Sin is another manner of business than Melancholly or timerousness Use I. HEnce follows this plainly from all that have been spoken if sin be worse than any affliction and not to be chosen rather than Affliction Hence it follows Then that trouble of Conscience for Sin certainly is another manner of business than meerly Melancholly distemper it comes not from Melancholly nor foolish timerousness and the like There is another manner of business in trouble of Conscience for Sin then the world thinks for this is the First Use that followes from all that hath been delivered Me thinks all of you should yeild to the strength of this Consequence If you have heard or read what I have opened you that have heard al or read it it should take this effect in you all Well then by what I have heard now I come to understand what the meaning of trouble of Conscience for sin is I have heard heretofore of many men and women troubled for sin and I wondered what it meant I wondered what it was that troubled them many yong people may be heirs of great estates and excellent good friends of healthful bodies in good trades all well about them and yet mightily troubled for sin yea perhaps some that to the view of the world lived very civilly yet had in secret been guilty of some notorious profane course and yet when God shall but settle any one sin upon their hearts and trouble their Consciences for any one sin they could not bear the horror of their Conscience for this one sin Well this I have heard of the evil of sin tells me I have had mistaken thoughts about it I thought all was melancholliness and even madness and the Physitian must be sent for and merry company sent for because men and women have such poor and mean apprehensions of the evil of sin and therefore when any are troubled in Conscience for Sin Oh then get him into merry company get a pair of cards make them play a fit of Musick go to some business in the world put themselves upon business one thing or other drink down their trouble play down their trouble thus many have slight thoughts of trouble of Conscience And therefore when in their Children they cry out Oh! my Child will certainly run mad is grown mad many carnal men and women when their Children begin to think of sin they think verilie they begin to run mad I remember in the storie of Erancis Spira he saith thus because his friends thought it a kind of Frenzie and that it was not trouble of Conscience for sin Oh saith he to his friends I would to God it were Frenzie either feigned or real if it were feigned Frenzie then I could put it off when I pleased if it were a real Frenzie there were a great deal more hope of Gods mercy I should not apprehend Gods wrath as I do but it is otherwise with me Brethren those that have felt trouble of Conscience for sin upon whose hearts God hath setled but the guilt of any one sin what do you think of trouble of Conscience for sin they feel reallitie they find that there is reallie unto them that which is a greater burthen and grief and trouble than all the miseries of the world Dreadful expressions are many of them that Francis Spirâ—â— hath which is a most dreadful example of horror of Conscience for sin Oh! saith he I feel the very torments of hell within me and this afflicts my Conscience with intolleroble pain Oh! that some body would let out this tyred soul out of my body Oh! that I were in the place of the damned that I might be but free from FEARING any thing that is yet WORSE to come For though he did acknowledg there was greater torments in hell yet he professed he did desire to be in hell that he might be freed from the torture of his Spirit that was still in fear of worse that was to come And verily a most hidious story it is that shews the dreadfulness of a wounded and troubled Conscience for Sin Certainly if Sin be all that which you have heard or read well might the Holy Ghost say A wounded spirit who can bear A man may sustain his infirmities whatsoever his infirmities and troubles are in the world it is no great matter to sustain them but a wounded spirit who can bear for a wounded spirit seeth it hath to deal with the Infinite God the Glorious Eternal Deity and you must not tell such a one of Melancholliness and such grounds of trouble for such a one knows the Arrows of the Almighty stick in his heart and it is another manner of business than so I might here have enlarged my self and have spoken much to those that have such mean apprehensions of trouble of conscience for sin and have shewed the difference between melancholly and trouble of conscience for sin but I shall not at present only I shall wind up all now briefly and prosecute it further in the next Chapter Certainly it is not melancholliness it is another manner of business than melancholliness What think you of the Lord Christ himself in his Agony that sweat drops of water and blood which you see was the fruit of Sin was that melancholly certainly that was of the same nature that the troubled in conscience feel for sin The Angels that sinned against God the Devils themselves they are not capable of melancholiness they have no bodies and yet none have such horrors for sin as they have And so the souls of wicked men many times they have horrid apprehensions of the wrath of God for sin But certainly if the souls of wicked men and women go out of their bodies without pardon the very first instant the soul is departed from the body it hath other manner of horrid dreadful and dismal apprehensions of the wrath of God for sin then ever it had before I remember further Luther had such a Speech concerning trouble of Conscience for Sin in his Comment upon Genesis It is a harder matter to Comfort an Afflicted Conscience for Sin than to raise one from the Dead This was a Speech of Luther he saw what was in an Afflicted Conscience for sin Further Surely Melancholly 't is not no nor timerousness nor folly do but take an example or two and so I shall conclude â—hat of David you shall find in David that he was a man most free from melancholly for the temper of his body it was a most cheerful disposition and a warlike spirit and very wise And yet there is none in the Book of God more troubled in spirit â—or Sin than he was First I will shew you what manner of man David was and then what his troubles of Conscience were for sin Sure he was no melancholly man For First you shall find it in 1 Sam. 16 12. that he for his bodily Constitution was sanguine and not melanchollie he was of a ruddy and beautiful Countinance
