God the Sonne under-went had a cup mingled him of his Father more bitter than if all the evils in the world had beene strained in and he dranke it off heartily to the bottome but not a drop of sinne though sweetned with the offer of all the world would goe downe with him Thirdly other evils the Saints have chosen and imbraced as good and refused the greatest good things the world had as evill when they came in competition with sinne So Moses those rather to suffer much rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sinne Heb. 11. from 24. to 28. So Chrysostome when Eudoxia the Empresse threatned him goe tell her sayes he Nil nisi peccatum timeo I feare nothing but sinne Fourthly take the Devill himselfe whom you all conceive to be more full of mischiefe than all the evills in the world called therefore in the abstract spirituall wickednesse Eph. 6. 12. yet it was but sinne that first spoiled him and it is sinne possesseth the very devils he was a glorious Angell till he was acquainted with it and could there be a separation made betweene him and sinne he would be againe of as good sweet and amiable a nature as any creature in earth or heaven Fiftly Though other things are evill yet nothing makes the creature accursed but sinne as all good things in the world doe not make a man a blessed man so nor all the evills accursed God sayes not blessed are the honorable and the rich nor that accursed are the poore but cursed is the man that continues not in all things Gal. 3. 10. a curse to the least sinne and on the contrary blessed is the man whose iniquities are forgiven c. Rom. 4. 7. Sixtly God hates nothing but sinne Were all evills swept downe into one man God hates him not simply for them not because thou art poore and disgraced but onely because sinfull It is sin he hates Rev. 2. 15. Isa 27. 11. yea it alone and whereas other attributes are diversely communicated in their effects to severall things as his love and goodnesse Himselfe his Sonne his children have all a share in yet all the hatred which is as large as his love is solely poured out upon and wholly and limited onely unto sinne All the question will be what transcendencie of evill is in the essence of it that makes it above all other evills and hated and it onely by God Christ the Saints c. more than any other evill Why It is enmity with God Rom. 8. 7. abstracts we know speake essences the meaning is it is as directly contrary to God as any thing could be for contrary it is to God and all that is his As 1. contrary to his essence to his existence and being God for it makes men hate him Rom. 1. 30. and as he that hateth his brother is a murtherer 1 Ioh. 3. 15. so hee that hateth God may be said to be a murtherer of him and wisheth that he were not Peccutum est Dei-cidium 2. Contrary it is to all his attributes which are his name men are jealous of their names Gods name is himselfe as 1. It makes a man slight Gods goodnesse and to seeke happinesse in the creature as if hee were able to be happy without him And 2. it deposeth his soveraignty and sets up other Gods before his face 3. It contemns his truth power and justice And 4. turnes his grace into wantonnesse And as to himselfe so to what ever is his or deare to him Besides A King hath 3. things in an especiall manner deare to him His Lawes His favour it es his image stampt upon his coine and so hath God First his lawes and ordinances God never gave Law but it hath beene broken by sinne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the definition of it The transgression of the Law 1 Ioh. 3. 4. yea it is called destroying the Law Psal 119. 126. And know that Gods Law the least tittle of it is more deare to him than all the world For ere the least tittle of it shall be broken heaven and earth shall passe The least sinne therefore which is a breach of the least law is worse than the destruction of the world and for his worship as envying God should have any it turns his ordinances into sinne Secondly for his favourites God hath but a few poore ones upon whom because God hath set his love sinne hath set its hatred Lastly for his image even in a mans owne breast the law of the members fights against the law of the mind and endevoureth to expell it though a man should be damned for it Gal. 5. 17. The flesh namely sinne lusteth against the Spirit for they are contraries Contrary indeed for me thinkes though it hates that image in others that yet it should spare it in a mans selfe out of self-love but yet though a man should be damned if this image be expelled it yet laboureth to doe this so deadly is that hatred a man hates himselfe as holy so farre as he is sinfull It abounds now so high as our thoughts can follow it no farther Divines say it aspires unto infinity the object against whom it is thus contrary unto being God who is infinite they tell us that objectively sinne it selfe is infinite Sure I am the worth of the object or party offended aggravates the offence an ill word against the King is high treason not the greatest indignity to another man Sure I also am that God was so offended with it as though he loves his Sonne as himselfe yet he though without sinne being but made sinne by imputation yet God spared him not and because the creatures could not strike a stroake hard enough he himselfe was pleased to bruise him Esay 53. 