 Sin is contrary to God Then the sinfulness of sin not only appears by but consists in this that 't is contrary to God yea contrariety and enemity it self in the very abstract Carnal men or sinners are called by the name of enemies to God Rom 5.8 with 10. Col. 1.21 but the carnal mind or sin is called enmity it self Rom. 8.7 and accordingly it and its acts are exprest by names of enmity and acts of hostility as walking contrary to
might be no God for sinners are haters of God Rom. 1.30 And as he that hates his Brother is a Murtherer 1 Joh. 3.15 so as much as in him lies he that hates God is a murtherer of God It keeps Garrisons and strong holds against God 2 Cor 10.4 5. It strives with and fights against God and if its power were as great as its will is wicked it would not suffer God to be God âs a troublesome thing to sinners and therefore âhey say to him depart from us Job 21.14 and âf Christ Jesus let us break his bonds in sunder and cast his cords far from us Psal 2.1 2. And when the Holy Ghost comes to woe and entreat them to be reconciled they resist and make war with the spirit of peace Acts 7.51 so that they are against every person in the Trinity Father Son and Spirit In short and for a conclusion sin is contrary to God and all that 's dear to him or hath his name upon it and though it be against all good yet not so much against any good as against God who is and because he is the chiefest good Before we pass on let me beseech thee who ever thou be that readest to pause a little and consider of what is said for mutato nomine dâ te what 's said of sin is to be consider'd by the sinner and is meant of thine and my sin Shalâ I not plead for God and thy Soul and entreaâ thee to be on Gods side and depart from thâ Tents of wickedness Poor Soul Canst thou finâ it in thine heart to hug and imbrace such a Monster as this is Wilt thou love that which hateâ God and which God hates God forbid Wiââ thou joyn thy self to that which is nothing buâ contrariety to God and all that 's good Oh saâ to this Idol yea to this Devil Get hence whaâ have I to do with thee thou Elymas Sorcereâ thou full of all malignity and mischief thoâ Child yea Father of the Devil thou that art thâ Founder of Hell an Enemy to all righteousness that ceasest not to pervert the right way of the Lord and to reproach the living God Away away Shall I be seduced by thee to grieâ the God of all my joy to displease the God ãâã all my comfort to vex the God of all my coâtent to do evil against a good God by whom I live move and have my being Oh no. Thus consider of these things and do not go on to provoke the Lord least a worse thing befall thee then any hitherto do not contend with God who is stronger then thou art who is able when he will and he will be one day found both able and willing enough to turn the wicked into hell the Element of sin and sinners who shall go into it as into their own place as Judas did Acts 1.25 Oh learn to pity thine own soul for he that sinneth doth as offend and wrong God so wrong and destroy his own soul or as some read the Text despiseth his own soul Prov 8.36 Oh think on 't what hast thou no value no regard for thy soul wilt thou neglect and despise it as if 't were good for nothing but to be damn'd and go to hell wilt thou be felo de se a self-soul-murtherer shall thy perdition be of thy self Oh look to thy self for sin notwithstanding all its flattering pretences is against thee and seeks nothing less then thy ruine and damnation And this brings and leads me to the second thing to be treated of Sins contrariety to Man The second thing wherein the sinfulness of sin doth consist 2 Sin is contrary to the good of man is its contrariety to the good of Man which is the thing that our Text doth especially ment on and intend and is therefore to be the more copiously spoken to Sin is contrary to the good of man and nothing is properly ând absolutely so but sin and this results and is evident from sins contrariety to God as there is nothing contrary to God but sin for Devils are not so but by sin so sin in being contrary to God is and cannot but be contrary to man that must he unavoidably evil to man that 's evil against God who is the chiefest good of man communion with and conformity to God is mans felicity his heaven upon earth and in heaven too without which it would not be worth his while to have a being Now sin being a separation between God and Man an interruption of this communion and conformity it must needs be prejudicial and hurtful to him Beside the Commandment of which sin is a transgression was given not only for Gods sake that he might have glory from mans obedience but for Mans sake that man might enjoy the good and benefit of his obedience and find that in keeping the Commands of God there is great reward These two were twisted together and no sooner is the Law transgrest but God and Man are joynt-sufferers God in his glory and Man in his good Mans suffering follows at the heel of sin yea as he suffers by so in sinning suffering and sinning involve each other No sooner did sin enter into the world but death which is a privation oâ good did enter by it with it and in it for 't is the sting of death so that sin saith here its death and death saith here is sin No sooneâ did Angels sin but they fell from their first estate and habitation which they had with God in glory not a moment between their sin and misery and as soon as man had sinned his conscienââ told him that he was naked and destitute oâ righteousness and protection and consequently an undone man that he could not endure Gods presence nor his own Genes 3.7 8. So apparent is it that sin and that in being contrary to God is contrary to man for what crosseth Gods glory is cross to mans happiness Now To proceed more distinctly and particularly 1 In this life I shall evince that sin is against mans good both present and future here in time and hereafter in Eternity in this life and world which now is and in that to come against all and every good of man and against the good of all and every man And herein lies the second instance of the sinfulness of sin as it is 1 Against mans present good in this life and that 1 Against the good of his body 2 Against the good of his soul For on both it hath brought a curse and death 1 Sin is against the good of mans body 1 Against his body it hath corrupted mans blood and made his body mortal and thereby render'd it a vile body our bodies though made of dust were yet more precious then the fine gold but when we sinned they became vile bodies before sin our bodies were immortal for death and mortality came in by sin but now alas they must return to dust and it s
Cor. 5.21 There are yet other circumstances which added to his sorrow and suffering such as these he came to his own and they receiv'd him not he had least honor among his own in his own Country yea he was wounded in the house of his friends and one of his own betray'd him devil that he was Joh. 6.70 He did good to many but had little thanks from any of ten Lepers cleansed but one returned to give him thanks oh disingenuity and ingratitude but oh the aggravating circumstances at the latter end He was taken and apprehended as a sinner they came against him as to take a Thief with swords and staves they charged him with blasphemy for speaking the truth they preferr'd Barabbas the Son of their Father the Devil before him his Disciples left him his Father forsook him as was hinted before Alas who can reckon up the aggravating circumstances of his sufferings he was crucified between two thieves and upbraided by one of them his death was painful shameful c. as before But I pass from hence to the Third thing 3 His suffering witnesseth the sinfulness of sin to shew that the greatest sufferings that Christ underwent are a full witness against the sinfulness of sin Oh what an odious thing is sin to God that he will pardon none without blood Hebr. 9.22 that God would accept no blood but the blood of his Son not that of Bulls and Goats Hebr. 9.22 but that of his Son 1 Pet. 1.18 19. that God would not abate one drop one dram of this blood but he must powre out his life the very heart-blood must be spilt and spent for sinners and which is the wonder of wonders all this was a pleasure to God for it pleased the Lord to bruise him That it should please the Lord to bruise the Son in whom he was well-pleased is to us men an inconceiveable mystery Well then upon the whole this is a great witness that God hath born against sin that he would send his Son to die for sinners oh what an hell of wickedness is that which none but God can expiate and purge and that God doth not do it without taking humane nature and that God-man could not do it without suffering and no suffering serve but death no death but an accursed one oh what an evil odious evil is sin that must have blood the blood of God to take it away This shall suffice for the first thing viz. the witness of God against sin as exceeding sinful 2 Angels bear witness against sin 2 Angels witness against sin 1 The good both good Angels and bad Angels 1 Good Angels the Angels of God and heaven as they are often called do bear witness against sin as an exceeding sinful thing 1 Their very title which contains their nature and imployment too being holy Angels sheweth that they have an antipathy against and are at enmity with sin that which is meat and drink to wicked men to do the will of the devil 't is poyson to holy angels whose meat and drink it is to do the will of God they are all holiness to the Lord and cannot endure iniquity they often contend and fight with evil Angels and so witness against sin Jude 9. Their being holy loving holiness and contention against the Devil are their witnessings 2 Holy Angels witness against sin in being Gods Heralds to proclaim the Law which is against sin 't is the aggravation of the sin of the Jews that they kept not the Law which they receiv'd by the disposition of Angels Act. 7.53 The Law which was added because of transgressions was ordained by Angels Gal. 3.19 Every transgression of this Law receiv'd a just recompence of reward for the word spoken by Angels was stedfast Heb. 2.2 So that Angels in proclaiming the Law have openly declared against sin as exceeding sinful 3 They witness against sin in that they will not sin though provoked to it to be revenged on the Devil himself They will not rail at a Devil because railing is a sin nay 't is said of Michael that he durst not bring a railing accusation Jude 9. One would have thought he would have told the Devil his own and have put it home upon him that 's true but he durst not bring a railing accusation nor give the Devil ill language We hot-spurs and hot spirited that we are are apt to render evil for evil and railing for railing to pay men their own in coin but Angels dare not to do so for 't is a sin railing is language that holy Angels cannot speak 4 They witness against sin by this that they will not suffer men to sin that would do it to honor them When John fell at one of their feet to worship him saith the Angel See thou do it not Rev. 19.10 do not that to me which is to be done to God alone And again Ch. 22.8 9. I fell down saith S. John to worship before the feet of the Angel which shew'd me these things but he said unto me see thou do it not but worship God The Angels are so holy that they cannot endure the least reflection should be cast on God or least duty neglected towards God though they might be worshipped 5 Their testimony against sin appears thus that where they find it though in Gods own people they rebuke it and that sharply and severely Though Hagars hard usage made her run away yet saith the Angel to her return to thy Mistris and submit thy self to her Gen. 16.8 9. As if he had said Hagar Hagar 't is better to suffer then to sin When Sarah laugh'd at the tyding of a Son and after denied it being afraid Nay saith the Angel but thou didst laugh he told her her own roundly Gen. 18 12.-15 When Zachary believed not the Angel he was made dumb Luke 1 13.-20 Thus they rebuke for sin 6 Angels witness against sin by rejoycing at the conversion of sinners 'T is the recovery of a soul from a dead and lost condition to be converted and then do Angels rejoyce Luke 15 7 -10 As there is a kind of joy in hell among the Devils when one sins that is converted and when sinners are not converted so there is joy in heaven at the conversion of a sinner The Rabbies speak as if while sinners are rejoycing in their sins the Angels were grieving for them when and while men live in sin they dishonor their and the Angels God but when converted they give glory to God which is the Angels work and joy 't is their Song glory to God on high and when men bear a part with them in this Song 't is their joy 7 Angels witness against sin by the constant opposition they make against wicked Angels and wicked men Who would abuse their charge that is good and holy men good men are committed to the charge of good Angels He gives his Angels charge to keep them in all their ways Psa 91.11 and
of grace quis nisi mentis inops c. 'tad wont to be said who but foolâ refuse gold when 't is offer'd them But alaâ there are such fools as refuse Christ and heaven and happiness offer'd them and will no be entreated to be reconciled that they maâ be saved but are set against the glory ãâã God and their own salvation now againââ these do the stones of the street and the dââ of the Apostles feet bear witness Luke 1â 40. Luke 9.5 and 10.10 11. Indeed theâ is not a sin but the Creation in whole and ãâã the several parts doth bear witness againsâ the very dullest and worst-natured creatuâ have exceeded man the Oxe and Ass aâ Dives his dogs had more humanity then Dives himself and were witnesses against his cruelty In short whatever duties they teach by that they convince of and bear witness against the sins which are contrary to them duties and whatever sins they convince of they teach the duties contrary to them sins There remains yet another thing to prove the sinfulness of sin by the creatures which I shall but touch and that is as they are instruments in the hands of God to punish sinners which they do with much readiness as if they were revenging themselves as well as vindicating God witness the plagues of Aegypt The four Elements have born their testimony often Fire burnt Sodom Water drown'd the old World the Earth swallowed up Corah c. the Air hath conveyed infection in times of plague the Sun Moon and Stays have been warriours and fought in their courses against sin the beasts of the field and sowls of the air have done the like but I only hint these things Two ways they shew their displeasure and his whose creatures they are against sin in punishing sinners 1 By withdrawing their influences Deut 28.23 the heaven shall be brass and the earth iron that shall not rain nor drop dew this shall not bring forth fruit See Hos 2.18.22 2 By acting contrary to their ordinary course and nature for waters to stand on an heap Exod. 15.8 fire not to burn Dan. 3. are unwonted and contranatural things and they do this to witness against the contranaturalness of sin and both these were witnesses against the sin of persecuting Gods Israel This do the creatures continue to do upon occasions to this day they are always bearing witness though men observe it not which also infers their further sinfulness and this shall suffice as to the witness of the whole Creation Next If any should say notwithstanding all these witnesses we cannot put sin to death without a Law if there be no Law to condemn sin we cannot condemn it I shall therefore proceed to shew that there is a Law against sin which condemns sin as worthy of death for being guilty of the death of many and attempting the death of all so that we may legally and ought by Law to condemn and put sin to death For 5 The Law witnesseth against and condemns Sin The Law of God is without sin in it self 5 The Law doth witness against sin and 't is against sin in others The Law being holy just and good that which breaks the Law must be unholy unjust and evil The Law discovers the authority wisdome will and goodness of God in its primary intention and promulgation for 't was to life sin must therefore be exceeding sinful it being against all this The Law discover'd mans dâty and mans happiness 't was the whole of man in both these senses how evil is sin then that is a contradiction of and contrariety to both the duty and happiness of man so that sin being a transgression of Gods good Law the sinfulness of sin appears by the Commandment More particularly 1 The Law is against sin before 't is committed 2 After 't is committed 1 The Law is against sin before 't is committed 't is against its being to be committed its holy and wholly against sin for it forbids sin all sin whither of Omission or Commission whither in thought word or deed whither against God or against man the voice and cry of the Law is thou shalt not sin so that in this sense by the Law is the knowledge of sin viz. what is sin as well as what sin is Rom. 7.7 Is the Law sin God forbid nay I had not known sin but by the Law for I had not known lust or concupiscence to be a sin except or unless the Law had said thou shalt not covet thou shalt not lust The Law shews that lust is sin by forbidding it yea the Law doth not only forbid sin but forbids it upon great and severe penalty upon no less then pain of death on the peril of a curse for this it saith cursed be every one that doth not and continueth not to do all things which are written in the Law Gal. 3.11 So that the Law is utterly against the commission of sin 2 The Law is against sin after 't is committed and here even by the commandment sin appears to be exceeding sinful after commission For 1 The Law discovers as before what is sin so now what sin is how displeasing to God how destructive to man and that as 't is a transgression of the Law of God made for the good of man no sooner is sin committed but the Law is so far from indulging or justifying it or the sinner or from concealing it that it discovers it and the displeasure of God against it Rom. 3.20 yea not only discovers sin but 2 It condemns the sinner the Law is not against the righteous against such there is no Law nor condemnation but this Law which like a good Magistrate is an incouragement to them that do well is a terrour to evil doers saith the Apostle Rom. 7.9 when the commandment came and shew'd me sin as in a Perspective-glass sin revived it got the victory over me was too strong for me for the Law strengthened it against me 1 Cor. 15.56 and I died I was dead in Law I had sentence of death within me as he speaks in another case The transgressed Law worketh wrath Rom. 4.15 it sends abroad terrours thundrings and flashes of wrath it discovers wrath to them that by sin have made work for wrath Thus the Law is against sin before and after the commission of it Yet further to shew how the sinfulness the malignity of sin appears by the Commandment as 1 Thus That it takes occasion from its being prohibited and forbidden by the Law to sin against and transgress it the more It hath such a malignity such an enmity in it that it will not be subject to the Law of God Rom. 8.7 it strives to break this bond in sunder and to cast this cord far from it the Law stands in its way and therefore it rusheth upon the breaking of it with the more violence sin grows angry and swells like a river pent up and stopt in its course Thus
the Apostle speaks of it Rom. 7.8 Sin taking occasion by the Commandment wrought in me all manner of concupiscence The Law said thou shalt not lust at this Lust grows mad and provokes to sin the more nitimur in vetitum gens humana ruit per vetitum nefas Sin is proud and impetuous it scorns to be checkt or have any chains put upon it Poor we such is the sinfulness of sin are apt to be the more proud the more covetous the more wanton c. because 't is forbidden us 2 The sinfulness of sin appears by the Commandment thus that it takes occasion by the Commandment to deceive us as the Apostle saith it did him Rom. 7.11 just as the devil took occasion from the Commandment to deceive our first parents as if God were envious to us or at least we mistake his meaning c. Thus did the devil and thus doth sin take occasion from the Commandment to deceive us to corrupt our understanding first and by that our affection and by that our conversation The devil and sin put their interpretations on Gods Text they gloss and comment upon it and put Queries hath God said Gen. 3. and 2 Cor. 11.3 You need not fear there 's no such danger there is another meaning in this command c. such are the sly and cunning tricks that Satan and sin put on us to harden us by deceit Hebr. 3.13 3 Sin appears exceeding sinful by the Commandment in that it makes use of it to slay and kill us it works our death and ruine by it as Rom. 7 11.-13 Sin at first makes us believe as the Serpent did Eve that we shall not die but live better and be like Gods But James 1.14 15. being tempted enticed and drawn away of our own lust then when lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin and sin when it is finished bringeth forth death yea all sorts of deaths natural spiritual and eternal this is the wages and end of sin Rom. 6.21.23 Man no sooner sinned but he became mortal dead in Law and by living in sin men become spiritually dead in sin Eph. 2.1 2. and if grace prevent not will die in sin and be damned for sin which is eternal death Thus saith the Apostle while sin flatter'd and deceiv'd me as if I should go unpunished it brought me under condemnation and death and though God do let sentence of death pass upon some men that he may raise them from the dead yet these persons find themselves dead first before they pass from death to life as was the Apostles case in this place Conversion is a Resurrection from the dead Sin kills men grace revives men so like the Prodigal they that were dead are alive But by this we see the sinfulness of sin that it makes use of the Law which was ordain'd to life to condemn and pass sentence of death upon sinful men that which was made to be our strength against sin is become the strength of sin 1 Cor. 15.56 Death were weak without its sting which is sin and sin were weak without its strength which is the Law Oh sinful sin exceeding out of measure sinful that worketh death by that which is good and was ordain'd to life Hereupon follow several things which proclaim the sinfulness of sin from the mouth of the Law Do we not hear the Law Gal. 4.21 what dreadful things it speaks against the transgressors of it As 1. This The Law allows us no favour if we break it in any one thing though we observe it in many things if we keep not all 't is as if we kept it not at all the Law will not pardon the least sin there is no compounding with the Law nor compensating a sin by doing a duty Rom. 2 25. What profiteth Circumcision it profiteth if thou keep the Law but if thou break the Law Circumcision is as uncircumcision it profiteth not at all as one sinner destroyeth much good so doth one sin 't is like a dead fly in a box of oyntment James 2.10 whosoever shall keep the whole and yet offend in but one point he is guilty of all for the nature of all sin is in any and every one sin if a man sin once though but once the Law casts him for the Law is but the one will of God in divers particulars either of which transgressed is against the will of God which runs through all as a silken string through a great many pearls which if it be cut or broken but in one place the whole is broken and where ever there is but one transgression the Law pronounceth the curse Gal. 3.10 Had not God provided a City of refuge a new and living way we had never found any favour from or by the Law Rom. 8.2 3. Hence 2 The Law since sin entred cannot justifie any man it hath lost its power and grown weak as Rom. 8.23 If it were pitiful compassionate and friendly yet it wants power to justifie us the Law cannot give life though 't were made to that end Gal. 3.21 22. If there had been a law given which could have given life righteousness had been by the law but the Scripture hath concluded all under sin that the promise viz. of life might be given to them that believe If the law could implying that it was not in the laws power but why not it could at first true but 't is weak through the flesh all are concluded under sin the law is transgrest and therefore cannot give life Sinful sin hath weakned the law as to the justification but it hath strengthened it as to the condemnation of sinners 3 The law makes sin abound and aggravates it exceedingly Gal. 3.19 Wherefore serves the law of what use is the law It was added because of transgression to make sin appear in its own colours the law written in mans heart was so obliterated that men could not discern sin by it as they had wont for saith the Apostle I had not known sin but by the law viz. new promulged and written I did not know it by the law in my heart for that let me alone so that the law was added to revive the sight and sense of sin that men might see what an ugly thing sin is infinitely worse then men are generally aware of till the commandment come The law entred that sin might abound Rom. 5.20 not that men might sin more but see their sin more that men might take a full measure of sin in all the dimensions of it in its heighth depth breadth and length the holiness goodness justice the severity c. of the law do all set out sin in its ugly shape and colour 4 The law witnesseth against sin as exceeding sinful in its being become as a Schoolmaster to us Gal. 3.24 We should scarce ever have lookt to Christ had not the law whipt and lasht us like a severe Schoolmaster for this not to exclude others is as I conceive much the
for dying r. discease p. 262. l. 21. for command r. commend p. 273. l. 28. after then add these p. 279. l. 5. for a may r. a man may p. 289. l. 10. for i would r. it would SIN THE PLAGUE of PLAGUES OR Sinful Sin the worst of Evils ROM 7.13 Was then that which is good made death to me God forbid But Sin that it might appear Sin working death in me by that which is good that Sin by the Commandment might become exceeding sinful BEing to treat of the exceeding sinfulness of Sin 't is not only expedient The Introduction by way of promise but necessary that I preface and premise such things as these viz. 1 That God made all things very good Genes 1.31 they were all endowed with the perfections which were suitable to their several beings so that none of them could find fault with or complain of God as if he had been wanting to them or had made them defective yet 2 of these the two most eminent and principal degrees of creatures did quickly degenerate for some of the Angels sinned and kept not their first estate but left their own habitation Jude 6. And by giving way to their subtil and envious infinuations the Man Adam who was a common person sinned also Genes 3. And thus by one man sin entred into the world and death by sin and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned Rom. 5.13 And 3 as to the Angels that fell God left them irrecoverable for 2 Pet. 2.4 God spared not the Angels that sinned but cast them down to hell and Jude 6. hath reserved them in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day Christ Jesus the Mediator and Redeemer took not on him Angels or as 't is in the Margine takes not hold of Angels Hebr. 2.16 but it pleas'd God to pity man his saving grace and loving-kindness hath appear'd to man Titus 2.11 and that in Christ Jesus Titus 3.4 whose delight was with the sons of men the habitable parts of the earth Prov. 8.31 and therefore he took on him the seed of Abraham Hebr. 2.16 And 4 this Doctrine of God our Saviour or the Gospel-doctrine doth suppose man a sinner 'T is a faithful saying and worthy of the best and all acceptance and reception that Christ Jesus came into the world on this very errand and design to save sinners 1 Tim. 1.15 The Doctrine of Repentance supposeth also that man hath done amiss Mat. 9.13 The Doctrine of Faith in another for righteousness and hope concludes man to be without righteousness and hope in himself Eph. 2.12 13. And the end of Christs sending the holy spirit was that he might in the first place convince of sin Joh. 16.8 These things being beside others that might be consider'd it cannot but be hugely useful to let men see what sin is how prodigiously vile how deadly mischievous and therefore how monstrously ugly and odious a thing sin is that so way may be made by it 1. For admiring the free and rich grace of God 2. For believing in our Lord Jesus Christ 3. For vindicating the holy just and good Law of God and his condemnation of sinners for breaking of it 4. For hating of repenting for and from sin thereby taking a holy just and good revenge on it and our selves 5. That we may love and serve God at a better rate then we ever did in the little and short time of Innocency it self And lastly that this black spot may serve for a set off to the admirable incomparable and transcendent Beauty of Holiness And now to the Text it self The Context and the Text explain'ds which may have this for its title The just vindication of the Law of God and no less just accusation and condemnation of the sin of man As to its connexion with what precedes 't is thus at the 10. v. the Apostle had said that the Commandment which was ordain'd to life he found unto death Hence an objection is rais'd v. 13. Seeing the Commandment is good how comes it to be unto death Was that which was good made death to me To which he answers 1. By way of negation and abhorrency God forbid absit I far be it from me or any other to think so no by no means to find fault with the Law were to find fault with God The Law is not to be blam'd What is then for something is to blame To this he answers 2. By way oâ affirmation and accusation that sin is the truâ cause of death The Commandment indeed condemns or is death to man not of it self but because of sin and hereby sin appears not only like it self but it self sin yea sinful yea exceeding sinful sin not in a disguize as when ' tiâ committed but in its own lively colours oâ rather and more properly dead and deadly colours 'T is saith he ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã sin in the abstract and that iterated and repeated as Pharaohs dreaâ was for the certainty and assurance of the thing 't is sin 't is sin and this sin is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã sinful or a sinner nothing else but sinning and sinful sin 't is masculinely and vigorously sinfulâ for though Erasmus conclude this to be the Attick Dialect viz. the conjunction of this masculine and feminine yet others think that the Apostle doth dare personam peccato bring in sin as if it were a person as v. 17. and 20. 'T is not I but sin as if it were a person unless we may read it thus as Faius doth that the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the sinner might become sin in the same sense as the objection is made v. 7. Is the Law sin that is criminal and guilty However we read it we are sure of this that it denotes the malignant pestilent and pernicious nature and operation of sin it s own name being the worst that can be given it and yet as if this were not significant enough 't is so ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã i. e. supra modum Eraâm quam maxime Beza eximiâ Grotius exceeding above measure excessively or in the highest degree for an Hyperbole is at extraordinary and the highest degree of speaking 't is as the Arabick Version hath it superans excessum 't is extremely and indeed beyond all expression sinful So that upon the whole I may Illustrate the scope and meaning by a familiar example or instance 'T is as if it had been said by a Malefactor to the Judge thus Oh my Lord how cruelly unmerciful are you to condemn me to die Nay saith the Judge 't is not I 't is the Law I am but the mouth of the Law Nay saith the Law 't is not I 't is sin if thou hadst not sinn'd I had not condemn'd for the Law is not against the righteous 1 Tim. 1.9 No against such there is no Law no condenmation from it Gal. 5.28 Thou mayst then in me as in a glass
hide his face from you his face which makes heaven a smile whereof or the lifting up the light of which countenance upon us refresheth us more then corn wine and oyl Psa 4.6 7. yea his loving kindness is better then life we had better have parted with this then that Mans sin is exprest by this that he turns his back to God and not the face and his punishment by this that God turns his back to him and not the face God carries it not like a friend but a stranger And indeed this hiding of his face is significative of many more miseries then I can now stay to instance in 2 Another and no less misery hereupon is that God hears not his prayers as it follows in that fore-mentioned Text Is 59.2 and so it attends the hiding of Gods face Is 1.15 God is a God hearing prayers but sin shuts out our shouting and the prayers of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord and he calls them no better then howlings Hos 7.14 Yet further There are two or three other miseries not to name many more that are consequent upon this separation which continually attend poor sinful man 1 That man is without strength Mans great strength is in union with God separation weakens him for without him apart from him out of him separated from him we can do nothing to be a sinner is to be without strength Rom. 5.6 with 8. Man was once a Sampson for strength but having parted with his Lock his strength is departed from him that of himself as of himself he is not sufficient to think one good thought 2 Cor. 3.5 He was strong while in the Lord and the power of his might but now his âands are weak and knees feeble his legs cannot bear him up having got the Spiritual Rickers 2 Being separated from God man becomes afraid of God and ashamed to appear before him while Innocent though naked yet man was not afraid nor ashamed to approach to God or of Gods approaching to him but when he had sinned he was asham'd to shew his face and afraid to see Gods face or to hear his voice Gen. 3.9 10. When righteous he was bold as a Lyon but now he runs his head into a bush 3 This separation and departure hardens his heart against God that when God comes to talk and treat with man about his sinning he will lay it any where yea at Gods own door as Adam did rather then confess it 'T is three times said in one Chapter Hebr. 3.8.13 15. Harden not your hearts least any of you be hardened harden not your hearts and all this in relation ãâã hearing the voice of God as 't is there When God comes to convince man he cannot endure to hear on 't but hardens his heart and as it was in the beginning so it is now among the sinful children of men Thus have I as briefly as so large a subject would permit set out the sinfulness of sin as 't is against the good of man body and soul in this life in a natural and moral respect which was the first thing propounded The second follows 2 Sin is contrary to 2 Sin against the good of man in the life to come it damns men or against the good of man in the life to come It hath brought on man that eternal death Damnation In this life man by reason of sin is in deaths often but in the life to come he is in death for ever If sin had only wrong'd man in this life which is but for a moment it had not been so considerable but sins miserable effects are everlasting if mercy prevent not the wicked die and rise to die again the second and a worse death There is a Resurrection to life for the righteous the children of the Resurrection and for the wicked a Resurrection to condemnation or death for 't is opposed to life John 5.29 But Before I shew what and wherein damnation is and consequently the mischief and misery that sin hath thereby brought on man I shall premise a few things which will make our passage smooth and easie I say then 1 That God damns no man but for sin Damnation is a punishment Mat. 25.46 and all punishment supposeth guilt and transgression God the judge of all the earth will do right and he lays not on man more then is meet that man may not enter into judgment with God Job 34.23 or quarrel and find fault with him which man would quickly do if Gods judgment were not just even sinners themselves being Judges Death is but sins wages Rom. 6.23 that which it hath merited mans undoing is but the fruit of his own doing mans perdition is of himself Hos 13.9 His own wickedness correctâ him Jer. 2.19 and that not only in this life but that to come Mat. 7.23 and Mat. 25 2 That by sin all men are liable to condemnation We were all of us children of wrath by nature Eph. 2.3 and the wrath of God cometh upon the children of disobedience Eph. 5.6 Hâ that believeth not is condemned already he iâ in a state of condemnation beside that which unbelief will bring upon him Joh. 3.18 and he that believeth not the wrath of God abideth on him He was a child of wrath by nature and continues still so in unbelief Joh. 3.36 Thâ wrath of God seiseth on him as its habitation anâ abode Every mouth must be stop'd for all thâ world is become guilty all have sinned and fallen short of the glory and are obnoxious tâ the judgment of God Rom. 3 19.-23 3 Some men have been are and will be damneâ for sin all but them who have do and shall condemn sin and themselves for sin If we judge our selves we shall not be condemned of thâ Lord else woe be to us When our Saviour senâ his Disciples to preach saith he Go preach the Gospel that 's good news and glad tidings he that believes shall be saved Mark 16.16 Ayâ but what if they will not believe what shall we say then Why then tell them he that believeâ not shall be damned This is as great a truth of the Gospel that he who believes not will be damned as this is that he who believes shall be saved Heaven and Salvation is not more surely promised to the one then hell and damnatioâ is threatned to and shall be executed on the other broad is the way that leads to this destruction there are as many tracts to it as there aââ sins but impenitency and unbelief are the high road way the beaten path wherein multitudes go to hell 4 Damnation is the greatest evil of suffering that can befall a man 't is the greatest punishment that God doth inflict This is the wrath of God to the uttermost 't is his vengeance Oh who knows the power of his wrath none but damned ones It is misery altogether misery and alwayes misery to be damned This will yet more fully appear upon
true as I have said in this Indictment let me a little bespeak thee good Reader to consider of what hath been said and that thou wouldst be more afraid of sin then of hell which had not been but for sin and where thou shalt never be if thou repent and believe the Gospel for righteousness is not by repentance but by faith Believe they and love Faith as thou lovest thy Soul and Heaven hate sin and avoid it as thou wouldst hell and damnation sin no more least a worse thing come unto thee least the Rod be turned into a Scorpion least the next loss be the loss of heaven least the next sickness be unto death and death to damnation for if thou die in sin thou art damned irrecoverably 't were sad to die in an Hospital in a Prison in a ditch but as 't is worst living to live in sin so worst dying to die in sin if thou go on these Sermons will witness against thee as much as if not more then if one had risen from the dead if two or three devils or damned wretches should come from hell and cry fire fire it might startle thee but if thou believe not Moses and the Prophets yea Christ and his Apostles 't will work no good upon thee Oh mind the good of thy soul and do not bring on thy self this great universal intollerable and eternal damnation Take heed least Prov. 5.11 12 13. when thy flesh and thy body are consumed I and thy soul damned thou say too late how have I hated instruction and my heart despised reproof and have not obey'd the voice of my teachers nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me Oh! oh How have I rewarded evil to mine own soul by doing evil against God! I made a pish at these things and mocked at sin now I would hear now I would return but hope is perished Such will be the direful outcries of sinners one day take heed therefore for if thou have not on the wedding garment thou wilt be cast out Mat. 22.11 and if thou be found a worker of iniquity thou must depart accursed But not to prevent the application which I reserve to its proper place I now proceed to the third thing propounded 3. 3 The witnesses against sin The Witnesses and their Evidence against Sin as being exceeding sinful That sin is so exceeding sinful extremely and notorious guilty of contrariety to God and the good of man I have a cloud of witnesses to produce God himself Angels and men both good and bad the Law and Gospel the whole Creation sins names and sins actions even sins own confession do all bear witness to this Charge that it is true viz. that sin is an exceeding sinful thing from heaven from earth from hell will we bring witnesses against sin 1 3 God in 7 particulars God himself beareth witness against sin As he leaves us not without witness of his being good so he hath not left us without witness of sins being sinful against him and against the good of man 1 1 Forbidding it By this that God hath forbidden is and made a Law against it all the Laws and every command of God are his witnesses against sin and as he that believes not the testimony God beareth of his Son so he that believes not Gods testimony against sin makes God a lyar who is true and cannot lye The Law written in mans own heart the Law written in Tables of stone the Gospel also which is the Law of Faith is written as a witness against sin 1 Joh. 2.1 Now surely God would not have prohibited sin had it not been an abominable thing abominated by him and to be abominated by us God hath given man room and scope enough a very large allowance of all the Trees of the Garden man might eat only one excepted So Phil. 4.8 whatsoever things are true honest just pure lovely whatsoever is of good report if there be any virtue any praise these things think on and do Now sin comes under none of these names but is contrary to them all and therefore forbidden God hath not forbidden man honours riches nor any pleasures but them of sin Surely then seeing God delights not to grieve the children of men but rejoyceth over them to do them good with all his heart and all his soul as he is pleas'd to express it Jer. 32.41 he would never have forbidden any thing to man but what was prejudicial to him as well as displeasing to himself But I shall speak more of this when I shew how the Law of God witnesseth against sin 2 God witnesseth against sin by this 2 Will not allow us to do evil that good may come of it that he will not allow us to do evil that good may come of it As pleasing a thing as good is to God yet he will not allow us to do the least evil for the greatest good See how angrily and with what indignation the Apostle speaks against them that said the contrary Rom. 3.8 'T is a damnable Doctrine to teach that we may do evil for a good end or that good may come of it This Doctrine was first broacht by the Devil and usher'd in the first sin Gen. 3 1.-6 But 1 We may not do evil that good may came is our selves God allows man to love himself and hath made self-love the rule and measure of our love to others thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self God is not against mans being rich only God will not that men grow rich by sin as Jer. 17.11 God is not against mans pleasure if it be not by displeasing him nor against his honor if it be not by dishonoring him God well knows that good gotten by evil will do man no good but hurt To gain the world and lose a mans soul hath more of loss then gain and there is not any one sin but wrongs and hazards the loss of a mans soul God would not allow Adam and Eve to eat of the forbidden Tree though 't were good for food pleasant to the eye and to be desired to make one wise Genes 3. 2 We may not do evil that good may come to others God hath indeed commanded us to do good to all but hath forbidden us to do evil that we may do good to any or to all He that provides not for his family is worse then an Infidel and so is he that provides for it by a sinful way of covetousness lying cheating oppressing c. See Habak 2 9.-12 Paul as Moses before him could wish himself dead and anathematiz'd to save the Jews but durst not sin for their sakes When one sent to S. Austin to know if he might not tell a lye for his Neighbours good Oh no saith the Father thou must not tell a lye to save the world There 's such a malignity in sin it s so contrary to God that it must not be done for no good 'T is our
his Son 7 Not sparing Christ Jesus but delivering him up for us all Gods sending his Son into the world to condemn sin Rom. 8.3 and to destroy it 1 Joh. 3.8 doth clearly witness for God how odious sin is to him and ought to be to man for whom Christ suffer'd and died that sin might die and man might live yea live to him who died for us for to no less doth his love constrain us 2 Cor. 5.14 15. To clear and evince this the more plainly and fully I shall shew these three things 1 That Christs sufferings were for sinners 2 That Christs sufferings were exceeding great 3 That the greatness of his suffering are full witness on Gods part of Sins sinfulness against God and Man 1 1 He suffer'd for sinners That Christ his sufferings were for sinners Jesus Christ himself suffer'd but he did not suffer for himself for he was without sin Hebr. 4.15 and 7.26 neither was guile found in his mouth nor any misbecoming word when he suffer'd though 't were a provoking time 1 Pet. 2.22 23. 'T is a faithful saying that Christ came into the world to save sinners 1 Tim. 1.15 This was the design errand and business about which he came he had his name Jesus because he was to save his people from their sins Mat. 1.21 And he himself professeth that he came to seek and to save that which was lost Luke 19.20 Now dead and lost is the sinners Motto Luke 15.32 accordingly when he was in the world he suffer'd and died that he might save sinners he died for our sakes and so loved his Church that he gave himself for it Eph. 5.25 Yea 't is not only said often that he died for us Rom. 5.8 and 8.32 but that he died for our sins not only for our good as the final cause but for our sins as the procuring cause of his death Rom. 4.25 He was deliver'd for our offences 1 Cor. 15.3 Christ died for our sins according to the Scripture according to what was typified prophesied and promis'd in the Scripture One eminent place instend of many others is in Is 53.5 He was wounded for ouâ transgression he was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon him and by his stripes we are healed To this the Apostles bear witness in the New Testament Gal. 1.4 he gave himself for our sins and 1 Pet. 2.24 who his own self bare our sins Now this dying for us and our sins notes 1 That he died and gave himself as a ransome for us Mat. 20.28 1 As a ransome I came to give my life a ransome for many said our sweet and blessed Saviour 1 Tim. 2.6 He gave himself a ransome for all Christs dying was the paying of a price a ransome price and hence we are said to be bought redeem'd and purchased 1 Cor. 6.20 Ye are not your own ye are bought with a price viz. that of his blood as 't is in 1 Pet. 1.18 19. Ye were redeemed with the precious blood of Christ and the Church is purchased with his own blood Acts 20.28 He gave himself as a Redemption price and we are a purchased people 1 Pet. 2.9 2 He died for us as a Sacrifice for our sins 2 A Sacrifice he became sin for us 2 Cor 5.21 In the Old Testament the Sin-offering is called sin so here Christ Jesus an Offering for sin is said to be made sin for us 'T is said in the holy Scripture that Christ offer'd his Body his Soul himself Hebr. 10.10 There 's the offering of his Body Is 53.10 He made his Soul an offering for sin And Eph. 5.2 He hath given himself for us an offering and a Sacrifice to God Hebr. 9.14 He did offer himself without spot to God and v. 26. He put away sin by the Sacrifice of himself Now as we were redeem'd by the price so we are reconciled by the Sacrifice of his death For Rom. 5.9 10. We are reconciled by the death of his Son 3 3 3 A curse Christ laid down his life for us as bearing the curse and punishment due to our sins and therefore 't is said he was made a curse for us which was the punishment of our sin Gal. 3.13 He bare our sins i. e. the curse due to our sins The punishment of sin is called sin often in Scripture and to bear iniquity is to be punished and as Redemption came by the price and Reconciliation by the Sacrifice so Justification by his bearing the curse and punishment Is 53.11 12. He shall justifie many for he shall bear their sins He became a curse for us that the blessing of Abraham might come upon us and that is Justification by Faith as you may see Gal. 3.13 14. with v. 8 9. This shall suffice as to the first thing viz. that Christs sufferings were for sinners 2 2 His sufferings were great The sufferings of Jesus Christ were exceeding great I shall omit what may be gather'd from the types under the Law and what is exprest by the Prophets concerning the suffering of Christ though many things might be collected thence but they being all fulfilled in him I shall confine my self especially to the relation made thereof in the N. Testament He was a man of sorrows as if he were a man made up of sorrows as the Man of Sin is as if he were made up of sin as if he were nothing else He knew more sorrow then any man yea then all men ever did For the iniquity and consequently the sorrows of all men met in him as if he had been their Center and he was acquainted with griefs he had little acquaintance else grief was his familiar acquaintance he had no acquaintance with laughter we read not that he laughed at all when he was in the world his other acquaintance stood afar off but grief follow'd him to his Cross from his birth to his death from his Cradle to the Cross from the Womb to the Tomb he was a man of sorrows and never were sorrows like his he might say never grief or sorrow like to mine 't is indeed impossible to express the sufferings and sorrows of Christ and the Greek Christians used to beg of God ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that for the unknown sufferings of Christ he would have mercy on them Though Christs sufferings are abundantly made known yet they are but little known eye hath not seen nor ear heard nor hath it or can it enter into the heart of man to conceive what Christ suffer'd who hath known the power of Gods wrath Christ Jesus knew it for he underwent it but though it be impossible to declare all yet 't is useful to take a view of what we can I shall therefore draw a Scheme of Christs sufferings under three Heads 1 Jesus Christ underwent all manner of sufferings 2 Jesus Christ suffer'd by all manner of persons 3 All manner of aggravating circumstances did meet in