as out of measure sinful never till sin be seen and sorrowed for as the greatest evil wil Christ be seen and rejoyced in as the greatest good were we once throughly convinced of the infinite evil in sin as containing in it the Evil of all Evils nothing being an evil indeed properly but as it hath the bitter ingredient and cursed sting of sin in it how would sin be hated and shunned more than the most deadly poyson and feared more than the Devil more than Hell it self seing nothing hath made and founded Hell but sin nor made the Devil such a black feind but sin nay nothing is so much a Hell I mean a Torment as sin it self nothing binds the Creature in such chains of misery as when it is held in the cords of its own sin Prov. 5. 22. Men look upon sin through false Mediums and beleeve the reports and interpretations which the world and the flesh gives of sin and thus are cheated to their own destruction Could we but a little lay our Ears to Hell and hear the howlings and yellings of those damned spirits aggravating sin we should then have a true Comment upon the Subject in hand Afflictions in this world now and then awaken the conscience reviving the sight and sence of sin by some grievous pains but one half hour in Hell being separated from the comfortable presence of all good and blessedâ—… will make the evil of sin rightly understood Certainly there 's an evil in sin beyond what the largest Created Understanding is able to fadam sin being one of those things which can never be punished enough which appears in that all those unspeakable unsufferable torments inflicted upon the damned through all Eternity is but a continual paying this sad debt and giving satisfaction to Divine Justice for the wrong which sin hath done in regard Divine Justice shall not otherwise sufficiently in time have taken it's due out of the sinner Now the Judg of all the world who is the Standard of Justice it self neither can nor will do any wrong to his Creature in punishing it more than it's iniquity deserves Reader I shall say no more now but beseech the Lord to carry home these Truths by his Spirit into thy bosom that there may be a Divine Impression made upon thy heart in reading sutable to the Authors in preaching and that thou mayest out of love to Holiness so fear and hate sin now that thou mayest never suffer the vengeance of Eternal Fire the wages of sin hereafter Which is the unfeigned and earnest desire of Thy Souls Well-wisher in Christ Jesus John Yates THE CONTENTS CHAP. 1 That it 's a very Evil Choice To Choose Sin rather than Affliction Page 1 Chap. 2 The Servants of God have Chose the most dreadful Afflictions rather than the least Sin 5 Chap. 3 There is some good in affliction but none in sin First No good of Entitie Secondly No good of Causalitie Thirdly No good Principle from whence sin can come Fourthly No good anexed as is to afflictions viz. 1 Of Promise 2 Of Evidence 3 Of Blessing Also Five different workings of the hearts of the Saints under sin and under affliction Fifthly It 's not capable of any Good 1 Adde all the good to sin that all the Creatures in heaven and earth have yet it cannot make sin good 2 Good ends though 1 To help against temptation 2 To do good to others 3 To glorifie God cannot make sin good 4 God cannot make sin good Sixthly It 's not comparatively good 10 Chap. 4 Vses And Nine Consectories of excellent use viz. 1 Sin is not the work of God 2 Sins promises are all Delusions 3 Sin cannot be the Object of a rational Creature 4 Nothing that 's good should be ventured for sin 5 Nothing that 's good to be made serviceable to sin 6 The mistake of making sin the chiefest good 7 Time spent in sin lost 8 The wicked useless members 9 Sin needeth no debate whether to be done or not 23 Chap. 5 There is more Evil in the least sin than in the greatest affliction Opened in six Particulars being the General Scope of the whole Treatise 30 Chap. 6 Sin most opposite to God the chiefest Good Opened in Four Heads 1 Sin most opposite to Gods Nature 2 Sin opposite in its working against God 3 Sin wrongs God more than any thing else 4 Sin strikes at Gods Being 33 Chap. 7 Sin in it self opposite to God shewed in five things 1 Nothing directly contrary to God but sin 2 God would cease to be God if but one drop of sin in him 3 Sin so opposite to God that he cease to be God if He did but cause sin to be in another 4 He should cease to be God 〈◊〉 he did but approve it in others 5 Sin would cause God to cease to be if he did not hate sin as much as he doth 35 Chap. 8 The workings of sin is alwayes against God The Scripture cals it 1 Enmity 2 Walking contrary 3 Fighting 4 Resisting 5 Striving 6 Rising against God 41 Chap. 9 How sin resist God 1 It 's a hating of God 2 It 's rebellion against God 3 It 's a despising of God 42 Chap. 10 Sin is a striking against God 1 The sinner wisheth God were not so Holy c. 2 It seek the destruction of God Also sin is a wronging of God 50 Chap. 11 How sin wrong God 1 In his Attributes 2 Relation of Father Son and Holy Ghost 3 His Counsels 4 In the End for which God hath done all he hath done And First Sin wrong Gods Attributes 1 His All-sufficiency shewed in Two Particulars 2 It wrong his Omnipresence and Omnisciency 3 Sin wrong his Wisdom 4 Wrong his Holiness 5 Sin wrong-God in setting mans Will above Gods 6 Sin wrong Gods Dominion 7 Sin wrong Gods Justice 8 Sin wrong God in his Truth 57 Chap. 12. How sin wrongs God in his personal Relations 1 The Father 2 The Son 3 The Spirit 69 Chap. 13 Sin wrong the Counsels of God in setting that Order in the world that he hath set 72 Chap. 14. Sin wrong God in the End for which he hath made all things 75 Chap. 15 The First Corollary It appears by this That but few men know what they do when they sin against God 80 Chap. 16 The Second Corollary The necessity of our Mediators being God and Man 82 Chap. 17 The Third Corollary That but few are humbled as they should for sin 1 It will not be deep enough except it be for sin as it 's against God 2 It will not Sanctifie the Name of God 3 It will not be lasting 4 Else it will never make a devorce between sin and the soul 84 Chap. 18 The Fourth Corollary Admire the Patience of God in seeing so much sin in the world and yet bear it 92 Chap. 19 The Fifth Corollary Hence see a way to break your hearts for sin And also to keep you from