16. He spared not his owne Sonne Rom. 8. 32. His love might have overcome him to have passed by it to his Sonne at least a word of his mouth might have pacified him yet so great was his hatred of it and offence at it as he powred the vialls of his wrath on him Neither would entreaty serve for though he cryed with strong cryes it should passe from him God would not till he had out-wrastled it And as the person offended aggravates the offence as before so also the person suffering being God and man argues the abounding sinfulnesse of it For for what crime did you ever hear a King was put to death their persons being esteemed in worth above all crime as civill Christ was the King of Kings And yet there is one consideration more to make the measure of its iniquity fully full and to abound to flowing over and that is this that the least sinne virtually more or lesse containes all sinne in the nature of it I meane not that all are equall therefore I adde more or lesse and I prove it thus because Adam by one offence contracted the staine of all no sooner did one sinne seaze upon his heart but he had all sinnes in him And
so every sinne in us by a miraculous multiplication inclines our nature more to every sinne than it was before it makes the pollution of nature of a deeper dye not onely to that species of sinne whereof it is the proper individuall act but to all else as bring one candle into a roome the light spreads all over and then another the light is all over more increased So it is in sinne for the least cuts the soule off from God and then it is ready to goe a whoring after every vanity that will entice it or entertaine it And this shewes the fulnesse of the evill of it in that it containes not onely all other evills in the world in it but also all of its owne kinde As you would count that a strange poyson the least drop of which containes the force of all poyson in it That a strange disease the least infection whereof brought the body subject to all diseases yet such an one is sinne the least making the soule more prone and subject to all And now you see it is a perfect evill and though indeed it cannot be said to be the chiefest in that full sense wherein God is said to be the chiefest good because if it were as bad as God is good how could he pardon it subdue it bring it to nothing as he doth and then how could it have addition to it one sin being more sinfull than another Ezek. 8. 15. Iohn 19. 11. But yet it hath some analogie of being the chiefest evill as God the chiefest good For 1. as God is the chiefest good who therefore is to be loved for himselfe and other things but for his sake so also in sin the chiefest evill because it is simply to be avoided for its selfe but other evills become good yea desirable when compared with it Secondly as God is the chiefest good because he is the greatest happinesse to himselfe so sin the greatest evill to it selfe for there can be no worse punishment of it than its selfe therefore when God would give a man over as an enemie he meanes never to deale withall more he gives him up to sinne And thirdly it is so evill as it cannot have a worse Epithete given it than it selfe and therefore the Apostle when he would spek his worst of it and wind up his expression hightest usque ad hyperbolem calls it by its own name sinfull sinne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 7. 13. that as in God being the greatest good quicquid est in Deo est Deus ipse therefore his attributes and names are but himselfe idem praedicatur de seipso so it is with sinne quicquid est in peccato peccatum est c. he can call it no worse than by its owne name sinfull sinne USE AND what have I beene speaking of all this while Why but of one sinne in the generall nature of it There is not a man here but hath millions of them as many as the sands upon the Sea shore yea as there would be Atomes were all the world pounded to dust it exceeds in number also and therefore ere we goe any further let all our thoughts break off here in wonderment at the abounding of sinne above all things else for other things if they be great they are but a few if many they are but small the world t is a big one indeed but yet there is but one the sands though innumerable yet they are but small your sinfulnesse exceeds in â—oth And next let all our thoughts be wound up to the most deepe and intense consideration of our estates for if one sin