They evidence their hatred of sin as sin and not for by-respects thus that they abhor all their secret sins which none knows but themselves yea such as they know not by themselves but only God knows them they hate that which none can accuse them for or lay to their charge as guilty of Psa 19.12 Lord who knows the error of his way and as S. Paul though I know nothing by my self yet c. 1 Cor. 4.4 the heart of man is such a maze as man himself cannot find out all the windings of it such a deep as man himself cannot fathom it so deceitful that man himself doth not know it only God searcheth it Well this being so Lord cleanse me from my secret errors undiscern'd and unknown yea by me unknowable errors and extravagancies 't is meet to be said to God as Job 34.32 that which I know not viz. wherein I have done amiss that shew thou me A man doth many things amiss which scape his own observation as much as that of others and of these would a good man be cleans'd these create no trouble to his conscience but only they are against God though unknown to him and therefore would berid of them that they might not lodge in his heart though as strangers and unknown Yea 4 They are against all inclinations to sin against the very conception of sin they do all they can not only that sin may not bring forth or breed but that it might not conceive that I may refer to James 1.14 15. Oh the burden of the body of death and Law of the members that though S. Paul can say 't is not he that sins but sin that dwelleth in him yet he would berid of this in being of sin that it might not so much as incline him to evil Yet once more 5. And lastly they are carried out against sin as sin as appears by this that they cannot content themselves not to do evil unless also they do good they think it not enough that they do not displease God unless they please God to be negatively unless they be positively good they would not only not commit evil but they would not omit good many men as they will do no hurt so no good the charge against them Mat. 25. is not that they did defraud or oppress or were cruel to the members of Christ but they did not actually do them good not cloath not feed not visit c. but good men are for being and for doing good not only cleanse me from secret sins or only keep me from presumption but oh that the thought of my heart the words of my mouth and consequently the works of my life may be acceptable to thee O Lord Psa 19. The Apostle in the name of all the houshold of faith speaks thus 2 Cor. 5.9 wherefore we labour the word is we are ambitious or like heavenly Courtiers we affect this honor that whither present or absent that is living or dying we may be accepted of him or as the Greek will bear it well to be actively read that we may be acceptable to him even to all well pleasing This to the first Objection The second Ob. is to this purpose We see that godly men have sinned 't is matter of fact Now if sin were so odious to them as you say would they sin Before I give answer to this Objection let me premise 1 By way of concession and confession that they do sin yea who is he that liveth and sinneth not If any man say he hath not sinned he makes God a lyar who hath concluded all men under sin and if we say we have no sin we both deceive and yet confute our selves for we sin in saying so 1 Joh. 8.10 Yet 2. There is this to be said that the sins of good men are more usually sins of captivity then sins of activity as the Apostle speaks Rom. 7. they are rather led into sin by temptation then go into sin by choice and inclination 't is against the Law of their mind 'T is indeed possible that a good man may plot and contrive a sin as David did the death of Uriah and this is the only thing wherein God himself saith that David sinned 1 Kings 15.5 God covers all his other sins as being rather overtaken by temptation then acted by design in the rest So that for the most part good men are captivated rather then active as to sin And David himself could say that he had not wickedly after the manner of the wicked Jude 15. departed from God Psa 18.21 3 God may sometime have a good man to this saddest of tryals to know all that is in his heart as he left the good King Hezekiah 2 Chron. 32.31 we are not over-forward or willing to believe our selves so bad as we are in our hearts as to the seeds of evil sown there Is thy servant a dog said Hazael when his sin was foretold and S. Peter himself could not believe it possible that he should deny Christ his Master yet when left to himself he did it but then notwithstanding this there is enough to be said in the behalf of godly mens hatred of sin yea indeed they hate it the more for having sinn'd I answer then that the godly mans witness against sin is still true good and firm for 1 As he abhors to commit sin so he abhors sin committed and himself for committing it Job 40.4 40.6 Sin is the burthen of every good mans soul when the Author of Psa 73. had sinned he was so angry with himself that he could not do that which God did for him viz. forgive and pardon himself but calls himself fool and beast good men condemn not only their sin but themselves and sin in the more hateful to them for having been done by them 2 They are restless till sin be purged as well as pardon'd King David could not content himself to have sin blotted out by a pardon unless 't were washt and cleans'd away Psa 51.1 2. and the mending of his bea rt without new making it by Creation would not content him v. 10. Yea 3. If God chastise and afflict them for having sinned yet they justifie God and whoever justifies a punishing God condemns sin if the sentence be just the sin is unjust Thus they do continually Micah 7.9 I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him So Psa 51.3 4. This confession I make and this prayer I make that thou O Lord mayst be justified when thou judgest This also speaks against sin Yea 4. They take an holy revenge on themselves and become the more zealous for God as S Peter who did not only weep bitterly but was made willing to feed sheep and Lambs to do any and every service for Christ And Psa 51.12 13. restore to me saith he the joy of thy salvation and I will teach the transgressors thy ways So 2 Cor. 7. when the Apostle had made them
but how ridiculous are they and worse then childish that venture precious souls for that which doth not profit as God upbraids Israel of old that they changed their glory for that which did not profit and worse then that great King who sold his Kingdom for a draught of water they leave and part with a fountain of living waters for a cistern an empty cistern that hath none yea for a broken cistern that can hold no water no not a drop Jer. 2.21 Sinners are often asking this question What Profit is there if we serve God Job 21.15 Oh godliness is profitable for all times for here and hereafter it hath the promise of both lives this and that to come 1 Tim 4.8 But let me ask them and I wish they would often ask themselves What profit is there if we sin as Judah askt his brethren What profit is there if we slay our brother Gen. 37.26 surely none but shame and sorrow you may put your gains in your eyes and weep it out if not a greater loss will come unto you Thus then we have seen that no good of profit comes by sin no not by that which is called the most prositable sin Covetousness so that our inference holds good they are mistaken that seek good in evil 2 Of Honor or Credit As there is no good called Profit so none of that called Honour to be had by sin 't is not a creditable thing there are that glory in and make boast of their sin but they glory in their shame Phil. 3.19 and surely sooner or later they will be ashamed of their glory Sin is not a thing of good report it doth malè audire hear ill and hath an ill name all the world over Can that be honourable which is unreasonable can that be an honour to man which debaseth and degrades him the unreasonableness of sin appears by the reasonableness of the Law sin hath no reason for it for the Law which hath all reason in it is against it that sin degrades men I shewed above Take the sine and brave things of this world wherein men pride themselves and these cannot cover the nakedness of sinners much less be an ornament or honour to them for that can never be an honour or grace to the body which is a disgrace to the soul That cannot be an honour to men which they are generally ashamed to owne at least under its own name But though all the world should admire and celebrate the grandeur of sinners yet God accounts them vile though they sit at the upper end of the world and God is doubtless the best Judge of Honour that cannot be honourable to man that is abominable to God Luke 16.15 even appearing righteousness which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God much more then is sin it self Again 3. Of Pleasure There is none of the good called Pleasure to be had from or by sin 't is true indeed the pleasures of sin are much talked of and we read of some that take pleasure in unrighteousness 2 Thes 2.12 and of some impudent and brazen-fac'd that they were who though they knew the Judgment of God yet took pleasure to do and in them that did such things as were worthy of death Rom. 1.32 and there were that lived in pleasure on the earth and seemed to grow fat by it nourishing themselves but 't was for the day of slaughter James 5.5 Notwithstanding all this we doubt not to make it evident that there is no such thing as they talked of or dreamt of pleasure in from or by sin Pleasure is the contentment and satisfaction of a mans mind in what he doth or hath but sinners have none of this from sin For 1. The God that searcheth their hearts and knows what 's there tells us that there is no peace to the wicked Isa 57.21 the Septuagiât read it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã there is no joy nor peace nor pleasure no serenity nor one Halcyon-day for they are like the raging Sea casting up mire and dirt by reason of its rowling and disquietment Men to our appearance seem to laugh and be merry but God sees that they have no peace within and I had rather believe the God of Truth then lying men for lye they do when they say they have peace or pleasure in sin Solomon said of laughter it was mad and of mirth what does it yea more in the midst or heart of laughter the heart is sad 2. The nature of the thing viz. sin cannot afford pleasure it being contra-natural to man and therefore the Heathen Philosophers could say that punishment succeeds guilt at the heels like that Gen. 4.7 if thou do evil sin lies dogging at the door Another saith more expresly that punishment doth not only succeed sin but they are born together and are Twins For they that deserve punishment expect it and who ever expects it suffers it in a degree so that the sinner is his own tormenter and sin his terment our knowledge of having miscarried will return and complain of the abuse and the impressions of the fault will bring fear which fear hath torment if there were no more to come the upbraids of conscience mar the mirth and make the pleasure very displeasing What pleasure can it be to feel the upbraids of meat though it taste pleasantly poyson it self is sweet to the taste but not therefore pleasant regrets and ill-savouring belchings do not speak pleasure Whatever crosseth and thwarteth Nature is a punishment not a pleasure and so is sin to primitive and created Nature if custom and a seared conscience seem to deny the sense of such regrets yet that argues the case the worse for what pleasure can that be that benums a man and makes him not only stupid but dead and they that live in such pleasures are by the infallible truth declared to be dead while they live 1 Tim. 5.6 When stupidity may pass for pleasure and death for life or dreams for enjoyments these then may have a large share But 3. There can be no satisfaction but of necessity much vexation because of the boundless and infinite desire in the heart of man which this cannot fill up but disappoints Lusts are like the Hoâsleech and the Grave which have never enough but cry give give the desire argues want and to desire again argues the continuance of want hence 't is that sinners shift so often or as the Apostle speaks serve divers lusts which changes and varieties clearly evince the poverty of their entertainments and emptiness of their pleasure While men seek to quench the thirst of sin by giving it salt water to drink they do but increase it and indeed every man may find it much more easie pleasant and satisfactory to him to mortifie then to gratifie sin to deny then fulfil the desires of the flesh For men to be ever contradicting and swimming against the stream of their
SIN THE PLAGVE of PLAGVES OR Sinful Sin the worst of Evils A Treatise of Sins Tryal and Arraignment wherein Sin is Accused for being proved to be and condemned for being exceeding sinful And that 1 As against God his Nature Attributes Works Will Law Image People Glory and Existence 2 As against Man his good and welfare of Body and Soul in this Life and that to come With the Use and Improvement to be made of this Doctrine that men may not be Damned but Saved c. Being the Substance of many Sermons Preached many Years ago in SOVTHWARK By Ralph Venning A.M. Prov. 8.36 He that sinneth against me wrongeth his own Soul John 5.14 Sin no more least a worse thing come unto thee London Printed for John Hancock to be sold at his Shop in Bishopsgate-street over against the Exchange next to the White-Lyon and the corner shop in Popes-head-Alley and by T. Parkhurst at the Golden Lyon on London-bridge 1669. Academiae Cantabrigiensis Liber To all that were Hearers and to all that shall be Readers of what 's contained in the following Treatise THE Christian Religion as it exposeth to so it fits for and is suited to Suffering as well as Glory Yea the All-wise God hath so ordered it that while we are on this side the Grave such Graces as suppose Suffering and are preparative to Glory should be most exercised by us which are to act their part and to have their continuance only in this world and which indeed had not had an actual being or existence if Sin had not entred into the world viz. such Graces as are Faith Repentance Hope and Patience There had been no need of Faith for righteousness if we had not lost our own no need of nor occasion for Repentance if we had remained Innocent no room for Hope seeing we had been in a continual sight enjoyment and possession of happiness if we had not sinned nor any use or exercise of Patience when there had been no suffering and none there had been if there had been no Sin The state of Innocency before sin was being in the next degree like to the state of Glory when sin shall be no more and that excludes these and such like things for then sorrow and sighing shall flee away and all tears be wiped from their eyes then Faith shall be turned into Vision and Hope into Fruition suffering and consequently patience shall be at an end as to good and holy men It cannot therefore but be hugely useful and advantageous toward the exciting exercising promoting and perfecting of these Graces to know what an exceeding sinful thing sin is not only that we may suffer well as did Christ Jesus 1 Pet. 2 19.-23 and make Moses's choice Hebr. 11.25 and not that which is charg'd on Job as his Chap. 36 21. But also because if ever we be saved these Graces must be practis'd and that they are not in a capacity to be till sin appear to us as it did to S. Paul an exceeding sinful deceitful and destructive thing And truly as Sinners are not like to be awakened hereunto till the Commandment come as it did to the Apostle and discover it to them so they who are awakened and converted are greatly obliged and no less provokt by it to admire the love and mercy of God and to pay him everlasting gratitudes for their deliverance and salvation from sin But of the usefulness of this Doctrine I speak in the Treatise it self and shall therefore forbear to name any thing more of that Nature in this place As to the Book I have but a few things to say this Treatise was began and almost finish'd before the late Sore and great Plague began and therefore though for a memorial of it I have taken occasion to give it a Name or Title from thence yet it is not calculated particularly thereunto but with a more general aspect upon the universal mischief that Sin hath done mankind as to Soul and Body Time and Eternity it being the root of all evil Corporal Spiritual and Eternal only in relation to that sweeping Beesom of destruction and the dreadful fire from heaven or hell and in several senses from both which since consumed the habitations as the Plague did the Inhabitants before both which I fear are alas but too much forgotten we should consider the operation of Gods hand lifted up to lay it to heart to confess our sin and give him glory For though God in the midst of judgment remembred mercy yet we in the midst of mercy should remember judgment both hands being to lead us to repentance else though the Plague be over and gone and that fire burns no longer yet if the plague of our hearts and not fiery lusts if our sins continue we are far from health and safety If after such deliverances as these we sin as if we were deliver'd to do nothing else or to speak as Ezra doth Ch. 9.13 14. and after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great trespass seeing that God hath punished us less then our iniquities have deserved and hath given us such deliverance as this should we again break his Commandments and joyn in affinity with the people of with such and the like as our former abominations would not he be angry with us till he have consumed us so that there be none as hitherto through mercy there hath been remnant and escaping but the fire of his wrath may burn to and we burn in the lowermost hell Oh let us hear and fear and do no more so wickedly Deut. 13.11 for sin is so notoriously more then excessively and intollerably evil that as 't is at present the reproach 't will be hereafter the ruine of any people who repent not And what is impenitency but a treasuring up of and growing rich in sin and wrath together Rom. 2 4.-9 and what is that but to be abundantly damned As to this Subject I am well aware that several pious and learned men have treated of it but that is no discouragement to their Successors to do so too no more then 't was to S. Luke Ch. 1.1 2 3. to write the Gospel of which others had written before him And indeed what is the Gospel of S. Matthew Mark Luke and John but the same Gospel published with some little variety The Apostle S. Peter wrote of the same things which S. Paul had done 2 Pet. 3.15 and they both wrote of the same things over and again Phil. 3.1 2 Pet. 1.12 13. And Jude the Brother of James as v. 1. did transcribe or at least Epitomize a great part of S. Peters second Epistle almost in terminis verbatim word for word I remember S. Austin somewhere gives his advice to have the same things published by several men that by the interest relation and affection which they have in the world truths may come to the more hands which else would be confined and well high
imprisoned Beside what Ausonius tells us ââus plus alio invenire potest nemo-omnia is a very great truth one may find out more then another but none will or can find and speak out all so exceeding broad are the commands and truths contain'd in the sacred Scriptures beyond any others Though therefore I think it no disparagement to me to acknowledge that I have perused others and profited by them yet I may without vanity or ostentation say that I have not only handled this Subject in another manner but that I have also spoken to other things then any hath done that I have yet met withall and do not doubt but much more may be said then hath been by me any or all that have written on this Theme As to the sinfulness of sin the Subject of the Treatise I have indeed handled it most largely as 't is against Mans good and happiness it being most properly the intent and scope of the Text and God is so condescending that he is pleased to treat man as a self-lover and so to gain him and win him by his own advantages yea he seems by his patience to have a concern for mans Salvation beyond his own vindication in this world as the Apostle gives us to believe 2 Pet. 3.9 And truly this vouchsafement self-denial and humbling of himself is so great and rich a goodness that it most forceably leads and draws us to repentance Rom. 2.4 As to the stile I have not minded any curiosity for I am still of my former opinion that that eloquence doth injury to things which draws us to observe it seeing words are only for the matters sake and should not hinder but help its promotion fine expressions according to what 's said by a Learned and Eloquent person fine expressions are but like the gawdy and guilded frame of a Looking-glass which acquaints us not with our faces and features The genuine use of a Looking-glass yea many times the richness of the frame doth so much amuse and dazle the eyes of some childish persons that they are regardless of any thing else The Rhetorick diverts men from attending the more concerning the instructive part of a discourse yea many that pretend to be Criticks make little other use of Sermons and good Books then to censure or to applaud the contrivance and the phrase without minding the Doctrine or caring to rectifie what hath been discover'd to them to be amiss 'T is no commend to a Preacher to be more sollicitous to make his expressions then to make his Hearers good There must be no flattering of sinners we must rather endeavour they may condemn themselves then applaud us and 't will be more joy to a good Divine to hear the peoples sighs for their sins then to hear their praises of his Sermon and that they follow his counsel then that they admire his language We must not speak against sin to shew an art of declaiming a skill of speaking Oratoriously but to exercise our own and to provoke others to exert their hatred against it and 't is to be fear'd that when the best of men have done their best and utmost there will yet be too many that read pious books with less reverence and concern then a Romance or a Play being more for the Rhetorick then Divinity for the wit then worth which is to say the shadow then substance of discourses and as the forementioned excellent person significantly expresseth it If a devout book have not good store of witty passages some Readers will not mind it at all and if it have they will mind nothing else And this experience confirms But whatever Readers this Book meet with I have endeavour'd that it may profit and so far please them that I hope they will find nothing worthy of their displeasure but the thing I write against I have committed it to God and beg'd his blessing that it may be of use to teach men to profit hereafter by their hitherto loss and get something by reading which they can never do by committing of sin But not to detain thee much longer I entreat thee to remember that this world is but a glittering and pompous vanity a thing that ãâ¦ã using and will not reach beyond the grave and perhaps will not last so long for the lust and fashion of it pass yea take them wings and fly away Remember that sin leads no where but to hell the place and Element of torment Remember that ere long Death will arrest thee and carry thy body to the dust and Dungeon of the grave and if thou die in thy sins thy Soul to Hell and Damnation I entreat thee therefore to exercise thy self unto and in the power of godliness and do not live as if the practise of Piety were nothing but a Book of that Name Alas what is' t to have Religion in thy Bible in thy head and tongue and yet have none in thine heart and life Do but think what thou wilt say or do when thou comest to judgment as Solomon tells the young man Eccl. 11.9 Take the course which thou canst own and justifie in that day and do what thou wilt and then I am sure thou wilt not dare to do any thing but what thou oughtest for who can answer for one of a thousand or for but one sin As for any of them yet alive that were Hearers and shall now be Readers of what 's contain'd in the following Treatise I crave leave to tell them that they have it double as Precept upon Precept and line upon line and God seems to send it to them the second time that it may do more good upon them then it did at first that the repetition and calling of it to remembrance may do more then the preaching of it did though I know blessed be God that it was not then deliver'd and heard without good effects on many and I hope on more then I know of That God may be glorified and the Readers may profit by it is much the prayer as 't will be much the joy and rejoycing of my Soul whatever censures may be past upon me Ralph Venning There are several mis-pointings which the sense will help the Reader to Correct beside the following Errata which are to be amended thus PAge 16. line 12. for destruction read distraction p. 55. l. 20. for joyn'd r. injoyn'd l. 23. for sociability r. insociability p. 74. l. 24. for joyn with r. joyn them with p. 97. l. 2. for believe they r. believe then p. 126. l. 33. for no more r. the more p. 128. l. 2. for tell of God r. tell God p. 141. l. 24. for have r. leave p. 145. l. 2. for when before r. before and when p. 145. l. 33. for they call r. they not call p. 148. l. 27. for iuch r. such p. 152. l. 4. for divisions r. diversions p. 156. l. 26. for hundred r. hardned p. 157. l. 15. for exercise r. excess p. 255. l. 4.
God Levit. 26.21 rebelling against God Is 1.2 rising up against him as an enemy Mich. 2.8 striving and contending with God Is 45.9 despising of God Numb 11.20 it makes men haters of God Rom. 1.30 resisters of God Acts 7.51 sighters against God Acts 5.39 and 23.9 yea blasphemers of God and in sine very Atheists that they say there is no God Psal 14.1 it goes about to ungod God and is by some of the Ancients called Deicidium God-murther or God-killing And though all these things be not acted by every sinful man yet they are not only in the nature of sin yea of every sin more or less but are all of them in the heart of all sinners in their seed and root Mat. 15.19 and what is acted by any man would be acted by every man if God did not restrain some men from it by his power and constrain others to obedience by his love and power as 1 Cor. 5.14 Psa 110.3 Herein then is the desperately wicked nature of sin that it is not only crimen laesae Majostatis High Treason against the Majesty of God but it scorns to confess its crime 't is obstinate and will not that he reign over it 't is not only not subject but 't will not be subject no nor reconciled to God Paâticularây such is its enmity Yet more particularly 1. 1 To his Nature Sin is contrary to the nature of God Gods name is holy and as his name is so is he and his nature all holy yea he is so and cannot but be so And therefore God takes it more ill that men should think him wicked like themselves Psa 50 16-22 then that they think him not to be Psal 14.1 It s said to weary him when men do but say that evil is good in his sight Mal. 2.17 This is the thing God glorieth in that he is holy yea glorious in holiness Exod. 15.11 And Holiness is the Attribute which freeth God from not only evil it self but from all appearance or suspition of evil Were not God holy many of the things which God doth would look unlike him his justice and judgments would look not only like severity but Tyranny were not it and they holy his love in its carriages and behaviours to some people would look like fondness and respecting of persons but that 't is holy his patience would look like a toleration if not approbation of sin but that 't is holy patience c. Thus many acts of God were it not for holiness would appear as seemingly evil as they are really good and be as much suspected by all as they are unjustly censured by some He is holy without spot or blemish or any such thing without any wrinkle or any thing like it as they also that are in Christ shall one day be Eph. 5.27 God is so holy that he cannot sin himself nor be the cause or Author of sin in another he doth not command sin to be committed 't were to cross his nature and will nor approve of any mans sin when 't is committed but hates it with a perfect hatred without iniquity is he and of purer eyes then to behold i. e. approve iniquity Hab. 1.13 On the contrary as God is holy all holy only holy altogether holy and alwayes holy so sin is sinful all sinful only sinful altogether sinful and alwayes sinful Gen. 6.5 In my flesh i. e. in my sinful corrupt nature there dwelleth no good Rom. 7.16 As in God there is no evil so in sin there is no good God is the chiesest of goods and sin is the chiefest of evils as no good can be compared with God for goodness so no evil can be compared with sin for evil 2. 2 To his Attributes Sin is contrary to all the Names and Attributes of God sets it self in opposition to them all 1 It deposeth the Soveraignty of God as much as in it lies it will not that the King of Kings should be in the Throne and govern this world which he hath made 't was by this instinct that Pharaoh said who is the Lord that I should obey his voice to let Israel go I know no Lord above me I will not let Israel go Exod. 5.2 'T is the voice and language of sin Psal 12. our lips are our own who is Lord over us and 't was from hence that the Jews of old said we are Lords we will come no more to thee Jer. 2.31 Thus it attempts to dethrone God! 2 It denies Gods All-sufficiency as if there were not content and satisfaction enough to be had in the enjovment of God but that vanity and wickedness had more of pleasure and profit then he whose wayes are all pleasantness and whose service is the whole of man Every Prodigal that leaves the Fathers house doth practically say 't is better to be elsewhere 3 It dares the Justice of God and challengeth God to do his worst Mal. 3.17 It provokes the Lord to jealousie and tempâs him to wrath 4 It disowns his Omniscience Tush say they God sees not nor doth the most High regard 5 It despiseth the riches of Gods goodness Rom. 2.4 6 It turns his Grace into wantonness Jude 4. It will make bold with God and sin because grace abounds In short 't is the Dare of Gods Justice the Rape of his Mercy the Jeer of his Patience the Slight of his Power the Contempt of his Love as one doth prettily express this ugly thing and we may go on and say 't is the Vpbraid of his Providence Psa 50. the Scoff of his Promise 2 Pet. 3.3 4. the Reproach of his Wisdom Is 29.16 and as 't is said of the Man of Sin made up of sin it opposeth and exaits its self above all that 's called God and above all that God is called so that it as God sitteth in the Temple of God shewing it self as if it were God 2 Thes 2.4 3. Sin is contrary to the works of God 3 To his Works as it works contrary unto God so its contrary to Gods works and is called the work of the devil 1 Jo. 3.8 all Gods works were good exceedingly beautiful even to admiration but the works of sin are deformed and monstrously ugly for it works disorder confusion and every thing that 's abominable Sin may be impleaded for all the mischiefs and villanies that have been done in the world 't is the Master of Mis-rule the Author of Sedition the Builder of Babel the Troubler of Israel and all mankind And so contrary is sin to the works of God that it sought and still seeks to undo all that God doth that there might be no seed nor name nor root left him in the earth Every thing works according to its nature operari sequitur esse as the root is so is the fruit and by that every Tree is known whither it be a good Tree or a bad Mat. 7.17 18. God is good and doth good Psa 119.68 Sin is
evil and doth evil yea nothing else so that sin and its works are contrary to God and his works 4. Sin is contrary to the Law and Will of God 4 To his Law yea to all the rules and orders of his appointment There is not one of his Laws which it hath not broken and endeavoured to make void and of none effect yea 't is not only a transgrestion of but a contradiction also to the Will of God When the Son of God came into the world to declare and do his Fathers Will he was encountred by and under-went the contradiction of sinners Hebr. 12.3 who would have made men believe that neither he nor his Doctrine was of God 'T is an Anti-will to Gods Will it sets it self to oppose preaching prayer and all the Institutions of God and that not only out of envy to man that he should not be the better for them but out of enmity to God that he should not be worshipped in the world Now to act contrary to the will and Statutes of God is to act contrary to God himself as may be seen by comparing Levit. 26.14 15. with 21 23 27. and many other places David in fulfilling the Will of God was said to be a man after Gods own heart Acts 13.22 and they that obey the will of sin are said to walk after the heart of sin Ezek. 11.21 5. 5 To his Image Sin is contrary to the Image of God wherein man was made God made man in his own likeness viz. in righteousness and true holiness Eph. 4.24 Now sin is clean contrary to this Image as much unlike it as deformity and ugliness is unlike to handsomness and beauty as darkness is to light as hell to heaven yea and more too Sin is the Devils Image as when God made man he made him in his own image so when the Devil made man sin he thereby made him his own image and likeness and so I conceive the Devil meant that phrase Ye shall be like Gods Elohim Genes 3.5 He did not say nor mean that he should be like the Elohim the Creators as the word is Job 35.10 Eccl. 12.1 the God that made them but like Elohim Gods viz. such as I and my Angels are who once knew good but now know evil both by doing it and suffering the sad effects of it The word Elohim is used not only of God and good Angels but of fallen Angels or Devils 1 Sam. 28.13 And under the covert of this ambiguous and dubious word he craftily abused our first Parents for he well knew that by sinning they could not become like Elohim God above but would become like Elohim the Gods below And alas are we not like Elohim-devils knowing good by loss and evil by the sad and dismal effects thereof Thus he that runs may read the Picture Image and likeness of the Devil in sin sinners are as like the Devil as any thing for he that sinneth is of the Devil 1 John 3.8 not only a servant but a child of the Devil Ye are of your Father the Devil said holy Jesus to the sinful Jews John 8.44 Never was Child more like the Father then a sinner is like the Devil sin hath the nature the complexion the air the features and very behaviour of the Devil 6. 6 To his people Sin is contrary to the people and children of God 'T is true sin cannot hate them so much as God loves them nor do them so much hurt as God can do them good yet out of spite and envy 't will do its worst and hate them because God loves them Gods Children are his Darlings and Favorites dear to him as the apple of his eye in all their afflictions he bears a part and is afflicted and looks upon it as if he himself were treated as they are in this world Acts 9.4 5. Mat. 25 41.-45 Now the nearer and dearer they are to God the more Gods heart is set upon then for good the more sin sets its heart against them for evil Sin is alwayes warring against the Seed of God in them the flesh lusteth against the spirit Gal. 5.17 and warreth against their souls 1 Pet. 2.11 So that by sins ill-will Gods people should neither enjoy nor do any good in this world 't is alwayes provoking the Serpentine Race to make war upon to imprison and persecute even to destruction the little Flock and Remnant of the holy Seed it will not further then rebuked by grace let them have one quiet day it disturbs and interrupts them that they cannot attend upon God without destruction when they would do good a evil is present with them either to keep it undone or to make it ill done it endeavours to spoil all they take in hand and to turn their holy things into iniquity by reason whereof they cry out as greatly opprest wretches that we are who shall deliver us from this body of death Rom. 7. This evil and envious sin is bent also to hinder all it can the comfort welfare and happiness of the Saints Sin like the Devil hath not such an evil eye or aking tooth at all the sinners of the world as it hath at the Saints in the world 't is true the Devil is a man-hater but more a Saint-hater watch for your Adversary the devil seeks whom of you he may devoure as S. Peter tells us 1 Pet. 5.8 And this it doth to cross and thwart God and his design who and which is set upon the happiness of his people 7. 7 To his Glory Sin is contrary to and set against the glory of God and all that should and would give glory to him or hath any tendency thereunto Confession of sin and repentance gives glory to God Jos 7.19 and this sin endeavours to obstruct and hinder It began to practise it on Adam and Eve and still keeps on this trade among the children of men Revel 16.9 Faith would give glory to God now that men may not believe sin imployes the Devil to blind their eyes 2 Cor. 4.4 Good men would do all they do but sin will let them do nothing at all to the glory of God but is ever throwing one dead fly or other into their most precious boxes of oyntment Sin is so malicious that it will not only displease and dishonor God it self but labours to defeat and frustrate the endeavours of all that attempt to do otherwise Might sins desires take place there should not be a person or thing by whom and whereby God should be pleas'd or glorified It gives out false reports of God and goodness layes prejudices and rocks of offence and stumbling in mens wayes that they may be out of love with all that 's good so desperately is it bent against the honor of God 8. 8 To his being Sin as was hinted before is contrary to and opposite against the being and existence of God it makes the sinner wish and endeavour that there
appointed to all men once to die and 't is well if they die but once and the second death have no power over them they must see corruption or death in equivalence i.e. a change for this flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdome of God as that wherein we were created might possibly have done 1 Cor. 15.50 Our body is sown in corruption in dishonor in weakness 1 Cor. 15.42 43. and is therefore called vile Philip. 3.21 and before this body be laid in the grave 't is languishing in a continual Consumption and dying daily besides all the dangers that attend it from without And 2 Sin is against the good of mans Soul too 2 Against his Soul The Soul is transcendently excellent beyond the body and the good of that beyond the good of this so that a wrong done to the Soul is much more to mans hurt then a wrong done to the body therefore saith our Saviour Fear not them that can kill the body and do no more which is but little in comparison of what God can do to the soul if it sin but fear him that can destroy i.e. damn soul and body in hell Mat. 10. 'T is not very ill with a man if it be well with his soul but it can never be well with a man if it be ill with his soul so that we can more easily and cheaply die then be damned and may better venture our bodies to suffering then our souls to sinning for he that sinneth wrongs his soul Prov. 8.36 Nothing but sin doth wrong a mans soul and there is no sin but doth it Thus we see in general that sin is against the good of mans body and soul But yet for a more clear and full discovery hereof I shall consider and speak of man 1 In a Natural Sense 2 In a Moral Sense 1 If we consider man in a Physical or Natural state 1 In a natural sense we shall find sin to be 1. Against the well-being And 2. Against the very being of man it will not suffer him to be well or long in the world nor if possible to be at all 1 'T is against mans well-being in this life And so 1 Against his well-being vivere est valere well-being is the life of life and sin bears us so much ill will that it deprives us of our livelihood and that which makes it worth our while to live man was born to a great estate but by sin which was and is Treason against God he forfeited all Man came into the world as into an house ready furnished he had all things prepared and ready to his hands all the creatures came to war on him and pay him homage but when man sinn'd God turn'd him out of house and home all his lands goods and chattels were taken from him Paradise was mans Inheritance where he had every thing pleasant to the eye and good for food as for cloaths he needed none while Innocent but when he sinned God dispossessed him of all and drave him out into the wide world like a Pilgrim a Beggar to live on his own hands and to earn his meat with the sweat of his brow as you may read at large Genes 3. Thus by sin man that was the Emperour of Eden is banisht from his Native Country and must never see it more but in a new and living way for the old is stop'd up and beside that 't is kept against him with flaming swords Ever since it hath been every mans lot to come into and go out of this world naked to shew that he hath no right to any thing but lives on the alms of Gods charity and grace all ââe have or hold between our birth and death is clear âgain and meer gift God might chuse whither âhe would allow us any thing or no and when he hath given he may take again and none of us have cause to say any thing but what Job did Chap. 1.21 Naked came I into the world and naked shall I return the Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken away blessed be the Name of the Lord. All we have our food and rayment is but lent us we are only Tenants at will and therefore seeing we deserve nothing we should be content with and thankful for any thing 1 Tim. 6.7 8. 2 To shew that man by sin had lost all when our Lord Jesus came into this world for the recovery of man and stood as in the sinners stead he had not where to lay his head the Foxes had holes and the birds of the air have nests but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head Luke 9.58 Which plainly shews that the sin of man had left the Son of man nothing Though Christ were Lord of all yet if he will come in the likeness of sinful flesh he must speed not like the Son of God but Son of Man and be a man of sorrows destitute forsaken and afflicted and though we fare the better for his suffering yet he fared the worse for our sin and among other the miseries he under-went he had not where to lay his head Again To add yet another discovery of the venomous nature of sin as to this that we are upon 't is not a little observeable that though God took not the full forfeiture nor stript us so naked and bare a he might have done but indulged us comperent subsistance and accommodation and as the first fruits of his goodness made the first suit of cloaths which Adam and Eye wore yet sin is against that good which God left us and fills it with vanity and vexation with bitterness and a curse God left Adam many acres of land to till and husband but he hath it with a curse sweat and sorrow many a grieving bryar and pricking thorn stick fast to him Gen. 3 17.-19 God left him ground enough v. 23. but alas 't is cursed ground so that sin is against mans temporal good either in taking it from him or cursing it to him Sin is so envious that it would leave man nothing and if God be so good as to leave him any thing sins eye is evil because God is good and puts a sting in it viz a curse Yet more particularly 'T is 1 Against his rest 1 Sin is against mans rest and ease of which man is much a lover and indeed needs it as being a great part of the well-being of his life 'T is a sore travel which the sons of men have under the Sun yea what hath man of all his labour and the vexation of his heart wherein he hath laboured for all his daies are sorrows and his travel grief Eccl. 1.13.2.22 23. whither he increase wisdome and knowledge or pleasures and riches yea he taketh not rest in the night but is haunted with vain and extravagant if not feared with frightful dreams and his fancies which are waking dreams by day are more troublesome then them of the night