Child of Cressus that was born dumb he seeing a Soldier readie to strike at his Father and kill him the affection to his Father brake the bars of his Tongue and he cried out Oh why will you kill the King Then he cried out thus though he never spake before but the stroke against his Father made him speak So thou man or woman shouldest have thy heart dead in other things and have no mind to speak yet when you see wretched men and women strike at God as they do as I have shewed in their sin if thou have any heart in the world any life in the world when thou seest this stroke at God now speak Oh that should burst all bars asunder Though thou beest never so meek in thy Familie and canst bear other things yet thou shouldest shew that thou canst not bear sin against God Oh I beseech you consider this and see how neer this comes to you How many if any thing be done in your Familie against you or among your neighbors that is against you you cannot bear it but you can bear that which is done against God and never be troubled at it As many a Master let the Servant neglect his work and displease him he cannot bear it but let his Servant be wicked and break the Sabbath denie God his time let his Servant perhaps swear or do such wickedness he goes away and saith it may be Why do you so or you should not do so or it may be takes no notice of it Certainlie that man knows neither God nor sin or hath little relation to God that takes so little notice of that done against God and yet that done against himself he cannot bear it Take this along with you If you have anie relation to God your hearts will be more troubled for the wrong done to God by your Children and Servants than when your selves are wronged by your Servants or Children Oh how manie men and women would go and wring their hands to their neighbors and friends Oh! never man or woman so miserable as I my own Child out of my bowels wrongs me and doth what hurt he can to me this is accounted matter of bitter lamentation But now why should not thy heart melt and lament when thou canst say Oh the Child out of my Loins and Bowels how doth he wrong the blessed God of all the world Oh that I should be so miserable to bear in my Bowels one an Enemie to the infinite blessed God! Oh that an Enemie to God should ever come out of my Loins My thinks this should move tender hearted Mothers to see that they should bring forth such that should go on in waies of enmitie against God himself Suppose one out of your Bowels should be a Traitor to the Parliament and do mischief to the State would not this trouble you that one out of your Bowels should be a Traitor to the Common-wealth this would be a grievous vexation Now is it not more if that thou hast a wicked Child one out of thy Bowels that strikes at God and is a Traitor to the God of Heaven these do more mischief than to destroy a whol Nation I say if a man should live to destroy to undo a whol Land for their outward estate there were not so much evil in it as in one sin against God You would say that were a Misereant that should be born to undo a whol Nation and wo to me that I should bear one that should live to do such mischief to undo a State Now if thou bear one that strikes against God and wrongs God in waies of sin this should trouble thee as much as the other therefore never be at quiet till thou see some work of grace till thou see the heart of thy Child called in I remember Augustine saith this of his Mother and I propound this for Mothers example he being verie wicked a while and his Mother godlie Oh it grieved her heart that she should have a Child go on in such wickedness against God and she praid and wept so that Augustine saith of her after God had enlightened his eyes to consider what she did for him saith he I perswade my self my Mother did as much labor and endure as much pain for my second Birth as ever for my first Birth this is his testimonie of her that by her prayers and tears for her Childs Salvation that was wicked he did verilie beleeve it cost her as much labor for the second Birth as for the first upon which when she comes and complains to Ambrose of her Child well saith he Be of good comfort surely a Son of so many prayers and tears can hardly perish and he did not indeed for he proved a worthie Instrument of Gods Glorie afterward in the Church Now is there anie Mother in this Congregation that can say I have labored as much and it hath cost me as much pain for the second Birth of my Child as ever it did for the first Certainlie did you know what sin were and how against God it would cost you a great deal of travail when you see your Children wicked and much prayer and cost that you might not have a Child an Enemie to God a Traitor to the Crown Scepter and Dignitie of Jesus Christ Oh Brethren doth it not pitie your souls to see that infinite blessed holy dreadful God so much wronged in the world as he is It should move us to pitie to see any Saint a man or a woman of an excellent gracious Spirit to see such a soul abused and wronged as Solomon saith there was a wise man in the City and not regarded though he delivered the Citie to see but one man of wisdom that hath but any excellencie in his Spirit to be wronged it should trouble any ingenious heart But then I reason thus if it would be and should be such a trouble to any ingenious heart to see any one man of a gracious Spirit wronged and abused then how should it trouble any ingenious any gracious heart in the world to see the infinite blessed glorious God to be wronged in the world by sin as I have alreadie shewed he is in everie sin when I discovered to you how sin is against God that I might possess your hearts with this Principle for I know no Principle of greater power through the strength of Christ to do good upon your Spirits than this CHAP. XXI A Seventh Corollarie If Sin hath done thus much against God then all that are now converted had need do much for God SEventhly Another is this If Sin have done so much against God and so much wronged God hence it follows That all those that have heretofore lived in a sinful way and God hath now been pleased to enlighten them and work upon their hearts had need now do much for God This follows cleerly thou didst heretofore live in waies of sin and what didst thou do in all this Nothing but
know a man takes delight in looking upon his own Image where ever he seeth it so God takes delight in looking upon his own Image there is nothing in all the world can take the Eye of God so much as looking upon Angels and the Souls of men and God sees the very same thing in the souls of men as he did in his Angels The most glorious object God hath to behold is to behold himself in the Creature the more God seeth of himself in any Creature the more delight must he needs take in viewing and looking upon that Creature Now no Creature in this inferior world had so much of Gods work in it as Man-kind had having the Image of God 3 Hence it follows That all the Creatures in the world were brought under the Dominion of Man to be serviceable unto Man why Because he had so much of the Image of God in him upon that all Creatures in the world were to lie under his feet to be perfectly subject to the Dominion of Man Now if the Image of God be such a glorious thing as it is then what would you say of that which doth deface this Image that must needs be an evil thing and do much to the hurt of man that shall deface such an ezcellency as this is Now certainly sin doth so sin doth cast dirt into this Image of