abounds thus what tongue can expresse or heart can conceive their misery who to use the Apostles phrase 1 Cor. 15. are yet in their sinnes that is stand bound to God in their owne single bond onely to answer for all their sinnes themselves and cannot in the estate wherein yet they stand of impenitencie and unbeleefe plead the benefit of Christs death to take off and ease them of the guilt of one sinne but all their sinnes are yet all their owne which to a man in Christ they are not for his owne bonds are cancelled and given in and Christ entred into bonds for him and all his sins translated upon him Now for a proper character of their estate and sutable to this expression First then a mans sinnes may be said to be still his owne when he committeth sinne out of his owne that is the full frame and inclination of his heart Thus the devill is said to sinne Ioh. 8. 44. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out of his owne the whole frame of his spirit is in it which a man in Christ cannot be so fully said to doe for hee hath a new creature in him that sinneth not 1 Ioh. 3. 1 9. that can say even when he sins It is not I but sinne And secondly then sinne is a mans owne when he hates it not but loves it The world loves his owne saith Christ Ioh. 15. 29. and so doth a wicked man his sinne more than any good which is Davids character Psal 52. 3. And thirdly what is a mans owne he nourisheth and cherisheth therefore Eph. 5. 19. No man hates his owne flesh but loveth it and cherisheth it so doe men their sinnes when they are their owne Those great and rich oppressors Iam. 5. 5. are said to nourish their hearts in wantonnes and in pleasure as in a day of slaughter as living upon the creame of sinning and having such plenty they pick out none but the sweetest bits to nourish their hearts withall 4. So what a man provides for that is his own so sayes the Apostle A man that provides not for his owne is worse c. When therefore men make provision for the flesh as the phrase is Rom. 13. 14. have their Caterers and contrivers of their lusts and whose chiefest care is every morning what pleasures of sinne they have that day to be enjoyed it is a signe that their sins are their owne In a word when men live in sinne 't is the expression used 1 Tim. 5. 6. She that lives in pleasure is dead while she lives When the revenewes of the comfort of mens lives come in from the pleasures of sinne and that supplies them with all those necessaries that belong to life as when 't is their element they drink in like water their meat they eate the bread of wickednesse Prov. 1. 7. and it goes downe and troubleth them not their sleepe also they cannot sleepe till they have done or contrived some mischiefe ver 16. their apparell as when violence and oppression covers them as a garment and pride compasseth them as a chaine Psal 73. their recreation also It is a pastime for a foole to doe wickedly he makes sport and brags of it Prov. 10. 23. yea their health being sick and discontented when their lusts are not satisfied as Ahab was for Naboths vineyard Amnon grew leane when hee
the highest degree of murder and an aggravation of it so self-condemning must needs be reckoned God tooke it as a great advantage over him that hid his talent that out of thine owne mouth I will condemne thee thou wicked servant The doctrine being thus proved First I will explaine what it is to sin against knowledge Secondly I will give the aggravations of it Thirdly I will give rules to measure sinnes of knowledge by and the greatnesse of them in any act Lastly the use of all For the first what it is to sinne against knowledge First to explaine it I premise these distinctions The first distinction That it is one thing to sinne with knowledge another thing against knowledge There are many sinnes doe passe from a man with his knowledge which yet are not against knowledge This is to be observed for the removall of a scruple which may arise in some that are godly who else may be wounded with this doctrine through a mistake A regenerate man is and must needs be supposed guilty of more knowne sinnes than an unregenerate man and yet he commits fewer against knowledge than he First I say hee is guilty of more knowne sinnes For he takes notice of every sinfull disposition that is stirring in him every by-end every contrariety unto holinesse deadnesse to duty reluctancie to spirituall duties and when regenerated beginneth to see and know more evill by himselfe than ever he did before he fees as the Apostle sayes of himselfe Rom. 7. 10. all concupiscence and the holier a man is the more he discernes and knowes his sins So sayes the Apostle Rom. 7. 