Mans ground is over-grown with thorns that he hath many an aking head and heart many a sore hand and foot before the year come about to get a little livelihood out of this sin-cursedground Mans Paradisical life was easie and pleasant but now 't is labour and pain such as makes him sweat yea Eccl. 2.1 2. his recreations fall little short of his labour for pain and sweat The old world was very sensible of this as may be gather'd from Genes 5.29 He called his name Noah saying this same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed sin curse and toil keep company 2 Sin is against mans comfort and joy 2 His comfort and joy Genes 3.17 In sorrow shalt thou eat all the daies of thy life not one whole merry day 't were some comfort to a man if after he had toil'd and moil'd all day he could eat his bread with joy and drink his wine with a merry heart but sin will not suffer him if he laugh sin turns it to madness Eccl. 2.2 or else 't is no better Musick then the crackling of thorns Eccl. 7.6 In Paradise the blessing of God on Adams diligent hand made him rich and there was no sorrow with it to allude to Prov. 10.22 but now mans sweet meats have sowre sawces in sorrow shalt thou eat his bread is the bread of affliction Yea the Femaie the She-man or Manness the Woman hath a peculiar sort and share of sorrow for the time of conception breeding bearing and birth are tedious yet alas many that feel the pain which sin brought are not sensible of the sin which brought the pain though their sorrow and pain too be greatly multiplied as we find it exprest Genes 3.16 and the more for want of faith and sobriety 1 Tim. 2.15 3 3 His health Sin is against mans health Hence come all diseases and sicknesses till sin there were no such things For this cause in general many are weak and sick among you Let a man take the best air he can and eat the best food he can let him eat and drink by rule let him take never so many Antidotes Preservatives and Cordials yet man is but a crazy sickly thing for all this Verily every man in his best estate is a frail and brittle thing yea altogether vanity Psal 39. which is spoken with reference to diseases and sickness take him while his blood danceth in his veins and his marrow fills his bones yet then is he a brittle piece of mortality 4 Sin is against the quiet of a mans natural conscience for it wounds the spirit 4 The quiet of conscience and makes it intollerable a wounded spirit who can bear Prov. 18.14 while that is sound and whole all infirmities are more easily born but when that is broken the supports fail and this hath great influence upon the body for Prov. 17.22 a merry heart doth good like a medicine no cordial like it but a broken spirit drieth the bones it sucks away the marrow and radical moisture Prov. 12.25 heaviness in the heart of man makes it stoop a good conscience is a continual feast but sin mars all the mirth When Cain had killed his Brother and his conscience felt the stroak of the curse he was like a distracted man and mad when Judas had betray'd his Master he was weary of his life 5 Sin is against the beauty of man 5 His beauty it takes away the loveliness of mens very complexions it alters the very air of their conntenance Psa 9.11 When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity thou mak'st his beauty or that which is to be desir'd in him as 't is in the margine to consume or melt away like a Moth surely every man is vanity his beauty vain Now there was no such thing as vanity or deformity till sin entred every thing was lovely before and man above any thing of the inferiour world 6 6 The loving cohabitation of soul and body Sin is against the loving and conjugal cohabitation of soul and body they were happily matried and lived lovingly together for a while till sin sowed discord between them and made them jar many a falling out is there now between body and soul between sense and reason they draw several wayes there 's a self-civil war even in this sense the flesh lusteth against the spirit that poor man is hall'd and pulled this way and that tossed to and fro as with several winds nunc hic nunc flectitur illic man is full of contradictions Time was when the mind commanded the body but now this servant rides on horse-back when that Prince walks on foot Man is inverted his head is where his heels should be his soul is become a prisoner to the body rather then a Free-man too too often the beast is too hard for the man and the horse rides the rider sense Lords it and domineers over reason 7. 7 His relative good Sin is against mans relative good in this world mans comfort or sorrow lies much in relations the weal or woe of his life is as relation are that which was made for an help proves but too often an hindrance Sin hath spoil'd Society that homo homini lupus diabolus one man is a wolf yea a devil to another Sin will not let Husband and Wife Parents and Children to live quietly but sets them at variance and many times a mans Enemies are them of his own house and bosome they who eat bread at our Table lift up their heel against us and familiar friends become enemies Lust makes wars James 4.1 and from pride comes contention Proverbs 13.10 It breeds divisions factions in Church and State that there is little of union or order harmony society or friendship in the world Thus doth sin set it self to oppose mans well-being Yea 2 Sin is against the very being of man 2 'T is against the being of man sin doth aim not only that man should not be well but that man should not be at all How many doth it strangle in the Womb how many miscarriages and abortions doth it cause how many doth it send from the Cradle to the grave that they have run their race before they can go others die in their full strength beside the havocks it makes by war c. as some do alwayes eat their bread in darkness Job 21.23 Man no sooner begins to live but he begins to die and after a few daies which are but as a span and do passe away more swift then a Weavers Shuttle sin lays all in the dust Princes as well as Beggars Sin hath reduced mans age to a very little pittance from almost a thousand to a very uncertainty not only to seventy but to seven for among men no mans life is valued at more mans time is short and uncertain he that 's born to day is not sure to live
a day And what is our life but as a vapour which soon passeth away I might inlarge here but this may suffice to shew that sin is against all the good man in this life consider'd in a natural sense and now I proceed to shew that sin is against the good of man 2 In a Moral sense 2 In a moral sense for 1 Sin hath degraded man by defiling him and tantum non almost unmann'd him for as our Text speaks of sin as a man so the holy Scripture speaks of man as if he were sin and every man were a man of sin made up of sin whither we consider the outer or inner man Man was a very noble thing made little lower then the Angels Psal 8. But alas by sin he is made almost as low as Devils Man was once a companion for God himself but sin hath separated between God and him sin hath robbed man of his primitive excellency of a Lord he is become a servant yea a slave to creatures to Devils and lusts of all sorts Now this debasement came by defilement which defilement cleaves 1 1 His body defiled To his body for the flesh is silthy 2 Cor. 7.1 and the body needs sanctifying and cleansing 1 Thes 5.23 the body is a body of sin the members are servants to uncleanness and to iniquity Rom. 6.19 Take him from head to foot from the Crown of that to the sole of this there 's no whole because not holy part in him but all filthy and full of putrefactions and sores If we dissect and anatomize man we shall find this but too true for not to name every sin that cleaves to the whole or every part but in a more general way 't is thus said of sinful men their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness with their tongues they use deceit the poyson of Asps is under their lips their throat is an open Sepulchre Rom. â 13 14. eyes full of adultery 2 Pet. 2.14 the eye-lids haughty Prov. 30.13 ears dull of hearing Hebr. 5.11 yea deaf as the Adder Psa 58.4 5. the forehead is impudent as a brow of brass Is 48.4 both hands are imploid to work iniquity Mic. 7.3 the belly an Idol-God Phil. 3.19 the feet are swift to shed blood Rom. 3.15 and if we look within their inward part is very wickedness Hebr. wickednesses Psa 5.9 the gall is a gall of bitterness in a moral as in a natural sense the spleen is affected yea infected with envy and malice what part is there which is not the seat of one or other evil Yea this defilement cleaves 2 To the Soul 2 His soul defiled which is the principal subject of it 't is not only flesh but spirit that is filthy 2 Cor. 7.1 Gods Image was more in and on the Soul then body of man and sins ambition and envy is to deprive the Soul of this Image righteousness and holiness were stamp'd on mans Soul but sin hath blotted this Image and Superscription which onââ told from whence it came and to whom it belong'd so that man is fallen short of the glory of God and the glory of being Gods it must be new created or renewed till God will own it for his because till then his Image is not legible if it in this sense be at all for there is none righteous no not one Rom. 3.10 'T is not any one faculty only that sin hath defiled but like a strong poyson it soaks and ears through all that whereas all was holy and holiness to the Lord 't is now evil and evil against the Lord Genes 6.5 Every imagination figment or creature of the heart is only evil continually yea the Flood which washt away so many sinners could not wash away sin the same heart remains after the Flood as before Genes 8.21 and as it was with the heart of man from his youth it hath continued to be to this old and decrepit age of the world for to this day there proceeds out of the heart the same evil thoughts words and deeds that then did Mat. 15.20 And from this unclean Fountain issues forth all that defiles the man Sin hath made the heart of man deceitful and desperately wicked Jerem. 17.9 and its hardned in impenitency through the deceitfulness of sin Hebr. 3.12 13. yea though thereby man do nothing but undo himself and treasure up wrath against the day of wrath Rom. 2.5 It makes man obstinate that he will not be saved but will be damned you will not come to me that you may have life Joh. 5.40 As for the Word of the Lord we will not hearken but we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth Jerem. 44.16 17. and 't is out of the abundance of folly and madness that is in mens hearts and bound up there that they thus speak not only vain thoughts and words but villanous ones bubble and break forth from this corrupt fountain which sets the tongue on fire of hell that the devil could not broach and belch out more horrid blasphemies against God then the tongues and hearts of sinful men It hath defiled and spoiled mans memory and conscience also his memory how treacherous is it as to good but alas too tenacious as to evil The conscience is become an evil conscience and in many a seared conscience Thus all over without and within is man defiled and polluted of which I may speak yet more in another place only at present a little more largely to shew how sin hath almost put out mans eyes and even extinguished the Candle of the Lord how it hath dimned and benighted mans leading faculty the understanding which should shew a man the difference between good and evil and guide him in the way wherein he should walk but is now too often an ignis fatuus that leads men into bogs and ditches into errors and immoralities Sin hath 1 Blinded mans understanding and made him ignorant 2 Depraved his understanding and made him a fool 1 Sin hath darkned mans understanding Iâhâh ãâã Darkned mans understanding and made him blind Poor man is wise to do evil but to do good hath no knowledge Jerem. 4.52 yea there is none that understandeth viz. as and what he ought Rom. 3.11 All the workers of iniquity have no knowledge Psal 14.4 Poor man is cover'd with Egyptian thick darkness yea said to be not only dark but darkness in the abstract Eph. 5.8 and which is sad is in love with darkness Joh. 8.19 and his light is darkness Mat. 6.23 That man is in darkness by sin is clear as the light of the Sun by the light of Scripture truth beside that of sad experience for in general when men are converted they are called out of ând turned from darkness to light Acts 26.18 1 Pet. 2.9 c. And our Lord Jesus came to be and give light to them that sate in darkness Luke 1.76.79 And indeed none but he can open the
Prophets prophesie falsly and the Priests bear rule by their means and my people love to have it so falshood and slattery was their business and the peoples choice and pleasure God and godliness righteousness and holiness were troublesome and tedious they must have smooth things and soft pillows and alas they were fitted to an hair this suited their tooth and pleas'd their palate well but all this while it argues undeniably that men are dark and blind who can be content with such dogs to lead them yea not only dumb dogs but blind guides yea and false Prophets too who lead them into the Ditch of Sin and Dungeon of Hell What doth all this argue but mans darkness and what doth that infer but sins sinfulness in darkning the understanding of man Is not light good God that made it saw it so but now that the soul is without knowledge it is not good Prov. 19.2 So that sin is against the good of man in putting out the sight of his eyes which is worse in a spiritual sense then if it had put out the eyes of his body Mans eyes are very dear to him God expresseth the tenderness he hath for his people by this that htey are to him as the apple of his eye Zech. 2.8 And the Apostle sets out the love of the Galatians by this that they would have pull'd out their eyes for him Gal. 4.15 And to sheâ love to God we are to pull out our right eye iâ it do offend Mat. 5.29 Israel took great indigânation at Naash the Ammonite that he would have put out their eyes 1 Sam. 11. Herein then lies the malignity of sin that it hath so darkned the eyes of mans understanding and left it for a reproach Yet this is not all but 2 Sin hath depraved mans understanding 2 Sin hath depraved mans understanding and made him a fool and made him a fool a sot a very bruit ignorant foolish and beast are joyned together Psa 73.22 folly is the common name of sin and so is fools of sinners in the Scripture Psa 94.8 O ye fools when will ye be wise i. e. O ye sinners when will ye fear God for the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdome yea 't is wisdome Job 28.28 yea the top of wisdome Prov. 1.7 Till a man fear God he doth but play the fool he is indeed unmann'd and beside himself for of the Prodigal the Representative of Sinners and Converts when he repented and was converted 't is said that he came to himself and then quickly went to his Father And in the recovery of man our Lord Jesus Christ is made of God to us not only righteousness but light and wisdome 1 Cor. 1.30 we were without that our selves which Christ is made to us That this is the common case of Jew and Gentile i. e. all men the Apostle assures us Rom. 3.9 10 11. yea men themselves declare it and I may say of man as Solomon doth of the sool Eccl. 10 3. When he walketh by the way he saith to every one that he is a fool the way and course he takes his carriage and behaviour shews him to be a fool as a child so a man is known by his doings Prov. 20.11 as he that doth righteousness is righteous so that doth folly is a fool And His folly appears to be very great Mans folly appears 1 With respect and relation to his end or happinesse 2 With respect to the means which relate to the end 3 By non or ill-improvement of means in relation to the end 1 1 As to his end or happiness Mans folly is but too apparent in relation to his chief and ultimate end the summum bonum Man is exceedingly to seek for happinesse where to place it as how to obtain it Oh the variety of opinions that men have had about happinesse Varro tells us of a great many but who can tell us of all So many men so many minds for when man goes from unity he falls into multitude he hath found out many inventions Time was when man had light and wisdome enough to know that God was the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Supreme and chief good and that his happinosse lay in knowing and enjoying God but since sin man is become such a fool as to say in his heart there is no God at least no happinesse in knowing God for if sin make not men such Atheists as to believe there is no God yet it makes them such as to wish that there were no God and to say that 't is no happinesse to know him or profit to serve him Let us eat and drink c. is the voice of more men then let us seek and serve God who will shew us any good viz. corn wine and oyl is the voice of mary Psal 4. yea of all till regenerate Man is become so sottish and bruitish that he lives by sense Now sense will never look to God who is invisible that 's for saith but to the creatares which are visible and the objects oâ sense How did Solomon set this out to the life in his Ecclesiastes viz. that sense seeks for happinesse below God that man is fond of toys and trifles and seeks contentment where there 's nothing but vexation as if he could sind ease in the place and element of torment viz. in hell he sets his eyes and heart upon that which is not Prov. 23.5 The lust of the eye the lust of the slesh the pride of life is the Trinity the God of this world and excludes the love of God 1 Joh. 2.15 16. All things of sense are but for the one and the worse half of man viz. the body and when all a mans labour is for this with neglect of the soul which is the principal man of the man what folly is it to mind the lesse and neglect the greater to be troubled about these many things and neglect the one thing necessary is folly with a witnesse and will be followed with a vengeance what is it to labour for the back and belly as if it were God to mind earthly things and neglect yea despise heavenly but folly in extremity 't is to glory in shame Phil. 3.19 He that bid his soul take ease in eating drinking and being merry was called fool and so i. e. such another fool is every one that lays up treasure for himself his sensual self and is not rich toward God as our Saviour tells us Luke 12.16 21. on which Text to shew the folly of such men I have discoursed elsewhere which if God please may in due time come to view and therefore I shall wholly wave and omit to speak to it here though I did treat of it when I preacht these Sermons on the sinfulnesse of sin Only Before I proceed to the other discoveries of mans folly in relation to the way and means that lead to happiness let me briefly evince by three things among
many others that might be named that mans happiness cannot be made up of any or all creature enjoyments of having though all the world for a portion For beside what 's newly said 1 It was not so when man was in Paradise when not only man but all the creatures were in a better condition then and not subject to vanity as now they are All that God made was very good and Adam had all that God made and yet that was not his happiness Now if the creatures in their best estate were not mans happiness much less are they so in this their worse estate so that our sin in placing happiness in creature enjoyment now is worse then Adams sin was for the creatures were then far more allicient attractive and taking then now they are for as a worthy person expresseth it though the old walls and ruinous Palace of the world stands to this day yet the beauty gloss and glory of the hangings is soiled and marred with many imperfections cast on every creature what 's without us only cannot be our happiness 2 That cannot be our happiness which is below us the design of Gods making the creatures was that they should serve us and not be served by usâ God put Adam colere to till the earth not colere to worship the earth and make a God of it as earthly-minded men do for covetousness is âdolatry Not only God placed them but man reckons them below himself below man for skin for skin or skin after skin and all that a man hath will he give for his life a great truth though spoken by the Father of lies by which its evident that man reckons all below himself and though old Jacobs life were bound up in the life of young Benjamin yet he would part with him rather then starve Now without further inlargement 't is clear as the Sun that what 's inferiour to us cannot be our happiness 3 That cannot be our happiness which is not so much as a token of the love of God If you had all the Cattel on a thousand hills and never so many thousand bags of gold in your Chest though all the beauty and honor in the world centr'd in you yet I must tell you what a very wise man hath told me Eccl. 9.1 Man knows not love by prosperity no more then hatred by adversity Indeed the world is not as great and good as 't is or 't was 't is not good enough for a Love-token God sent his Son and never any thing but him and what 's in him for a Love-token Well then upon the whole we conclude that seeing happiness is of an higher nature then the Creation and is not in less then God himself that man is a fool in seeking it elsewhere and that sin is very pernicious to man in making him such a fool But 2 Mans folly appears to be great 2 As to means which relates to his end or happiness not only in relation to his end and happiness in his mistaking that but in relation to the means and way leading to happiness in mistaking this also The enjoyment of God is our happiness Religion viz. right worshipping and serving God is the means of enjoying God i. e. of our happinesse Alas here man is a very fool Though in the general men acknowledge that there is a God and that God is to be worshipped and obey'd yet who this God is and how to be worshipped man is full of darknesse doubt and perplexity about it whence it is that we have such expressions in the Scripture concerning sinners ye worship ye know not what Joh. 4.22 Surely they that worship they know not what do worship also they know not how as it there follows The Athenian Altar had this Inscription To the unknown God Acts 17.23 and the world by wisdome knew not God viz. manifest in the flesh 1 Cor. 1.21 Though there be nothing more knowable yet nothing more unknown then God 'T is visible to all the Creation by the Creation that there is a God as Rom. 1.22 but who and what he is and what his will is who hath known the mind of God 1 Cor. 2.16 Sin hath made men worship either 1 A false God and that 's Idolatry Or 2 God falsly and that 's Superstition Man is become such a fool In being 1 Idolatious that his worship till enlightned and converted is either a breach of the first or second Commandment and he fails as to the object or manner of worship and both speak mans folly that his Religion is either Idolatry or Superstition 1 Idolatry is mans folly to worship no God or that which is not a God but an Idol is folly and therefore the Gentiles are called not only Atheists but a foolish people and with this the Apostle upbraids them Gal. 4.8 Rom. 1.21.125 Man is such a fool that he neglects to serve the God that made him and serves Gods of his own making though that make proves that they are not as their name is but Gods like their knowledge falsly so called as 't is at large imputed to them of old Is 44 14.-16 The world hath been guilty of most abominable idolatry the Romans made diseases Gods as the Feaver c. and sinners make not only creatures as gold and their belly their God but among the fore-mentioned Romans theft and murder sins were reputed and called Gods yea the Devil himself hath been made a God and sacrificed to he is called the God of this world 2 Cor. 4.4 and saith the Apostle they sacrifice to devils 1 Cor. 10.20 Deut. 32.17 and sacrificed not only their children Psa 106.37 but their souls for in all services the soul is the sacrifice Oh sinful sin But yet again 2 Superstition is mans folly as to Religion 2 Superstitious and this is younger brother to Idolatry 't is of the same venter womb with Idolatry Superstition is not worshipping a false God but the true God falsly in a way that God commandeth not but it teacheth and practiseth for doctrines the devices and commandments of men or worships not according to the will of God but the will of man This also is called the sacrifice of fools Eccl. 5.1 They mind the matter more then the manner and take up with the work done though it be not well done and mind the outside more then the in-side yea and worship God more because they fear then because they love him And this shall briefly suffice for the evincing of mans folly or how sin hath befool'd man as to his end happiness and the means to it Religion I proceed 3 To shew mans folly 3 As to non or ill-improvement of means as to non or ill improvement of means when made known in truth and clearness though the Will of God as to worship be revealed yet sin makes men fools still either in this that they use not or in this that they make an ill use of
Sinful man is like the beast in sensuality as if he were only belly-wise and had no soul to mind or a soul only to mind his body he placeth his happinesse in sensual and corporal enjoyments and satisfactions and in this sense some understand that saying Eccl. 3.18 I said in my heart concerning the estate of the sons of men that oh that God would manifest them ââd that they might see what they are viz. that they are but beasts Solomon useth not a gentle or courtly complement but calls them in downright and plain English Beasts they live and die like beasts make no provision for Eternity mind not the world to come which is the world of eternal good or evil 3 3 Unsociableness Sinful mans likenesse to the Beast is and appears much by this His unfitness and unsuitableness for society and communion with God and men Sinners society is but societas belluâna the society of beasts and good men are as shy of it as of conversing with beasts In the state of Innocency among all the Beasts there was not found a meet help any one for man to associate himself to and keep company with and since sinful man is as unfit for pleasing and profitable converse as beasts were then Jobs friends took it in great scorn and disdain that they should be counted as beasts and reputed vile in his sight i.e. not fit for nor worthy of his conversation God and sinful men walk not together they are not agreed and good men are joyn'd by God himself not to be unequally yoked for what communion c. 2 Cor. 6. Thus by their ignorance sensuality and sociability are sinful men become like the beast yea and more 2 Sinners are not only like to beasts in the general but they are like the worst of beasts 2 Like the woâst of beasts such as in Scripture are called evil and hurtful beasts Sinners are not likened to the Dove or the sheep the harmless creatures but to Lyons Tygers Boars and Bears c. the ill-quality'd and ill-condition'd creatures If he be at any time likened to a creature that 's harmlesse yet 't is not for that good quality but for some bad one which is in that creature as Ephraim is likened to a Dove Hos 7.11 not for Innocency but sillinesse So when sinners are likened to Serpents 't is not for their wisdome but their venomous and poysonous nature or the enmity that 's in them against mankind but usually sinners are set and painted out like the worst of beasts like a dog an angry dog a creeping dog an howling dog a back-biting dog a greedy dog a dumb dog by Lyons devouring Lyons roaring Lyons by a raging Bear by a deceitful Fox c. So that man is like the evil and hurtful beasts for as one Lyon will devoure many beasts one Wolf devoure many sheep so one Sinner destroyeth much good Eccl. 9.18 and his tender mercies are cruel Prov. 12.10 3 3 Worse then beasts Sin hath made men worse then beasts more beasts then the beasts and worse then the worst of beasts Sinful man is not only ignorant as but more ignorant then the beast more sensual and more unsociable then the sensual and unsociable beasts This appears 1 By this that the beasts transgresse not the Law of their nature but man hath done and doth do it over and over the instinct of these creatures is their Law and they constantly observe it The quality of a beast which is condemnable in man is not condemnable in the beast ignorance and stupidity is no crime in an Oxe or an Asse but 't is in man 't is no sault in a Eyon to be devouring but 't is sin in man to be like a Lyon in devouring The beasts fulfill but men transgress the Law of their Nature when they act like beasts so that sinful man is worse then the beast Yea 2 Sinful man is worse then beasts in the very quality for which he is likened to the beast The Oxe and the Asse which have no understanding and to which sinful man is compar'd for ignorance and stupidity is yet more knowing then sinful man as 't is Is 1.3 And the like is spoken of the Stork Crane and Swallow by way of upbraid to man Jer. 8.7 These foolish creatures have more understanding then sinful man so as to sensuality man is worse then the beast for things of sense are the proper objects of a beasts appetite but not of the natural appetite and inclination of man 't is no sin in the beast to be sensual but 't is so in a man who though âreated to higher ends and purposes is yet so degenerated as to be in many things more sensual and carnal then the beasts are Sin hath made man so unsociable and cruel too that Bears are more kind to one another then men are saevis inter se convenit ursis and 't were better for a man safer to meet a Bear in her rage when robbed of her Whelps then to meet a fool in his folly Prov. 17.12 Man is more hurtful to man then beasts are to man I might now instance in a long List or Catalogue what beasts sinners are likened to and wherein the parallel or similitude holds viz. the wicked tyrannical Rulers of the world are compared to a roaring Lyon and ranging Bear Prov. 28.15 They have no pity but make a prey of all they come near to Hypocrites are like to Vipers Mat 23.23 Herod was called a Fox not only for his craft and cunning but for hunting after the life of the Lamb Christ Iesus Thus some sinners are like to some beasts and some to others but there are two beasts that all sinners are likened to the Goat and the Dog 1 Sinners are called Goats Mat. 25.32 33. He shall set the sheep i.e. the godly on his right hand and the Goats i.e. the wicked on the left And there are two or three things which Naturalists observe concerning Goats in which the wicked are like them As 1. Goats are very lascivious wanton and lustful sinners are so too the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eye are the things they are taken with 1 Joh. 2.16 To these they give up themselves saith the Apostle among whom we all had our conversation in the lusts of the flesh Eph. 2.3 and served divers lusts Tit. 3.3 Thus are they like Goats And 2. Goats are stinking beasts a Goatish smell is a stinking smell Gorgonius Hircum to smell of or like to the Goat is a very strong unsavoury and stinking sent and in a resembling sense the wicked are an abomination to the Lord a very stink in his Nostrils 3. Goats are very bold and adventurous beasts they climb Rocks and Precipices to browse and feed on what they can get with hazard and in this sinners are like them too in running hazards and many dangerous adventures for a little yea no satisfaction they venture peace conscience
life soul and all to get that which is not bread Isa 55.2 2 Sinners are likened to dogs I shall not run division in this nor persecute the Metaphor in prosecuting the particulars of which there was something said a little before but only to shew that though it were most usual with the Jews to call the Gentiles dogs and our Saviour speaks in their dialect and language when he told the woman that 't was not meet to take the childrens bread and cast it to dogs Mat. 15.26 yet 't is a common name to sinners whither Jews or Gentiles to all without God and Christ for without are dogs Revel 22.15 Upon the whole then 't is but too clear and evident what mischief sin hath done man in thus degrading him by making him a fool a beast a Monster and yet this is not all but 2 Sin hath not only degraded man 2 Sin separates man from God but hath also separated man from God in a moral sense for Acts 17.28 though by nature ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã we are his Off-spring and in him we live move and have our being yet morally and spiritually sinners are separated from God and are without God This is a great injury and I may call it the greatest seeing God is mans chiefest good to be separated from him must be his greatest evil and loss There was ever a very great disproportion and distance between God and Man God the Creator and man the creature God Insinite and man finite c. but this was no misery to man 't is sin only sin that hath made a difference and separation between God and man and therefore sinners are said to be afar off Eph. 2.73 for they depart from God and like the Prodigal go into a far Country Luke 15.13 More particularly sin hath separated man 1 1 From the sight of God From the sight and seeing of God Man could talk with God face to face as a man converseth with his friend but woe and alas man cannot see his face and live One of the first discoveries of mans sinfulness and misery by it was that he could not endure but hid himself from the sight yea and the voice of God Genes 3.8 Our happiness lies so much in the sight of God that it hath the name of Beatifical Vision a sight which passeth all sights When our Saviour prays for the happiness of his he doth not only pray that they may be where he is but that they may see his glory Joh. 17.24 And this is the glory which doth not yet appear that we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is 1 Joh. 3.2 They that are regenerate and enlightned from above and are refined and clarified have some glimpses and gradual sights of God and yet 't is comparatively called darkness we see but darkly as 't were his back-parts through a glass which is short of seeing face to face 1 Cor. 13.12 We do live by faith now rather then by sight as the Apostle doth express it 2 Cor. 5.7 'T is true faith is to us instead of our eyes for 't is the evidence of things not seen Hebr. 11.1 and by it we look as Moses did to him who is and to his things which are invisible 2 Cor. 4.18 Seeing then mans happiness lies so much in seeing God what an exceeding great mischief hath sin done to man in separating him from the sight of God that man cannot see God and live whereas the best life is in seeing God 2 Sin hath separated man from the life of God 2 From the life of God not only from living unto God and with God but from living the life of God viz. such a life as God lives which is a life of holiness in perfection and therefore 't is said of sinners that they are alienated from the life of God Eph. 4.18 yea and more that they are dead in sins and trespasses Eph. 2.1 So far from living that they are dead so far from living to God that they live against God so far from living the life of God that they live the life of Devils 'T is according to the Prince of the Power of the Air i.e. the Devil Eph. 1.2 Oh what an injury hath sin done in separating man from the Divine Life and Nature and sinking him into the dregs and death of sin viz. made him dead in sin 3 Sin hath separated man from the love of God 3 From the love of God I speak not now of what love and good will there is in God toward man but of that love and the actual communication thereof which man once had and enjoy'd whereof sin hath not only deprived him but made him the object of his wrath for God is angry with the wicked every day Psal 7.11 and they are by nature the children of wrath Eph. 2.3 4 and therefore said not to be beloved Rom. 9.25 Man was once the object of his love and delight when man came into the world in the likeness of God God lookt on him with delight and was enamour'd of this his Image but sin alas hath made him the object of his wrath Oh injurious sin 4 4 From communion Sin hath separated man from communion with God God and man kept company while man and holiness kept company but when that and man parted then God and man parted the redintegration of any is upon a new account they could not walk together because of this disagreement Amos 3.3 When man left walking in the light of holiness and walked in the darkness of sin fellowship ceased 1 John 1.6 7. 'T is true there is reconciliation and recovery by Jesus Christ but sin did what in it lay to cut man off from all communion with God for ever Oh this spiteful and pernicious sin 5 5 From Covenant-relation Sin separated man from the Covenant-relation wherein he stood unto God so that God had no obligation upon him to own him or look after him to have any thing to do with him but ruine him and what sin did at first it doth if not repented of and pardon'd to this day and therefore sinners called Loammi not my people which is worse then not to be a people 1 Pet. 2.10 and they are without God Promise and Covenant Eph. 2.12 Man can claim nothing of God upon any right or Plea of his own having sinned and therefore are said also to be without hope viz. in themselves Oh what a separation hath sin made in robbing man of God it robs him of all things for all things are ours but so far as God is ours 1 Cor. 3 21.-2 From hence come two great miseries on sinners from God as judgments upon this separation 1 God hideth his face and this follows on the separation as 't is express Is 59.2 Your iniquities have separated you and your God and your sin hath hid his face from you or as the Margin reads it have made him
examination and discovery of What Damnation is What damnation is and that privatively and positively consider'd Damnation may be consider'd 1 Privatively as paena damni a punishment of loss 2 Positively as paena sensus a punishment of sense An instance of both we have Mat. 25.41 Then shall he say to them on his left hand Depart from me there 's privative damnation into everlasting fire there 's positive damnation As sin is negatively a not doing good and positively a doing evil so damnation is a denial of good to and inflicting of evil upon sinners Salvation is ademptio malt the taking away of evil and adeptio boni an obtaining and enjoying of good 't is both wayes exprest Joh. 3.16 God so loved the world that he gave his Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish there 's negative salvation but have everlasting life there 's positive salvation So the damnation of sinners 't is negative depart from me and positive into everlasting sire In which Text we may observe 1 Who are to hear and to undergo this doom viz. them on his left hand the goats the sââners the workers of iniquity as 't is Matth. ãâã 23. 2 The Sentence or Doom it self Depart frome woe unto you saith God Hos 9.12 wheâ I depart from you but woe woe woe will it bâ when sinners must depart from God The punishment which iâ worthy of a remark doth answer to and is called by the name of sin What is sin but a departure from God And what the doom of sinners departure from God aâ if God should say to them you liked departinâ while you lived now depart from me yoâ would none of me nor my company now I'â none of you nor yours Depart from us is thâ cry of sinners to God Job 21.14 Depart from mâ will be the cry of God to sinners 3 Here is the state wherein sinners must bâ when they receive this doom Cursed God wiââ not fend them away in peace or bless them before they go but away they must with a vengeance and with a curse at their backs they loved cursing and cursing shall be unto them all the curses in the Book of God shall light on them 4 Here is the torment they are to undergo fire yea everlasting fire kindled by the wrath and maintained by the wrath of God Lastly the company they are to have none but the Devil and his Angels Depart from me yâ cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels A little to gloss on this briefly 't is as if sinners should say to God in the day of Judgment Lord have mercy upon us Mercy saith Gââ mercy upon you No no I will have no mercy on you time was when you might have had mercy without judgment but now you shall have judgment without mercy depart depart If they should then beg and say Lord if we must depart let it be from thy Throne of judgment but not from thee Yes saith the Lord depart from me depart from that presence of mine in which there 's joy depart and go to hell Lord if they say seeing we must be gone yet bless us before we go let thy blessing be upon us Oh no saith God be gone with a curse depart ye cursed Oh Lord if we must go from thee let us not go into the place of torment but appoint some place if not of pleasure yet of ease No depart into fire burning and tormenting flames Oh Lord if into fire let it be but for a little while let the fire be soon out or we soon out of it for who can dwell in everlasting burnings No no neither shall you nor the fire know an end be gone into everlasting fire Ah Lord let it be long then before we go thither No depart presently the Sentence shall be presently put in execution Ah Lord let 's at least have good company that will pitty us though they cannot help us No no you shall have none but tormenting Devils they that you obey'd when they were Tempters you shall be with as Tormentors Oh what misery hath sin brought on man to brin him to hear this dreadful doom Depart from me ye cursed c. But as to the particulars I shall begin with the privative part Paena damni or privative damnation the paena damni penalty of loss which will not be the least plague of the sinnerâ hell he shall be deprived of all good never to enjoy good day or good thing more when once a man is damned he may bid adieu to all good Luke 16.25 But to go on by degrees and step by step This then we say 1 1 Parting with all the good things they had here That damned sinners will be strip'd naked and deprived of all the good things they had in this life Wicked men are called the men of this world Psal 17.14 they have their portion and consolation in this life Luke 6.24 and 16.25 Many of them fare well and prosper in this world they have stately houses spread Tables full Cups soft Beds pleasant Walks delightful Gardens filled with fragrant and odoriferous fruits and flowers they sit at the upper end they have the grandure and gallantry of this world but when they come to be damned neither riches nor honors nor pleasures will descend with them Wicked men would be content with the good they have if they might have it alwayes if Dives-like they might be cloathed with Purple and fine Linnen and fare deliciously for ever they would say happy is the people that is in such a case Psa 144 12.-15 But this vain petty happiness such as 't is they must part with for ever and bid adieu for good and all to all their good When Devils fetch away their soul whose shall all these things be Luke 12.20 none of theirs all must be left behind theâ cannot carry with them a drop of water to cooâ their tongue to have a portion of this world may be a mercy but to have the world for a portion is a misery to have all good things in this life and but for this life is a misery indeed thou shalt be cloath'd with silks no more eat the fat and drink the sweet no more Oâ But Saints themselves must part with these things tââ A. ãâ¦ã But the best on 't is they shall have better things in lieu of them The impenitent sinner ãâã from all his good to all evil but the Saint gââs from all his evil and but from a little good ãâ¦ã goods who would not part with Counâeââ for gold with a world for heaven this the Saint doth and 't is a good exchange I trow but when a man must part with all his Jewels all his fine things his wine and musick and the deligâts of the Sons of men and have no good thing left him âh how sad 2 Though sinnâââ will count this a great loss 2 Part with the comfort they had
be parted from God who is the Heaven of Heaven All good things are but as a drop to the Ocean in comparison of him Psa 73.25 whom have I in Heaven but thee as if all the rest were nothing If a Saint were to go to Heaven this very day he would say as Absolom why am I come up from Geshur if I may not see the Kings face 2 Sam. 14.32 This then will be the misery of miseries to the damned that they must depart from God in whose presence only there is joy and pleasures for evermore This face of his they must see no more unless it be as ever frowning upon them in Hell The good people sorrowed most for the words that Paul spake viz. that they should see his face no more Acts 20.38 This this will be the pricking cutting wounding of sinners to the heart that they must see Gods face no more no more of his goodness no more of his patience no more of his mercy When Cain a type of this was turned out of and banished from the presence of the Lord he cryes out that his punishment was intollerable Genes 4.13 8. 8 This estate unalg terable They shall not only be deprived of all good things but continue in an utter incapacity of any alteration for the better This makes Heaven so much Heaven that 't is alwayes so and this makes Hell to be so much Hell that 't is alwayes so In this world there is a door of hope a day an offer and means of grace space for repentance a Mediator in Heaven a patient God possibility of being blessed but when once damned the door is shut 't is in vain to knock the day offers and means of grace is at an end there 's no room left for repentance Gods long suffering will suffer no longer the Mediation of Christ Jesus is over there 's no possibility of mending their condition Oh methinks we should hear the words of the wise Eccl. 9.10 Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do do it with thy might for there is no work no working out salvation in the grave whither thou art going Think of it poor soul think of it betime till it be too late for if thou die in thy sins though thou shouldest weep out thine eyes in Hell 't will stand thee in no stead God will not know thee nor hear they cry but laugh at thy calamity and mock thee in the midst of thy torments Prov. 1.25 26. Thus I have briefly shown the privative part of Damnation wicked men must part with all their goods with their joys their peace their hopes good company all which stood them in great stead in this world with Heaven and which is more and worst of all with God himself and be utterly incapable of ever being in a better condition And what think you now Is not sin exceeding sinful that separates him from all good past present and to come if 't were only from past good that which Adam enjoy'd in Paradise or only from present good what men have in this world 't were the better to be endured if futurity and Eternity were secured 't were pretty well but sinful sin hath cut off Paradise that none of us were ever in Eden since we came into the world it hath spoiled imbitter'd and poyson'd with a curse all present temporal enjoyments that they prove satisfactions to none but vexations to all and yet so spiteful and of so malignant a nature is sin that it reserves its worst till last even Hell and Damnation and 't will be worse to us in Eternity then 't was in time And to make this appear yet more evidently and fully I proceed to the Second part of Damnation Which the Schools and justly call paena sensus Para scusus or posiâive dââânation the punishment of sense if 't were not for this that men will be then sensible of and feel both their loss and their gain viz. the pain which they have gotten by their sins Damnation would seem to be but a dream or an imagination but their senses as well as their understanding feeling as well as fancy will tell them what a dreadful thing 't is to be damned a thing which I wish with all my soul that none of you may ever know but by hearing of it and that the hearing may be a means to prevent the feeling of it But now what shall I do who that hath not been in Hell can tell what Hell is who would go thither periculum facere to try what ' t is Surely eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither hath it entred into the heart of man to conceive as what God hath prepared for them that love him so for them that hate him that is for sinners impenitent sinners It is sins design and work to make man eternally miserable to undo him soul and body for ever Now the better to represent this doleful state and woful misery I shall search the Scriptures and endeavour to fathom the depth of expressions used there that we may learn from thence what Damnation is and from thence the sinfulness of sin in relation whereunto I lay down three Propositions in general 1 1 All the miseries of this life not to be compar'd with it This punishment that sinners must undergo will be such a state of misery as all the miseries of this life are not to be compared with it they are nothing to it Take the dregs of all the miseries of this life and out of them extract an Essence the very spirit of miseries as men do Strong-waters from the Lees and dregs of Wine and Beer it will fall infinitely short of this misery damnation The gripings and grindings of all the diseases and torments that men do or can suffer in this life are but flea-bitings to it to pluck out a right eye to cut off a right hand were a pleasure and recreation in comparison of being damned in Hell Mat. 5. o. A Burning Feaver is nothing to burning in Hell nay let me speak a true though a great and big word If all the miseries that have been undergone by all men in the world were all met together and center'd in one man it were nothing to Hell Hell would be a kind of Paradise if ' twâre no worse then the worst of this world 2. 2 'T is contrary to what the Saints shall enjoy This state will be a state clean contrary to that which the Saints shall enjoy in Eternity their differing states are exprest in contrary terins as Mark 16.16 He that believeth shall be saved but he that believeth not shall be damned Now damnation and salvation are contrary states that 's a state all of evil and of all evil this all of good and of all good So Mat. 25.46 The wicked shall go into everlasting punishment but the righteous into life Eternal The life that Saints obtain sinners go without and the misery that Saints are deliver'd from sinners are