God and doth deface it and therefore in the 3. Col 10. the Apostle there speaking of renewing grace sanctifying grace it is said by it we come to have the Image of God renewed by grace then it is apparent by sin the Image of God is defaced Now Prethren if a man did take delight in a curious piece as there be some men that will give five hundred pounds a thousand pounds for some curious thing drawn with Art suppose such a one that prizeth such a piece and there should come one and quite deface it would he not account this a great evil and his heart rise against him Thus it is in this case the Image of God in the soul of man is the curiousest piece that ever was drawn in the world by the finger of Gods Spirit all Creatures in Heaven and Earth could never draw such a piece but sin defaceth it nay such is the evil of sin that one sin is enough quite to deface and take away the Image of God As we know in Adam that was made according to the Image of God one sin quite defaced the Image of God As we account a House quite defaced and demolished though here and there a little rubbish and stones remain as in your Monasteries or Abbies that are demolished though there be a few stones and rubbish left yet the House is demolished So all that is left in Man of Gods Image is but as the little rubbish of such a house left after its demolishing yea that which is left according to the Opinion of many of the Learned is not a remainder of the Image of God in man that he had at first Creation but rather a smal pittance of some common gifts of Gods Spirit For many wise and godly men hold that the remainders of that which we usually conceive to be the ruines and remainders of Gods Image since the Fall is not the remainders of what is left but that which God for societie sake in the world and that he may have a Church in the world was pleased by some givings out of his Spirit to renew somwhat in those that shall not be saved and so they come to have some light of knowledg even by Jesus Christ himself Christ enlightens every man that comes into the world saith the Scripture that is if a man have common light Christ enlightens that man if a man have saving light Christ enlightens that man with saving light so that the Image of God was quite defaced by one sin Oh the evil and venom of sin that one sin quite takes away the Image of God Quest But you will say Why is it not so now for in the Regenerate there is the Image of God in part renewed in them and yet they commit many sins how comes it to pass sin quite defaceth not the Image of God in those Regenerate that have it not perfectly as well as the Image of God in man that had it perfectly at first Answ To this I answer This is not from a any reason of want of malignity in sin for sin would do it but because of the strength that is in the Covenant of Grace that God hath made in Christ hence God preserveth his Image in those that be Regenerate notwithstanding they commit many sins and it is a demonstration of the infinite power of God that notwithstanding there is so many sins in those Regenerate that yet there should be preserved the Image of God in man which was not in Adam Because God entred not into such a gracious Covenant with Adam to preserve him therefore God leaving Adam to a common course of Providence and had to do with him in a Covenant of works therfore God leavs that for sin to do in him that it should not in us But now there is more strength in the Covenant of Grace and therefore it is that 't is not every sin we commit that doth deface the Image of God but this is no thank to sin nor doth it argue the less evil in sin But be it known unto you that be sanctified when you give liberty to sin there is this in it that in its own Nature it would quite take away all the Image of God renewed in you And certainly thofe that understand what a blessing there is in this to have Gods Image renewed in them cannot but see that there is greater evil in sin than in any thing in the world that I should commit that which in its own Nature would quite deface the whol Image of God in me And this is the second Argument to declare the evil of sin against mans good CHAP. XXVI Thirdly Sin is opposite to the Life of God in Man A Third Particular to discover the evil of Sin as opposite to mans good is this Because sin is opposite to the Life of God in Man Before I shewed sin strikes at the Life of God in Himself now I am to shew you how sin strikes at the Life of God in Mans Soul For Brethren certainly this is the happiness of the Children of men above other Creatures that God did make them to be of such a Nature that they should live that life the Lord himself lived in a kind and so the Scripture is very plain Ephes 4. 18 the text saith there That they were alienated from the life of God through the darkness of their minds it was the sinfulness of their hearts that did alienate them from the life of God therefore it is apparent that they were capable of the life of God and the life of God is the excellency of the Children of
pervers against their acquaintance neighbors family neerest friends we cannot imagine somtimes what is the reason Certainly this is one especial reason there is much guilt upon their consciences and spirits and this doth so disquiet and vex them that they fling out at God and his Word and every one they can have no quiet they be so vexed and gauled with that guilt upon their spirits there is a great deal of cause to suspect much guilt to be upon those that be so outragious and can bear nothing that have their hearts rise against the Word especially Brethren if you see any one that hath any light of Conscience and hath made profession heretofore if such an one shall frowardly flie out against the Word and those that be godlie you may conclude there is some woful guilt upon that mans spirit he is so froward and peevish and disquiet as he is And so we find it in Saul he was a man at first of a very quiet spirit and very moderate but after Saul being a man much enlightened and had forsaken God and had contracted abundance of guilt upon his soul he was a most froward perverse spirit as any we reade of in the Book of God then how froward was he with David and the Priests of God and so outragious as that he slaies them all a bloody man after he had contracted much guilt Do you see men so froward and outragious and bloodie Oh there is much guilt within upon their spirits great breaches between God and their souls and the guilt of sin within grates upon their hearts and that makes them so outragious as they are if guilt be upon the soul it takes away al the comfort of every thing that man or woman that hath an enlightened conscience and hath guilt upon them there 's little comfort such a one can take in any thing they enjoy No affliction in the world