18. I know that in me dwels no good thing And ver 21. I finde when I would doe good evill is present with me And 23. I see another law All these he sayes he perceived and found daily in himselfe and the more holy that he grew the more he saw them For the purer and clearer the light of Gods Spirit shines in a man the more sinnes he knowes he will see lusts steaming up flying in his heart like moates in the sun or sparkes out of a furnace which else he had not seene the clearer the sun-beame is which is let into the heart the more thou wilt see them But yet in the second place I adde that neverthelesse he sinnes lesse against knowledge For then wee are properly said to sinne against knowledge when wee doe take the fulfilling of a lust or the performance of an outward action a dutie or the like into deliberation and consideration and consider motives against the sinne or to the dutie and yet commit that sinne yeeld to it and nourish that lust and omit that dutie Here now we sinne not onely with knowledge but against knowledge because knowledge stept in and opposed us in it comes to interrupt and prevent us but now in those failings in dutie and stirring of lusts in the regenerate afore mentioned the case is otherwise they are committed indeed with knowledge but not against it For it is not in the power of knowledge to prevent them for motus primo primi non cadunt sub libertatem but yet though such sinnes will arise againe and againe yet sayes a good heart they must not think to passe uncontrouled and unseene Therefore let not poore soules mistake me as if I moant throughout this discourse of all sins which are knowne to be sinnes but I meane such sinnes as are committed against knowledge that is when knowledge comes and examines a sinne in or before the committing of it brings it to the Law contests against it condemnes it and yet a man approveth it and consenteth to it when a dutie and a sinne are brought before knowledge as Barrabas and Christ afore Pilate and thy knowledge doth againe and againe tell thee such a sinne is a great sinne and ought to be crucified and yet thou cryest let it goe and so for the duty it tels thee again and againe it ought to be submitted unto and yet thou omittest it and committest the sin choosest Barrabas rather than Christ these are sinnes against knowledge now such sins against knowledg break a mans peace and the more consideration before had the more the peace is broken The second distinction is that men sinne against knowledg either directly or collaterally objectively or circumstantially First directly when knowledge it selfe is the thing men abuse or fight against becommeth the object the terminus the butt and mark shot at this is to sin directly against knowledge it selfe The second way collaterally is when knowledge is but a circumstance in our sinnes so as the pleasure of some sinne we know to be a sin is the thing aimed at that our knowledge steps but in between to hinder us in it and we commit it notwithstanding though we doe know it here knowledge is indeed sinned against yet but collaterally and as a stander by but as a circumstance onely shot at per accidens concomitanter and by the by as one that steps in to part a fray is smitten for labouring to hinder them in their sin as the Sodomiâ—es quarrelled with Lot they are both found in this Chapter and therefore come fitly within the compasse of this discourse First This collaterall kinde of sinning against knowledge is mentioned in the 21. verse where he saies They knew God yet they glorified him not there knowledge is made but a circumstance of their sinning they sinned against it but collaterally But then that other kind of sinning directly against knowledge is mentioned ver 28. They liked not to retaine God in their knowledge that is they hated this knowledge it selfe so as now they did not onely love sin they knew to be sin but also they loved not the knowledge of it so that because both are thus clearly instanced in wee will speake of both more largely Now sinnes directly against knowledge it selfe are many I will reduce the chiefe heads of them into two branches First in regard of our selves Secondly in regard of others First in regard of our selves five wayes we may thus sin against knowledge it selfe First when we abuse knowledge to helpe us to sinne as first to plot and contrive a sin as Iudas plotted to betray his Master if hee could conveniently so the text sayes Mark 14. 11. hee would doe it wisely and thus those that came to intrap Christ with most cunning questions did sinne and those who plot against the just as Psal 37. 12. So secondly when men use their wisedoms to tell a cunning lye to cover a sin as Plato sayes men of knowledge sunt ad mendacia potentiores sapientiores whereas fooles though they would lye yet often tell truth ere they are aware But also thirdly when they abuse morall knowledge which yet as Aristotle sayes is least apt to be I am sure should least be abused so as to make a shew of