shall be the portion of their Cup from the Lord they shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God which is powred out without mixture in the Cup of his Indignation and they shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy Angels and of the Lamb Rev. 14.10 11. As many times when Judges suspect their Officers that they will not do it home enough they will have it done in their presence the whole Court and company looking on So shall it be and the smoak of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever and they have no rest day nor night Yet further 5 5 The aggravations Let us consider the aggravations of these torments As sin hath been aggravated so will the torments be there will be degrees of torment 't will be though intollerable for all yet more tollerable for some then others Mat. 11.21 24. their torments will be aggravated 1 Who have lived long in sin The longer men have lived in sin on earth the greater will their torments be in hell Isai 65.20 The sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed with a witness for he hath been long treasuring up wrath much wrath against the day of wrath he hath a great account to make for all the patience and forbearance of God Some men grow rich by having other mens goods in their hands not called in when men forbear their money and leave it in their hands they grow rich by it so do wicked men grow rich in wrath by abusing the goodness and patience of God because God forbears them and doth not take out executions against them and enter into judgment they grow rich but alas 't is in wrath See Rev. 21.22 2 The more means men have had the more cost and charges God hath been at the more pains God hath taken with men and yet they continue impenitent the more severe will his judgment be upon them If Christ had not come they had had no such sin this is the condemnation that light is come into the world and men love darkness Capernaum that was exalted to heaven by means will be thrown to hell in the end Mat. 11.23 To sall from earth to hell will be a great fall but to fall from heaven to hell will be a greater To go from Turky to hell will be sad but to go from England to hell and from London to hell ah how rufully sad 3 The more knowledge men attain to the more convictions men have had without practise and improvement the greater will their condemnation be Luke 12.47 That servant which knew his Lords will and did not according to his will shall be beaten with many stripes And 2 Pet. 2.21 it were better they had never known the way of righteousness then to know it and not walk in it or having walkt in it to depart from it to him that knows to do good and doth it not to him it is sin great sin sin with a witness and condemnation with a vengeance How can they escape the great condemnation that neglect the great salvation these become inexcusable under the judgment of God Rom. 1.32 with Rom. 2.1 2 3. 4 The further men have gone in a profession of Religion without the power of godliness the greater will their condemnation be Formalists and hypocrites will-know the worst of hell how can ye escape not only hell but the damnation of hell the hell of hell Mat. 23.33 The form of godliness and the power of ungodliness will fare alike as Mat. 24.51 with Luke 12.46 5 Apostates will meet with aggravated torments in hell the backslider will be filled with his own ways his latter end will be worse then his beginning 2 Pet. 2.20 better for them they had died in their sins at first then to be as now twice dead Jude 12. If we sin wilfully after the knowledge of the truth if we do nuncium metere pietati turn our backs on Christianity and godliness there remains no more sacrifice for sin but a certain fearful expectation or looking for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devoure them that by Apostasie become adversaries He that despised Moses Law died without mercy and yet of how much sorer punishment shall he be thought worthy who treads under foot the Son of God and counts the Blood of the Covenant wherewith it was sanctified an unholy thing c. Oh what fearful vengeance will such meet with See Hebr. 10 26.-32 and this little shall suffice to have spoken to the aggravations 6 And lastly 6 The effects of hell torments let 's take a view of the effects of these torments 1 There will be inexpressible sorrow sighing and groaning that cannot be utter'd weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth Mat. 8.12 anger indignation vexation even to madness and rage will be the effects of them 2 There will be intollerable horror and pain if thunder lightning and earthquakes make men afraid and shrink together what will hell do If the throbing Tooth-ach the gnawing Gout c. put men to such exquisite pains what will hell do If sickness make us fear death and the fear of death be so dreadful what will hell be If you Felix-like tremble to hear of this judgment to come what would you do if you were to undergo it If seeing ugly and devillish shapes affright us what will it do to be with the devil and his Angels 3 This will be the sad effect of these torments sinal and eternal impenitency and despâir even to cursing and blaspheming he that dies impenitent continue so for ever and impenitency is attended with blasphemy Is 8.21 22. They shall pass through it hardly bestead and hungry and it shall come to pass that when they shall be hungry they shall fret themselves and curse their King and their God which I quote to shew the nature of a fretting and vexing heart under torments a thing very common with despairing and thereby made desperate persons Revel 16.9 10. When they were scorcht with great heat they blasphemed the name of God and repented not to give him glory and v. 10 11. they gnaw'd their tongues for pain and blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores We see that when the plagues of God are on impenitent sinners they are cursing and though they may repent i.e. be sorry for the plagues yet not for the cause of them And hence many do infer this that if these plagues which are far inferiour to them in hell do provoke men thus that they will do it much more Woe and alas what a dismal doleful condition 't is to be damned and then what Oh what a sinful thing is sin that brings this damnation I have now dispatch'd the second thing viz. the contrariety of sin to the good of man and that not only in this life but in that to come Before I bring in the Wâtnesses to prove this Charge against Sin to be
duty to honor Father and Mother but still in the Lord it may be a duty to disobey yea to hate father and mother rather then obey them viz. when to obey them will be disobedience to God whither it be better to obey God or man judge you So that God will not allow us to sin to gratifie the greatest persons the nearest and dearest relations 3 God will not allow us to sin though we should professedly do it for his glory Sin can never directly glorifie God and though he know how to bring good out of evil yet he will not that we should sin for him who needs not us much less our sin God will take and is righteous in taking vengeance though our unrighteousness commend and set off the righteousness of God Rom. 3.5 Though the truth of God have more abounded through thy lye yet thou wilt be found a sinner Rom. 3.7 so that for this good evil must not be done v. 8. they that cast out their Brethren saying let God be glorified yet God will put them to shame Is 66.5 And though they thought in putting them to death they should do God good service yet God reckons it as their serving the devil John 16.2 with Rev. 2.10 When Saul excused his sin under the pretence of Sacrifice it was yet called Rebellion and reputed as witchcraft a most abominable thing 1 Sam. 15. Job upbraids his friends with this irreligious piety saith he Job 13.7 Will ye speak wickedly for God and talk deceitfully for him Surely v. 10. he will reprove you for it Sin is so much the worse for being committed in the name of the Lord men thereby do as it were make God to serve the devils designs Nay ãâ¦ã will be no excuse that men like ãâ¦ã Judââ c. sulfill the conââel and ãâã will i.e. determination of God as to what eventually shall be if they sin against his revealed will which is the rule by which men are to walk and to which they ought to be obedient âo that by all this it plainly appears how that God witnesseth against sin that we may not sin for the good of any nor for any good no not for God 4 4 Threatning God witnesseth against sin by threatning men in case they sin he makes penal Statutes against ãâã in the day thou eatest the forbidden ãâã thou shalt surely die If sin were not an ââonourable thing surely God would not have ãâ¦ã it on such peril on pain of death of ãâ¦ã will be said under the execution of ãâ¦ã and âhe just judgment of God ãâã â ãâ¦ã God is ãâã with the wicked and that wit ãâ¦ã angry with ãâ¦ã argues and ãâ¦ã by them for he ãâã ãâ¦ã displease him ãâ¦ã is nor that evil ãâ¦ã God to ãâ¦ã sometime to ãâ¦ã judgment ãâ¦ã ââgry werâ ãâ¦ã God would not âebuke ãâ¦ã who knows the pow ãâ¦ã his ânger and ãâ¦ã âappy they that ãâ¦ã do nor withdraw his anger the proud helpers do stoop under him Job 9.13 the helpers of pride so 't is man is apt to be very proud and hath helpers of pride and 't is observeable that the word we read pride signifies strength also to denote that man is very apt to be proud of his strength but all the strong helpers of pride must stoop if he withdraw not his anger The strength of riches Prov. 10.15 the strength of friends and families Psa 49.7 strength and stoutness of spirit must all stoop if his anger break forth if he take but one of his arrows and discharge it against a sinner if he strike him but with one blow of his sword as the phrases are Psa 7 11.-14 Kiss the Son least he be angry and ye perish perishing is at the heels of his anger Psa 2.12 The fear or terror of a King is like the roaring of a Lyon whoso provoketh him to anger sinneth against his own soul Prov. 20.2 Oh what dread is there then from the anger of the King of Kings when God sets our iniquities before him we are consumed by his anger and troubled by his wrath Psa 90.7 Now we infer that if Gods anger be so terrible and 't is sin that makes God angry that certainly sin is extremely sinful contrary to God or else the God of all grace the God of patience whose name is Love would never be so angry at it and for it 5 God witnesseth against sin by this that it 5 Repentâââ and it only put him upon repenting that he had made man Gen. 6.5 6. God saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually and it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth and it grieved him at his heart and v. 7. God saith It repenteth me that I have made them The repentance of God argues a very great dislike of and displeasure against the wickedness of man Time was though 't were but for a little while that there was no sin and then when God lookt on what he had made he was so far from repenting that 't was wholly hid from his eyes and he was infinitely pleased but when sin had spoil'd the fashion and beauty of his work then indeed he speaking after the manner of men grieves and repents So that 't is not the work of his hand but the work of mans heart that put God on repenting Is God man that he should repent oh what an horrible thing is that which puts the unchangeable God on changing for such a thing repentance is viz. a change It repented the Lord that he had set up Saul to be King 1 Sam. 15. and when men do wickedly God repents that he hath done them good Jer. 18 7.-10 If men do evil against God God repents of the good he hath done men but such is his goodness if men repent of their evil God will repent of the evil he thought to do unto them Now as that must be very good that puts God on repenting of the evil so undoubtedly that must be very evil that puts God on repenting of the good he hath done to man 8 God witnesseth against sin by the many great and severe judgments which he hath executed upon â Executing judâment as well as threatned to sinners and which he will in all Ages execute on many and to all Eternity on some sinners for what God hath done shews what God will do as the Apostle infers 2 Pet. 2.3 4 5 6. Sinners do hugely mistake God when they say evil is good in his sight or where is the God of judgment Mal. 2.17 and do no less forget themselves and what God hath done when they say all things continue as they were and therefore scoffingly say where is the promise of his coming viz. to judgment 2 Pet. 3. 'T is true if God should judge as fast as men sin the world would be depopulated and at an end quickly But his
the Angels are ministring spirits for the good of them that shall be heirs of salvation Hebr. 1.14 They incamp round about them that fear the Lord Psa 34.7 And when wicked men or devils would hurt this their charge they rise up in their might Dan. 10.20 Gabriel and Michael joyn against the Prince of Persia Rev. 12.7 Michael and his Angels fought against the Dragon and his Angels and overcame When Balaam hanker'd after the wages of unrighteousness to curse Israel the Angel of the Lord withstood him Numb 22.32 Thus by their protection of the good they shew their detestation of sin in them that would touch Gods Anointed or do his Prophets harm 8 Angels discover themselves to be haters of sin as a most abominable thing by their readiness to execute Gods judgment and vengeance on sinners The Angel that was merciful to Balaams Ass was ready to slay Balaam but that he was reserved to fall by other hands When Herod was so wicked as to assume glory to himself which of right is Gods the Angel of the Lord smote him because he gave not glory to God Acts 12.23 When God will judge the Angels will execute the judgment written The Angels executed destruction from the Lord against Sodom and Gomorrah Gen. 19.13 because their sin was great When Israel sinned God sent destroying Angels among them great havocks have they made among the Armies of the Aliens They powre out the Vials of Gods wrath on the earth Rev. 16.1 and praised God as they went about their work because God is just in judging ungodly men At the end of the world the Angels will be the reapers and will gather out all that doth offend Mat. 13 39.-41 The Lord will come with his holy and mighty Angels to take vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ 2 Thes 1.7 8. I might instance in other things also by which the Angels bear testimony against sin they are present at our worship and observe us which is a great obligation to reverence and a witness against immodesty 1 Cor. 11.10 They take account of our vows Eccl. 5.5 6. better it is thou shouldst not vow then vow and not pay because 't is before the Angel The Apostle chargeth Timothy not only before God but before the Elect Angels to be strictly conscientious 1 Tim. 5.21 They are witnesses of what we do and shall be witnesses of what God will do for he that confesseth Christ shall be owned by him and he that denies Christ shall be denied by him and that before the Angels Luke 12.8 9. 't will be one part of hereafter glory to be like Angels let 's be like them here in witnessing against sin and doing the will of God on earth as they do it in heaven But I proceed to evince that 2 Evil Angels 2 The evil Angels the devil and his Angels witness sin to be sinful not only in their being devils by it and suffering for it but many other ways as I shall evince We use to say that virtues confest by foes and vices confessed by friends are true Surely then by the Devil we shall find that vice and sin is as we have declared it to be and if such a friend of sin as the devil is will confess it to be sinful we may believe him for though he be the Father of Lies yet in this he speaks truth a clear and great truth 1 Then the devil witnesseth against sin by his trembling the devil trembles at this that there is a God James 2.19 Now God was never terrible to the Angels till they sinned then they saw and trembled at the terror of God Sin brought judgment on the devils 2 Pet. 2.4 at this they tremble so that sin is the first cause of devils trembling That then which makes devils tremble at the belief of a God who will be a God of judgment is exceeding sinful 2 As great as their judgment is and greater though it be like to be yet they acknowledge it just and so by consequence sin to be unjust and sinful The justness of judgment confest is a confession of the vileness of the sin which brings the judgment Say the devils Mat. 8.29 Art thou come to torment us before the time they confess that the Son of God was to judge them to torment that they had no exception to make against being tormented but only as to the time they are reserved in chains to judgment 2 Pet. 2.4 Jude 6. and say they art thou come to torment us before the time before the judgment of the great day to which we are reserved they deny not their being worthy of this death or that their damnation is just and therefore do confess the ugliness and filthiness of sin 3 They witness sin to be sinful in tempting men to sin They used to say that surely they must be good men whom Nero hated and persecuted so may we say that must needs be evil which the evil one tempts men to as that is good which he hates and persecutes he is the evil one and the Tempter Can that be good that the evil one tempts us to Can any good come out of this Nazareth Can any good come from hell 'T is enough to evince sin to be sinful that 't is of the devil 't is a clear proof of the evil of sin that the devil tempts to it 4 The devil tells us that sin is an ugly thing by this that he turns himself into an Angel of Light that he the more effectually lead us into darkness If he should come like a devil like an enemy all would be shy of him but he comes disguized and puts on the face of a friend and so puts tricks on us and cheats us and indeed doth prevail more by his wily subtilties then by his power If the devil had come to Eve and bespake her thus I was once a glorious Angel and lived above in the Court of Heaven but I have sinned and am cast down to hell do thou also eat the forbidden fruit and thou shalt be like me would this have taken Surely no So if he did come and tempt men to sin and tell them 't is the ready way to hell would this prevail with them to swear and whore c. No no the devil is subtil an old Serpent he colours and paints sin covers his hook with a bait c. and draws men in ere they are aware He is a deceiver but least he should be known he puts on a good garb and cloaths himself with false light 2 Cor. 11.13 14. And indeed as this is the danger least as the Serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty so our minds should be corrupted the same way 2 Cor. 11.3 so this disguize and subtil transformation proves sin to be a monstrous ugly thing why else doth the devil paint it why doth he pretend good when he intends evil this proves the
sinfulness of sin that the devil tempts not in his own name or shape he dares not say I am the devil I am a deceiver I will lead thee to hell for that would spoil his project 5 The devil grants sin to be the worst of evils by this that all the affliction and misery which he brings upon men is to make them sin more so that in the devils account sin is worse then suffering as it proves the goodness of God that he brings evil on us to do and make us good to cure us of the evil of sin by the evil of suffering so it argues the sinfulness of the devil and sin too that he brings evil on us to make us worse he doth not care to afflict us so much because we have sinned as that we may sin no more The end of the devil in persecuting Job was not only to make him smart but to make him sin that he might curse God 't is something beyond suffering which is worse then suffering that the devil aims at in bringing suffering and that is sin 6 The devil bears witness that sin is sinful by this that when any are awakened to see their own vileness he endeavours all he can to drive them to despair as he would at first they should presume to sin so after that they should not hope for but despair of pardon he littles it or nothings it before commission and greatens it after when sin revived the Apostle died Rom. 7.9 It wrought in him apprehensions of death and hell due to that state wherein he then was when Christ Jesus convinced him of his sin of persecution it made him tremble and struck him almost dead Acts 9. Conviction of sin pricks men to the heart and makes them cry out like undone men what shall we do what will become of us is there any pardon is there any hope Now the devil strikes in and tells them that their sin is greater then can be forgiven When the poor Penitent was sorrowful the devil made use of his devices that he might be swallowed up and drown'd in sorrow 2 Cor. 2.7 with 11. as if he would have told him if these forgive thee not much less will God the Church hath cast thee off and so will God His great design is then to perswade men that the Mercy of God and Merit of Christ is not enough to save them Thus the devil speaks out fully that sin is exceeding sinful 7 And lastly the devil declares sin to be sinful in being the accuser of the Brethren Rev. 12.10 Oh what stories doth he tell of God of the Brethren how sinful they are and thereby confesseth to God himself the ugliness of sin for from thence only doth he take the rise and frame the arguments of his accusation as Christ ever liveth to make intercession for us so the devil lives to make accusations against us day and night when God askt the devil if he had consider'd his servant Job Yes saith he I have and accuse him for an hired servant one that serves thee meerly for wages and would if but toucht by thee curse thee to thy face When Satan accused Joshua Zech. 3.1 2. 't was for his filthy garments his iniquity as v. 3 4. He is ever telling tales and sometimes true stories of the miscarriages of Professors he Registers their pride and wantonness their vanity and folly all their unworthy walkings and accuseth them to God for these things and even tempts God Job 2.3 to destroy them for their sinfulness and sometimes as in Jobs case without a cause whatever he say to us to be sure he says to God that sin is an exceeding and out of measure sinful thing when he accuseth the Brethren Thus of the devils witness I proceed to bring in 3 The witness of men Good Bad against sin 3 Men witness against sin 1 Good men bear witness against sin 1 Good men joyntly and severally to which of the Saints shall we turn as was said in another case they all with one consent as one man with one voice and one mouth cry out against sin as a sinful thing one says yea all say 't were damnation to be a sinner if there were no other hell another says 't were better to be in hell with Christ then in heaven with sin another saith 't is more ugly then the devil they all subscribe to this that sin is the most odious of all evils hell it self not more for it had not been had not sin made it Good men bear witness against other mens sins and against their own also 1 Against other mens sins 1 Against other mens sins if possible to prevent if not to convince For 1 They do give advise and counsel to men against sin that they may not sin which proves that sin is an abominable thing in their esteem The sum of what is spoken by way of commend as to Abraham Gen. 18.19 amounts to this that he would advise and charge his Posterity not to sin So that of Samuel to Israel 1 Sam. 12.24 25. and that of David to Solomon 1 King 2.1 2 3. c. yea to all his children Come saith he I will teach you the fear of the Lord Psal 34.11 and 't is by the fear of the Lord that men depart from evil So in the N.T. 1 Thes 2.11 12. 1 Pet. 2.11 1 Joh. 2.1 't is the advise-general that good men give to every one do not sin 2 If they find that their counsel hath not taken place but men have sinned then they bear witness against sin by reproving it Reproofs are arguments of sinfulness for men do not reprove any for what 's good reproof argues preceding guilt were it not that sin is odious to them good men would not be at the cost and charges nor run the hazard of reproving others for it reproving others is a thankless office and unacceptable imployment for the most part men take reproofs for reproachââ yet God having laid it on good men as their they to rebuke and not suffer sin to lye upon their Brother they dare not omit it Levis 19.17 Though Eli reproved his sons for their sins yet he is sharply reproved for not reproving them more sharply 1 Sam. 2. We find Samuel reproving King Saul Is it meet to be said to a King thou art wicked Yet 1 Sam. 13.13 saith the Prophet to the King thou hast done foolishly thou hast done wickedly and Ch. 15.22 23. he calls his sin rebellion and stubbornness thus cuttingly did he reprove King Saul S. John was not afraid to tell Herod of his wickedness and to his face too Luke 3.19 S. Paul would not sâare S. Peter when he sound him tripping and dissembling Gal. 2.11 but withstood him to the face what doth this speak but that sin is an odious thing to good men and they judge it extremely sinful against God and man Further. 3 Good men witness against sin by withdrawing
from sinners and their society to have no more to do with them then needs must this separation from their persons is only because of their sins if good men be constrain'd to converse with them yet they cry out as Psa 120.5 6. Woe is me that I dwell in Meshek and the Tents of Kedar The society of the wicked is very burthensome to the godly Lot was in a kind of hell when he was in Sodom their wickedness was continually vexing his soul 2 Pet. 2.7 8. This withdrawing from or groaning under the society of the wicked testifies against sin and is in obedience to the Command of God 2 Cor. 6.14 c. 4 Their mourning over other mens sins shews that in their eyes sin is an abominable thing though but the sin of others Psal 119.136 Mine eyes run down with rivers of tears why because men keep not thy Laws Oh how dear is the Law of God and how vile the sin of men to holy David so the Prophet Jeremiah Ch. 13 15.-17 expresseth the like zeal for God Hear ye and give ear be not proud give glory to the Lord c. But if you will not hear my soul shall weep in secret for your pride mine eyes shall weep sore and run down with tears The Apostle Paul when he speaks of the sins of men he doth it weeping Phil. 3.19 Other mens sins cost good men many a weeping eye and aking heart because sin is so contrary to God and the good of men 5 And lastly to name no more they testifie how sinful a thing sin is by their prayers and endeavours to get pardon for their sins who it may be scarce seek it for themselves Sinners little think how much they are beholding to good men who pray for their salvation even then when the wicked seek their destruction Said St. Stephen Father lay not this sin to their charge oh forgive them How earnestly did Abraham pray for mercy in behalf of Sodom that if possible it might not be destroy'd When Israel had sinned a great sin and provokt the Lord Moses mediates and intercedes for them and offers to die that they may live Exod. 32. Now if they did not know that sin were a sinful thing offensive to God and destructive to man would they interpose at such a rate no they would not But by all this it appears that good men witness against sin as the worst of evils yea and wicked men bears witness against sin no man hath a good word for sin There is no man can plead sins cause or be its Advocate but before I produce their testimony I am to shew 2 That good men witness against their own sin 2 Against their own sin as well as against other mens sins they do not only wish others reformation but do endeavour their own and would if possible be so innocent as not to sin at all 't is their ambition and prayer that their thoughts words and deeds may be all acceptable to God Psa 19 14. they would not dream extravagantly if they could avoid it nor that a vain thought should lodge within them 't is possible indeed that some men may declaim bitterly against other mens sins and yet indulge their own as if they had rather see other men reformed then themselves and virtue were a more pleasant Theme to talk of then a thing to be possest but godly men dare not do so but are against sin in others and against sinning themselves As appears 1 By this that they will not dare not sin though they have opportunity and may do it with pleasure honor and profit as the world rates these things Some men that do not sin for want of opportunity would sin if they had it they want not heart but occasion not inclination but opportunity they would sin if tempted to sin Others avoid sins that would bring disgrace c. but for pleasant fashionable and profitable sins they can easily imbrace such but godly men dare not sin though all these concur take an instance in Joseph who when he was courted into pleasure c. yet even then saith he how oh how can I find it in my heart can I do how shall I do this wickededness and sin against God! Gen. 39 7.-9 't is saith he sin against my Master sin against thee sin against mine own soul but the worst is 't is against God how shall I do this wickedness and sin against God! Another instance of him there is in relation to his brethren how ill they had deserved at his hands what opportunity he had to be revenged is well known yet he generously forgave them and provided for them and this was the reason I saith he fear God Gen. 42.18 Job also in his Apology Ch. 31. c. gives a full account how odious a thing sin of all sorts was unto him even in his prosperity when he might according to the course of this world have done whatever seem'd good in his own eyes and none have said to him what dost thou or why dost thou thus You shall find Balaam after the guize and mode of hypocrites talking and pretending like an Angel but acting and intending like a devil 't was a kind of trouble to him that he could not sin Numb 22.18 I cannot go beyond the word of the Lord but it seems he would if he could whereas a Saint would say I neither can nor will go against or beyond or short of the word of the Lord if I can help it 2 Good and godly men discover that sin is odious to them by this that they will rather suffer then sin Many men make an ill choice such an one as Elihu charged on Job Ch. 36.21 This viz. sin hast thou chosen rather then affliction but godly men make Moses his choice who chose affliction rather then the pleasures of sin Hebr. 11. As precious a thing as life is a godly man would not willingly sin to save his life Though the mouth of a Fiery Furnace heated seven-fold were open to devoure the three children as we use to call them yet they would not sin Dan. 3.18 and Daniel would rather adventure on the Lyons then neglect a duty to his God Dan. 6.10 Though bonds waited on S. Paul every where yet he could not be withheld by fear of them from preaching the faith of Jesus Acts 20.23 24. with 21.11 15. you have a long Catalogue a little Book of Martyrs Hebr. 11. who chose all manner of deaths before any kind or manner of sin and would not accept deliverance on ignoble terms but had rather die holily then live sinfully They all declare that 't is better to suffer to avoid sinning then sin to avoid suffering 3 They witness against sin by this that they will not sin though grace abound or that grace may abound Rom. 6.1 2 no God forbid Though they have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous who is the Propitiation for their sin
1 Joh. 2.1 2. the very Doctrine of Grace and interest in the death of Christ is the great obligation upon them not to sin Read ãâã 6.2 Cor. 5.15 Titus 2.11 12. the assurance of glory is an engagement to mortification Col. 3 4 5. when Christ who is our life shall appear then shall we appear with him in glory what then May we therefore gratifie corruption and live as we list Oh no but mortifie therefore c. though there be promises of forgiveness to him that confesseth his sin yet a godly man dare not sin and buy repentance at so dear a rate When S. John had said that if we confess our sin God is faithful and not only merciful but just to forgive us our sin and the blood of Jesus Christ shall cleanse us from all yet he adds these things I write that you sin not 1 Joh. 1.9 with 1 Joh. 2.1 nay they dare not sin that good may come of it nor tell a lye though the truth of God may thereby abound unto God his glory Rom. 3.7 8. 4 They witness that sin is an abominable thing by this the care they take and the means they use to prevent sin that they may not sin 1 They maintain a continual war against the devil world and flesh because they would not sin as much as they good souls love peace yet they live in war I and live in war to preserve their peace on which sin would make a breach Godly men would not hate the devil but that he is a sinner and tempts them to sin they would not hate their own flesh or Father and Mother but to prevent sinning Of this war you may read Rom. 7. and Gal. 5.17 They are fain to fight their way to heaven from day to day and duty to duty and are at great cost and charges pains and watchings to keep this war on foot and all that they may not sin 2 They are praying always that they may not sin Oh our Father lead us not into ãâ¦ã on but deliver us from evil though temptations be no sins yet they are the way to sins and therefore they pray that if possible they might not be tempted Psa 119.113 Let not any iniquity have dominion over me saith good King David keep me from presumption that I may be upright c. Psa 19. yea 't is their joynt supplication thy will be done on earth as 't is in heaven 3 They hide the word of God in their heart as an antidote that they may not sin Psal 119.11 and when Princes persecuted this holy man without a cause yet he durst not meditate revenge but his heart stood in awe of the word which he had hid there Psa 119 161. 4 That they may not sin they abstain from appearances and occasions of evil Job made a covenant with his eyes Job 31.1 King David said he would take heed to his ways that he might not sin with his tongue Psa 39.1 that is that he might be perfectly holy in the sense of Saint James's phrase Ch. 3.2 If any man offend not in word the same is a perfect man a great Commander of himself and able to bridle the whole body which is the expression used in the forequoted Psalm when chast Joseph met with a tempting Mistris 't is said of him he hearkned not unto her not only not to lye with her but not to be with her Gen. 39.10 but fled as from a plague or devil v 12. By all these things to name no more it clearly appears that in the esteem of good men sin is an exâeeding impious and pernicious thing But I am sensible there will be two exceptions made against this witness of these men 1 A posse from what may be it may be sin and sinners will say 't is true these men did reprove sin and condemn it in others and endeavour'd to prevent their own but was it for the ugliness of sin or some inconveniences that might else befall them was it because sin was sinful or for some other reasons 2 Ab esse from what is though you would make us believe that godly men are such Ermins such nice and tender things as if they could not endure any uncleanness though you make them so shy and strict as if they would not come near a sin yet 't is apparent they have sinned yea the very men whose instances you please your self in and make them patterns to and Patrons of all the rest Before we can proceed these Amasaes must be removed out of the way and therefore for the removal of the first I answer That though good men as Joseph did make use of all manner of arguments to keep themselve and others from sin yet it is sin as sin that they abhor as ugly and abominable though there were no affliction no hell no wrath yet would regenerate and new-born men declaim against and hate sin As appears 1 By this that the main thing which keeps them from committing it or which they repent for having committed it is that it is against God when Joseph had muster'd up many arguments this was the prevailing one with him how shall I do this wickedness and sin against God Gen. 39.9 against the will and glory of God Job tells us he durst not sin why not why because 't was against God as well as against himself Job 31 1.-4 and in their repentance after a sin this goes most to their heart that they have sinned against God Psa 51.4 Against thee thee only have I sinned how so Surely David had sinned against Vriah and against Bathsheba and against himself his bones as well as conscience felt it Oh but this goes most to the heart that 't was against God it grieves him more that God was displeased by him then that God was displeased with him he puts in twice as much of that consideration as of any other ingredient and as to others his tears run down like rivers not so much because men kept not his as because they kept not Gods Laws 2 By this because they abhor all sin all kinds and all degrees of sin Surely we may conclude that they who hate all sin hate sin as sin this godly men do and only godly men do and godly men always do it so far as godliness acts in power in them 't is the prayer in Psal 119.133 order my steps all and every of my steps in thy word and let not any not any i.e. none iniquity have dominion over me from the highest to the lowest from the greatest to the least let not any one iniquity have dominion over me Some other men abhor some sins as Atheisme blasphemy idolatry murther c. but pride and wantonness c. are pleasant to them as meat and drink Now this is no argument that they hate sin as sin he that hates sin as sin hates all sin and I think it may be inverted truly he that hates all sin hates sin as sin 3
sorry with a sharp Epistle he doth not repent of it because it wrought such sorrow in them as wrought repentance to salvation not to be repented of as appear'd in their indignation against revenge upon themselves and zeal for God as he there speaks in their behalf Lastly It fully appears that godly men abhor sin by this that they desire to die upon no account more then this to berid of sin that they may sin no more but be holy as he which hath called them is holy they groan for a change upon this account 2 Cor. 5.4 mortality and corruption are conjoyn'd 1 Cor. 15. and this is not laid aside till that be and therefore they desire not only to be in Christ where there is no condemnation Rom. 8.1 but to be with Christ Phil. 1.23 which is best of all for there is no sin no nor temptation to it There was never a temptation to sin in heaven since the devil was cast out nor will never be for the devil shall never be there nor corruption neither for that ceaseth when mortality is swallowed up of life So that upon the whole the witness of godily men is unexceptionable notwithstanding their having sinned I now proceed to shew 2 That wicked men themselves are witnesses of 2 Wicked men and against the sinfulness of sin that it is an ugly shameful and an abominable thing that which they are ashamed to own Let us hear some of the Heathens speak their sense of it Cicero tells us he thought not that man worthy the name of a man that spent one day in the pleasures of the flesh yea he faith further that after death he thinks there 's no greater torments then sin and another speaks after this manner that he thought it one of the greatest torments that men should have in another life to be bound to the sins they most delighted in in this life Socrates would die rather then consent to a sin of injustice and one of them saith Socrates was not unhappy in being put to death but they unhappy that put him to death he suffer'd but they sinned another hath a saying of mens living in pleasure much like that of S. Paul concerning the wanton widow 1 Tim. 5.6 she that lives in pleasure is dead while she lives ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã their reason of these things said by them concerning sin was because sin degraded man and was a degeneration that such live the life of a beast and not of a man which is a life of reason and virtue whence Plotinus saith the pleasures of the body do so interrupt the happiness of the soul that 't is the souls happiness to despise the bodies pleasures Sin say the Stoicks is the worst kind of suffering and he is the only miserable man that is wicked the greatest punishment of sinners is sin Seneca I could produce many more to this purpose but I shall not take in the witness only of these or such other brave magnanimous and well-bred Heathens but the very Herd of wicked men the very dregs of them shall give in testimony will they nill they by their thoughts words or works and sad experiences that sin is an ugly because finful thing Sinners are asham'd of sin 1 When before they commit it 2 After they have committed it 1 Sinners are asham'd of sin before and think it an ugly thing when they commit it For 1. though they are so daring and impudent as to sin yet they have not the courage to consider what 't is they are going about or at least to speak one what they think concerning sin they know that when they sin their conscience will accuse them and they shall find regrets which they are loath to feel much more to utter and declare therefore they dare not ask themselves what 't is they are about to do or are a doing to catechize themselves and say is there not a lye in or at my right hand Is 44. It argues that men are afraid they shall find what they have no mind to meet with when they are loath to entertain themselves with a few forethoughts concerning it but rush like horses into the battel The Scripture speaks as if 't were impossible for men to be so wicked if they were but considerative without which they act not like men if they think of it and yet sin they care not dare not speak out their thoughts but had rather conceal their shame and pain as well as they can then tell any body what fools they have been and how foolishly they have done If sin had any thing of Noble or Honorable in it why do they not proclaim its virtues and thereby their own in loving it If they think it good why do they call it by its name if they think it evil why do they but think it so 't is only because they are asham'd on 't that any body should know what they think as Psa 14.1 the fool hath said in his heart there is no God It seems he had not the hardiness nor heart to say it with his mouth he whisper'd and mutter'd or wish'd but was loath to be heard their speaking thus within speaks out this that they are ashamed of what they think and dare not utter it 2 Sinners dare not commit sin till they have given it a new name they sin not under the name and notion of sin no woe unto them they call as good evil so evil good Is 5. Revenge they will not own but a vindication of their Honor a doing right to their reputation Covetousness is a fordid thing they say theirs is but frugality and good husbandry Drunkenness is unmanly because unmanning 't is beastial they confess but theirs is only good fellowship in the liberal use of the creature Pride must be called decency and being in the fashion Fornication but a trick of Youth or gratifying nature Thus do men disguize sin for surely did they call it by its own name and but look it in the face they know they shall find it such an ugly Hag as were not fit for the imbraces of men no nor of devils This their new-naming it condemns it 3 This argues their being asham'd on 't that they do what they do as much as they can in the dark yea as they foolishly think in the dark from Gods sight also and do thereby implicitly confess that if men or God saw them they should be asham'd of what they do time was when they that were drunk were drunk in the night it being a business of shame And Eph 5.11 12. the Apostle tells us that 't is a shame to speak of what 's done by some in secret and therefore it seems they themselves do it secretly because they are asham'd it should be known and talkt of And indeed 't is a general rule given by Christ himself that he who doth evil hateth the light because his deeds are evil and he cannot endure that they should