can take away the comfort of what we enjoy as guilt can do if you have afflictions one way you have comforts another if a man go abroad and meet with hard dealings he comes home and hath comfort it may be in his wife a comfortable yoke-fellow this rejoyceth him or may be he hath comfort in his Children or in such or such a friend But now let a man or a woman have guilt upon conscience abroad he hath no comfort at home he hath no comfort yea the more comfortable things he doth enjoy the more trouble there is in his spirit As thus Take a guiltie conscience and when he comes and looks upon a comfortable familie comfortable estate means coming in a sweet yoke-fellow good friends Oh but if I had not some guilt upon my soul I could rejoyce in these but that guilt that lies upon his conscience take away all the comfort of these and if he sees others that enjoy these Oh saith he this man may have comfort in a comfortable yoke-fellow children or friends and a good estate but he hath not guilt upon his spirit and that breach between his God and he as I have May be the world knows not where his â—hoo pincheth him and what sadens his spirit many men that have comforts about them though they cannot be said to enjoy them yet their hearts be troubled and disquieted and no bodie knows the matter Oh there is guilt upon their spirits they think within themselves Oh if it were with me as it is with such a one it would be well sure they have not that guilt I have if they had they could not but be disquieted as I am Again Guilt brings woful fear upon the Conscience no affliction can bring such fear upon the Conscience Though there should be never such troubles and fears and confusions in the world alas this is not so terrible and fearful as that fear the guiltie conscience hath Take a man or woman whose conscience is delivered from the guilt of sin such a one though Heaven and Earth should meet is not so much troubled Certainly Brethren in these great fears amongst us that you be skar'd at everything it is partly because you have not throughly made up your peace between God and your souls and some guilt lies upon your spirits and consciences and this indeed will make every thing terrible to you if that lie there Guilt upon the conscience makes God the thoughts of God seem terrible Now it is a greater evil for the creature not to be able to look upon God to have thoughts of God without being pierced with terror than to be under any affliction in the world sorrows fears and disgrace and persecutions are not so terrible as this that I am in such a condition that I cannot look up to God nor think upon God without having the thoughts of his Majesty to be terrible to me A guilty Conscience cannot endure to have a thought of God it is terrible to him and therefore he labors by going into company and sports and business in the world to take off the thoughts of God because the thoughts of God peirce his heart And so the presence of God is very terrible where guilt is upon the Conscience and the Conscience of such a one cannot endure to come into Gods presence nor into the Communion of Saints where Gods presence is And he cannot endure to pray the thoughts of that strike his heart to go alone to pray the presence of God when alone is extream terrible And this is a sader condition than to be under any affliction better be under any affliction than in such a case as that the presence of God is terrible the presence of God in Prayer and so the presence of God in his Word Oh the Word is terrible to such a one the Word of God speaks nothing but terror so long as guilt remains upon the Conscience This is worse than Affliction that that Word which is a treasure of sweetness and goodness and comfort to those that are gracious and godly should be filled with terror to the soul of one that is full of guilt Yea to such a one all the wayes of Gods Providence are full of terror if there be any Judgment of God abroad Oh the terror that this brings upon his foul Brethren Sin is committed quickly you have a temptation comes and you fall upon the Sin and act it the Sin the act of it is transient and quickly gone the guilt that sticks to you When a man or woman hath satisfied their Iust in a sinful way the guilt sticks behind may be the time is gone for the pleasure of it it was perhaps yesterday or such a night or time thou hadest the pleasure of it but now the sin is gone the pleasure of it but the guilt sticks and that abides upon thy Spirit to all eternity if thou look not to it Nay certainly it must stick upon the Spirit it is not in the power of any Creature in heaven or in earth to deliver
thee from it yea the guilt so remains that though thou feel it not now for the present it may stick terriblely many years after But Affliction is terrible only for the present not for afterward but guilt and sin laies a foundation of Mis◅ for many years after Nay many times it is grievous painful to the Soul long after it is committed as it was in Josephs Brethren we reade of them that they committed that great Sin against their Brother and it troubled them not a great while but twenty two years after when they were in an affliction then the guilt of their sin comes a fresh Oh then we sinned against our Brother when they were in prison there now it was twenty two years from the time they committed that sin to that time when they were in trouble there So you that have committed sin and think some slight sorrow may wash it away know the guilt may abide upon your spirits perhaps twenty may be forty years after And you that are yong take heed and know that sin is more evil than any affliction for the sin that you commit when you are yong in your Masters Families the guilt may abide upon you and youthful sins may prove ages terror It may be with you as with a man that gets a bruis when he is yong he feels it not but when he is old than it ach in his bones and puts him to terrible pain many times so many yong people feel not sin when their bloud is hot but afterward the guilt of sin abides upon them and is the torment of their souls when their bloud is cold Now what evil is there in sin that may do a man mischief perhaps twenty or forty years hence As it is with some poyson there are some poysons men have skill in that they can give poyson shall not work in three or four perhaps not till seven years afterward and yet they know certainly That if that man be not cut off before except God work extraordinarily he shall dye at the seven years end of that poison he took seven years before So sin is such a thing that it wil do a man a mischief many years after Again The guilt of sin hath this evil further in it which appears in that difference between men that come to suffer with guilt and those that come to suffer without guilt Take them