be pittyed but yet are in a most dangerous condition Saul when he was fallen away yet had this ingenuity a while left hee desired Samuel to pray to his God for him and told David that he was more righteous than he yet still went on in his courses and in the end as some have thought sinned against the Holy Ghost But others there are who though they be fallen from all the inward powerfull and secret performance of duties they once did practice and from all conscience of sinning yet retain their profession which they know to be but an out-side these of all others goe on against knowledge and Rev. 22. 15. they are said to make a lye not onely to tell a lye in words but to make a lye in deeds Now a lye is a sin of all others most against knowledge and indeed against a double knowledge both facti and juris so is this 1. That they professe themselves to be that they know they are not 2. That they will not endevour after that state they know they ought to get into if ever saved This is the condition of many who being convinced of the power of religion have launched forth into a profession and hoyst up saile but now the tyde is fallen the spirit withdrawne the conscience of sinne extinguisht in them yet for their credit sake still beare their sails up as high as ever even as many Merchants doe who are sunk in their estates still beare a faire shew yea will seeme richer than ordinary by purchasing lands c. Such a professor was Iudas hee began seriously and thought to have gone to heaven and was earnest in good duties at first as they also 2 Pet. 2. 18. they really or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of Christ but in the end Iudas became a grosse hypocrite one that pretended the poore when he loved the bag and on the sudden betrayed his Master when yet the Disciples knew it not suspected Iudas as little as themselves and the end of those also in that fore-named place is said to be worse than their beginning Now because such sinne so highly against knowledge therefore their punishment is made the regula of all other wicked mens as when it is said that other sinners shall have their portion with Hypocrites as the wicked Angels punishment is made the measure of mens Goe ye cursed into the fire prepared for the Devill and his Angels so among men such grosse Hypocrites their punishment is made the rule and so the chiefe of all kind of torments which sinners of the sonnes of men shall undergoe Now let mee speake a word to all such as thus go on in a state of impenitencie against knowledge this is a high kinde of sinning and of all the most desperate and doth argue more hardnesse of heart and despising the riches of Gods goodnesse For if as in the Rom. 2. 4. to go on in sinne when a man knowes not that is considers not that Gods mercy leads him to repentance is made the signe and effect of a very hard heart treasuring up wrath then much more when thou knowest and considerest thou art in an impenitent condition and hast many motions leading thee to repentance is thy heart then to be accounted hard When a man commits a particular act against knowledge he haply and usually still thinks his estate may be good and that he shall not lose God utterly or hazard the losse of him onely his spirit being at present empty of communion with him he steales out to some stolne pleasure but when a man knowes his estate bad and that he is without God in the world and yet goes on he doth hereby cast away the Lord and professeth he cares not for him or that communion which is to be had by him as Esau did his birth-right David though he despised the Lord yet hee did not cast away the Lord as Saul did for Saul ventured utterly to lose him knowing his estate naught David when hee sinned thought Gods eternall favour would still continue though for the present he might lose the sense of it But when a man goes on in a state of sinning he ventures the losse of Gods eternall love and slights it and knowes he doth so when a man knowes that he is condemned already as being impenitent and that all his eternall estate lyes upon the non-payment of such duties of repentance c. and that the guilt of all his sinnes will come in upon him and that an execution is out and yet goes on this is more than to commit one act against knowledge whereby he thinks he brings upon himself but the guilt of that one sinne and upon the committing of which he thinks not the morgage of all lyes though it deserves it herein men shew themselves more desperate In the next place I come to those rules whereby you may measure and estimate sinning against knowledge in any particular act of sinning and they are either before the sinne or in sinning three of either which I make a second head to explaine this doctrine by First before The first rule is The more thou knewest and didst consider the issues and consequents of that sinne thou didst commit the more thou sinnest against conscience in it when as in Rom. 1. ult Thou knowing sayes the Apostle that those that commit such things are worthy of death that is thou considerest that Hell and Damnation is the issue and desert of it and yet committest it yea and this when haply hell fire at present flasheth in thy face and yet thou goest on to doe it in this case men are said to choose death and to love it Prov. 3. 