be manifested for then they would be reproved by the light Joh. 3.19 20. The abominations of the Ancients of Israel were so abominable that they did them in the dark and thought them hid from God himself Ezek. 8 5.-12 4 That sinners find sin a painful thing and are asham'd on 't is clear by this that they are tormented while taking their pleasure and are stung with eating the honey their conscience accuseth them when it takes them in the very act Rom. 2.15 Even in laughter the heart is sad 't is not only at the end of laughter but in it while at it Prov. 14.13 while men are taking the pleasures of sin they hear a But remember thou must die and go to judgment which chills and cools their heat Eccl. 11.9 We little think what secret sighs and groans are within when wicked men are merry or seem at least to be so from the teeth outward In 2 Sam. 13. you will find no meaner person then a Kings Son vext and tormented with his own passion 2 Sam. 13. he was in a Burning Feaver with lust it made him sick and lean even to being consumptive but it may be said this was because he had not his will was he so when he had Yes and worse too by his own confession for the hatred wherewith he hated her was norâ then the love wherewith he loved her as much as to say he was more tormented now then before Sin disappoints men they have false joyes but true miseries and suffer rather then enjoy any pleasure from sin they are vext to see how they are cheated This Amnon was now in an hot presently in a cold fit and toss'd as from a Feaver to an Ague cast into the fire and into the water contrary torments sick of love and sick of loathing sick for want of her company and sick of having it discontented at not and at having his will sin pleaseth not men either full or fasting Oh how are they tormented whose desires are great and enjoyments little yea contradictions to what they thought of they expected pleasure and find pain sought joy and met with grief Hence sinners are so weary of time and not only of business but recreations their changing so often argues they have no satisfaction Hence the Pythagoreans place the wicked on a rowling pin as having no quiet or peace but are like the raging Sea as the Prophet speaks Is 48.22 and 57.21 The soul saith Tacitus is lasht with guilt as the body is with stripes and Tiberius as impudent as he was could not protect himself from those inward scourges which are such horrid and hideous furies and torments as hell hath not worse 5 Sinners are so asham'd of sin that they mask it under a form of godliness they paint it and think to make it look well though it be so much the more ugly for being colour'd and complexion'd with a form of godliness the thing it self and they that do it being witnesses Though sinners are like devils yet they would be thought Saints Sauls sin must needs be for a sacrifice and so God must patron the sin that was committed against himself 1 Sam. 15. Absolom covers his Rebellion and Treason with the devotion of a vow 2 Sam. 6.6 Herod smooths over his murtherous intentions with the pretence of worship and will murther S. John least he should be perjur'd as if forsooth he durst not sin unless he did it conscientiously ne sit sceleratus secit scelus This shall suffice to shew that wicked men are asham'd of sin and to own it as such they are asham'd of it before and when they do commit it 2 Yet further Sinners are asham'd of sin after they have committed it good men are asham'd of what does but look like a sin and of what may be interpreted to be meant for a sin though 't were not so as David for cutting off the lap of Sauls garment which argues their loathness to and aversness from sin and we shall find that wicked men also when they have done evil are asham'd that they have done it which is a witness what an ugly because sinful thing sin is As 1 Sinners dare not own their sin to avow it and stand to it to justifie their wickedness though they may excuse it as I shall shew presently which clearly shews they are asham'd of it and are not satisfied with what they have done The Thief as bold and sturdy a sinner as he is when he is taken is ashamed so is the house of Israel asham'd Jer. 2.26 they cannot plead sins cause to justification Particularly 1 They cannot endure to be called by the name of the sin which they have committed and live in the practise of No Drunkard cares to be called so but takes it for a disgrace no Lyar will receive the lye given him but as an affront no Adulterer will own that name Now whoever follows a lawful honest Trade or Calling is not ashamed of its name though never so mean as Shoe maker c. but sin is such an ugly base imployment that they who commit sin will not endure to be called Sin-makers though it be their trade Sinners charge God with slandering of them when he complains of their sin Mal. 1.6 and 2.17 and 3.8.13 When God accuseth them they put God on the proof and say wherein so impatient are sinners to be called sinners 2 They are asham'd of their sin and dare not own it as appears by their palliations excuses and put offs when sin was but young yet Adam and Eve were asham'd of their First born as lewd women are asham'd of their base born children they cloaked and hid their sin Job 31.33 If they do well what need excuses if ill excuses plead against it and are accusations of its illness They who were invited to the wedding made excuses which were indeed proofs of their denials and that they would not come Mat. 22. â their seeming civilities and apologies were arguments of their being criminal all our fig-leaf aprons and coverings are proofs that we are atham'd of what we have done yea many times it is laid at the wrong door Nature is blamed as if the fault were in their constitution the Deâââ is blam'd because he tempted and beguiled yea God himself is blam'd for permission or it may be for more the woman thou gavest me c. Gen. 3. what doth all this prove but that in the eyes of sinners sin is a very ugly and abominable thing Yet again 3 That sinners dare not own what they have done but are asham'd of it is evident by this they deny that they have sinned and commit a sin to cover sin 't is an hard and difficult thing to bring sinners to confession sin is such a shameful thing 'T is said of the adulterous woman Prov. 30.20 she eateth viz. her stoln bread in secret Ch 9.17 and wipeth her mouth which argues 't was foul and filthy and says I have
done no wickedness she will sin to avoid the scandal of her sin When Gehazi had taken a reward by lying in his Masters name of Naaman the Syrian and was returned his Master askt him where he had been saith he thy servant hath been no where 2 Kings 5.15 16. He was so asham'd of what he had done he durst not own it and this is a clear discovery that sin is an ugly thing that sinners will not dare not stand to avow and justifie it But 2 It further appears that sin is an unpleasing thing and that which sinners are asham'd of that they dare not look into their actions nor call themselves to an account 'T is as troublesome a thing to sinners to look into themselves and to examine their lives as 't is for men that go backward in their estates to look into their books and cast up their accounts Jer. 8.5.6 Why is this people backslâdden with a perpetual back-slâding and never look behind them nor within them no man said so much or little as what have I done They care not to be alone least the thoughts of their sins should stare them in the face they study divisions and pastimes and run into company least their sins like Ghosts and Devils should haunt and lay hold of them and when these are over they sleep away the rest of their time they cannot endure to be at home least a worse thing then a scolding woman an upbraiding Conscience should fall upon them they can afford no leisure to think how they have idled and sinn'd away and thereby worse then lost so much of their time Amos 6 3.-6 we read of persons on whose hands time lay heavy and as a burthen and therefore studied Arts and Methods of laying it aside that they may put the thoughts of the evil day far from them sometimes by lying on their beds and being weary of that they stretch themselves upon their Couches and then they fall to eating and drinking and so rise up to play and dance c. what doth all this speak but an unwillingness to have any sense of sin or but to look on its picture 't is so hellish a thing 3 It appears yet further by this that they will decry and punish that sin in others which themselves are guilty of the better to conceal their own or to compensate for it by being severe to others when a Thief hath stoln and robbed he is the first that makes Hue and Cry they are loth to be found the sinners themselves We read that though Judah was guilty of Incest himself yet how forward he was to punish fornication in Jamar his Daughter-in-law Genes 38. When our Saviour put the case to the Pharisees what the Lord of the Vineyard would do with the Husbandmen that had abused and beaten his servants and which was worse slain his son they could readily answer ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã he will miserably Gr. wickedly i.e. with a punishment great as their sin will be destroy these wicked men Mat. 21.41 Thus when they knew not whom they condemn'd they condemn'd themselves and their own sin ex ore tuo out of thine own mouth art thou condemn'd O sinner 'T is true the case was alter'd when he said that they were the men but by this we see that when men are not concern'd or seem not to be so how severe they are against sin yea when they do it to hide their own wickedness as John 8.7 8 9. 4 It s yet more apparent by this that they usually fly to the horns of the Altar to some fits of devotion and forms of godliness as if they would compound with God to save them What meant all the purifications sacrifices and attonements which the Heathens used but that a sense of guilt was too heavy to be born and what more common among men of better profession then to say just as soon as they have sinned Lord have mercy upon me God forgive me they kiss their Crucifix tell over their Beads and go to confession and what doth all this conclude but that they have even themselves being witnesses and judges they have been injurious to God and their own souls and that without reconciliation and pardon or one fancied at least they cannot be quiet 5. And lastly they fully declare against sin as sinful in that they desire to die the death of the righteous Balaam and others that lived not the life of the righteous but accounted their life madness yet reckon their end happy and therefore would that their own might be as theirs By this we see that no wicked man cares for sins wages and surely that work cannot be good whose wages is so bad that no man cares to receive it but oh that their after state may be with the righteous Numb 23.10 The wages of sin is death and the end of sin is death oh no such death no such wages says Balaam though they go hell-ward while they live yet they would fain go to heaven when they die and what is deduceable from hence more then this that sin is a damnable thing and though sinners seek their happiness in their misery yet 't is happiness they seek and when ever they find their disappointment they grow angry with themselves with sin the devil and all There is one exception that may be made against this witness true there are some pittiful sneaking sinners cowardly and timerous ones that are daunted at and asham'd of sin but there are others past shame fear and sense roaring Boys ranting and rampant sinners Rodomontado Blades that boast of their sin and glory in being wicked that take pleasure in things worthy of damnation and yet scorn to be frighted with terrible Preachers but will sin in the face of the Sun without a blush we will hear what these say and be judged by these brave Sparks and bold Fellows Be it so 1 With sorrow for them that have none for themselves 't is to be confest that there are some hardned sinners sunk into the image practise and it may be condemnation as well as snare of the devil himself yea they seem to outgo the devils for they believe and tremble which is more then some sinners do Godly men rejoyce with trembling but some ungodly men sin without trembling and rejoyce at it too But 2 This is a sad and dreadful judgment upon them worse then any affliction that could befall them of all judgments this the most terrible as being the Suburbs of hell it self to be punished for sin by sin is the worst of punishments when God saith of a person or people he will let them go they shall take their course and not be punished viz. by bodily and sensible plagues he punisheth them most and worst of all To denote the greatness of it 't is three times said in Scripture Rom. 1. that God gave them up and gave them over v. 24.26.28 'T is no wonder men act the devils part when they
are under the devils doom 3 This therefore speaks no more in commendation of sin then a Bedlams going naked and enduring without feeling the pricks of pins in his flesh commends his condition Is it any part of handsommess to have a whores sorehead Shall we make blind men judges of colours or dead men of the affairs of the living and their concerns Who would take the judgment of them that are void of judgment and given up to a reprebate mind If men have lost their senses and will say Snow is black Honey is bitter c. shall we believe them But yet there 's none of these but will at one time or another bear witness against sin and blush at their own impudence Have you not heard Pharaoh saying who is the Lord and yet hardned as he was the same Pharaoh saying I have sinned against the Lord God hath ways enough to bring them to confession they who were once so wild as to call the Saints lives madness were at last tame enough to call themselves fools for 't we fools counted their lives madness There is a time coming when all these daring and impudent sinners will sneak and be asham'd either the grace or the judgment of God will awaken them out of their dead sleep and then though they dreamt of a feast they will be hungry then the mouth will confess the eyes weep the cheeks blush the hands smite on the thigh the heart bleed and break Cain feels little till he hear God calling from heaven and tell him he was accursed then sin became heavy in its punishment yea intollerable Gen. 4 9.-13 Judas makes merry a while and chinks his 30 Pieces but anon cannot endure the money nor himself but went to his own place The Prodigal gallants it long but yet at last cries peccavi I find 3 Times when ãâã sinners have confest their sin 1 In a day of affliction when the plagues of God have taken hold of them and the judgments of God have been heavy upon them The story of Pharaoh is too long to rehearse and that of Nebuchadnezzar Dan. 4 Oh how did God stoop their stout hearts and bring them on their knees Sinners that are shameless and seem to dare heaven and challenge God himself and scoff at his threatnings will then be made to change their note and to weep instead of singing another or the second part to the same tune Josephs Brethren that were shameless in Canaan were asham'd in Aegypt and cry'd out Verily we are guilty concerning our Brother The cruel Adonibezek would acknowledge the Justice of Gods retaliation Oh tell me what your Desperadoes will say in distress and on a Death bed if they do not then awake and repent yet 2 In the day of judgment the great and terrible day of the Lord they will be asham'd they that run now to all exâââse of riot will not be able to stand then the wicked shall not stand in judgment they will then quake and tremble horror will take hold of and arrest them they will not stand to justifie themselves nor to be justified by any other they will be found specchless without a word to say for themselves or their sins as he that came to the wedding feast without a wedding garment if the righteous be scarcely saved or with difficulty where shall the sinners and ungodly appear 1 Pet. 4.18 See how they run away and would fain hide themselves Revel 6.15 c. 5 In the day of Eternity that long everlasting day then when they are in hell they will will confess the sinfulneâs of sin the place of torment will extort the consession of sin as it dâd from Dives Luke 16. Where 's the rusâling of Silk and Sattin now where are the dainty bitâ the generous wines and all the deceitful pleasures of sin now Alas though they have no pitty shown them they will pitty others and wish that none might come into that place of torment then they will cry out oh sinful sin oh devillish and hellish sin So much shall suffice to have spoken of this and thereby to have evinced the sinfulness of sin from the confession of wicked men I now proceed to call in other witnesses 4 4 The whole Creation witnesseth against sin As God Angels and men have witnessed against sin so the whole Creation doth witness against sin not one creature between or in heaven and earth or under the earth whither animate or inanimate but proclaim the sinfulness of sin not only the sensible but insensible creatures can find a tongue and language to speak against sin And that 1 With respect to themselves 2 With respect to God and man 1 The whole Creation witnesseth against sin as having done them a great deal of wrong and injury that sin hath deprived them of their priviledge that they are not now as when they came out of Gods hand and were made by him When God lookt on all that he had made behold it was very good Gen. 1.31 But ah how are things alter'd since sin came into the world The Angels he hath charged with folly Job 4.18 The Heavens are not clean in his sight Job 15.15 Man in his best now estate is altogether vanity Psa 39.5 The Earth is under a curse Gen. 3.17 18. Yea the whole Creation groans Rom. 8.21 22. The whole Universe as the Learned Grotius clearly observes and notes beside many others as well as he The Apostle had three times said the Creature v. 19 20 21. and yet more fully v. 22. The whole Creation or every creature is subject to vanity and under the bondage of corruption which makes it groan and puts it to pain as a woman in travel as if it cry'd out Oh sinful sin I was free born and though under dominion yet not under bondage I did once serve man freely but now from fear Gen. 9.2 I did nothing of my self may every creature that is under his power say to man to make me liable to bondage but being thy goods and chattels I suffer a part of the penalty of thy Treason if thou hadst not sinned I had not suffer'd but now I groan and wait to be deliver'd from the bondage of thy corruption Oh sinful sin 2 The Creation witnesseth against sin with respect to God and man For 1 It teacheth man many duties 2 It convinceth man of many a sin 1 The Creatures teach man his duty in general and many special ones In general they do all in their courses and places praise God and fulfill his word as you may read at large Psa 14.8 Rev. 5.13 Never did any creature but the fallen Angels and man transgress the Law or disobey the word of their Creator they are such good servants that when God bids them them go they go come and they come do this and they do it and by this they teach man to do what God bids him and what a sinful thing 't is to break his Law and to
be void of righteousness and life for they both are by faith and as if men repent not they will not be forgiven so if they believe not they will be damned for not only they that know not God but they that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ will have vengeance taken on them and be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord 2 Thes 1.8 9. And how can they escape i. e. there 's no possibility of escaping this great damnation that neglect the great salvation Hebr. 2.3 Let us take the Doctrine of the Gospel apart and 't is as in the whole so in every part of it against sin not one Gospel doctrine but the application of it is and is to be made against sin Tit. 2.11 The grace of God bringing salvation or the saving grace of God hath appear'd to all men and so is against the sin of all men and against all sin teaching us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts not one excepted and to live soberly as to our selves righteously as to others and godlily to God in this present world i e. all the daies of our life as 't is Luke 1.74 75. The Gospel is a witness against the old man with all his corrupt affections passions lusts and deeds and is all for new light and knowledge new love and affection new life and conversation and its design is that man be no longer an old but a new creature Eph. 4 17.-25 2 Cor. 5.17 'T is against all sin and for all righteousness and holiness 't is against hypocrisie and for truth against formality and for spirit and power More particularly 1 The Doctrinal part Of the Gospel is against sin 2 The Mandatory part Of the Gospel is against sin 3 The Promising part Of the Gospel is against sin 4 The Menacing part Of the Gospel is against sin 5 The Exemplary part Of the Gospel is against sin 6 The ââârimental part Of the Gospel is against sin 1 The Doctrinal part yea that which flesh and blood is apt to interpret as an incouragement to sin and takes occasion from it to abuse it As 1 The Doctrine of Gods free and abounding grace Rom. 5.20 21. S. Paul had taught that where sin abounded grace did much more abound and grace did reign to eternal life Hereupon Ch. 6.1 some were apt to take occasion to sin as if they were encouraged by grace but oh with what detestation and abhorrency doth the Apostle speak against it Shall we sin either because grace doth or that grace may abound God forbid and when men would do evil that good might come of it he speaks like a Son of Thunder and tells them their damnation is just Rom. 3.8 and S. Jude writes an Epistle purposely against them that turn the grace of God into wanconness perverting the end of grace calling them ungodly men and men ordain'd to this condemnation Jude 4. 2 The Doctrime of Redemption by the blood and death of Jesus Christ Christ Jesus died for our sins and some wicked wretches are apt to conclude that they may live in sin because Christ hath died for sin but he died for sin that we might die to sin Rom. 6. and gave himself for us to redeem us from all iniquity and to purifie us to himself Tiâ 2.14 the death of Christ calls for dying to sin and living to him that died for us 2 Cor. 5. 3 The doctrine of priviledges is against sin God hath dignified his people and given them titles of honor such aâ ãâã when them of Caesars and Emperours are but ãâ¦ã behold it as a matter of wonder ãâ¦ã of love the Father hath ãâ¦ã that we should be called ãâ¦ã God! 1 Joh. 3.1 And you saith S. Peter of believers 1 Pet. 2 9. are a chosen generation a Royal Priesthood and which is more glorious an holy Nation Oh therefore abstain from fleshly lusts therefore shew forth the virtues and by them the praises of him who hath called you out of your marvellous darkness into his marvellous light 4 The Doctrine of judgment to come is against sin wicked men scoff at this 2 Pet. 3. and think if they may be let alone till thaâ day they shall do well enough but remember for all things thou must come to judgment and therefore learn to fear God and keep his Commandments as the wiâe man teacheth Eccl. 12.13 14. and the Apostle speaking of the day of judgment says knowinâ the terror of the Lord we perswade men 2 Cor. 5.11 viz. not to sin but to live in righteousness and holiness Seeing this must be what oh what manner of persons should we be in all holy conversations and godlinesses for the Greek is plural yea and to take heed not to fall into the errors of the wicked but to grow in grace as S. Peter concludes 2 Pet. 3 1â.17.18 all the Doctrine of the Bible from the beginning of Genesis to the end of the Revelations is a continual preaching and witnessing against sin 2 The Mandatory the commanding and exhorting part of the Gospel witnesseth against sin What are men commanded and exhorted to but to serve God in righteousness and true holiness all the daies of their life to depart from iniquity as from the way to hell and walk holily in Christ Jesus as the way of heaven Yea God condescends so far as to entreat men to be reconciled that they may be happy 2 Cor 5.20 and what doth this speak but that sin is both displeasing to God and destructive to man that it is sinful sin 3 The promising part and promises of the Gospel are all against sin God hath given to us exceeding great Gr. the greatest and precious promises that by these we might escape the pollutions of the world through lust and be made partakers of a Divine Nature 2 Pet. 1.4 and that having these promises we should cleanse our selves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit to perfect holiness in the fear of God 2 Cor. 7.1 Promises of good are against the evil of sin 4 The Menacing and threatning part of the Gospel is against sin God threatens before men sin that they may not sin to prevent sin and he threatens after men have sinned that they may repent of sin 't is not only the Law but the Gospel also that threatens sinners and with no less then damnation Mark 16.16 and when any have sinned God threatens the execution of threatnings if they do not repent as Rev. 2.5.16.22 Ch. 3.3.19 This also witnesseth against sin 5 The Exemplary part doth the examples recorded in the Gospel do witness against sin as the examples of the Old Testament so them of the New are registred as witnesses against sin The examples of good men and good things are set up as way marks to shew us what to do the examples of the wicked as Sea-marks to shew us what to avoid the good examples are that we may not sin by omission of good
infections to the defiling of mans duties and holy things it defiles his natural and civil actions the plowing of the wicked is sin Prov. 21.4 Man should dâ all from the highest to the lowest duty to the glory of God but Alas what doth man do that is not ill done and to the dishonour of God Sin infects mens prayers the prayers of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord Prov. 28.9 yea though offer'd up with incense to persume them Isa 1.13 Under the Law Aaron was to bear the iniquity of the holy things Exod. 28.38 Israel brought God many a present but sin like a dead flye in a box of oyntment spoiled all Isa 1.11.16 Yet again Sin infects all that belongs to man when man was created God furnished his house for him gave him the world and fulness thereof and it was good but Alas how is it chang'd as I spake before for sin hath made all that belongs to man very vanity i. e. empty and unprofitable Eccl. 1. The fulness of the creature cannot fill a man the eye is not satisfied with seeing nor ear with hearing for all is vanity the gloss and beauty the pleasure and profit of creature-enjoyments are become vanity yea and more sin hath made it vexation too sin hath imbitter'd mans enjoyments man lives among his comforts but a vexatious life as in the fulness of his sufficiency he is in straits so in the fulness of his comforts he is in sorrow in the midst the very heart of laughter his heart is sad Mans enjoyments are disappointments they fail his expectations and so add not to his content but vexation neither the length nor the comfort of his life is in the abundance of these things Luke 12.15 and which is yet worse sin hath not only made things vain and vexatious but a snare and temptation to man they are sins baits by which it catcheth men what are honours pleasures and riches but snares to the children of men Prov. 30.8 9. This we have said in brief as to the universality of sins infection how it hath spread it self all over 2. Let us consider how suddenly it infects and withal doth increase and multiply Sin is not barren but Alas too fruitful to beget and bring forth more it is not lazy but gets ground continually how great a fire hath a spark kindled Adams ââââerity have not been so numerous as his sins A little Cloud as it seems at first no bigger then ones hand grows and spreads to cover the whole Hemisphere The water that at first seem'd little and shallow swell'd more and more from the ankles to the knees from the knees to the loyns thence to the head till it grows to so great a River as cannot be passed over and so doth sin a very monster for its growth Particularly let 's observe how it increaseth in our selves and then how in others 1. How it increaseth in our selves Sometimes the same sin increaseth from little to great it grows from an infânt to a man 't is as a snow-ball that like same crescit eundo grows bigger by rolling it in the snow the little grain of mustard grows to a great tree a little seed of sin becomes a great tree Adams sin was but one but 't was a breeding and big-bellied sin the mother of all abominations One sin transgresseth the whole Law James 2.10 when lust hath conceiv'd it hastens to bring forth and when it hath brought forth it brings it up till it come to its full stature James 1.14 15. 't is at first but a Lust an appetite inclination or motion thence it proceeds to Inticement by that to draw us aside and then to tempt and impregnate us by this temptation it conceives and there 's an Embryo this grows in the womb and when 't is brought forth 't is a sin and this being finished or perfected it proves deadly So James 3.5 6. the tongue is a little member but as a little spark of fire but it being kindled becomes a world of iniquity and defiles the whole body and sets on fire the whole course of Nature a little Leaven leaveneth the whole lump and sometimes one sin begets many more sins not only of the same kind but others also Josh 7.11 God had forbidden them to take the accursed thing but when they had taken they dissembled also and put it among their own stuff and when Achan confesseth his sin you may see how one drew on another vers 19.20 21. saith he when I saw I coverted and when I coveted I took and when I had taken I hid them thus one begat another Sin degrees it self into a greatness and multiplies into a number If we abhor not the garment we may be as it spotted with the flesh if we withdraw not from occasions of evil we may by the occasions be drawn to evil and in not abstaining from appearances of evil be brought to apparent evil There is one Chapter that gives us two sad Instances of this thing Gen. 34. Dinah out of curiosity will needs make a visit to the Daughters of the Land while she goes to see the daughters the son saw her visamque cupit having seen her he took her having taken her he lay with her and by lying with her defiled her The report whereof coming to Jacobs sons they were griev'd being griev'd they were wroth being wroth they meditate revenge meditating revenge they spake deceitfully having deceiv'd they slew and having slain they fall upon the spoil How hard it is to sin once and but once sin grows upon us Let us see 2. How sin increaseth in others and infects others it went from one man to every man how soon had the world got the name of ungodly world or world of ungodly 2 Pet. 2.5 and after the flood how soon was the world overspread with sin from seven or eight persons one root of bitterness defiles many Heb. 12.15 Mens ill examples are very pestilential and pernicious a little Leaven leaveneth the whole lump as our Country Proverb hath it one scabbed sheep infects a whole flock The world grows worse and worse the latter days most perill us because most sinful and as if there had not been sin enough some set up projects and trades of new sins being inventors of evil things Rom. 1.30 Oh how diffusive and catching is this infection for others will quickly be in these new-invented fashions of sin and sinning Yet again 3. The infection of sin is tantum non almost incurable 'tis to us impossible and only possible with God and that at a costly rate by the blood of Christ to cure this plague and cleanse us of it 't is very hard to be cured because 't is within us and dwelleth in us Rom. 7.17.20 an ulcer in the flesh is more easily cured then one in the lungs a disease that 's inward cannot be so well reacht yea 't is not only in us but 't is rivetted in us 't is gotten into
the flesh and spirit as if it were one with us as the Leopards spots and the Aethiopians blackness There was a leprosie so inveterate that though they scrapt the house round about and within and threw out the dust though they took other stones and mortar yet it return'd again Levit. 14. When distempers become as it were natural and are in the constitution they are hard to be cured 't is not easie obliterating that which is written with a pen of Iron and the point of a Diamond 't is difficult to soften an heart of stone Beside this filthiness hath had long possession even time out of mind it pleads prescription so long a Custom is become a Law and as another Nature Jer. 13.23 yea to shew how hard 't is to be cured and rooted out we may observe that very forceable means have bin used for the cleansing of it yet it hath not been done God poured out a whole flood of water which washt away most sinners yet sin as I may say kept above water and was found alive and strong after the flood When God sent fire and brimstone Hell as an Ancient calls it from Heaven on that Center of sin Sodom c. yet sin got out with Lot and his daughters Fire and water are very cleansing and purifying things yet these you see have not done it When others sinned the Earth swallowed them up yet sin remained it did not dye the same sins are still in the world after all these judgments Even in the Saints themselves with all the forces that Faith can make 't is very hardly kept under but the flesh will be lusting against the spirit and when their affections do not cleave to sin yet sin will cleave to their affection and it makes them cry out as burthen'd with St. Paul Wretch that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death the victory is by Christ Iesus 't is death kills sin And yet 4. It lives in its effects when we are dead and gone for it follows us to our grave and there it rots our bodies when it can no longer reach our souls to make them vile it yet forbears not to make our bodies putrid and vile He that sinned not saw no corruption but we that sinned do and stink within a few days as Lazarus did Oh sinful and infectious sin Thus far of the names of sin and how they witness against sin there remains only one thing more to witness against it and that is the second thing I mentioned as to sin witnessing against it self Viz. 2. The Arts or Artifices that sin useth to disguise it self if sin were not an ugly thing would it wear a vizard or if it had not evil designs would it walk disguised and change its name truth is not ashamed of its name or nakedness it can walk openly and boldly but sin is a cheat a lye and therefore lurks privily and puts on false names and colours for if it should appear like it self as it sooner or later will to all for conversion or confusion it would fright men into dying fits as it did the Apostle and when they come to themselves ingage men to abhor and hate it as he and the Prodigal did Men would never be so hardy as they are to sin but that sin hardens them and hardens them by deceiving them as the Apostle speaks Heb. 3.13 take heed lest any be hardned through the deceitfulness of sin Sin useth all manner of Arts Methods and Devices as Satan doth to draw us in to inveigle us it puts many tricks upon us and hath all the faculties and knacks of deceiving and cheating us I may truly say that sin hath not learnt but taught all the deceits the dissimulations flatteries and false policies that are found in Courts the Stratagems of War the Sophisms and fallacies of the Schools the Frauds of Tradesmen whether in City or Country the Tricks of Cheaters and Juglers the Ambuscadoes of Thieves the Pretensions of false Friends the several Methods of false Teachers and whatever else there is of Consenage in the World and practiseth them all upon us to make us sin And though it be impossible to reckon up all the particular ways whereby the deceitful hearts and sins of men abuse them yet I will instance in a few that it may be for a warning to sinners and a witness against sin and then conclude this part of our Discourse 1. Sometimes sin perswades us that such or such a thing is no sin though it look like a sin as the Devil dealt by Eve at first and so deceiv'd her she was a little jealous and shy that what the Serpent put her upon was evil but he cunningly insinuates that however it seem'd to her yet that it was not so This way is the pride and wantonness of persons upheld that though these things are appearances of evil yet they are not evil but alas 't is next to being a sinner to look like a sinner appearance in good is too little in evil 't is too much 't is a very hard thing to look like a sinner to talk and garb it like a sinner and not to be one and which is the worst on 't 't is more then likely that what the Devil grants to be like a sin is a sin and they that are perswaded otherwise are deceived by him as Eve was 't is great odds but if we do like the picture we shall like the thing though an Idol be no God nor like him yet God hath utterly forbidden graven images for they are of the Devils carving If this prevails not then 2 It would perswade that though it may be a sin in another yet rebus sic stantibus all things consider'd it can be none in thee because thou art necessitated as for a poor man to steal but no man is necessitated to sin though under necessity sin is sin in any in all for though temptations may mitigare and eâcuse à tanto yet they do not excuse à toto from its being a sin or make it no sin 3 'T is but one and but this once If sin be good why but once if evil why once one sin though but once is one and once too much Beside when the Serpents head is in 't is hard keeping out the whole body one makes way for another 't is almost impossible to sin once and but once Yet then fourthly saith sin 't is but a little one that cannot be a little sin which is against a great God and deserves so great a punishment as death for the wages of sin of every single sin is death Rom. 6.23 I but saith sin 5 't is in secret none will see it but this is a cheat for 't is impossble to sin so secretly but there will be two Witnesses God and Conscience know all the sins that men commit I but saith sin 6 thou wilt hate it and dread it ever after as some go to Mass that they
may distasie it and to Plays to see the folly of them but who would be a burnt child to dread the firââ 't is bad making such costly experiments as may cost us the loss of our souls 't is dangerous medling with that which is an appearance and may be an occasion of evil much more to parley and tamper with sin it self But then 7 saith sin I promise thee thou shalt get by it so much profit so much pleasure so much honour shalt thou have by it but sins gain is loss he that gets the world by a sin pays too dear for it for 't is the loss at least the hazard of his soul the pleasures of sin are grievous its honours disgraces and shame Did not our first Parents sind it so and do not we the Apostle appeals Rom. 6.21 the precious substance promised ends in a pernicious shadow and the spoils we get by sin do but spoil us Sin promiseth like a God but pays like a Devil sin tells us we shall not dye but live like Gods but we find nothing but death and such a life as they have in Hell Sins performances are contrary to its promises it promiseth gold and ãâã dross If any man have a mind to true miseââes let him take sins falle promiset Well but then 8 saith sin others do it and why mayest not thou 'T is not what others do but what they ought to do that we are to follow we must not follow any man nor a multitude of men to do evil if others will venture their damnation what 's that to us 't will be no solamen miseris socios habuisse no comfort to have had companions in sin and to meet them again in Hell I but saith sin 9 't is but repent and God will forgive thee to this we have to say that he who promised forgiveness to them that repent hath not promised repentance to them that sin beside if sin were to cost no more but repentance one in his wits would be loth to buy repentance at so dear a rate Repentance though it may free from greater yet it puts men to more grief and pain then ever sin could afford them pleasure I but saith sin 10 thou hast scapt well enough hitherto no evil hath yet befallen thee to this say it may be 't is so much the worse and not to be punished may be the worst punishment Isa 1.5 Hos 4.14 17. but what will it cost if God do awaken me if not that what will it cost when God shall damn me But then saith sin 11 't is but thine infirmity thou canst not help it this is a thing tell sin that none but fools and children can pretend to beside to plead for infirmities is more then an infirmity and that which is but an infirmity to day may become a disease to morrow if not prevented when once the will is ingaged 't is past an infirmity and is become a sin If these or other like do not prevail then it speaks more openly Sin saith Sin either there 's no such thing there 's no difference between good and evil as all things come alike to all so all things are alike or saith Sin evil is good in Gods sight else he would judge it Mal. 2.17 his silence bids thee think that he is such an one as thy self Psal 50. but here tell sin that this defeats and confutes it self and proves nothing more clear then that sin is exceeding sinful if there be no sin or no difference between good and evil to what purpose are these different words used by sin to prove that there is no difference to say 't is only in imagination and not real is to deny that there is any such thing as sense and conscience which every man ownes and cannot deny without denying himself and God to be Between good and evil there is more difference then between light and darkness life and death ease and pain food and poyson and yet these are real and not the differences of our fancy only That all things come alike to all is not always true there are contrary Instances and to say That all things are alike is never true but is a manifest contradiction To say that evil is good in Gods sight and that he is such an one as a sinner is to deny God to be for if he be not good and just he is not God but this speaks men willfully ignorant for the flood that drowned the old World and the fire that fell from Heaven on Sodom the Judgments which God executes in the Earth continually of which before do all witness that God is displeased with and the avenger of sin as his giving us rain from Heaven and fruitful seasons are witnesses that he is good and doth good and that his Sun shines and his rain falls on the unjust as well as just is a greater argument of his goodness which calls for repentance and that also doth witness that sin is evil And indeed over and above If sin were not exceeding sinful what need it use all these tricks and subterfuges if it were not and its deeds were not evil why doth it avoid the light Why like a false Coyner doth it put the King of Heavens stamp on its base metal Why doth Jacob call himself Esau and counterfeit his Brother if sin were not abominable Why do the Gibeonites pretend to come from far if they had not a mind to be unknown if it were not false and a Robber why doth it creep in privily climb up another way and avoid the door Why doth it flatter and deceive Why doth it never keep promise but breaks all that it ever made 't is because it is sinful sin Having shewn what sin is wherein its sinfulness consuts and proved it by many witnesses even it self being one before I come to the fourth thing viz. the application and improvement of this Doctrine I shall in brief sum up the charge against sin That which sin is accuseâd for and proved to be guilty of is High treason against God and that it attempts no less then the dethroning and ungoding of God himself that it hath unman'd man made him a fool a beast a Devil and subjected him to the wrath of God and made him lyable to eternal damnation It hath made men deny God to be or affirm him to be like themselves It hath put the Lord of Life to death and shamefully crucified the Lord of Gâory It is always resisting the Holy Ghost it 's continually practising the defilement the dishonour the deceiving and the destruction of all men Ob what a prodigious monstrous devillâsh thing is sin 't is impossible to speak worse of it then or so bad of it as it is for 't is hyberbolically sinful there 's want in the words that are and need of more and worse words then there are any to speak its vileness to say 't is worse then death and devil the very Hell of Hell
is not to rail at it but to tell it its own for 't is the Quinitessence of evil which hath made all the evils that are and is worse then all the evils it hath made 't is so evil that 't is impossible to make it good or lovely by all the Arts that can be used poyson may be corrected and made medicinal if not nutritive but sin is sin and can be no other its nature cannot be changed no not by a pardon To speak as the thing is 't is not only ugly but ugliness not only filthy but filthiness not only abominable but abomination there is not a worse thing in Hell it self it hath not its fellow there All this and much more may be said of and against sin and having laid this ground-work I shall now build upon it the fourth thing viz. The Application The Application and Improvement of the Doctrine of Sins sinfulness 1. Then Sin is the worst of Evils By way of Inference for our Information in several things as first in general That Sin is the worst of Evils the evil of evils and indeed the only evil nothing is so evil as nay nothing is evil properly but sin nor in comparison of it As the sufferings of this present time of our life which are upon us are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us so neither the sufferings of this life or that to come are worthy to be compared for evil with the evil of sin No evil is displeasing to God or destructiâe to man but the evil of sin 'T is worse then affliction then death then Devil then Hell affliction is not so afflictive death is not so deadly the Devil not so devilish Hell not so hellish as sin is and this will help to fill up the charge against its sinfulness especially as it is contrary to and against the good of man These four Evils that I have named are terrible indeed and from all which every one is ready to say Good Lord deliver us yet none of these are all of these are not so bad as sin and therefore our prayers should be more to be delivered from sin and if God hear no prayer else yet as to this we should say We beseech thee to hear us good Lord 1. Worse then affliction and suffering 'T is worse then any evil of affliction there are afflictions of several sorts and they are all called Evils is there any evil of what sort or kind or quality soever in the City and I have not done it Amos 3.6 God you see will owne himself the Author of it but not of sin that 's a bastard of someothers be getting and breeding the evil of plagues and afflictions are of Gods bringing though of sins deserving now indeed no affliction seemeth to be or is joyour for the present Heb. 12 11. but though they are not to be desired yet they may be endured but sin is neither to be desired nor endured any sin is worse then any suffering one sin then ãâã suffering the least sin then the greatest suffering What you will say is it worse then to be whipt to be burnt to be sawn asunder c yes by a great deal as appears by what our Saviour saith Mat. 10.28 fear not them that can kill but fear him that can damn q. d. 't is better to be killed then to be damned We maâ more easily suffer from men then sin against God One may suffer and not sin but 't is impossible to sin and not suffer They that avoid suffering by sinning sin themselves into worse suffering Thââ seems to be clear enough yet because truth are seldom well improved till they be believed and are seldom believed till they are well proved I shall therefore make this out more fully That sin is worse then suffering first by this Argument in general because Sin is all evil only evil and always evil which no affliction is nor can be in my flesh saith the Apostle there dwelleth no good no not the least and this is ever present with me this cannot be said of afflictions that there is no good in them that they dwell in and are always present with us there are some lucida intervalla Sun-shines in Winter One may say 't was good that I was afflicted Psal 119.71 't is good to bear the yoke in ones youth Lam. 3.23 but one can never say 't was good that I sinned no though 't were but in my youth Eccl. 11.9 12.1 All things may be corrected and made to work for our good and we can say not only God that afflicted me was good but the affliction wrought for good 2 Cor. 4.17 but we can never justly say that sin did us good Many can say periissem nisi periissem I had been undone had I not suffered but none can say periissem nisi peccassem I had perished if I had not sinned no no 't is by sin we perish and are undone many have thankt God for affliction but never any for sin Some indeed mistake that place Rom. 6.17 as if the Apostle thanked God that they were sinners no by no means but he thanks God that they who once were sinners were become obedient to the Gospel and the proper sense and reading is Thanks be to God though ye were the servants of sin in time past yet now ye have obeyed the form of Doctrine which was delivered to you or as the Margine and Greek whereunto ye were delivered Sin of it self is neither good before nor after its commission 't is not good to be committed nor good after 't is committed nor doth it do us any good but hurt all our days but other evils though we cannot call them good before and so desire them yet we can call them good after and so thank God for them More particularly 1. Suffering may be the object of our choice which sin cannot be for that which is evil and can be no other and so is sin cannot be the object of our volition and choice 't is contra-natural If men did not call evil good and good evil they could never love the evil nor hate the good nor can fin be chosen as a means to a good for as 't is evil and nothing else so it doth evil and nothing else But now affliction though not chosen for it self yet for an end a good end and effect of it may be chosen yea and rather then sin it may be chosen though no other good thing should follow then this that one did no evil Instances we have of this as the three young Worthies Dan. 3.17 whose gallantry of spirit was such that though they should not be delivered by their God yet they would not they were holily wilful they would not sin against their God nor so much as demur deliberate or take time to consider whether they should suffer or sin t was past dispute with them brave and noble