that have come to the most grievous sufferings in the world and had not the guilt of sin upon their Consciences who had all cleer between God and their souls their sufferings be joyful and they can rejoice in tribulation and troubles as the Martyrs in Persecution how did they rejoyce and glory in their sufferings with what a Spirit of magnanimitie did they come to their sufferings But take those who suffer through guilt as Malefactors when they come to suffer what shame and confusion is upon them Thus Affliction is nothing to them that have no guilt but those that have the guilt of sin upon them when they come to suffer their guilt is a thousand times more than their affliction There is a great deal of difference between a man guilty of treason when he come to suffer for it there is shame and confusion and dismal darkness in the spirit where there is guilt but let one be accused for treason or any such horrible crime and no guilt upon the spirit such a one can go on with joy and comfort and peace whatsoever can be done to him is very little or nothing when guilt is removed The truth is there is no suffering can countervail the suffering that guilt makes The guilt makes the suffering evil otherwise not If one man come upon another man with suffering it is nothing without guilt so it is true when God comes it is nothing if God and we be at peace but now when God comes with any such affliction as the very affliction shall have the mark of the sin upon it and so shall stir up Conscience to accuse you for it then the heart is ready to sink when the affliction shall bear the name of the sin together with it I remember the difference of Davids Spirit at several times one time Though an Host incampe about me yet will I not fear and though I walk in the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil Psal 23. Another time he is afraid when he flies from Absolon and when there was a breach between God and his soul when he had brought guilt upon his spirit then David was quickly cooled and upon any occasion of trouble David was quickly frightened This is a seventh thing wherein sin appears to be a greater and more evil thing than Affliction because it makes the soul guiltie before God CHAP. XXXI Eighthly Sin is a greater evil to man than affliction because it 's that which put the Creature under the Sentence of Condemnation EIghthly Sin is a greater evil than Affliction Because it is that which puts the Creature under the Sentence of Condemnation and so makes more against the good of man than any affliction can do For a poor Creature to see himself stand before the great Judg of all the World and have the Sentence of Condemnation come out against him this is a greater evil than to have any affliction that all the Creatures of Heaven and Earth could bring upon him As now take a Malefactor that is to stand before Mans Judgment Seat and to receive Sentence of Condemnation is not this a greater evil unto him than if he should hear of loss in his estate than if he had sickness in his bodie any pain in his limbs to stand thus to receive the Sentence he looks upon it as a greater evil than possibly can befal him in this world otherwise But then when the soul shal see it self stand before the infinite glorious eternal first-Being of all things and looks upon God sitting upon his Tribunal passing Sentence of Eternal Death upon him this is another manner of evil than any affliction and suffering that can befal him But now know there is not any one sin that thou committest but if you look upon it as in it self God sits I say upon his Trone and passeth Sentence of death upon thee for it as really as ever he will do at the great day of Judgment it is done now as really and as truly in this world as ever it shall be at the day of Judgment only here is the difference then it is irrecoverable nay shall I say it cannot be recalled here no certainly it shall not only it may be transmitted to Christ he must bear it he must have the sentēce so that it is not properly recalled God doth not as a Judg that passeth Sentence and afterward nullifies it no but God passeth Sentence and condemns the sinner only Christ comes in and takes the Sentence upon himself so that the Sentence goeth on still only it is transferred from
wiser than their Teachers rhan their Fore-fathers and to bring them to the wisdom even of the most wise CHAP. LI. The former Vse further prosecuted First Against those that have slight thoughts of trouble of Conscience which ariseth either from gross Ignorance or Atheism or desperate slighting of God Secondly Trouble of Conscience is the beginning of Eternal death Thirdly Those that have slight thoughts of trouble of Conscience can never prize Christ Fourthly Those that have slight thoughts of trouble of Conscience now shall one day alter their opinion Fifthly It were just with God to let those sink under the burden of Conscience that have slight thoughts of it now Sixtly Those that have slight thoughts of trouble of Conscience those very thoughts do take away a chief restraint from sin Seventhly Slight thoughts of trouble of Conscience for sin are 1 A high degree of Blasphemy 2 And a degree towards the unpardonable sin WE have entred upon the Application of all that hath been said concerning the evil of Sin And you may remember I have only named one Use that do arise from all that hath been said about the evil of Sin and that we shall now prosecute The Use is this If there be so much evil in sin as you have heard opened unto you beyond all the evil of any affliction Hence then we see that the wounds and trouble of Conscience for sin certainly it is no melancholly conceit it is not a fancy or imagination as many in the world think of it Many men have very slight thoughts about the trouble of Conscience for sin and when they hear of men or women troubled for their sin they think it is nothing but melancholly or temptation or some kind of frenzy or madness or folly or weakness of spirit or timerousness These be the thoughts men have of trouble of conscience and according to their thoughts that they have of it such are their Cures that they seek for it I spake som what of it in the last Chapter but now certainly if these things be true as verily they are the Truths of God that have been delivered concerning the evil of sin then we are not to wonder at men and women that have troubles of conscience for sin I shewed by some examples that trouble of conscience was not melancholly especially in the example of Christ himself that had the burden of sin troubles of spirit I cannot so properly cal it trouble of conscience for there is a substantial difference between the wrath upon his soul that he felt and the wrath of God that others feel upon their consciences but in effect the wrath of God is