36. When a man considers that the way to the whorehouse are the wayes to death as Solomon speaks So when thou a professor considerest with thy selfe before This sinne will prove scandalous and undoe me disable me for service cast mee out of the hearts of good men and yet dost it Thus that foolish King was told againe and againe Ier. 38. 17 18 19. that if he would yeeld to the King of Babel he should save his life and City and Kingdome and live there still but if hee would not he should not escape but as Ieremie told him verse 23. Thou shalt cause this City to be burnt with fire yet he would not hearken This is the word of the Lord sayes Ieremie and he knew it to be so and yet being a weake Prince led by his Nobles he would not follow his Counsell and thus Iudas fully knew the issue Christ had said againe and againe Woe be to him by whom the Sonne of man is betrayed and yet went on to doe it The second rule is the more consultations debates and motives against it did runne through thee before thou didst it so much the greater and more hainous How often did mercy come in and tell thee that if
thou lookest for any hope or part in it thou shouldest not doe such an evill how often came that in Shall I doe this and sinne against God did any Scripture come in to testifie against thee in the nick did God send in the remembrance of such a mercie past to perswade thee or some mercies to come which thou dependest upon him for That which made Spira's sinne so great was such debates as these before and this made Darius sinne in casting Daniel into the Lions den so great he debated it with himselfe Dan. 6. 14. he was sore displeased with himselfe and laboured to the going downe of the sunne to deliver him he considered that he was as his right hand in all the affaires of his Kingdome and a man entrapped meerely for his conscience and that to put him to death was to sacrifice him to their malice he knew him to be holy and wise worth all the men that sought after his life and yet yeelded these considerations troubled him afore and also after insomuch as he could not sleep for them ver 18. Now because that every such consultation should set an impression upon the heart and countermand the motions of sin when therefore thou dost it maugre all such debates and motives to the contrary this is much against knowledg and very heynous Therefore the Pharises Luke 7. 30. are said to have rejected the counsell of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in or against themselves the words will beare either In themselves because they knew it and tooke it into consideration and yet rejected it and against themselves because it was their destruction The third rule is that the more confirmations any man hath had of the knowledge of that which he sinneth in and testimonies against it the greater sinne against knowledge it is when a man hath had a cloud of witnesses in his observation against a particular sinne and yet doth it and goes on in it it is the more fearfull To goe on against that one witnesse the bare light and grudging of naturall conscience onely is not so much but when it is further confirmed and backed by the word written which a man hath read and with testimonies out of which a man meets with such places wherein againe and againe in reading of it such a practice is condemned and observes it and then also heares it reproved in Sermons and of all sinnes else heares in private conference that sinne spoken against also yea hath in his eye many examples of others sinning in the like kinde which have beene punished yea haply himselfe also yet to sin against all these is exceeding hainous Sometimes God orders things so as a sinne is made a great sinne by such forewarnings so he contrived circumstances that Iudas sinned a great sinne for Iudas knew before that Christ was the Saviour of the world he knew it by all the miracles he had seene as also by his gracious words and converse and he professed as much in following of him and he had the written word against it Thou shalt not murder the innocent But yet further God to aggravate his sinne to the highest orders it so that Christ should tell him of it when he was to goe about it pronounceth a woe to him Iohn 22. 22. that it had beene good for that man that he had never beene borne Mar. 14. 