Souls that they were The like we have of Daniel himself Chap. 6. and of St. Paul in Chap. 20 21. of the Acts of which I spake before I shall therefore only adde this to it which is observable That when he speaks of his afflictions he calls them light 2 Cor. 4.17 but when of sin he speaks of it as a burden that prest him down and made him cry out Wretch that I am and again we groan being burthened 2 Cor. 5. Moses his choice is famous and celebrated all the world over for 't was not made when he was a Child but when he came to forty years of age and he preser'd suffering not only before sinning but before honours riches and pleasures accounting the worst of Christ Reproaches better then the best of the world There is one Instance more which is more then all the rest and that is of our blessed Saviour who had the greatest offer made him that ever was made and though tempted and suffer'd by being tempted yet he scorn'd and abhorred to sin Math 4. yea he endured the Cross and despised the shame Heb. 12.1 4. he met the Cross shame and pain and as an addition the contradiction of sinners yet all this he endured rather then he would sin for vers 4. 't was striving against sin And when St. Peter would have him decline suffering he calls him Satan and said as to him Get behind me Satan reaching us this That 't is better to suffer then to sin 2. We may and ought to not only chuse suffering and not sin but rejoyce in suffering and that with all jây and in the highest degree glory in tribulation but sin is matter of shame and grief not of joy James 1 2. account it all joy not simply joy or a little joy but all joy matter of glory when you faâl into divers temptations that is tribulations as Saint Paul speaks Rom. 5.3 they were temptations for tryal of faith and the tryal thereof is the furnace of affliction Isa 48.10 with 1 Pet. 1.6.7 Now if any glory in their sin and pride themselves in that as a glory they glory in their shame Phil. 3.19 yea if we do but fall into sin 't is matter of grief and shame so that suffering is as far to be prefer'd before sin as joy is before grief and glory is beyond shame to which this also may be added That God himself takes pleasure joy and delight in the tryals of good men for though he delight not to grieve the children of men yet Job 9.23 he laughs at the tryal of the innocent and in this sense many understand that Text. God laughs not at them as at the wicked by way of derision and scorn but by way of pleasure just as a Commander in War rejoyceth when he puts a Party of whose valour and skill he is confident upon some dangerous service though he knows that some of them must bleed and perhaps dye for it yet it pleaseth him to see such ingaged in it Thus God laughs at the tryal of the innocent for he sees they are men that will bide a tryal as the excellent Expositor on the Book of Job expresseth it with much more to this effect God took pleasure in the sufferings of Christ as Christ himself also did and so he doth in the sufferings of his people as he did in Jobs of whom God makes his boast to the Devils face that he still held fast his integrity though he were afflicted by the Devil who moved God against him to destroy him without a cause Job 2 3. upon which an ingenious and eloquent person speaks thus Surely one may call him more then happy Job since if as David tells us the man is happy whose sins God is pleased to cover what may that man be accounted whose graces he vouchsafeth to proclaim God then we see takes pleasure in and laughs at the tryal of such his Champions and Heroes The Hâathen Moralist Seneca ventur'd to say That if there were any spectacle here below noble enough and worthy to entertain the eyes of God it was that of a good man generously contending with ill fortune as they used to phrase afflictions and sufferings But now when men sin he laughs them to scorn if his sons and daughters sin it provokes him to grieve and be angry but the sins of others provoke him to laugh at and to hate them Psal 2.4 5 Psal 37.13 and which is better to suffer and please or to sin and grieve God to undergo that which by patient suffering of it will rejoyce and glorifie God and give him occasion to magnifie us too or to do that which will provoke him to be angry with us till we be consumed and then laugh at our calamity Prov. 1.26 27. 3. There are many blessed incouragements given us to suffering none to sin but all manner of discouragements against sinning all incouragement and no discouragement to suffering all discouragement and no incouragement to sin As when we suffer for God God suffers with us but when we sin God suffers by us In all their his peoples afflictions he was afflicted he sympathized with them Isa 63.9 Heb. 4.15 but when he speaks of sin 't is Saul Saul why persecutest thou me Sauls sin persecuted Christ Jesus Acts 9.4 God complains of their iniquity as a burden as if they made a Cart of God and loaded him with sins as with sheaves Amos 2.13 Again when we suffer for God he hath promised to help and assist us with counsel and comfort with succour and support but when we sin God leaves us and withdraws his presence and consolations if Jacob be in the fire or water God will be with him Isa 43.1 2 but saith God if you forsake me I will forsake you 1 Chro. 18 9. 2.15.2 Sin is a forsaking oâ God and sin makes God forsake us now which is better to have God with and for or against us if God be for us it matters not who be against us Rom. 8.31 but if God be against us and depart from us all is Ichabad 1 Sam. 4.21 22. Job 34.29 Yet once more sufferings for God are evidences and tokens of his love and that we are his children and darlings Heb. 12 6-8 but sin iâ a proof that we are not born of God 1 Joh. 5.18 19. but are children of wrath and heirs oâ the Devil and Hell Thus the incouragement to suffering and discouragements to sinning speak sin the worst evil 4 Suffering though for sin is designed to cure us and kill sin surely the remedy is better then the disease but sin kills us and doth strengthen sin they that adde sin to sin feed it give it nourishment and new life and strength its adding fuel to the fire which sufferings are to quench and put out Psal 119.71 'T was good for âe that I was afflicted why because before I was afflicted I went astray affliction is better then going astray the fruit is the
taking away of sin Isa 27.9 yea to make us partakers of his Holiness Heb. 12.10 which is the end of the greatest promises 2 Pet 1.4 2 Cor. 7.1 So that God aims at the same thing in bringing threatned evils on us as in making good promises and making them good to us Is not this better then sin did that ever do such kindnesses for us A as its mercies are cruclties its courtesies are injuries its kindnesses are killing ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Sic notus Vlysses it never did nor meant us any good unless men be so mad to think that 't is good to be defiled dishonoured and damned 5. Sufferings tend to make us perfect but sin makes us more and more imperfect The second Adam was perfected by suffering Heb. 2.10 âu the first Adam was made imperfect by sinning and thus it fares with both their seeds and children as it did with them a sinner and without strength Rom. 5.6 a sinner and without God without Christ without hope c Eph. 2.12 But a sufferer after a while ãâã be perfected by the same God of all grace who hath called him into eternal glory by Christ Jesus aâd after his example 1 Pet. 5.10 but the more a sinner the more imperfect and fitter for Hell 6. Suffering for God glorifies God 1 Pet 4.14 and calls on us to thank and glorifie God for it vers 16. but sin dishonours God by suffering the Saints are happy vers 14. being Gods Martyrs but by sinning sinners are miserable as the Devils Martyrs vers 15. and which I pray you is better to suffer for God or for the Devil to be suffering Saints or Sinners 7. Sufferings for God Christ and Righteousness adde to our glory as well as they glorifie God but sinning adds to our torment That suffering adds to our glory see Mat. 5.10 11 12. 2 Cor. 4.17 Light afflictions work an exceeding weight of glory but sin which is exceeding sinful works an exceeding weight of wrath and torment Rom. 2.5 It heaps heap upon heap load upon load to make up a treasury of wrath which then is the greatest evil I speak to wise men judge ye what I say light affliction or heavy sin which is better treasures of glory or treasures of wrath or which is all one to suffer or to sin Thus far I have evinced that sin is worse then affliction I but it may be said if we suffer not unto death 't is no great suffering skin for skin and all a man hath will he give for his life but to dye is dreadful 't is worse to sin I shall therefore prove 2. Sin is worse then death That sin is worse then death we use to say of two evils chuse the least now to dye is more cheap and easie then to sin as Gods loving-kindness is better then life we had better part with this then that so sin is worse then death we had better undergo this then do that better submit to death then commit sin as I hinted before from Mat. 10.28 But let us compare them Sin is more deadly then death viz. the separation of soul and body the dissolution of Natures frame and the union thereof this which we call Death is apprehended as a great evil as appears by mans unwillingness to dye men will live in sickness and pain they will be in deaths often rather then dye once and 't is not only an evil in apprehension but 't is really so to humane Nature for 't is called an enemy 1 Cor. 15.26 'T is true death is a friend to grace but 't is as true that death is an enemy to nature and there are four things in which death is evil and an enemy to man and in all these respects sin is more an enemy to man then death 1. Death is separating it separates the nearest and dearest relations yea that which God hath joyned together man and wife soul and body it separates from Estates Ordinances c. as I shewed before thus death is a great evil and enemy true but sin is worse for it brought death and all the evils that come by death and separates man while alive from God who is the light and life of our lives Death separates not from the love of God that sin doth Rom. 8.38 39. Isa 59.2 2. Death is terrifying 't is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the King of Terrors Job 18.14 't is a grim Sir a very sowre and tetrical thing 't is ghastly and frightful for men are not only unwilling but afraid to dye but all the terror that is in death sin puts there 't is the sting of death 1 Cor. 13.56 without which though it kill it cannot curse nor hurt any man so that sin is more terrible then death for without sin either there had been no death or to be sure no terror in death when the sting is taken away by the death of Christ there 's no danger nor cause of fear Heb 2.14 15. and the Apostle looking on the Prince of Peace was not afraid of the King of Terrors but could challenge and upbraid it 1 Cor. 15 55 3. Death is killing but sin much more death deprives of natural and temporal but sin deprives of spiritual and eternal life death kills but the body sin kills the soul and brings it uâder a worse death then the first viz. the second Men may kill us but only God can destroy us i. e. damn us and that he never doth but for sin so that sin is more âiâling then death is 4. Death is corrupting it brings the body to corruption and makes it so loathsom that we say of our dearest relations as Abraham of Sarah when she was dead bury her out of my sight death makes every man say to the worm thou art my mother and to corruption and putrefaction thou art my sister Job 17.14 But sin corrupts us more then death for he that dyed without sin saw no corruption it defiles us and makes us a stink in the nostrils of God and men Gen. 34.30 the old man and its lusts are corrupt and do corrupt us Eph. 4.22 They corrupt our souls and that which corrupts souls the principal man of the man is much worse then that which corrupts the body only but sin corrupts the body too while alive intemperance uncleanness corrupts soul and body so that sin is even in this worse then death Our Saviour tells the Jews that their great misery was not that they should dye but that they should dye in their sins Job 8 21. intimating that sin was worse then death and that which made death a misery better dye in an Hospital or a Ditch then in sin 't is better to dye any how then sin and dye in sin and therefore the Father told Eudoxia the Empress when she threatned him Nil nisi peccatum timeo I fear nothing but to sin And ' ewas a Princely Speech of a Queen who said She had rather hear of her
childrens death then that they had sinned And they of whom the world was not worthy being too good to live long chose rather to dye then sin Heb. 11. and many a good man like S. Paul desires to dye because this dying will prove the death of sin Sin is worse then death yea and 3. Sin is worse then the Devil Sin is worse then the Devil the Devil is indeâd a terrible Enemy the evil and envious one the hater of mankind but he knows he can nor damn nor hurt men without sin Sin can do that without the Devil which the Devil cannot do without sin and that is undo men God and the Devil are not so contrary as God and Sin for the Devil hath something âeft viz. a Being which was of God but sin never was nor can be of God he is neither Author of nor Tempter to it James 1.13 Sin made the Devil what he is as a Devil the Devil was not made so of God as to man the Devil 't is true doth now seek to devour him but he cannot do it without sin nor can he compel any man to sin But 1. Though the Devil tempt 't is man that sins Temptations from Satan to siâ are not sins nor the way to Hell but the very temptations of sin are sins the way to more sins and so to Hell A man 's own lusts are more and worse tempters then the Devil and the Scripture speaks as if a man were not tempted nor indeed is effectually till his lust do it James 1.14 If a man were tempted by the Devil forty days and yet without sin as Christ was yea tempted all his days yet if a man yield not but the grace of God be sufficient for him he may as St. Paul glory in his infirmities and triumph over the messenger of Satan 2 Cor 12. The Devil gives over for a season which sinful lusts scarce ever do they haunt men more then the Devil doth There is a scum of filthiness beiling or âubling up when the Devil doth not meddle with us Libera me à male homine meipso was St Austins Prayer and should be ours for indeed no man nor Devil is so bad to us as evil-self is to us The Serpent beguiled me and I did eat was no excuse the Devil owed me a spight and paid it will not apologize 't is man that sins and sin that damns either of which the Devil cannot force upon man 2. As sin is worse then the Devil as a Tempter and a worse Tempter so sin is worse then the Devil as a Tormentor and a worse Tormentor The Devil is cruel enough a roaring Lion and many times takes possession of men and handles them most unmercifully and will much more torment men in Hell as I have shewn above but all this while the Devil is without the spirit of a man but sin is there takes possession of and torments that âis a grief to be tempted to sin but 't is a torment to be a sinner and God doth more form when he pardons us and more to our ease and refreshment then if he did cast as many Devils out of us as he did out of Mary Maââââlene or aâ whole Legion as he did Mark 5.9 Yea in Hell the gnawing worm of a guilty and upbraiding conscience doth more torment men then Devils do 'T would be a relief to a man in Hell if he could but have peace in his conscience or if he could say that he were there without his demerit and that his perdition were not of himself But to eeke out this a little further I say 4. That Sin is worse then Hell Sin is worse then Hell Hell is but a punishment Sin is a crime which hath more evil then the punishment and is that which made Hell the punishment thereof yea the greatness of this punishment argues the greatness of the crime and the sinfulness of sin Gods being glorified upon men in such a way is a clear and full proof what an evil thing it is to sin against and dishonour a God and consequently that Hell it self doth not so much hurt no not to man as sin doth Hell indeed is a disinal place of horrour and torment the extremity of suffering but never had an existence till sin had nor never could admit of such names as it doth and such torments if sin were not there 'T is storied as a Saying of Anselmes that if Sin and Hell were set before him and he must go through one of them he would rather chuse to go through Hell then Sin 't is sin 't is sin that 's the worst of Hell and worse then Hell 't is that which makes sinners cry out of the unhabitableness of devouring sire and everlasting burnings which are no terrour to righteous and upright souls as 't is Isa 33.14.15 'T is sin that makes Hell to be Hell God was never angry till sin made him so his wrath was never kindled but by sin now as sin made Hell so the more sin the more Hell as Tyre and Sidon feel beyond Sodom and Gomorrah If there were no Hell but such as Cain and Judas felt within them 't were yet a great one and they would tell you 't were damnation enough to be a sinner and to feel the horrors of a guilty and accusing conscience Yet a little more to shew that Sin is the worst of Evils 1. Other proofs ãâã sin is the worst ãâ¦ã There is more evil in it then good in all the Creation that is it doth us more hurt then all the Creation can do us good when we are sick or wounded there are many medicinal Creatures that can help to recover and cure us but of this evil of sin there is no cure by any or all the Creatures 't was too hard for that good wherein we were created and all created good ever since hath not been able to recover us from it no 't is not but by God that we can be either pardoned or purged of it all the Angels in Heaven could neither pay our debt for us nor cleanse our hearts for us and God himself doth new-make us for mending would not serve our turn and therefore mans recovery is called a new Creation and the man a new Man created c. Eph. 4. and 't was Davids prayer create inâââe a clean heart Psal 51. Sin is an evil past the skill and power of all the Creation to cure and cleanse 2. There 's no evil but this to be repented of God allows us to sigh and groan to mourn and lament at other evils but for this he calls for and requires repentance which is a severe thing full of rebuke and disgrace to man though it be a grace How great is that evil for which a man must cry Peccavi and to bring him to the confession whereof and repentance for and from it other evils are inflicted 3. They are the greatest punishments which are made up of
sins 'T is worse to be let alone and given up then if men were sent quick to Hell for they live but as reserved to fill up their measure brimful and to undergo the more of Hell to grow rich in wrath having treasured it up against that day As 't is the best of comforts to have assurance of the love of God and to be sealed to the day of Redemption so 't is the saddest of judgments to be given up as 't is three times in one place Rom. 1. to their lusts to an hardned heart a seared conscience a reprobate mind when God shall say let him that 's filthy be filthy still Rev. 22.11 and they shall not see nor understand lest they should be converted Isa 6.9 10. a dreadful place which is six times quoted in the New Testament as you may see in the Margine 4. Sin is the worst of Evils as appears by this that God hates men for it 't is not only sin Prov. 6.16.19 but sinners that God hates and that for sin Psal 5.5 't is said of God that be hates the workers of iniquity not only the works of iniquity but the workers of it hatred is not known by judgments the evil of suffering but 't is known by the evil of sin which is before us Eccl. 9 1 2. 't is for this that the merciful God saith he that made them will not have mercy on them nor shew them any favour Isa 27 11. and as a Learned person expresseth it This is the highest that can be spoken of the venom of sin that in a sort and to speak after the manner of men it hath put hatred into God himself it made the Lord hate and destroy his own workmanship God is Love and Judgment his strange work yet sin makes him out of love with men and in love with their destruction at last so though he delight not in the death of a repenting yet he doth in the death of an impenitent sinner 5. It proves Sin the worst and greatest of Evils that Christ is the best and greatest of Saviours and his Salvation the best and greatest Salvation he came to save sinners and to save them not from the petty evils of sickness affliction and perfection but from sin the greatest of all evils Math. 1.21 1 Tim. 1.15 To be saved from Egypt was of old reckoned great but being delivered out of the North was a greater Salvation Jer. 23.8 but Salvation from Sin is the greatest Salvation and therefore Sin the worst and greatest of Evils Having thus evinced Sin to be the worst of Evils ân being against God infers the Evil of Evils none to be compared to it for evil I shall now apply it more distinctly and shew what we are to inter From the sinfulness of Sin His patience to be wonderful as 't is 1. Against God 2. Against Man As sin is considered against God I infer 1. That the patience of God with His patience to be wonderful and the long-suffering of God towards sinners is wonderful if sin be so exceeding sinful i. e. contrary to and displeasing to God then surely his patience is exceeding great his goodness exceeding rich his long-suffering exceeding parvellous even to wonder That God should intreat Sinners his enemies to be reconciled 2 Cor. 5.20 that God should stand at a Sinners door and knock Rev. 3 20. that God should wait on Sinners to be gracious to them Isa 30.18 is not after the manner of men but of God yea the God of grace and patience and to be admired for ever That at first God should think thoughts of good and not of evil of peace and not of wrath but visit us in the cool of the day was a wonder but that after he had imparted and commended his heart-love to us in and by his Son Rom. 5.8 and both were rejected that he should yet continue to offer and call and wait 't is a miracle of miracles What shall we say 't is God who is as his Name is Exod. 34.6 Numb 10.18 Psal 86.15 and as he was yesterday he is to day the God of grace and patience Rom. 15.5 and rich in it Rom. 2.4 with 2 Pet. 3.9 1 Tim. 1.13 16. yea we are all living monuments and instances of his goodness and patience 't is of the Lords mercies that we all are not altogether and utterly consumed yea and that in Hell Lam. 3.22 Sin is so sinful so contrary and displeasing to God and hath made man so much Gods enemy that 't is a miracle he should find his enemies any of them and let them go well away That God who is of purer eyes then to behold iniquity should look on the sins of men that his eye should so affect his heart as to grieve him yea that it tempts and provokes him to anger wrath and hatred and that God should keep in anger which is like burning coals in our bosom and not let out all his wrath and ease himself of his burthen by avenging himself of his adversaries but woo and wait on sinners Oh the power of his patience Oh the infiniteness of his mercy and compassions Oh the riches of unsearchable grace God sees it is not ignorant God is sensible of it and concern'd for it grieves and vexeth him God is able to right himself when he pleaseth and yet forbears and is patient Oh wonder Consider yet again 1. The multitude of sinners that are in the world if 't were but one or two they might be winkt at and past by but when all the world lies in wickedness as it doth 1 Joh. 5.19 when there is none righteous no not one if there had been but ten God would have spared Sodom c. though ten thousand sinners might be there but when there is not a man to be found that sinneth not but all ahve sinned Jew and Gentile high and low c. Oh what grace what patience is this 2. Consider the multitude of sins and the multitude of sins in and by every sinner the sins are more numerous then sinners if all men had finned and but once it would have mitigated the matter but sin hath grown up with men that were not only conceived and born in sin but went astray before they could go even from the womb not a good thought to be found in their heart Gen. 6.5 it grows up faster then men do they are old in sin when young in years they are adding iniquity to iniquity and drawing it on with cords and ropes committing it with both hands greedily as if they could not sin enough they dare God himself to judge them they drink down iniquity like water as if 't were their element and nourishment and pleasure also yea and among the rest his sons and daughters provoke him with their sins which go very near his heart Deut. 32.19 and yet behold how miraculously patient and long-suffering God is 3. Consider the length of time in which these
multitude of sinners have committed these multitudes of sins from the beginning even till now generation after generation if all the world had sinned and committed all manner of sins if it had been but for an hour or a day it had not been so provoking but as length of time aggravates misery so it doth sin God reckons up 120 years patience after many before that as to the old World Gen. 6 3 and to Israel forty years Heb. 3.17 He came to the Fig-tree of the Jewish Nation three years in person seeking fruit before he cut it down or so much as gave order for it Luke 13.6 7. He had waited longer on all these but these were over time such as Landlords allow their Tenants after Quarter-day space given before Distraint or Ejectment We were old enough to be damn'd when we were young but God hath given us an over-plus of time space for repentance and hath not yet cut us down as Cumber-grounds Oh patience 4 Consider that sins cry to God against us and the Devil to be sure is a constant Sollicitor against us The cry of Cains sin went up Gen. 4.10 the cry of Sodoms sin was great Gen. 18.20 21. 19.13 the detaining of labourers wages crys James 5.4 and indeed all oppression crys Hah 2.8 12. and yet God as if he were loth to judge us or take up reports against us comes down to see if these things be so and doth as 't were put Abraham and his friends upon interceding by telling them what he is about to do Amos 3.7 Oh the goodness of God! 5. There are many aggravating circumstances attending the sins of men beside the greatness of its own nature which do exceedingly provoke God mens sins are not only many and great but are both multiplied and magnified they are greatned by many circumstances men increase and heighten their sin by not repenting of it and greaten their impenitence by despising the goodness of God which should lead them to repentance Rom. 2. which makes them inexcusable and incapable to escape the judgment of God Men sin against deliverances as if they were delivered to do all manner of abominations and to sin more then before Jer. 7.8.9 10. Men sin against their purposes and promises vows and protestations made at Sea or Land on sick-beds or any times of danger and return like the dog to the vomit They compound with God in time of fear and danger but put him off with nothing when the danger is the more yet as they think over Mân sin against means and means of grace they have precept on precept line on line yet sin still and more whatever way God takes with them yet nothing takes with them as Amos 4 6 11. this and this have I done yet and yet ye have not returned mourn or pipe to them 't is all alike they will not hearken nay alas Men sin against knowledge and conscience though they know God they glorifie him not as God they know their Masters will but do it not Rom. 1.21 Luke 12.47 James 4.17 't were in vain to attempt it because impossible to attain it viz. to reckon up all the aggravating circumstances of mens sins which make them more sins for degree multitude and magnitude and yet God waits to be gracious with a notwithstanding Oh grace grace unto it is it not a wonder that men are spared especially considering what quick dispatch God made with Angels that sinned Wonder of Grace But though God be so patient beyond what we could ask or think yet he doth sometimes and will for ever punish sinners that repent not 2. Therefore I infer The judgment of God on sinners is just that sin being so contrary to God and against his will and glory the judgments of God great though they be on sinners whether here or hereafter are just God often punisheth less never more then iniquity deserves the greatest sufferings are no more nor less then sin deserves the worst on this side Hell is mercy the worst of and in Hell is but justice For 1. If we consider the Nature of God that judgeth he is and cannot but be just shall not the God and Judge of all the Earth do right Can he do or will he do wrong Oh no he layeth on man no more then is meet that man might not enter into judgment with God Job 34.23 Cain could say his punishment was intolerable but could not say it was unjust though greater then he could bear yet not greater then he did deserve God will not argue the case with men meerly as a Soveraign but as a Judge who proceeds not by Will only but by Rule many times over when the judgments of God are spoken of in the Revelations as Chap. 15.3 16.7 't is still just and true and righteous though his ways unsearchable yet true and just and righteous he makes war in righteousness Death is but sins due wages Rom. 6.27 therefore 't is said their damnation is just Rom. 3.8 and every sin hath a just recompense of reward Heb. 2.2 guilt stops mens mouths under their suffering the judgment of God Lam. 3.39 Rom. 3.19 Psal 51.4 with Rom. 3.4 If God judge man God is found true but if man judge God man is found a lyar Would man complain of the Devil as Eve did 't is true he is to blame but is not so much the cause of mans sin as man himself is the Devil might tempt indeed but could not compel so that 't is man that sins though tempted to sin and though man could not prevent being tempted yet he might have forborn to have sinned Would man complain of God what Action would he enter what would he lay to his charge did not God make him in the best of Creature-state did not God tell him what was evil and the danger of sinning what may God say as of Israel what could I have done more that I have not done so that man must say that he hath rewarded evil to himself by doing evil and that his perdition is of himself Hos 13.9 Sinners have their option and choise why then do they complain 2. The severest Judgment of God on sinners is just if we consider the nature of sin 't is Deicidium God-murther and 't is just with God to do by sinners what they would have unjustly done by him viz. take away from them all good and glory displease and destroy them because they would him if we consider the person sinn'd against and the aim of sin to ungod God what punishment can be thought bad enough The Schools tell us and truly that objectively sin is infinite Oh what punishment can be too great for so great an evil if its deed could have answered its intention and will God had been no more Oh what an horrid thing is this As none but infinite power can pardon it so none but infinite power can punish it sufficiently As its aim is infinite so is its
desert and therefore though its punishment be so 't is but just Seeing sin contains all evil 't is not strange that its punishment should be answerable and proportionate That all sin should undergo all misery is not unjust God renders sufferings to man but according to his doings Jer. 17.10 3. The judgment of God is just if we consider the state of sinners wherein they dye which is a state of impenitency and they have thereby treasured up this wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God Rom. 2.5 They that dye impenitent continue as they dye and so consequently do sin and are impenitent for ever and is it or shall it seem unreasonable that everlasting sinning should be everlastingly punished 'T is no severity in God to damn such men for ever let man repair the injury he hath done and pay the debt he owes God to the utmost farthing and he shall go free if he say he cannot that 's his crime as well as misery for he might have chosen whether he would have done the injury and run into this debt Beside he cannot plead satisfaction made by Christ for he made none for final unbelief and impenitency and this man never accepting Christ on Gospel-terms cannot plead his Name or Righteousness to God and there is not Salvation in any other so that upon all accounts sins sinfulness clears the Justice and Judgments of God But though Gods Judgment be just how great soever on sinners yet he is pleased to pardon and forgive some sinners and therefore I shall thirdly shew how precious a mercy forgiveness of sin is Forgiveness of sin a wonder of mercy and that 't is a wonder that any is pardoned The preciousness of this mercy viz. forgiveness of sins appears in this That 't is 1 New Covenant-mercy the new Covenant is called a better Covenant and its Promises better Promises Heb. 8.6 the old Covenant that of works vouchsafed no pardon but this is the mercy of the new Covenant viz. that of grace Heb. 8 12. Forgiveness of sins is 2 The fruit of the precious blood of Christ which was shed to this end that must needs be precious that cost so great a price 1 Pet. 1 18. we were redeemed with no less then blood and no worse blood then that of the Lamb and Son of God which Redemption is called Forgiveness of sins Eph. 1.7 Col. 1.14 Yea 3 By forgiveness of sins we have the knowledge of Salvation pardoned and saved Luke 1.77 they that have their sins remitted are blest and shall be blessed Rom. 4.8 And then 4 By this mercy of sins forgiveness we have ease and rest for our souls and cause to be of good theer the sense of pardon will take away the sense of pain Isa 33 24. what sick when pardoned no I am no more sick when sin is taken away the abiding of sickness is as nothing The sense of sin makes us sick but the sense of pardon makes us well that we can say as Psal 116.7 return my soul unto thy rest for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee a man sensible of sin and not of pardon can hardly sleep or take any rest but when the joyful sound of a pardon is proclaimed and received the soul justified by faith hath peace with God and within himself and is at rest Though the sick of the palsie was not cured yet he had cause to be of good cheer because his sins were forgiven him Mat. 9.2 This is called speaking comfortably or to the heart Isa 40.1 2. comfort ye comfort ye my people speak comfortably to Ierusalem tell her that her warfare is accomplished is that all no but which iâ more tell her that her iniquity is pardoned 'T is a greater comfort to hear that our sins are pardoned thân that our afflictions are at an end it makes us able as well as willing to undergo affliction sufferings and persecutions Now if we consider what a sinful thing sin is against God how displeasing to him 't is a wonderful thing that God should pardon any manâ sin God doth more then man can do for himself or expect that God should do for him yea it costs God more witness the blood of Christ and requires more of his power then to heal all our diseases and bestow all the good of this world upon us Our Saviour tells us 't is easier to say to an impotent man Arise take up thy bed and walk then to say Thy sins are forgiven thee and 't is a declaration of his power Mat. 9.5 and when Moses prays for pardon of Israels sin saith he let the power of the Lord be great Numb 14.17 19. 't is called Riches of mercy Eph. 2.4 and great love and such power as by which Christ was and we are raised from the dead Col. 2.13 Eph. 1.7 Oh who is a God likâ unto thee that pardonest iniquity Micah 7.18 This is the Mystery that Angels pry into and admire 1 Pet. 1.12 God doth as 't were act against his own word Gen. 2.17 he revokes his threatning 't is more then we could ask or think 't is beyond our reach as 't is exprest Iââ 55.7 8 9. Men when sensible of sin can hardly belleve that God will or can do it but are apt to say as Cain our iniquity is greater then can be forgiven Mans mercy is large when it reacheth to seven times what is God then that reacheth to more then seventy times seven in a day Mat. 18.21 When good men have prayed Lord forgive them not Isa 2.9 Jer. 18.23 yet God hath pardoned and when himself was so put to it as to say How shall I pardon thee for this Jer. 5 3. yet God offers it and teacheth men what to say to him in such cases Hos 14.1 4. that it may be done 4. I infer from hence Sin not to be committed oâ any terms whatsoever that no sin is to be committed on any terms or on any account or reason whatsoever because 't is contrary to God against his will and glory this reason over-ballanceth and out-weighs any reason that can be given for sinning let sin and sinners plead never so plausibly how gainful or pleasureful sin is yet as 't was said of a Roman Embassador Romanus tamen 't is a sin i. e. 't is against God which is a greater reason why it should not then any can be alledged why it should be committed or so much as debated whether it should or not for no reason can equal this that 't is against God 'T is a common saying by which persons excuse their own and other mens sins that they are no mans foes but their own they wrong none but themselves if that were as true as 't is false yet therefore sin should not be committed but sinners are Gods foes they are injurious to God which is more then being so to any other or themselves as we should do good not
only because 't is good for us but because 't will glorifie God which is an higher end and so much higher as God is above us so we should forbear to do evil not only because 't is against us but because 't is against God who is more to be beloved by us then our selves To sin against God admits of many aggravations for 't is against God that made us yea fighting against God that made us we are all the off-spring of God the children of God by the first nature though children of wrath by corrupt nature 't is observable how the Genealogy runs Luke 3.39 which was the son of Adam which was the Son of God Adam was and so were we the children of God by creation God was our Father who made us and wo to him that striveth with and fights against his Maker Isa 43.9 't is woful sinning against God as a Maker Oh how unnatural is it to sin against our Parents so hainous was it that Exod. 21.15 he that smiteth father or mother shall dye Oh what is it then to smite the Father of our Spirits the Father of our father and mother if the Ravens of the Valley shall pick out the eyes of them that curse father and mother Prov. 30.17 what 's like to come on them that make nothing of cursing God himself 'T is against God in whose hand our breath is and whose are all our ways on which account we should glorifie him Dan. 5.23 he hath our being and well-being at his dispose he can crush us as the moth and turn us not only to the dust but to the hell of death what he doth for us and what he can do against us do hugely and strongly oblige us not to sin against him We are beholden to him for all the good we have that nakedness which had once a Reverence paid it from the creatures would now be a scorn to them if God did not cloath it the creatures would not serve us nor be serviceable to us if God did not command and bless them for bread we should have none or no good by it if he did not provide and bless it what could weak things do to strengthen or dead things do to keep us alive did not his Word do more then they we live not by bread but by his Word If God should deny us bread by day or sleep by night what would become of us Oh how can we find it in our heart to sin against God! There are two great wonders the one that God should be so good to man who is and doth evil against him the other that man should do evil against so good a God! O foolish people and unwise thus to requite the Lord 'T is God that preserves our going out and coming in and keeps us from infinite invisible as well as many visible dangers abroad and at home if we did but know our dangers we thould go in fear of our lives every moment the Earth would swallow us up the fire would burn us the water would drown us if God were not with us to preserve us he could have sent us down to Hell long ago and yet gives space for repentance and waits to be gracious 'T is true he will at last judge us and what shall we do how shall we stand if found sinners when he riseth up to judge terribly the Earth what Sanctuary or City of refuge shall we flye to that we may be secure Alas there will be no âscaping his vengeance in that day will overtake and ruine us Think of this and think whether thou canst find it in thy heart to sin or to think it a little or light thing to sin against God such a God whatever may be pretended for it yet let me say this further that if God had not laid so many obligations on us yet were we bound not to sin against his Soveraignty and the Authority he hath over us but when he humbles himself and vouchsafeth so many kindnesses to us 't were a monstrous ingratitude and rebellion to sin against him whatever profit or pleasure might come to us thereby or whatever reason may be alledged or pretended for our so doing 5. I might hence infer the beauty the transcendent and incomparable beauty of Holiness how lovely a thing it is in the eyes of God and ought to be in the eyes of men this is the thing that is so agreeable and pleasing to God so adorning and beneficial to man The black spot of sin sets off the beauty of Holiness contraria juxta se posita magis elucescunt But having in a Discourse by it self and which I have published in Print I say having already spoken thereunto I refer you to that Sermon and shall adde no more to this Head here Secondly Sins being against mans good infers I shall draw some Inferences from the Consideration of Sin as 't is contrary to the good of Man 1. That they are mistaken who seek for any good in or from sin Then I infer that they are miserably mistaken that seek for any good in Sin as sin is so its effects are all evil to man there are wo unto them that call evil good or as 't is in the Margine Isa 5.20 that say concerning evil it iâ good they think and stick not to say as they think that evil is good and place their chief happiness in the chiefest evil i. e. in sin and as 't is said of Doeg and such as he Psal 52.3 they love evil more then good Alas how many do not only undo themselves but take pains and pleasure to do and in doing of it yea that think it strange that others are not so mad as they and run not with them to the same excess of riot 1 Pet 4.4 all which proceeds from this mistake that evil is good viz. to them as bringing profit honour or pleasure to them which is called the Lust of the Eye flesh and pride of life 1 Joh. 2 16. from whence came the first sin Gen 3.6 but alas as the event proved then 't will always they gather no grapes from thorns nor figs from thistles they seek the living among the dead and may as well find case in and from Hell as good in or from sin the morsels of sin are deceitful though called Dainties sin is a meer cheat with not so much fair as false shews it deceives the heart of the simple the stollen waters of sin how sweet soever they seem to be in the mouth and to the taste will be gall and wormwood in the belly bitterness in the latter end All the corruption that is in the world came in by lust 2 Pet. 1 4 and all lust is deceitful Eph. 4.22 and thus the woman was first deceived and by her the man 1 Tim. 2 14 and instead of being as God which they thought was promised they became as the Devil which was the thing intended and designed by him and sin
first deceived and then slew St. Paul as he speaks Rom. 7.11 It pretends as Jael did to Sisera to bring milk and butter in a Lordly dish but the hammer and nail is in its heart and hand They that serve divers lusts are deceived as the Apostle speaks Titus 3.3 All the servants of sin are deceived not of sins wages but of sins promises and though they sport themselves while they play and nibble at the bait like silly fishes 't is but in their own deceiving for an evil heart hath deceived them 2 Pet. 2.13 and therefore the Apostle exhorts to take heed lest we be hardned through the deceitfulness of sin Heb 3.13 Sins first work is to deceive us and when it hath thereby drawn us in then it hardens and so destroys us But more particularly 1. Whether 1. Of Profit I shall evince that there is not nor can be any profit to man by sin can that be profitable that wrongs his soul Alas what doth it profit a man to gain the world and lose his soul Sin costs dear but profits nothing they make an ill purchase that buy their damnation What got Cain by killing Christ in his type Abel or Judas by selling his person surely he bought damnation dear though he sold his Saviour cheap Take your money saith he I have sinned that I have sinned made him weary of his gain and life he got Hell or as the saying is Devil and all What profit have any by that whereof they are ashamed Rom. 6.21 All the works of darkness are unsruitful as to any good Eph. 5.11 but good works are profitable Titus 3.8 Sin is a very chargeable thing it cannot be maintained without great cost Men might build Hospitals at cheaper rates then they can maintain their lusts some mens sins cost them more in a day then their families do in a week perhaps in a year Some starve their families to feed their lusts which have turned many an house out of door and brought great Estates to a morsel of bread beside what comes hereafter Lusts consume health and wealth Prov. 5. Gluttony Drunkenness Uncleanness are costly and chargeable sins Object But it may be said true these are as you say costly sins indeed but what say you to Covetousness that frugal and thrifty that saving and getting sin I answer That Covetousness and all its gets or saves is unprofitable For I pray consider 1. All is not gain that 's gotten I will tell you what a wise man saw and said Eccl. 5.13 There is a fore evil under the Sun namely riches kept by the owners thereof to their hurt here are riches and riches kept but alas 't is for the owners hurt and detriment better he had not had them or had not kept them did these profit him yes if hurt be profit not else Where is the profit he can shew you his hurt but not his profit They perish by evil travel and he begets a son but can leave him nothing for 't is not in his hand vers 14. while he had them he could not sleep for them vers 12. and his abundance made him poor perhaps 't was his crime that he was rich and some Vespasian or other mightier then he finding this sponge swell'd and full would needs squeeze him and leave him hollow and empty Stories tell us of times when Estates have been the greatest crimes persons have been guilty of though charged with malignancy or treason Or 2. Consider Covetousness it self may be a thief and rob men of the use and comfort of their own possessions the covetous man doth always need and is indeed the poorest man in the world Eccl. 4.8 There is one alone there is not a second he is a single man unmarried without a second-self yet there is no end of his labour yet saith he not for whom do I bereave my self of good observe it while he gets goods he bereaves himself of good yea of the good of his goods Is this profitable no 't is a sore travelâ for he hath not power to eat thereof Eccl. 6.2 To fill his purse he starves his belly and grudgeth himself victuals 3. Consider that though you have much and use it much yet it will never satisfie and therefore must needs vex no satisfaction no prefit A mans aim is satisfaction Luke 12 1â but the eye is not satisfied with seeing nor the car with hearing Eccl. 1.8 Now if they cannot satisfie the senses much less the souls of mân Eccl. 6.7 and which addeth to the vexation the love of money increaseth faster then the money so that Eccl. 5.10 11. he that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver nor he that loves ââândance with increase Well it may be thou ãâã say none of these are my cases if not ãâã 4. Consider that which must be thy case thou ãâã not carry away one penny of thy estate with thee and where 's the profit then what thou leavest behind thee is none of thine but thou dyest the poorer for leaving thy riches behind thee and having not laid up thy treasures in Heaven 1 Tim. 6. The rich man said to his soul thou hast goods but thou Fool saith our Saviour thou must die to night and whose shall they be not thine What dost thou get by all thy gettings to leave them all behind thee and it may be to them whom of all men thou wert most unwilling should enjoy them Psal 39.6 Eccl. 2.18 21. To go naked out of the world is a sore evil and no profit Eccl. 5 15 16. If thou enjoy all to thy dying day yet then thou losest all and it may be dost not only lose it but lose by it riches profit not in the day of wrath and surely that cannot be worth much while we live that will be worth nothing when we dye Beside there is no man in more danger to lose by getting then the covetous man who is in the ready way to lose his soul for the love of money is the root of all evil which while some have coveted after they have gotten nothing by it but the loss of their souls being drowned in perdition 1 Tim. 6 9 10. And truly take it here for the present while âis in its best the pains of getting the cares of keeping and fear of losing eat out the comfort of having so that all must subscribe to what our Saviour said Luke 12.15 a mans life neither the length health or comfort much less the happiness of a mans life consisteth in the things he enjoyeth in this world life needs more and better things Oh what silây foolish things are sinners to place the good of profit in that which is not only unprofitable but chargeable to pay so dear a price for so vile a commodity to pay after the rate of Heaven and be put off with Hell We laugh at the simplicity and childishness of little ones that will part with gold for a toy for a new-nothing