the same that was upon him by imputation of sin and upon others by reason of their own proper guilt and it was not melancholliness in him nor in David as I shewed in the last Chapter Now to proceed There be two things I desire to proceed in And First I have many things to say unto those that have slight thoughts of trouble of Conscience for sin somwhat to say to those and if there be any in this place that have wondred at men and women that have been troubled in their conscience for sin let them attend to what they read I have divers things to say unto them Secondly I am to shew you some difference between melancholly distempers and trouble of Conscience for sin First These thoughts of thine they certainly eome from either abundance of Ignorance or Atheism or Desperate slighting of God One of these three Causes 1 Ordinarily these thoughts that men have of trouble of Conscience to be no greater matter than such melanchoby conceits they do come from gross Ignorance thou knowest not God thou knowest not what it is for a soul to have to deal with an infinite Deity thou never yet hadest a real sight of an infinite Deity with whom thou hast to deal And it is a sad thing to think that men and women should live a long time and never in all their lives come to have a real sight of that infinite Majestie and Deitie with whom we have to do It comes from ignorance of the nature of sin thou dost not know what sin is God hath yet blinded thine eyes that thou shouldest sin but not know what sin is Certainly thou dost not know the Law of God the Spiritualness of it and the dâ—eadfulness of the wrath of God revealed against sin thou dost not know what Eternty means thou dost not apprehend what it is for a soul to be in hazard of miscarrying to all Eternity It was the Speech of Francis Spirâ— as I opened in the former Chapter I shall make use of that example further because a notable ezample Oh saith he If I might endure the heavy wrath of God but for twenty thousand years I should not think it much but it must be Eternally Eternally I must endure the Eternal wrath of God that lay heavy upon his spirit Let any man or woman in the world the stoutest proudest spirit that lives upon the face of the Earth think what it is to miscarry to Eternity and this will make his spirit be troubled Therefore its gross Ignorance in men that makes many have such slight thoughts of trouble of conscience for sin 2 Again If not from Ignorance yet from Atheism For many men that seem to have excellent Parts and are not ignorant Sots and yet have slight thoughts of trouble of conscience for sin It is not so much to be wondred at to see a company of ignorant Sots that know nothing of God and the Principles of Religion that they should have such slight thoughts and wonder what men mean to be troubled for sin But men that have good Parts perhaps men of great Gifts and pregnant Wit and great Schollers and yet they have slight thoughts of trouble of Conscience for sin Now in them Vsually the cause is Atheism or slighting of God Woful desperate Atheism is in the hearts of many great Schollers many pregnant Wits many that wâ—ll speak much of Religion yet they are desperate Atheists in their hearts therfore from thence it comes Therefore when you see learned men understanding men go on in such and such sinful waies and slight all that is said concerning the evil of sin do not wonder at it for woful desperate Atheism lies under abundance of Knowledg a great deal of knowledg learning wit and parts and yet slight sin this is the Cause the Atheism in their spirits Compare these two Scriptures together Psalm 14. 1. The fool hath said in his heart there is no God and in Prov. 14. 9. Fools make a mock of sin that is those fools that do say in their hearts there is no God those fools make a mock of sin and they think lightly of all that hath been said of the evil of sin and what need so much ado about the evil of sin they can slight it and make light of it well it is such
Text saith Christ spake it because they said he hath an unclean Spirit Mark Christ casting out Devils the Scribes and the Pharisees attribute this to an unclean Spirit and therfore they sinned against the Holy Ghost meerly because they attributed that which Christ did by the Finger of God to an unclean Spirit and therefore Christ tels them they sinned against the Holy Ghost and they shall never be forgiven Now Brethren see how neer you come to this sin for the Scribes and Pharisees saw Christ cast out Devils they did it out of malice they could not but know and yet they say it was by the Devil You see one troubled in Conscience which is by the Holy Ghost and you say it is a foolish and a mad spirit and somtimes 't is an unclean spirit but it is worse when you say it is a foolish and melancholly spirit you do more blaspheme the Holy Ghost and come neerer this sin Oh take heed and be humbled your condition is dangerous that have had or have any such low thoughts about trouble of Conscience for Sin Object But we see by experience men and women troubled for Sin be very melancholly and heavy Answ To speak to this True sometimes God may be pleased to sanctifie even that humor of melancholliness so as to further such a work as this yea God may cause a work on Conscience to be furthered by melancholly and yet a great deal of difference between melancholly and this 1 As first God may make use of melancholly to bring in trouble of conscience as thus If it be not too prevailing to besot men and women as somtimes it doth but if it be no more prevailing but thus to make men seriously consider and ponder and weigh things then God makes use of a degree of melancholly to make men and women to know themselves and sin and the things of their Eternal Estate and such a melancholly is a blessed melancholly and you have cause to bless God for it Melancholly in some inferior things is very useful and the Phylosophers say That the most Eminent men in the world for great matters were melancholly because they were serious in their thoughts whereas othermen be of slight vain frothy Spirits Many that never had melancholly they conceive of things and it passeth and they never â—ay any thing to heart they never knew what it was for one half hour to be serious in their thoughts all their lives Many that be Sanguine be of a light vain spirit and it is a heavy Judgment of God to be given over to a light vain Spirit that considers nothing Now when God makes use of this Particular degree of melancholly to make men and women serious to consider what shall become of them another day what the terms between God and they are what if I were now to die and what if I were now to stand before God then it is a good help to this work But yet because this work is a work beyond any melancholly conceit we shal