21. and the Disciples they were sorrowfull at Christs speech when hee suspected one of them and shewed an abomination and detestation of such a fact there was a Jurie of eleven men yea witnesses against it yea and Iudas against himselfe he asked if it were he yea and Christ gave him a sop and told him thou hast said it and doe what thou doest quickly which even then might argue to his conscience that he was God and searched and knew his heart and yet hee went out and did it immediately How did hee sinne against the haire as wee speak and how did all these circumstances aggravate his sin But yet a more cleare evidence of this is that instance of Pilate whom God many wayes would have stopt in his sinne of condemning Christ who examining him before the Pharises he could finde no fault with him as concerning those things whereof they accused him Luke 23. 14. and yet to allay their malice unjustly scourged him verse 16. And further when he sent him to Herod as being willing to rid his owne hands of him Herod also found nothing worthy of death in him verse 15. which was another witnesse might have confirmed him concerning Christs innocencie Yea yet further that the fact might be more aggravated a most notorious murtherers life must be put into the scale with Christs and either the one or the other condemned and when the people yet chose Barrabas why sayes Pilate what evill hath he done ver 22. then he distinctly knew and considered that he was delivered up through envie Yea and when hee was upon the bench and ready to pronounce sentence as it were God admonisht him by his owne wife Mat. 27. 19. whom God himselfe had admonished in a dreame she sending him word shee had suffered many things by reason of him that night and therefore have nothing sayes shee to doe with that just man yea he himselfe when he condemns him washeth his hands And thus it falls out in many sinfull businesses which men are about that God often and many severall wayes would knock them off and stops them in their way as hee did Balaam reproves them as he did him by a dumbe Asse 2 Pet. 2. 16. so there by some silent passage of providence and not onely so but by his Spirit also standing in their way with the threatnings ready drawne and brandisht against them as the Angell did with a drawne sword against Balaam and yet they goe on this is fearfull There are 3. Rules also whereby the sinfulnesse of sin as it is against knowledge may be measured from what may be observed IN the act as First the lesse passion or inward violence or temptation to a sinne committed against knowledg the greater sinne against knowledge it is argued to be For then the knowledge is the clearer passion or temptation being as a mist But then to sinne when a man is not in passion is to stumble at noon-day For as drunkennesse takes away reason so doth passion which is a short drunkennesse cloud and mist a mans knowledge And so Aristotle compares the knowledge of an incontinent person to the knowledge of one that is drunk When Peter denied his Master though hee had warning of it before and so it was against knowledge and it was by lying and swearing and forswearing which are sinnes of all other most directly against knowledge yet he was taken unexpectedly and when that which might stir up feare to the utmost in him was in his view for hee was then in the Judgement Hall where his Master just before his face was arraigned for his
more force and evidence Knowledge learnt by experience is the most efficacious Therefore Christ himselfe who knew all things already yet learnt in the schoole of experience by what he suffered A little of some knowledge distill'd out of a mans owne observation is most precious every drop of it therefore the Apostle urgeth it on Timothie 2 Tim. 3. 14. Continue in the things thou hast learned and beene assured of knowing of whom thou hast learned them There is a two-fold motive and both emphaticall First he was assured in himselfe and secondly that which strengthned that assurance and was a meanes to worke it was the example of the holy Apostle and of his owne Parents Knowing of whom thou hast learned it And so ver 10. the Apostle againe urgeth his owne example Thou hast fully knowne my doctrine and manner of life and then also brings to his mind the education of those his godly Parents who instructed him Hence also Esay 26. 10. it is made an aggravation that in the land of uprightnesse men deale unjustly Thus light drawn from the observation of Gods judgements upon others it much aggravates it is laid to Belshazzars charge Dan. 5. 