conscience which tells them they ought not to sin and if they do chides them for it must needs be uneasie and unpleasant mens sins make them sick as Amnons did so far are they from being pleasures To desire the presence of what 's absent or the absence of what 's present or the continuance of what cannot be kept or the continuance and keeping whereof would surfeit them as the constancy of drunkenness and intemperance doth do must unavoidably be very tedious and such men even in the fulness of their sufficiency to allude to that in Job cannot but be in straights if they gratifie one they displease another of their lusts as if they gratifie pride and prodigality they displease covetousness and so are still far from pleasure being ev'n distracted and slain by one or other of their lusts all the day long they have sightings without and within and good men are not more persecuted by the Devil and wicked world then these men are tormented by their irregular and inordinate fleshly appetites and carnal inclinations But yet for all this men are loth to believe this which say they crosseth Scripture expression and their experience the Scripture mentions the pleasures of sin Heb. 11.25 and we find the pleasure on 't Thus men are apt to plead for sin and be its Advocate and can hug any Scripture that doth but speak of though it disown and disallow any such thing as sinful pleasures As to that misunderstood Text let me say this that Moses cannot be charged with any sin from whence he drew pleasure and therefore by the pleasures of sin are not meant such as slow from but such as lead unto sin he declined the pleasures which would have inclined him to sin Pleasures are allurements and baits to draw to sin as it was to Eve the Tree was pleasant to the eyes and inviting but the taste and digestion found no pleasure but bitterness from the fruit thus Moses lived where pleasures were and such as tended or were abused to sin yea such as he could not have enjoyed without committing the great sin which the Egyptians did viz. afflicting the people of God and being cruel to them instead of delivering them So that this Scripture speaks nothing in favour of sin or that there are any pleasures to be had by or from it Yet if we should take the Text as interpreted by them all that can be said of it is but this that it speaks as they think not that there are but there are thought to be pleasures of sin 'T is an ordinary thing for the Scripture to speak of such a thing as if it were and to say it is which is but supposed to be by others As for instance 1 Cor. 8 4-6 there are Gods many and Lords many not that really there was any such but by others they were reckoned such So in this Text he speaks after the manner of men concerning the pleasures of sin as they are reputed and this is confirmed by a passage of the Apostle 2 Pet. 2.13 they count it pleasure to riot in the day-time 't is no pleasure but they accounted it a pleasure 't was none for they did enjoy but a mock-sport or pleasure while they sported themselves in their own deceivings so that in counting it pleasure to riot they deceive themselves they suppose it a sport and pleasure but 't is not so Yet again If there be any pleasure it can be but to the body and sensual part of man which is a pleasure to the beast not to the man the body is but the case of man a mud-wall Cottage thatcht ovââ with hair 't is the Soul that is the excellency and glory of man the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the man of the man and whoever will take ãâã right measure of what 's good or evil to man must take it especially with respect and relatioâ to the Soul He much mistoâk the Nature ãâã his Soul who bid it take ease in eating and drinking alas the Soul cannot feed on flesh ' âiâ a Spirit and must have a diet peculiar and proper i. e. spiritual Very usually the pleasure of the body prove the Souls pain to eat anâ drink is the bodies pleasure but gluttony anâ drunkenness which are the sins of eating and drinking are the Souls pain and many time the bodies too To take rest when weary is thâ bodies pleasure but to be idle which is the siâ of rest and ease is an affliction and trouble to the Soul Yet further That which men call the Pleasure of sin is both their dyââ and punishment many laugh and are merry from the sickliness and distemper they are under as they say of them that are bitten by the Tarantula they laugh themselves to death Some are such ticklish things that they will laugh at the wagging of a feather but this is an Argument of their weakness and folly two ill diseases Many persons take pleasure in eating lime mortar coals and such like trash but 't is from a disease which vitiates and corrupts their palate else they would not feed on ashes had they not the Green-sickness disease so whoever pretends to find pleasure in sin proves himself distemper'd and diseased and under the old radicated disease of being in sins yea dead in them 'T is as a disease so a punishment because 't is false pleasure and what truer misery then false joy 't is like his pleasure who receives much money but 't is all false coyn or his who dreams of a feast and awakes so bungry and vext that he could eat his dream and on this account sin should be doubly bated because âugly and because false because it defiles and because it mocks us But Yet again If there be any pleasure 't is but for a season a very little while 't is soon over and gone like the crackling of thorns under a pot the triumphing of the wicked is short and the joy of the Hypocrite is but for a moment Job 20.5 but the miseries of sin may be yea without repentance will be Eternal so that as the sufferings of this present life to the godly are not worthy to be compared with the future glory so the pleasures of the wicked are as nothing take the best of them not to be compared with the future miscry certainly they are woful and ruful pleasures that men must repent of or be damned for to all Eternity Upon the whole then the inference is undeniable that there is no good of profit honour or pleasure to be had by sin and that they who seek for all or any of them there do as they that would seek case in Hell the very place and Element of torment If good be not good when better is expected how miserably vexatious must the disappointment be when men look for good and peace but behold evil and trouble yea and nothing else comes upon them when they bless themselves and say as Deut. 29.19 we shall have
peace though we walk in the imaginations of our heart to add drunkenness to thirst the Lord will not spare them but then the anger of the Lord and his jealousie shall smoak against them and when they shall say peace and safety then sudden destruction will come upon them as travel upon a woman with child and there will be no escaping 1 Thes 5.3 There are some other inferences yet to be spoken to and of them I shall say but a few things in brief Time spent in sin is worse then lost Sin being so sinful 2. I infer that time spent in sin is worse then lost Most of the pastime in the world is lost time but sinning time or time spent in sin is worse then lost it must be accounted for and who can give a good account of evil doing while men live in sin they do nothing but undo themselves Man was not sent into this world only to eat drink sleep and play much less to sin yea that he might not sin but as into a great Work-house to work for the glory of God Joh. 17.4 and so to work out his own Salvation and that with fear and trembling Phil. 2.12 but they that live in sin work out their damnation and many times without fear or trembling of which they will have great store when they come to receive their just doom and damnation Time is a most precious Commodity for on this moment depends Eternity and as men sow in this seed-time they will reap in that harvest Time is a Prophet for Eternity as men live here they are like to live for ever they that sow sin must reap death Galat. 6.8 Time is to be redeemed Eph. 5.16 and every day to be numbred greatly valued and improved that we may apply our hearts to wisdom Psal 90.12 and this is wisdom the fear of the Lord and this understanding to depart from evil Job 28.28 This is wisdom to know and do what is the acceptable will of God Mat. 7.24 Eph. 5 15-17 We may be said to be but not to live if we live not to God and all time that is not so spent is but mis-spent and worse then lost poor distracted persons that have lost their understanding They that mock at sin are worse then fools wear out their days to less loss and disadvantage then sinners do 3. Then they that make a mock at sin are worse then fools and mad-men fools make a mock at sin Prov. 14.9 tell them as Lot did his sons in Law the danger they are in the judgments that hang over their head and our is to them as Lot was to them as one that mocketh Gen. 19.14 they laugh at it as if God were not in earnest when he threatens sinners and as if they that preach against sin were but ridiculous persons It s a sport to fools to do mischief Prov. 10.23 and there are that sport themselves in their way to Hell as if 't were but a recreation Oh what fools are they that laugh at their own folly and destruction too 'T is a devilish nature in us to mock at the calamity of others but to laugh at our own seems to be worse then devilish There are many too many that mourn under affliction yet laugh over their sins that sigh weep when they feel any burden on their bodies but make merry at that which destroys their soul Can any thing be more mad then these that laugh mock and make sport at that which is a burden and weariness to God Isa 1.14 Amos 2.13 which is the wounding piercing and crucifying of Christ Jesus Zach. 12.10 Heb. 6.6 which is a grief to the Spirit of Consolation Eph. 4.30 which is a trouble to holy Angels Luke 15. which is a wrong to and the undoing of their own souls Prov. 8.36 and such is sin 4. It cannot be well with men in their sin Sin being so sinful infectious and pernicious it can never be well with a man how well soever he be while he is in his sins Was it well with Dives though he fared deliciously every day no it was better with Lazarus that lay at his gate full of sores for that 's welâ that ends well which it never doth with sinners if judgment be not executed speedily 't will surely for they are condemned already being sons of death and perdition No man hath cause to envy the prosperity of sinners 't is not good enough to be envied but 't is bad enough to be pitied they are but fatted and thereby fitted to destruction Prov. 1.32 the prosperity of fools shall destroy them their folly alone doth it but their prosperity doth double it and do it with a vengeance the prosperous sinner is in the worst case of all sinners they are set in slippery places and shall be cast down from their height to the depth of destruction Psal 73.18 5. Sin being so sinful It concerns us to be religious betimes it greatly concernes persons and hugely obligeth them to be religious betimes that they may prevent a great deal of sin which without being early religious and strictly so they cannot possibly do how precious and dear should that be to us which prevents the being of what is so pernicious and destructive how industriously careful should we be to keep our selves from that which will keep us from happiness and how ambitious to enjoy that which capacitates us for the enjoying of God for ever and gives us the first-fruits of it here We cannot be too soon nor too much religious but the sooner and more the better If ever you mean to be religious there is no time more proper then now the present now no day to to day Eccl. 12.1 remember now thy Creators as the word is viz. God in Christ for he âreated all things by Christ Jesus Eph. 3.9 Col. 1.16 Remember now in the days of thy youth before the evil days come when thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them not only no pleasure in the evil days of sickness death and judgment that evil day which I put far from me but I have none in the remembrance of my youthful days Youth is the most proper season of all our days and now is the most proper season of all our youth to remember God in If you say we will do that when we are old 't is now spring-time with us and no month to May we will think of Religion in a Winters night Oh do not boast of to morrow as young as thou art thou art old enough to dye this night thy soul may be taken from thee and be in Hell to morrow Take the Wise-mans counsel Eccl. 11.9 Rejoyce O young man in thy youth and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth and walk in the ways of thine heart and in the sight of thine eyes yes Sir with all our heart we will take this counsel we like it well this is pleasing Doctrine
we had rather mind this then to be holy we will be dehonaire and jovial we care not for severe Preachers of strictness and devotion we will laugh and sing drink and dance away our time while we have it c. But mistake not Solomon speaks Ironically and hath something else to say take all and then if thou rejoyce 't will be with trembling rejoyce but let thy heart cheer thee but walk in thâ ways of thine heart and eyes but but what Know thou that for all these things thou musâ come to judgment and how wilt thou answer for thy vanities and follies thy pride and wantonness thy drunkenness and debauchery then Oh remember thy Creator before that evil day come and prevent a life of sin which is the miserablest life in the world and God hath promised that if thou seek him early thou shalt find him and in finding him thou findest all Prov. 8 17-21 Remember him in thy youth for memory is then in its prime and most flourishing shall he that gave thee thy being and memory be forgotten by thee If God should not remember thee what would become of thee and see what 's like to become of thee if thou forget God Psal 50.22 How good how excellent soever thy memory be I am sure thou hast a very bad one if thou forget and do not remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth The young mans glory is his strength whether of memory c. and wilt thou give thy strength to sin which is due to God Mark 12.30 Gods Sacrifices were to be young the first ripe fruits and the first-born which is the strength Gen. 49.3 were to be dedicated to God and he will not be put off with less now Gods chiefest Worthies have been and are his young men 1 Joh. 2.13 14. Gods men of valour are young men the Princes of this World like the Romans of old make up their Armies of young men the flower of their Army is Romana juventus of young and strong men and shall the King of Kings be put off with what 's decrepit and worn out no he will not Mal. 1.8.13.14 go offer it to thy Governour will he be pleased with or accept such persons no nor will God who is a great King the Lord of Hosts whose Name is dreadful They that have been religious betimes are greatly famed and honoured in and by the Scripture-Records God is taken with and remembers the kindness of their youth Jer. 2.2 Abel though dead is yet spoken of with an honourable testimony even that of God himself for serving God so young and so well Heb. 11.4 Joseph was very early religious so was Samuel Jeroboams little Son is not to be forgotten for God hath honoured him King Josiah Daniel and the three Children or young men of Israel are all inrolled in the Court of Honour and Heaven And in the New Testament St. John is called the Disciple whom Jesus loved his Bosom-favourite and Darling and the reason usually given is because he came to Christ and became his Disciple while yet very young 't is the command of Timothy that he knew the Scriptures from a Child 2 Tim. 3.15 Many Parents are afraid to have serious and divine things taught their children lest it make them melancholy and dispirit them but is there any thing better to fit them for service to God oâ man then Religion or any spirit comparable to that true greatness and gallantry of spirit which is in being afraid to sin We should teach children moral and religious courage and bravery which is more in fearing to sin then tâ dye and to make Moses his choice to prefer thâ reproaches of Christ before the treasures anâ pleasures of this world and this way are theâ like to attain better names and greater estates to enjoy more pleasure and preferment then any this world can confer upon them They are best bred who are taught to love and serve God best and they attain most honour who honour God for them will God himself honour I speak not in derogation of any thing that 's civil handsom and gentile but would press to more to what 's commendable to God and in his sight of great price to remember him in the days of youth For evil days are a coming sickness old age death is approaching the Judge is at the door and certainly that 's best while we are young that will be best when we are old and dye and that can be worth very little at the beginning which will be worth nothing at the end of our days The sins of youth will lye heavy upon an old age yea if God give repentance to thee when thou art old 't will cost thee the dearer that thou didst repent no sooner and thou wilt regret it that thou hast been so long in sin and art now to live but a little while to testifie thy conversion 'T was sad with Job to possess the sins of his youth Job 13.23 24. Youthful sweets do often prove old ages bitterness and the pleasures while young cost pains when old which made King David pray to God that he would not remember against him the sins of his youth Psal 25.7 I suppose this may suffice though much more might be added to shew how much persons are concerned to be religious betimes seeing sin is a thing so dangerous and destructive To welcome the the Gospel 6. Sin being so pernicious how welcome should the Gospel be which brings the good and happifying news of a Savior and how to be saved from sin the cause of wrath and wrath the effect of sin how beautiful should their feet be that bring this blessed Receipt to us Rom. 10.15 had we the gout or stone what would we not give for a Recipe an infallible medicine to cure us We use to welcome Chirurgions though they put us to pain and Apothecaries though they bring us loathsom drugs yea so dear is health that we not only thank but reward them too Oh what a welcome then should Christ his Gospel have who come with saving health to cure us of the worst of diseases and plagues viz. that of sin methinks we should press with violence and be so violent as to besiege Heaven and take it by force and we should no less hasten to receive the Gospel and take into us the wine and milk thereof and the waters of life seeing we may have them so freely for coming for indeed our Salvation cost Christ Jesus dear but he offers it us at a cheap rate and methinks we should not let Heaven be so thinly and Hell so populously inhabited when Salvation may be had at an easier rate then going beyond Sea for it Rom. 10 6-10 with Deut. 30 12-14 Oh seeing 't is so faithful a saying and worthy to bâ received be not so unworthy as to refuse it and with that to refuse thy own Salvation But I shall take an occasion from hence to pass
to Exhortation and Counsel Exhortation for it may be some poor Soul or other may be prickt at heart anâ cry out as they Acts 2.37 What shall we do ãâã or as the Jaylor in Acts 17.30 Sirs what muââ I do to be saved Is there any hope for pooâ sinners is there any balm in Gilead or Physitian there Jer. 8 22. yes surely there is God would never as a Learned person expresseth it have suffered so potent and malicious an enemy to have set foot in his Dominions but that he knew how to conquer it and that not only by punishing it in Hell but by destroying it He will not only pardon but subdue thy sin If thou wilt hear him hear then that thy soul may live hear the Call of Christ Jesus behold he calleth thee come to me ye that are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest Mat. 11. All that were in debt and distress came to David thou art such an one come to this David for so Christ is called take his counsel and thou shalt do well thou shalt live and sin shall dye What 's that counsel Repent and believe the Gospel Mark 1.13 1. Repent To repent Jesus Christ came to call sinners to repentance Mat 9.12 13. 't was one of the errands he came into the world about repent then not only for but from dead works Heb. 6 1. abhor both thy sin and thy self repenting as in dust and ashes Joh 42.6 be full of indignation against and take a full revenge upon thy sin and self as true repentance useth to do 2 Cor. 7.11 to be merciful to sin is to be cruel to thy soul to save that alive is to put this to death therefore spare it not but repent unfeignedly from the very bottom of thy heart Let it grieve thee that God is displeased with thee for thy sin but much more that he hath been displeased by thee and by thy sin bring forth fruit worthy of repentance amendment of life that thy repentance may appear to be a change of heart and life of thy mind and manners yea not only a reformation but a renovation and that thou art a new man The goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance he might have driven thee into it by terrors but he gently leads thee 't is indeed his goodness that he will admit us to repent but that he will call and lead to repentance is goodness much more and Oh what goodness is it that he puts us to no greater penance then repentance Jer. 3.13 God might have said thou shalt lye in Hell so many thousand years to feel the smart of thy sin and if he had bid thee do some great thing wouldst thou not have done it how much more when he saith wash and be clean that I may allude to that of Naamans servant unto him 2 Kings 5.13 yea which is yet more God waits to be gracious and is patient even to long-suffering he might have called and knockt at thy door once and no more but he hath stood and knockt and beg'd given thee space and means Rev. 2.21 Luke 16.31 and why all this but that thou mightest come to repentance 2 Pet. 3.9 which if thou do not 't is a greater affront to God then thy former sin was Humanum est errare 't is humane frailty to sin but to continue in it without repentance is Devilish 't is to despise his goodness Rom. 2.4 't is to justifie thy sin and to upbraid God with a scoff as they did 2 Pet. 3. where is the promise of his coming But that his goodness may yet prevail I intreat thee to consider this much more 1. If thou repent thou shalt be forgiven Acts 3.19 repent and be converted that your sins may be blotted out they shall be as if they had not been where God gives repentance for he also gives remission of sin Acts 5.31 He that hardneth his heart in impenitency shall not prosper but he that confesseth and forsaketh shall find mercy Prov. 28.13 14. For God looketh upon men and if any say I have sinned and perverted that which was right i. e. if any do repent he will deliver his soul from going into the pit and his life shall see the light Job 33.27 28. yea he is not only merciful but if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness 1 Joh. 1.9 Oh how doth this oblige us to repent 2. Repentance is by Gods interpretation the undoing of all the evil thou hast committed and the doing the good thou hast omitted indeed he that repents of his sin tells all the world that if 't were to do again he would not do it and he that repents for not having done the will of God doth do it in repenting Mat. 21.30 Oh what goodness is this to put such a construction on repentance and shall we not repent 3. Thou wilt by repenting rejoyce all whom thou hast grieved by sin thou hast grieved thine own soul repentance will cheer it for though it spring from sorrow it ends in joy and will never be repented of 2 Cor. 7.10 thou wilt rejoyce the generation of the righteous yea there will be joy in Heaven God and Angels will be glad and rejoyce at thy return Luke 15. 'T is their sin and greatly aggravated Rev. 16.9 that they repented not to give him glory sin dishonours but repentance gives glory to God and therefore Josuah said to Achan Jos 7.19 confess thy sin and give glory to God Oh may we rejoyce the heart and glorifie the Name of God both at once by repentance and shall we not repent Oh repent repent if not know 4. That God hath appointed a day in which he will judge thee and that calls on thee at thy peril to repent Acts 17.30 31. which if thou do not do thou dost but inrich thy self for Hell and by thy hardness and impenitent heart dost treasure up wrath against the day of wrath and the revelation of the righteous judgment of God The God that is long-suffering will not be all-suffering he that is a God of patience now will if that be abused be a God of vengeance hereafter to the abusers of his patience Gods Patience will be at end one day he will wait on thee no more no longer he waited forty years but then swore in his wrath Heb. 3.11 he waited three years on the Jewish Fig-tree but at last cut it down God hath set thee a day and that 's this day to day while 't is called to day hear his voice and harden not your hearts When this day of patience is over if thou be found unprovided then wo unto thee thou art undone for ever I pray thee think of it hast not grieved God enough yet nor wronged thy soul enough yet art afraid of being happy too soon or of going to Hell too easily and cheaply that thou wilt not repent
or delayest it Oh if in this thy day thou consider not the things of thy peace thou mayst have them hid from thine eyes and go blindfold to Hell and be damned for ever and then God will require payment even use upon use to the utmost farthing Mat. 18 23-34 he will be paid all that is due for time for talents for means for mercies for patience and for bearance he will be paid for all If he be not glorified by thee now he will be glorified upon thee then But I hope you are sensible and I shall not need to urge or press this any further and therefore I pass to the Second Counsel believe the Gospel To believe the Gospel 't is not only repentance toward God but faith in our Lord Jesus Christ that 's required for the pardoning and purging of sin for destroying sin and saving thee Repentance is not enough for righteousness is not by repentance but by faith Phil. 3.9 Prayers and tears sighs and sorrows are not our Saviour 't is Jesus only that saves from sin Mat. 1.21 None can put our sint to death but be that dyed for our sins Do not think to compound with God if all the riches of the world were thine to give and thou wouldst give them all it must cost more then so to have thy soul justified and saved Psal 49.9 If all the men of the world would lend thee their blood and thou shouldst offer it up and with that thine own and that of thy first-born too 't were all too little Micah 6 7. bring all thy repentance and righteousness and it cannot compensate or make amends for one sin if all the Angels in Heaven should lend thee their whole stock and 't is a great one yet 't would not do there 's no satisfaction could be made nor any thing merited for thee but by the Son of God he and he only is the Saviour from sin nor is there any Name given under Heaven but his whereby we must be saved nor is there salvation in any other Acts 4.12 Oh then look to him and be saved for be thy sins what they will he can save to the very utmost all that come to God by him for he ever lives to make intercession for them Heb. 7.25 But if thou believe not in Christ Jesus though thou repent of sin and live as touching the Law blaineless as Saul did Phil. 3 though thou be celebrated for a Saint and mayst seem too good to go to Hell yet without Christ and faith in him thou wilt not be good enough to go to Heaven Though there be a Christ to be believed in who hath dyed for sinners yet if thou believe not in him thou mayst dye and be damned notwithstanding that Come then come to and close with Christ not with an idle or dead but with an effectual and lively faith receive whole Christ not only Jesus but Lord not only Saviour but Prince Col. 2.6 be as willing to dye to sin as he was to dye for sin and to live to him as he was to dye for thee be as willing to be his to serve him as that he should be thine to save thee Take him on his own terms give up thy self wholly to him forget thy fathers house depart from all iniquity and become wholly and intirely his let thy works declare and justifie thy faith by purifying thy heart Acts 15.9 by sanctifying thee Acts 26.18 by overcoming the world both the good and evil the best and worst the frowns and flatteries thereof 1 Joh. 5.4 5. as Moses and the rest did by faith Heb. 11. Thus come and thus make good thy coming to and believing in Christ And then thou shalt be saved as the Apostle told the Jaylor Acts 16.30 31. believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved Sin this destructive thing Sin shall not destroy them sin this damning thing sin shall not damn them that do unfeignedly and with their heart believe in Jesus as there was need of a Jesus Christ and as there inrequired faith in Jesus Christ so Salvation iâ ascertain'd and ensured to them that believe in Jesus Christ He that perseveres to the end shall find the end of his faith the saving of his soul Oh then hasten to take hold on him close with him and cleave to him as ever you would be saved from your sin and Gods wrath Do you like the end and not the way is Salvation desirable and is not faith without which 't is impossible to please God here or to be saved hereafter Have ye not souls as well as bodies would ye not be saved from sin as well as from sickness hasten to Christ Jesus then the Physitian the Saviour of Sours is there any other Christ is there Salvation in any other hath God any more Sons to send is there any other way to Heaven have we not been in hazard long enough Oh now come now to Christ if ever there will be reason for it there is now wilt thou need him thou dost now will he be lovely hereafter he is now Oh methinks these things being so we should flye like Doves to the windows and not stand off a moment longer lest we dye and dye in our sins and then adieu to happiness and hope for ever But I trust this is not in vain I am willing to hope I have not preacht from nor prayed to God in vain expostulated with and beg'd of you in vain but that you will yet repent and believe the Gospel There is yet another thing I have to exhort to on this occasion and that is 3. Not to sin again by returning to folly That you would sin no more nor return again to folly hear and fear and do no more wickedly 't is sad to lick up vomits and after being washt to wallow in the mire the latter end of such is worse then their beginning 2 Pet. 2. and better it had been for them they had not known the way of righteousness then after they have known it to apostatize and depart from the holy Commandment 't will be difficult next to impossible to renew such again unto repentance Heb. 6.6 and what can they expect but judgment fiery indignation and vengeance Heb. 10 26-30 Oh how is and will the sin and condemnation of Apostates be aggravated what after all his kindness wilt thou kick with the heel against him after sin hath cost thee so many sighs and tears and aking hearts wilt thou make work for more thou wilt have thy belly-full for the back-slider in heart shall be filled with his own ways he will have enough of it one day Prov. 14.14 and then cry out Oh what an evil and a bitter thing is Apostacy Oh this evil heart of unbelief that made me again depart from after my returning to serve the living God! The fourth and last thing I have to say is Not to live in any known sin by way of
Caution Take heed of living in any one especially any known sin Let us lay aside all the remains of naughtiness and the sin that doth most easily beset us let 's not have any favorite-sin but out with right eyes and off with right hands rather then offend yea let 's cleanse our selves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit without and within that we may perfect Holiness and grow up to a perfect man the measure of the stature of Christ Jesus Shall we continue in sin Oh no not in one God forbid he speaks as if it were not only inconsistent but impossible for them so to do that have seen and tasted that the Lord is gracious for now they see the sinfulness of sin more then they did before as that which went about to murder God and did indeed put the Son of God to death and shall say they shall we crucifie him again King David would not drink the water that hazarded mans blood how then how can we do any wickedness and sin against the blood of God which was shed to cleanse us from our sin Shall we take pleasure in that which put Christ to pain and live in that which put Christ to death Oh no by no means shall his love and power have no better influences and effects then have we put off the old man and shall we put it on again are we dead and shall we not cease from sin can we say we believe in him and not obey him no no get ye hence all ye Idols Thus will gracious persons and new creatures both reason and resolve the case I caution and beseech you then to take heed of living in any sin whether in Thought Word or Deed. Caution against 1. Thought-sins 2. Word-sins 3. Deed-sins 1. Not in Thought-sins Take heed of sinning in Thought or of Thought-sins Seeing sin is so sinful 't is evil to be though but a thinking sinner or a sinner though but in thought 'T is too commonly said That thoughts are free they are indeed free in respect of men they cannot judge us for them but God can and will Many persons that seem to be modest and sparing as to evil words and deeds will yet make bold with thoughts and as the saying is Pay it with thinking such as are speculative contemplative sinners There are some who are so wise as not to say with their tongues yet such fools as to say in their heart there is no God Psal 14.1 There are some that do not actually murder yet by anger and envy are murtherers in heart or thought as Joseph accuseth his Brethren saying you thought evil against me Gen. 50.20 There are Thought-adulterers who it may be never were nor durst to be adulterers as to fact Mat. 5.28 There are Blasphemers in heart who speak it not with their mouths as they who when they heard Christ forgiving sins they thought in their heart that he blasphemed and thereby blasphemed him Mat. 9.3 4 5. Some talk of the world and declaim against it as a vanity who think vainly in their heart that their houses shall endure for ever Psal 49.11 So the rich man said within himself thou hast good laid up for many years as if he thought these things his happiness but 't is said of the former this their way is their folly Psal 49.12 and of the latter thou fool Luke 12 20 for the thought of foolishness or a foolish thought is sin Prov. 24.9 and therefore 't is said in Deut. 5.9 Take heed that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart i. e. that there be not a wicked thought in thy heart 'T is true all thoughts of evil are not evil thoughts as all thoughts of good are not good thoughts a man may think of evil and yet his thoughts may be good and a man may think of good and yet his thoughts be evil One then thinks of evil yet with good thoughts when he thinks of evil to grieve and repent for it to abhor and forsake it and one thinks of good with evil thoughts when he thinks of good to neglect and scorn it to call it evil and so to persecute it But thoughts of sin may be sinful thoughts with respect to sin past or sin to come with respect to sin past when men please themselves in the thoughts of their past sins when they chew the cud and lick their lips after it or as 't is said in Job 20.12 13. they hide and rowl it as if 't were a Sugar-plum under their tongue they do it over and over again by thinking of it when they do not act it so some understand that in Ezek. 23.19 She multiplied her whoredoms in calling to remembrance the sins of her youth she acted it over again in her memory in new speculations of her old sins and on the other hand others and it may be the same persons think sinfully of the sins they have not done grieving at and regretting it that they had not taken such and such occasions and embraced such and such temptations as they had to sin So with respect to sins to come men think sinfully in plotting contriving and fore-thinking what sins they will do though they do them not Against this we are charged Rom. 13.14 make no provision for the flesh the word is do not project and cater for the flesh lay not in fuel for such fire do not lye abed and fore-cast to fulfil the lusts hereafter which thou canst not act at present That you may see the sinfulness of evil Thoughts consider 1. That sinful Thoughts do defile a man though they never come to words or deeds be never utter'd never practis'd Mat. 15.19 20. Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts murthers adulteries c. and these defile the man not only murther and adultery but the thoughts of murthering and committing adultery defile the man as the Text speaks and our Savior again in another Text says as much Mat. 5.22 28. as Job made a Covenant with his eyes that he might not think lust fully of a Maid Job 31.1 So should we take heed to our ways that we may not offend not only not with our tongues but in our thoughts for they are the words of our heart and the deeds thereof and all the words of our mouth and the acts of our lives come from thence and therefore above all keepings keep thine heart Prov. 4.23 2. Sinful thoughts are an abomination in thâ sight of God God hath a special eye to thâ thoughts of mens hearts to them of good men Mal. 3.16 and to them of bad men Gen. 6.5 In good men God accepts very often the will for the deed if to will be present with them though to do they have not power if they be as willing to do as to will the deed God accepts the will for the deed though they cannot do it 2 Cor. 8.12 Math. 26.41 So when men will and think wickedly God takes their
will for the deed as he takes the good mans will for the deed with acceptation so he takes the wicked mans will for the deed with abomination for Prov. 15.26 the thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord i. e. their wicked thoughts are filthy steams and stinks in the nostrils of God Sin is a filthiness and sinful thoughts have their filthiness as well as sinful actions and it 's therefore said Jer. 4.14 Oh Jerusalem wash thine heart from wickedness that thou mayst be saved how long shall vain thoughts lodge within thee the very remedy speaks out the disease if they must be washt they were filthy sure for sweeping will not serve the turn and what was the wickedness of their heart it follows in the Text the vain thoughts that were there and these must be washt or they could not be saved so abominable in the sight of God is the villany and vanity of thoughts 3. Thought-sins are root-sins and the roots of all other sins they are the mother-sins actions are their issue Prov. 4.23 evil deeds are the off-spring and children of evil thoughts the branches and fruit that grow out of this root Thoughts are the first-born of the soul words and actions are but younger brothers They are the oyl that feeds and maintains the wick which would else go out life-sins receive their juyce and nourishment from thought-sins St. James speaks as if our thoughts were the belly and womb where sin is conceived James 1.15 Now when men would as Job did curse grievously they curse the day and place of their birth the womb that bare them so do you curse sin even in the very womb that bare it lay the ax to the root of this tree The wickedness of mens lives is charged upon their thoughts as having its root and rise there Gen. 6.5 Mat. 12.35 15.19 murders adulteries c. they all come out of the heart as out of the belly of a Trojan-horse one would wonder as we do at some birds where they lodge all winter to see so many flocks and herds of wickedness one would wonder whence from what corner of the world they come why they all come out of the heart the rendez-vous of wickedness the common Inn that lodges all the thieves and travelling lusts that are in and do so much mischief in this world all the unclean streams flow from this unclean Fountain this Ocean and Sea of Sin Saith holy David Psal 119.113 I hate vain thoughts any thoughts that are against thy Law which I love we all hate that which is against what we love but why doth he hate thoughts of sin because evil thoughts beget evil words and evil words corrupt good and beget ill manners vain imaginations beget vain conversations 't is hard for them that think well to do ill and more hard for them that think ill to do well for as the root is so is the fruit and by that the tree is known Mat. 7.17 4. If we had no other sins to be pardoned yet we were to beg pardon for sinful thoughts a may think himself to Hell if the sinfulness of his thoughts be not forgiven him Acts 8.20 saith St. Peter to Simon Magus repent of thy thought-wickedness and pray if perhaps the thoughts of thine heart may be forgiven thee if God should pardon all our word-sins and evil deeds and leave but our thought-sins unpardoned we were undone for ever yea blessed David was so afraid of sin that he begs God to cleanse him from his secret sins which lay lurking in his heart and were undiscernable there Psal 19. if they should not increase to more ungodliness which they will attempt and too easily effect yet there is impiety and ungodliness enough in them to ruine us everlastingly Oh that they would think of it that make nothing of vain thoughts no not of evil thoughts as if they had no evil in them 5. 'T is the great design and indeed argues the great power of the Gospel to bring thoughts to the obedience of Christ Jesus 'T is far more casie to reform mens manners then to renew mens minds the Laws of men may do that but 't is the Law of God doth this Many men could live alone with their heart and thought-sins though they had no other company pleasing themselves and blessing themselves too in their own vain imaginations and acting sins in their fancy they will more casily surrender their tongue and hand then their heart-sins Now the Gospel comes to throw down these strong Towers to cast down imaginations to conquer whole Armies of thoughts to reduce these stragling and thievish high-way men into good order and obedience This is the glory of the Gospel beyond all the Philosophy in the world that it hath so great influence on the hearts and thoughts of men 2 Cor. 10.4 5. 6. Conversion begins is carried on and is compleated in the heart and thoughts of men It begins there while men are in and dead in sins they are inconsiderate and regard not what 's in their heart and thoughts but when the grace of God comes in power and they receive it in truth they bethink themselves and consider what shall we do to be saved men are in a great quandary in their thoughts they begin to wamble and their bowels are turned within them and therefore regoneration is called the Renewing of the mind and Repentance is a change of mind and the heart becomes a new heart and when the heart is gained all the rest follows If the wicked forsake his thoughts he will quickly forsake his ways Isa 55.7 The first turn is in the thoughts Psal 119.59 I thought on my ways and turned my feet unto thy testimonies the thoughts go before and the feet follow after and the first motions of the Prodigal were in his thoughts when he came to himself he said within himself I will arise and go to my father and while he was thus thinking which is said while he was afar off but taking the first step his father saw him and had compassion on him c. As Conversion begins so it s carried on in the heart and thoughts especially though not only when others study like the Pharisees only to make the outside look fair and beautiful the godly man is employed about his inside to keep his heart clean the prayers of godly men are chiefly taken up about their heart Psal 51.10 create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me And as an excellent person words it wherein lyes the difference between sincere-hearted Christians and others but in the keeping of thoughts without which all Religion is but bodily exercise Papists may mumble over their prayers Hypocrites talk but this is Godliness As it begins and is carried on so Conversion is compleated finished and perfected in thoughts it ends there for when a godly man comes to dye his chief and last employment is about his thoughts he hath done
if wicked men speak well yet 't is still from an evil heart of Hypocrisie and out of that abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh 4. Evil words corrupt men and their manners our great care should be not to be corrupt and the next to that not to corrupt others but evil words corrupt both they corrupt and defile our selves Mat. 15.17 18. What goeth into the mouth viz. meat defileth not the man but what cometh out of the mouth viz. evil words proceeds from the heart and they defile the man The tongue is but a little member yet it boasteth great matters 't is but as a spark of fire but it kindles a great deal of wood a world of iniquity the whole course of nature and defiles the whole body James 3.5 6. It defiles not only a mans own body and course but the body and community of them with whom we converse too a little leaven leavens the whole lump be not deceived evil communication corrupts good manners 1 Cor. 15.33 What 's the ill language or evil discourse the Apostle means That which he had mentioned vers 32. let us say and do like Epicures as they say and do let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall dye Such loose Epicurean and Atheistical discourses do debauch men and their manners Many an ingenuous and hopeful person hath been corrupted by such ill discourse they have no good conversation who use evil communication persons of evil words are seldom persons of good manners or if so for a while for nemo repentè fit pessimus none being suddenly wicked or worst at first yet they degenerate and grow immoral and ill-manner'd more and more Lying frequently makes men at last so unacquainted with truth that they scarce think any difference to be between them and they jest so long that they forget to be in earnest till awaked by the quarrels that these things beget in and among themselves 5. The tongue is either mans glory of shame worth much or nothing as 't is good or evil God made mans tongue his glory but sin makes it his shame Saith holy David to his tongue awake my glory Psal 57.8 and Psal 16.9 my glory rejoyceth which the Apostle according to the Septuagint renders my tongue was glad Acts 2.26 And when is our tongue our glory but when it speaks to the glory of God when its words are savory and gracious but if our tongue be a lying tongue a slandring tongue or any other way evil 't is then our shame Oh the vast difference that there is between a good and a bad tongue Prov. 10.20 The tongue of the just is as choice silver a precious commodity but the heart of the wicked and therefore his tongue is little worth 't is but dross he pays too dear by a farthing that pays but a farthing for that which is nothing worth and this is so little worth that he cannot tell how little worth nothing or if you will 't is worse then nought in being naught Again Prov. 12.18 there is that speaketh Daggers as we say like the piercing of a Sword dangerous and killing words but the tongue of the wise is not only a medicine or wholesom but in the abstract health There is as much difference between a good and bad tongue as between soundness and wounds health and sickness Yet once more Prov. 15.4 an wholesom tongue is a tree of life which is for healing but perversness therein is a breach in the spirit and a wounded spirit who can bear or who can bear up under a broken spirit But Sixthly and lastly consider this God will judge us for and by our words as well as by our works and actions There is a place may make us tremble and should ingage us to take heed of our words while we have a day to live 't is in Mat. 12 36. I say unto you that every idle word that men shall speak they shall give an account thereof in the day of Judgment and vers 37. for by thy words thou shalt be justified and by thy words thou shalt be condemned If we must give an account of idle what account shall we give of filthy and ill-working words of words that are corrupt and do corrupt others Solomon upon this account tells us Prov. 18.21 death and life are in the power of the tongue a man shall be judged and sentenced according to it There is such a connexion between heart tongue and deed that he who is judged by one is judged by all of them for they agree in one 'T is observable that though all the charge or most of it in Psal 50. is for words the sin of the tongue 1. In abusing Gods good Word 2. Using their own ill words they gave their mouth to evil c. yet that the heart was consenting and the deed executing there was a concurrence and co-working of all three after his words are spoken of saith God these things hast thou done and it follows thou thoughtest c. vers 21. but I will judge thee viz. for all this yet especially for thy words according to what is said Jude 15. Behold the Lord cometh to execute judgment upon all to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodlily committed and of all their mark it their hard speeches which they have spoken against him yea against him in his members 'T is said vers 16. their mouth speaks great swelling words viz. as Murmurers and Complainers use to do they will jeer the people of God and twit them with the name of Holy and Spiritual and utter hard speeches against them but when Christ comes to Judgment he will call to account for all the hard speeches and all the great swelling words which by way of complaint they have spoken against his members or by way of flattery and admiration for lucres sake they have spoken in commendation and praise of wicked and cruel men Oh take heed of tongue-sins when Dives was in Hell the part that it seems was most tormented was his tongue for he begs water to cool his tongue which gives some occasion to think that even in relation to Lazarus he had sinned much with his tongue and used hard speeches against poor Lazarus for 't was by him he would have the water brought In quo peccamus in hoc plectimur as and in what we sin we smart and are pained and plagued as Dives with and in his tongue If the tongue be set on fire of Hell while on earth Ah how will it be set on fire when in Hell The sins of the mouth cry for vengeance with an open mouth and make others cry for it too Psal 59.11 12 13. the holy man not yet King but Prophet prays scatter them bring them down O Lord why David why so severe what have they done Oh 't is for the sin of their mouth and the words of their lips for their cursing and
lying and then he is at it again consume them consume them in thy wrath This is the dreadful imprecation that the sin of their mouth occasioned this merciful and good person to make against them and to beg God to execute it upon them Sad will the account be that men will have to make for speaking as for working of iniquity On all these considerations let me beseech you to take heed as to your words and 1. let your words be few and that not only in your commerce and conversation with men but in your addresses to God Eccl. 5.2 God is in Heaven and thou upon Earth therefore let thy words be few which is much of the meaning of our Saviour in the Prayer which he taught his Disciples as will appear by comparing the 6 7 8 9. vers of Mat. 6. 'T is a vanity that attends men in Religion that they think to be heard for their loud and much speaking silence were better then ill-speaking yea and many times then much-speaking 'T is true there is a time to speak as there is to be silent and happy they that improve it well but yet 't is seldom that a multitude of words are without sin and therefore he that refraineth his lips is wise Prov. 10.19 Silence discovers wisdom and conceals ignorance and 't is a property so much belonging to wise men that the Oracle tells us Prov. 17.28 That a fool when he holds his peace is accounted wise and he that shuts his lips is esteemed a man of understanding And as a very worthy and noble Person expresseth it If silence were as much in fashion as 't is charitable to mankind to wish it the Regions of Hell would be far thinlier peopled then now they are like to be Many have repented for using their tongues too much 't is true a man that holds his peace may offend with his tongue but 't is a more scarce and seldom crime then that of much which is usually too much speaking 'T is Gospel-doctrine which teacheth us to be swift to hear and slow to speak James 1.19 Moses's imperfection or defect would be an excellency in some persons to be slow of speech and 't were well with some if they had got such a cold as would keep them from speaking Oh the prittle prattle that abounds among the busie bodies of this world and there are many not only vain but unruly talkers Titus 1.10 that a man had need of more patience to hear them then to hear the beating of an unbraced Drum and alas 't is not only the chat and tattle of idle Gossips such as 1 Tim. 5.13 who spake unbecomingly and things which they ought not but much of the discourse that wastes mens time who would be loth to drink and swear it away consists of talk that flatters the present or detracts from the absent censuring of Superiors or despising of Inferiors what empty and ridiculous if not frothy discourses that excite to carnality are the common entertainments even among them that pretend to better things what 's such company and converse good for but to quench zeal and fervency yea the ready way to lose credit and good name and if not innocency yet always time which is too precious to be squander'd away and lost much more to be sinned away Shall a man of much talk be justified Job 11.2 Oh no much talk is full of folly for a dream cometh through a multitude of business and a fools voice is known by multitude of words Eccl. 5.3 and in the multitude of dreams and many words are divers vanities but fear thou God vers 7. as if multitude of words were inconsistent with the fear of God for to that purpose the words sound We cannot well speak too little unless we speak by command from God and in obedience to it Therefore 2. If we will or must be speaking let us speak as we ought let our words be wholesom words such as carry Physick and health in them safe and sound speech that may not be gain-said nor reproved that may do no hurt but that may do good We should speak that which is good to edifie men that which is good for our selves and others either naturally civilly morally or spiritually good as occasion offers and requires I intend no particular enumeration of tongue-Tongue-sins to be avoided nor any distinct and particular Discourse about speaking and ordering our Tongues but only to hint these things in general leaving the particular Application and Improvement to be made by every man as his own case calls for and therefore to conclude this I shall commend but these two things in relation hereunto 1. Look well to your hearts if they be not well kept your tongues will be ill kept and therefore 't is said Prov. 4.23 keep thine heart with all diligence or as 't is in the Hebrew above all keeping it needs more keeping then any thing else for all the rest are at the hearts dispose both faculties and members therefore keep a strict watch and strong guard over thine heart the speaking of the tongue is from the musing of the heart which is as fire in the bosom that cannot be hid but will break out into a flame of words as the Phrases are used Psal 39.3 when thou art heart-full thy mouth will run over and if the fountain of thy heart be bitter the streams of thy words cannot be sweet When Holy David prayed that the words of his mouth might be acceptable he prays for this in relation to it Let the meditations of my heart be acceptable Psal 19.14 If the latter viz. our meditations be not the former viz our words are not like to be acceptable When our heart speaks our words our words speak our heart and 't is but one thing and no sooner doth our heart indite a good matter but our tongue will be as the Pen of a ready Writer Psal 45.1 The heart of the wise teacheth his mouth Prov 16.23 the Hebrew is maketh his mouth wise the fool speaks with an open mouth any thing that 's uppermost but a wise man opens his mouth and speaks gravely wisely and upon deliberation The mouth needs going to School and if we will have it wise let us get it a wise heart to be its Tutor to teach it the art and grace of speaking wisely and well the heart of the wise teacheth his mouth 2. Pray to God for prayer is the means-general for preservation and sanctification of heart tongue and life lift up thy heart and soul to him and pray as Psal 19.14 of which I newly spake and say as Psal 51.15 O Lord open thou my lips and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise and as Psal 71.8 let my mouth be filled with thy praise and with thine honour all the day And again Psal 141.3 4. set a watch O Lord before my mouth and keep the door of my lips and incline not my heart to any evil thing That 's
well kept that God keeps and if he keep not the City the watchmen watch in vain Commit thy self to the Keeper of Israel and all will be well Prov. 16.1 2 3. 3. Not in Deed-sins Caution against Deed-sins The third thing I am to dehort from and caution against is living in the practice of any sin yet before I directly speak thereunto I crave leave to say some things about and against sins of omission a thing too seldom treated or taken notice of though scarce any guilt more common I shall therefore dehort 1. From sins of Omission 2. From sins of Commission 1. Take heed of sins of Omission Of sins of Omission it is a sin to omit what good is commanded as well or ill as to commit what evil is forbidden not to do what we ought as to do what we ought not We are not only to eschew evil but to do good also 1 Pet. 3.11 and I the rather insist a little hereon because many are more apt and prone to omit Duties to be neglectful of doing good then to commit especially gross and palpable evils and withal to look upon it as a less evil if any at all there being so many though but trifling excuses ready for it as you may see Luke 14.18 19 20. I beseech you therefore to consider these things 1. That good and some of the best of men have been guilty hereof and have suffered hereby to instance but in two the first is Jacob who was exceeding tender of telling a lye though 't were to get a blessing Gen. 27.11 12. but this Jacob was so forgetful of and did so long neglect and omit to pay his vow which he made at Bethel that God minds him of it Gen. 35.1 and for the omission whereof it s suppoâed that the afflictions mentioned in the former Chapter did befal him The other Instance is Hezekiah a good man and a good King who returned not to the Lord according to the benefit he had received nor did answer the end of it but was guilty of not being humble or thankful enough though he sung a Song of Praise and it seems annually unto God and therefore wrath was upon him 2 Chron. 32 25. with Isa 38.20 Alas how apt are good men to neglect Duties and especially returning ones even them of praise and for these things sake the wrath of God comes on his own Children as for gross sins it comes upon the children of disobedience Eph. 5.5 6. How dear did it cost the Spouse her not opening to her Beâoved Cant. 5.6 7. 2. Yet generally and for the most part 't is a great affliction to good and godly men to be forced to omit and to be constrained to be absent from Duties though the omission of them at such a time and in such a case be no sin of theirs as in time of sickness or in case of flight how doth David mourn while in the wilderness being persecuted and driven there how doth be lament his absence from the Assemblies of them that kept Holy-day Psal 42 1-4 Though God in cases of such necessity dispense with his Sabbath and consequently his instituted Worship on that day yet holy men lament this necessity and mourn that they are restrained from bearing a part with others and forced to do that which else were not lawful to do on a Sabbath-day and 't is on this account not to exclude others that as I conceive our Saviour bid the Disciples pray that their flight might not be on the Sabbath-day Mat. 24.20 For the usual Ordinances of the day could not be enjoy'd nor the ordinary Duties of the day practised and performed But 3. As it should be an affliction to be in a necessity so 't is a sin to be willing to omit a Duty 'T is an affliction not to have an head or hand but a sin not to have an heart for Duty As 't is a sin to will evil so 't is a sin not to will good but to be willing not to do good is more a sin too many persons are glad of diversions as School-boys are when they have no mind to their books any thing shall serve to put off a Duty When the flesh was weak and the spirit willing Christ himself excused them Mat. 26.41 but if the spirit be unwilling 't is no excuse though the flesh be never so weak 'T was some comfort to St. Paul that though to do he had not power yet to will was present with him Rom. 7.18 but not to will though we have no power and much more not to will when we have power is a sin The reason why the wicked bad God depart from them was because they had no mind nor desire to be acquainted with his ways Job 21.14 so Rom. 1.28 they did not like to retain God in their knowledge or to pay acknowledgments to him they had no mind nor will nor list to do it and this is sin as well as the other sins wherewith they are charged 4. One omission makes way for another he that under pretence of unfitness to Duty puts it off makes himself fit for nothing more then to omit again qui non est hodie eras minùs aptus erit he prepares and fits himself to be unfit for and to omit Duty much and too long fasting takes away and deadens our appetite he that omits one is like to omit another and so another till he omit all and give up his very profession and when that 's gone the mans Religion dies and he becomes twice dead Omissions make way for commissions as it did in our first Parents and 't will be worth our while to observe a few Texts that speak of sluggards from whence sins of omission generally arise Eccl. 10.18 by much slothfulness the building decays and through idleness of the hands the house drops through it not only lyes open to wind and weather but at last falls down the repairs being neglected and omitted Our bodies are called the Temples of God of which our souls are as I may say the Holy of Holies or as we call it the Chancel and 't is through sloth that this glorious Fabrick decays so much Prov. 18.9 he that is slothful in his work is brother to him that is a great waster he is a man that will come to nothing and be worse then nought very shortly and speedily for he is a Prodigal a spend-thrift he spends more then he gets and more then was given him true and 't is as true that his brother the slothful man will not hold out much longer then he for Prov. 20.4 the sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold therefore shall he beg in harvest and have nothing A Prodigal comes to nothing and so doth the Sluggard Love is a laborious thing we read of the labour of love 1 Thes 1.3 and love never grieves to be obedient 1 Joh. 5. Now idleness argues a defect and want of love for
when the Angel of Ephesus left his first love he left also his first works Rev. 2.4 5. When love grows cold practice becomes dead Prov. 26.13 14 15. the slothful man saith there is a Lyon in the way ask him why do not you arise and walk with God why do not you go forth and serve God Oh saith he there is a Lyon in the way there is danger in it when this is but his conceit as 't is vers 16. as the door turneth upon the hinges so doth the slothful upon his bed how is that why first one way then another he cannot rest on his bed of idleness and yet is loth to rise and therefore turns him to this and t'other side and if after much ado and many a yawn he get up then he hides his hand in his bosom 't is cold weather and he is grieved to bring it twice to his mouth though it be to feed himself This is the guise of idle and slâthful people yea Professors we are to do what we do with our might and how can that be while our hand is in our bosom for shame take it out for as he that having put his hand to the plow looks back so he that puts not his hand to the plow will be found unfit for the Work and Kingdom of God he shall beg in harvest but have nothing In the great day of recompense these slothful ones will learn to pray and beg saying Lord Lord open to us but they shall have nothing viz. of that which they beg no door opened to let them into the House of God where is bread enough I remember I said that sins of omission made way for sins of commission and 't is but too true Johs friends hearing such unsaint-like language from him as cursing concluded that he omitted praying thou restrainest prayer from God Job 15.4 When men neglect Duty they do usually fall into sin to carry on this by the story of the slothful see Prov. 24.30 I went by the field of the slothful and what did he observe Lo it was all grown over with thorns nettles covered the face thereof and the stone-wall was broken down alas Eden becomes a wilderness and Paradise a desart the poor soul is under the curse it brings forth grieving thorns and pricking bryars and stinging nettles and is again nigh unto more cursing for bringing this forth Heb. 6.8 Sin comes on by degrees it seems modest at first do but omit then it grows bold and bids thee commit and so from omission to commission till at last the man become a man of sin and a son of perdition vir perditus an hopeless desperate lost and undone man Yet again to shew the worst of it which follows hereupon such persons are frequently given up as Rom. 1.21 their first sin was not glorisying God as God and then not being thankful they became vain being vain they were darkned thence they became fools and so on to abominable Idolatries and at last it came to this that God gave them up vers 24. Oh the danger of sins of omission one makes way for another and thence they proceed to commission till they be given up and cursed 5. The more knowledge of any Duty we have the more clear 't is and the more we are convinced of it the more is the omission of thaâ Duty aggravated the clearer the light is thâ greater the sin of not receiving it this is the condemnation Joh. 3.19 If Christ had not come their sin had not been so great but now not to believe is to be without excuse Joh. 15.22 24. If God had not told us what we ought to do we might have made excuse and said Had we known better we would have done better but God hath shewn thee O man what is good Micah 6.8 and that not only by his Works but by his Word and if the knowledge of him by them only aggravated their sin as it did Rom. 1.21 how greatly will their sin be aggravated that neglect so great Salvation which at first was preacht by the Lord Jesus Christ and afterward confirmed by them that heard him God bearing them witness with signs and wonders divers miracles and gifts of the holy Ghost as 't is Heb. 2.3 4. To him that knows to do good and doth it not to him it is sin a great sin an hainous sin sin with a witness It may be sin to another that knows not to do good but not so great a sin as 't is to him that knows and therefore he that knew not his masters will was beaten but with a few stripes but he that knew it and did it not was beaten with many Luke 12.47 48. The Jews had wont to abate one of the forty stripes which the Law allowed and that to St. Paul as much as they hated him for of them twice he received forty stripes save one 2 Cor. 11.24 But he that knows his masters will and doth it not nor prepares himseâf shall be beaten with many stripes with the full number without abatement or mitigation the total sum of the Law shall be inflicted on him 6. Sins of omission if in the view of others are evil examples as sins of commission are a man may do a great deal of hurt by not doing good we are commanded to let our good works shine before others Mat. 5.16 and to be examples of faith and charity unto others to be presidents of good works Titus 3.8 for so the word signifies in that place The world is led by the eye as much if not more then by the ear and are as much prevailed with by examples as they are by precepts and are on the other hand very inclinable to think that they may do what others especially their betters do if rich men give but little others that are not so rich and yet able to give think they may be excused if they give nothing to the poor If the parents neglect prayer the children scarce think it their duty to pray As 't is an excellent thing to be an examplary Christian it shews that Religion is practicable and tolls men on 't is a dull Jade that will not follow and strive to keep pace when another mettled horse leads the way So 't is sad to be an examplary sinner for such an one hath more sins to answer for then his own even them of other men that were committed by his example 'T is a common plea such learned and knowing men do so and so and why may not I Oh follow not a multitude how mighty wise soever to do evil let us therefore provoke one another to love and good works by our example let us not only shew but lead the way 7. Consider this sins of omission are sins which God hath severely judged men for in this world and for which he will judge men in the great day 'T is observable how severe God hath been to them that have omitted what he
commanded them to do though they have pretended to do it for Gods-sake an instance whereof we have in Saul 1 Sam. 15. God sent Saul to destroy Amaleck root and branch King and people from head to foot from Throne to threshold not to leave one person alive man woman infant and suckling all must dye oxen and sheep c. none must escape But Saul spared Agag and the best of the sheep and oxen c. and would not utterly destroy them whereupon it follows that the Lord repented of having set up Saul to be King vers 11. and though it were pretended to be done for a Sacrifice to God vers 15. 22. yet 't is charged upon him as rebellion and witchcraft vers 23. and his not obeying the voice of the Lord is called a doing evil in his sight vers 19. so that he who omits a good commits an evil the omission of good is the commission of evil and judged accordingly Oh how dear did this sin of omission cost Saul Another instance is That of Eli which is remarkable who is charged with honouring his sons before God 1 Sam. 2.29 how so Eli was a good old man and can it be thought that he preferr'd his sons before God what should the meaning of this be see Chap. 3.13 and there 't is cleared up for saith God I will judge his house for ever for the iniquity which he knoweth because his sons made themselves vile and he restrained them not he did not give them so much as a sowre look or as the Hebrew reads it he frowned not upon them And yet let me tell you Eli went so far that had his children had any ingenuity or any respect to the rebukes of a Priest and Father one would have thought he had said enough for Chap. 2.23 c. the old man very gravely takes them up with this expostulation Why do you do such things for I hear of your evil dealings by all this people nay my sont for it is no good report which I hear ye make the Lords people to transgress if one man sin against another the Judge shall judge him but if a man sins against the Lord who shall intreat for him thus he layes their sin and danger before them pretty roundly and yet saith God he restrained them not there was an omission and neglect of more severe discipline and this omission cost him dear as dear almost as the sins of commission did cost his sons which was not to be purged with Sacrifice vers 14. Another instance is that concerning the Ammonites and Moabites who were a bastard brood and therefore like Bastards they were not to enter into the Congregation of the Lord till the tenth generation Deut. 23.2 3 4. and the reason is taken 1. From a sin of omission because they met not Israel with bread and water when they came out of Egypt 'T is a dreadful thing to be excommunicated from and a dreadful thing not to be admitted into the Congregation of the Lord and you see that a sin of omission may keep men out for a long time But 2 God will judge men for sins of omission in the great and terrible day of his righteous Judgment not only the wicked but the slothful servant will be judged and the slothful will be judged wicked as we have it from the mouth of Truth it self Mat. 25.26 thou wicked and slothful servant wicked because slothful he was no waster but brother to him as was lately noted because slothful for omitting the improvement of his talent he was called and judged a wicked and slothful servant and his punishment was beside the loss of his talent to be cast into utter darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth he had not turned the grace of God into wantonness yet for being unprofitable he is sent to Hell And again vers 41. he shall say to them on his left hand depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire for your sins of omission because when I was hungry and thirsty ye like the Ammonites and Moabites newly mentioned ye brought me no bread and water ye gave me no meat and drink Some are apt to justifie themselves thus we never did any man hurt we have wronged and oppressed no man I but God will condemn them that have not done such evils because they have not done good Oh think of these things and beware of sins of omission And 2. Take heed of sins of Commission Of sins of Commission As we should be careful not to omit our Duties the things commanded for beside all that hath been said I might add this that to omit especially the weightier things of the Law though we be observant of the lesser is a sign of Hypocrisie Mat. 23.23 so we should be no less careful to keep our selves from the evil that is forbidden from all kinds and sorts of sins the enumeration of which were endless in relation to which let me caution you to beware of and watch against 1. Such as are most peculiarly our sins That which may be most properly called your own sin the sin to which you are most inclined and which doth most easily beset and conquer you 'T was Holy Davids Crown of rejoycing that he had kept himself from his iniquity Psal 18.23 I was upright before him and kept my self from mine iniquity not only that which was charged upon me by others to be mine iniquity in relation to Saul but as most Interpreters carry it that which was the sin of mine inclination as one would say from my complexion and constitution-sin my natures darling-sin Are you young avoid the sins proper to this age 2 Tim. 2.22 flee youthful lusts or the lusts of youth there are some lusts almost peculiar to youth as 1. Ambition vain Glory Pride 1 Pet. 5.5 which much appears in their odd fantastick garbes and flanting behaviours as that Text implies and especially in not submitting to the elder 2. Gratifying the sensual appetite and carnal inclination they are much for the lust of the eye and of the flesh too as well as for the pride of life as Eccl. 11.9 and 12.1 tells us that they are much set upon pleasure the young mans favouritc The Prodigal who was the younger brother did this way waste his estate his time and himself he spent all on back and belly on riotous living 't was a young man that Solomon saw going the way to her house Prov. 7.7 which way leads to Hell 3. Another lust of youth is self-conceitedness too much proneness to be wise in their own eyes They think old men fools but old men know that they are fools Their conceitedness puffs them up and makes them incapable of instruction and very unteachable Rehâboam and his young Counsellors may save us the labour of instancing in any others 1 Kings 12. and 't is on this account that the Apostle would have Titus exhort young men to be discreet or
sober-minded flee then all these and any other youthful lusts make the most haste you can from them not only creep or go or run or ride but flee Are you old hear then ye old men Joel 1.2 what shall we hear that in Titus 2.2 take heed of old age sins old age lusts concupiscentia non senescit when men are dying and have one leg in the grave when they are about to give up the Ghost yet like the Thief on the Cross they will be sinning Take heed of Solomons old age sin a kind of dotage which suffered him to apostatize 1 Kings 11.3 be sound in the faith as in Titus 2.2 take heed of the peevishness of old age be patient saith the Text take heed of the covetousness of old age be charitable saith the Text. Be fruitful in your old age that your latter end may be better then your beginning and the better because it may be your beginning was bad and that your last days may be your best days and so you may dye in a good old age which is best so when you dye good in an old age and are such as St. Paul the aged who had finished his course 't is a Crown and Glory to be an old good Disciple as Mnason was Acts 21.16 2. relation- Relation-sins Take heed of the sins which men and women are guilty of as they are relatives and stand in relation to one another art thou husband or wife take heed of being false to or but faining of love art parent or child art master or servant take heed of the sins which do attend either of the relations wherein thou standest I had thought indeed to have particularized the sins but they are so commonly written of and known that I shall forbear that and only hint this direction and counsel which I have often thought may be of great good use viz. That every relative person as husband wife c. would read and if they can write out and pray that God would write in their hearts the several directions which the Scripture so frequently and abundantly gives to all relations and keep them before their as holy David did the loving-kindness of God before his eyes that they may walk in the truth Relative Duties are too little minded but if we did consider that we are that and usually but that really which we are relatively 't would hugely oblige and quicken us to be relatively good 'T is not like that they are good Christians who are bad husbands or wives bad parents or children bad superiors or inferiors in their places 3. place- Place-sins Take heed of the sins of the age country and places where you live there are sins as 't were appropriated to some ages and countries as to them of the latter and last days see 1 Tim. 4 1-4 and 2 Tim. 3 1-5 When sin becomes Epidemical 't is the less abstained from for few but very good persons care to be singular when sins are as 't were the custom and fashion of the country most will be sinners especially if it be countenanced by the examples of great ones But as we should not be conformed to this world at large so not to any part of it Is there any sin by which the Land is defiled for which the Land mourns and is ready to spue out the Inhabitants thereof for it Levit. 18.27 28. take heed thou be not found guilty but be one of the mourners which God will set a mark upon Ezek. 9.4 When Formality Hypocrifie and Apostacy are in sashion be cautious not to sin any of these ways no more then by swearing drunkenness and uncleanness though they be common and uncontrouled Take heed of minding the favour and praise of men more then or without the favour and praise of God which Hypocrites and none but Hypocrites do Joh 12.42 43. Daniel and the three Children would not sin for fashions-sake no though they were commanded to sin And the Apostles made their appeal to them that would have had them sin saying Whether it be better to obey God or man judge ye Acts 4.18 19 20. 'T is God will judge us and not men and he only hath absolute authority over us to command what he please and therefore our chief care should be to please him We shall find that the best way to please all or to displease any with least danger ' is to please him who is all in all Though therefore any should think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot and speak evil of you 1 Pet. 4.4 answer them as Joseph did his Mistress how shall I do this wickedness and sin against God Gen. 39.9 and tell them as the Apostle doth 1 Pet. 4.5 that thou and they must give an account to him who is ready to judge the quick and the dead seeing therefore the end of all things is at hand let us be sober and watch unto prayer for so 't is added in vers 7. as Holy David did when they spake evil of him fought against him without a cause and for his love became his adversaries Psal 109. 2-4 4. Calling-sins Take heed of the sins that attend your Callings Occupations and Trades and here I premise 1. That every man should as was toucht above have a Calling to follow and follow his Calling God hath given no man a dispensation to be idle the rule is 2 Thes 3.10 and that by command if any will not that can work neither should he eat and if this rule were observed I am afraid that more rich then poor would go with hungry stomachs and empty bellies Of idleness comes no good but to be sure a great deal of evil They that are at work are not at leisure to sin but they that are idle are at leisure to do nothing but to sin Adam in innocency that better then golden age had his Calling and Employment he was a Gardner * ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a Cultivator of the ground or an Husbandman Gen. 2.15 The Angels of Heaven are not without their Calâing when they are abroad here on earth they are ministring Spirits Heb. 1.14 and when at home in Heaven they rest not day or night from praising God as one of the Greek Fathers expresseth it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã their service and calling is to sing Songs and Psalms of praise I may therefore say Take heed of the sin of being without a Calling or of having no Calling especially you that are young and strong to labour 2. No mans Calling necessitates him to sin there 's many a Trade of which I scruple not to say 't is no Calling many make Trades for a livelibood of that which is no Calling Harlotry and Thieving are no Callings for we are called not to uncleanness but to holiness and as to lawful Callings sin is but accidental and springs up more from our inclination then 't is occasioned by our Callings Necessities are things that
and to save yours as well as to be free from your blood Oh consider consider If you are not guilty I have not condemned you but speak this that you may not be guilty and that you may pray to God to be kept from and praise him if you have been kept from such crying sins To proceed yet further 5. Of little sins Take heed of such sins as the world call Peccadillos little sins some men account great sins to be but little ones and little ones to be none or very venial say they what hurt is there in an innocent lye or a pious fraud Alas what a contradiction is this can a lye be innocent and fraud pious Wo be to them that call evil good and joyn good and evil as if they were one or agreed in one Oh saith another 't is but a trick of youth I but 't is such a trick as may cost thee a going to Hell Another deceives his neighbour and laughing while he strikes says am not I in sport Prov. 26.19 Ah but he that sins in jest or makes a jest of sin may be damned in earnest Consider That no sin against a great God can be properly though compared with a greater it may be a little sin but be it never so little to account it so makes it greater and the nature of the greatest sin is in the least a spark of fire a drop of poyson hath the nature of much more yea of all James 2.10 And God hath severely punished them that have been lookt upon as little sins yea some of them well-meant sins as that of Vzza's taking hold of the Ark when the Cart shook 2 Sam. 6.6 7. When they did but look into the Ark it cost them dear 1 Sam. 6.19 gathering of a few sticks on the Sabbath was severely punished Numb 15 32.-36 These seem small matters but in sin we must not consider so much what is as why 't is forbidden and who forbids it Beside a little sin makes way for a greater as a little boy-thief entring an house makes way for a man-thief to enter 't is hard to sin once and but once to commit one little sin and but one give the Devil and sin an inch and they will take an Ell vain babling increaseth to more ungodliness a little leak in a ship may by degrees fill it with water and sink it the Devil doth not much care by what sins we go to Hell whether small or great formality or prophaneness And to conclude he that makes no conscience of little sins makes conscience of no sin he that breaks the least of Gods Commandments hath none or very little love for God for herein is love that we keep his Commandments and they are not grievous no not the greatest of them much less the least 1 Joh. 5. To have respect to all the Commandments of God is an Argument of a sound heart and excludes shame as appears by comparing Psal 119.6 with 80. A good conscience is an universal conscience and if a man make no conscience of little sins to which the temptations can be but little how little conscience is that man like to make of great sins to which there are greater temptations If Judas betray his Lord for thirty pieces what would he not do for more Consider what our blessed Saviour saith Luke 16.10 he that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much beware then of little sins And 6. Of secret sins Take heed of them that men call Secret Sins There are but too many who bless themselves in their wickedness because as they think none knows how wicked they are they are drunkards but 't is in the night they are unclean but 't is in the dark their Mystery of iniquity trades in the works of darkness and in the dark indeed if men could sin and no eye see them they might seem to sin securely but this is a falshood as well as a mistake I have met with two stories which may haply serve you in some stead the one is of a Maid that was tempted to be unchast and unclean the person that sollicited her promised her to do great matters for her if she would yield I will saith he do any thing for thee wilt thou so said she then burn thine hand in that fire Oh that 's unreasonable answers he but replied she 't is much more unreasonable that I should burn in Hell for thy sake Oh who would venture his soul to torment to gratifie his own or anothers pleasure and lust The other which comes to the case in hand is of a Maid sollicited to the same folly who would not give her consent unless he would bring her to a place where no eye could see them whereupon he brought her to a very dark place and prosecuted his sollicites saying here no body can see us Oh but said she here God sees us Oh that we would tell all the tempting Courtships of men and Devils that we can never sin but there will be two witnesses present to observe and register it our own selves and God himself we owe a great deal of reverence to our selves and though none were by we should revere our consciences and our selves what shall we be witnesses against our selves and be condemned by our own testimony and yet if our hearts condemn us God who is greater then our hearts and knoweth all things will much more condemn us It made St. Paul very modest when he knew nothing of which to condemn himself yet that the Lord was to judge him 1 Cor. 3.4 we cannot escape the sight no more then the judgment of God He sees us and what we do when under the fig-tree though as Adam and Eve did we cover our selves with fig-leaves and he will one day call to us as to them Adam sinner where art thou if thou go up to Heaven he is there 't is his Throne if down to Hell he is there 't is his Prison thou canst not go from his presence you may more easily hide from men and your selves then from God and therefore that you may not be so foolish and wicked as to sin in secret or to think any thing or place secret from God I intreat you often and seriously to read the 139. Psal and then I hope you will say I am sure you will see cause to say how shall I do this wickedness and sin against God! 7. Of occasions and appearances of evil Take heed of the occasions and very appearances of this evil Sin abstain not only from apparent evils but from the yea from all and every the appearances of evil 1 Thes 5.22 do not be so irreligious as to go into temptation when thou hast been so religious as to pray God not to lead thee into temptation this is mock-prayer keep out of harms way Prov. 4.14 15. enter not put not a foot
into the way of the wicked if thou have been so foolishly forward yet go not on in the way of evil men but avoid it pass not by it turn from it and pass away you cannot stand at too great a distance from sin if you will not sit in the seat of the scornful do not stand in the way of sinners nor walk in the counsel of the ungodly Psal 1.1 touch not pitch lest ye be defiled gaze not like one enamour'd on the wine when it looks well and danceth in the glass make a Covenant with thine eyes lest by looking too much on beauty thine eyes become sore and sinful Abhor not only the flesh or the spot but the very garment that is but spotted with the flesh Jude 23. yea abstain from what 's inexpedient as well as from what 's unlawful for in being inexpedient as such and then it is unlawful if it be not a sin yet if it be malè coloratum and look like a sin beware of it 'T is next to being a sinner to be like one to being proud and wanton to seem so or look so an appearance of good is too little but an appearance of evil is too much 't is the Hypocrites sin that he appears better then he is and it may be a good mans evil to appear worse then he is a rod is for the back of fools and 't will be laid on a wise mans if found in a fools coat Eighthly and lastly Of being guilty of other mens sins Take heed of being any way in any kind or degree guilty of other mens sins Alas have we not many too many sins of our own but will we have other mens sins to answer for they being our-other-mens sins as I may call them Take heed of being an occasion of a partaker of or but accessory to other mens sins God forbids it that it may not be Eph. 5 7-11 1 Tim. 5.22 and sharply reproves and punisheth it where he finds it to be Psal 50.18 2 Sam. 12 9. 1 Kings 21.19 in which two last places King David and King Ahab are found guilty of the murther which was acted by other hands but alas by their commission 'T is sad to sin against God our selves but sadder to make others sin against God too this way the world is made worse then it would be men are too prone to be vile enough of themselves were there no Devil to tempt them but when they have companions and brethren in iniquity they are apt to sin more lustily St. Augustine confesseth that he used to boast of sins he was not guilty of that he might seem to be as bad as his companions who thought them the best that were worst Oh what sins many and great are committed in with and for company that would else haply never have been committed there would be no stealers were there no receivers and therefore the receiver is as bad as the thief there would be no adulteresses were there no adulterers Many in Hell would probably have been less wicked then they were and so have had less torment then they have had they not been furthered by others their companions Though all sins come from the heart and may there be acted when men are alone yet as to matter of fact some sins cannot be committed by persons alone but every such sin hath a double sinner if not a greater number Beside this way men are confirmed and hardned in their wickedness where all go naked none are ashamed examples and company steel men in their sins who were Iron enough of themselves and sometimes emboldens them who were modest and tender before as 1 Cor. 8.10 If any see thee who hast knowledge sit at meat in the Idols Temple shall not the conscience of him that is weak be emboldned the Greek is edified or built he takes it for a good example and makes a kind of conscience to do so too as if thou hadst instructed him to edification when alas 't is edification only to the wounding and endangering of his perishing as it follows vers 11.12 and ye sin against Christ Jesus as he also doth for thou makest him to offend vers 13. So that hereby we become guilty of other mens sins and we are like sooner or later to resent and regret this very grievously yea though we our selves may be saved at last 't will certainly pain us to think that any went to Hell in whose sins we had an head or hand and it may be an heart Beside 't is very usual that we partake of their plagues whose sins we partake of which no less then a voice from Heaven gives us warning Rev. 18.4 and because for these things sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience be not ye therefore partakers with them Eph. 5.5 6 7. 't is sad to be found on the Devils ground as the Devil said he found the woman whom he possest when at a Play But yet more particularly we may be guilty of other mens sin 1. As Occasions if not causes of it before 2. As Partakers with them when 3. As Accessories after it is committed 1. As Occasioners before In being Occasioners of it before when it may more then probably be said such sins had not been committed but upon and for such occasions given and that 1. By neglecting what might and ought to be done for its prevention Qui non prohibet cum potest debet facit scelus He that when he can and ought hinders not a sin doth contribute to its production as when men neglect to instruct or teach them who are under their charge whether Ministers Parents or Masters of Families see Ezek. 3 17-20 'T was the Apostles rejoycing that in this case he was pure from the blood of all men Acts 20.26 27. Many a child and servant that hath come to prison and execution have made this sad complaint my Parents my Master never gave me warning never shewed me the danger of sin nor instructed me in the way of the Lord the way of Righteousness and Holiness beware of this And when sin begins to bud and blossom nip it by reproofs and discipline or else you may be charged with sin as old Eli was 1 Sam. 3.13 Oh crush the Cockatrice while in the Egg dash the Brats against the wall while young if you be silent or indulgent children and servants take it for consent and approbation as they mis-interpreted Gods holding his peace Psal 50. Inclinations will come into acts and they into customs and habits if not checked and restrained But if you thus meet with them betimes you may prevent a great deal of sin 't is the best proof of your love Prov. 13.24 And it may be they will say as David did to Abigail 1 Sam. 25.39 blessed be the Lord God of Israel who sent thee this day to meet me blessed be thy advice and blessed be thou who hast kept me this day from coming to