22. Thou knewest all this how God dealt with thy father Nebuchadonezer So some of you come here and live in a religious society and see sometimes one sometimes another of thy Colleagues turn to Christ yea haply chamber fellow converted from his evill courses and yet thou goest on this is sinning against a great light Fourthly the more vigorous strong powerfull the light is that is in thee and more stirring in thy heart and joyned with a taste the greater the sins committed against it are to be accounted The more thou hast tasted the bitternesse of sinne and Gods wrath and hast beene stung with it as with a Cockatrice the more thou hast tasted Gods goodnesse in prayer and in the ordinances the more of such a knowledge and yet sinnest the worse In the 5. of Iohn 35. Christ aggravates the Iewes unbeleefe in himselfe and their present hardnesse that Iohn was to them not only a shining but also a burning light that is they had such knowledge engendred by his ministery as wrought joy and heat as well as light therefore it is added they rejoyced therein for a season And thus their fall Heb. 6. is aggravated that it was such a light as had tasting with it For to explaine this you must know that between ordinary notionall light or that assenting to spirituall truths which is common with men from traditionall knowledge living in the Church that between it and true saving light or the light of life there is a middle kind of light which is more than the common conviction men have and lesse than saving light it is a light which leaves also some impression on the affections makes them feele the powers of heaven and hell and be affected with them Now the more of such light against a sinne be it drunkennesse or uncleannesse or oppression and yet fallest to it againe the worse For this is a further degree added to knowledg and not common to all wicked men And therefore as those Iewes who had not onely common meanes of knowledge but miracles also and yet beleeved not Iohn 12. 17. shall be more condemned so those who have such tasting knowledg set on by the holy Ghost which is as much as if a miracle were wrought for it is above nature a supernaturall worke of the Spirit And therefore to sinne against such light and such onely is that which makes a man in the next degree of fitnesse to sin against the Holy Ghost Fiftly to sin against professed knowledge is an aggravation also and an heavy one To sin against a mans owne principles which he teacheth others or reproves or censureth in others Titus 1. last Those that professe they know God and yet deny him these are most abominable of all others For these are lyars and so sinne against knowledge as lyars doe in the 1 Iohn 2. 4. such an one is called a lyar in a double respect both in that he sayes hee hath that knowledge he hath not it not being true and because also he denyes that in deed which he affirmes in word this is scandalous sinning So Rom. 2. 24. the Iewes beasting of the law and of having the forme of knowledge in their braines caused the Gentiles to blaspheme when they saw they lived cleane contrary thereunto and therefore a brother that walkes inordinately was to be delivered to Satan to learne what it was to blaspheme 1 Tim. 2. 20. That is to learne to know how evill and bitter a thing it is by the torments of an evill conscience to live in such a course as made God and his wayes evill spoken of as it befell David when he thus sinned Yea 2 Cor. 5. 10 11. though they might keep company with a heathen because hee was ignorant and professed not the knowledge of God yet if a brother one that professed and so was to walke by the same rules did sinne against those principles he professed then keepe him not company Thus did Saul sinne All the Religion he had and pretended to in his latter dayes was persecuting witches yet in the end he went against this his principle hee went to a witch in his great extremitie at last And thus God will deale with all that are hollow and sinne secretly against knowledge in the end Hee suffers them to goe against their most professed principles These are aggravations in generall applicable both to any act of sinning or going on in a known state of sinning USE NOw the use of all that hath been spoken what is it but to move all those that have knowledge to take heed more heed of sinning than other men and those of them that remaine in their naturall estate to turne speedily and effectually unto God For if sinning against knowledge be so great an aggravation of sinning then of all engagements to repentance knowledge is the greatest First thou who hast knowledge canst not sin so cheap as another who is ignorant Therefore if thou wilt be wicked thy wickednesse will cost thee ten times more than it would another Places of much knowledge and plentifull in the meanes of grace are dear places to live in sin in To be drunk and uncleane after enlightning and the motions of the Spirit and powerfull Sermons is more than twentie times afore thou mightest have committed ten to one and beene damned lesse This is condemnation sayes Christ that light came into the world Neither canst thou haue so much pleasure in thy sin as an ignorant person For the conscience puts forth a sting in the act when thou hast knowledge and does subject thee to bondage and the fear of death When a man knows how dearely he must pay for it there is an expectation of judgement embittereth all Therefore the Gentiles sinned with more pleasure than we