give you in the Differences But yet further it must be acknowledged when God comes with trouble of Conscience it may be so mighty and strong that it may alter the body and consume the very Spirits in the Bodies of men and women and alter the temper of blood it may be so strong and powerful and so there may come melancholly in afterward but yet there is abundance of difference between melancholly and trouble of Conscience and that will appear in these Six Particulars CHAP. LII Six Differences between Melancholly and Trouble of Conscience Diff. 1. Melancholly may be in those that are most grosly ignorant but trouble of conscience cometh with some enlightening work Diff. 2. Melancholly prevails on men by degrees but trouble of Conscience many times comes suddenly as lightning Diff. 3. Melancholly trouble is exceeding confused but troubles of Conscience are more distinct Diff. 4. The more melancholly any hath the less able are they to bear outward affliction but the more trouble of Conscience the more able to bear outward afflictions Diff. 5. Melancholly puts a dulness upon the spirits of men but trouble of Conscience for sin puts a mighty activity upon mens spirits Diff. 6. Trouble of Conscience cannot be cured the waies melancholly may FIrst Melancholly it is many times in men and women where there is most gross Ignorance of God and of Sin and of the things of their Eternal Estate it may consist with gross ignorance Many melancholly people are most ignorant and sottish and know nothing of the Principles of Religion but troubles of Conscience can never come without some new Light of God darted in and setled upon the hearts of men and women it comes alwaies with some inlightning work of the Spirit Melancholly is many times with a great deal of darkness within the mind is dark where melancholly prevails and many times gross ignorance but never any true trouble of Conscience but God comes in with some light And therefore if any man or woman be troubled and say it is for sin I put this to you What hath God discovered to you now more than before What Truths of God hath God setled upon their hearts more than before If they can give no further account of no other light let into them than before or further Truth let in upon their hearts than before then indeed it may be suspected not to be trouble for sin as many melancholly people have the name of being troubled for sin and they have fears of Hell because of dark thoughts But 't is not the true work of the Spirit upon the Soul except it be with convincement of some new Light or settling some Truth more upon the Soul than before Secondly Melancholliness comes by degrees upon men and women alterations of the Body are not sudden things the temper of men and womens Bodies cannot suddenly be altered to any extremity but gradually from one degree to another but trouble of Conscience comes many times as a flash of Lightning from Heaven Many men and women have come to the Congregation with scornful spirits prophane wicked and ungodly never knew what sin meant nor trouble for sin meant and God hath met with them in the Word and fastned some Sentence upon their hearts so that they fall down under the power of it that comes just as an Arrow struck into their Liver and they could never get out of it have gone away with horrors of soul and therfore this hath not been melancholliness Certainly the humors of the Body never so suddenly alters the Spirits of men but when God comes to work when the Spirit of God and Bondage comes to work it needs no matter before no preparative matter for the work of the Word is such as it works immediately without any preparation Therfore many men that understood as little of trouble of Conscience as ever any did in their lives and yet God lets some Truth reach them
fuel for their sin 2 When it gives men further liberty to sin 3 When it hardens in sin WE are yet upon the great Doctrine of the Evil of Sin shewing that there is more evil in Sin than in any affliction Many things you know have been delivered in the Explanatory part of it wherein I have endeavored to set before you the vileness of sin to paint it out unto you in the true colors of it as I was able And having set Sin before you in the vileness of it we have begun the Applicatory part of this Point to draw some Collections by way of Use from what hath been said concerning the dreadful Evil of Sin I have finished the first Use I shall now proceed to the Second Vse 2. And that is this If there be such dreadful evil in Sin above all Evils of Affliction Hence then it follows that a man or woman may be in a most miserable condition a miserable estate although they be delivered from affliction I say It is possible for a man or woman to be a most miserable creature though they have no outward affliction yet their condition may be very miserable because there is evil enough in Sin to make one miserable without affliction Most people in the world know no other miseries than that miserie that comes by affliction and they make afflictions to be the only rule and measure of a miserable condition so much afflicted so miserable is their estate and so little afflicted so happie is their estate They think that those people that are delivered from affliction are happie people and those people that are under affliction are miserable people Oh he hath lost his estete suffered shipwrack hath grievous diseases in his bodie is put in prison and so lives miserably all his daies thus people look upon men and women in affliction as if they were only miserable Before I have done with this Use I shall I hope convince you That it is not affliction yea all afflictions miseries troubles outwardly do not make us miserable but only sin where there is most sin there is most miserie though less affliction It is a great mistake in people to judg of happiness or unhappiness by these outward things You shall have many people when they see men and women very poor that have no houses nor clothes nor meat and drink that are fain to work hard for their livings that are sickly and weak Oh they be in a pitiful condition but when they see others provided of houses and land that have attendance and are gorgiously attired brave diet and good trades these be happy men Now the Point that hath been opened to you will serve to rectifie your Judgments in these things and not to make afflictions or no afflictions to be the rule of happiness but to make sin or no sin or less sin to be the rule of judging of the happiness of our condition It was the Speech of Luther One drop of an evil Conscience is enough to swallow up all the joyes in the world all the prosperity in the world There is so much evil in sin that though a man or woman had all the joyes and prosperitie that possibly the world can afford yet one drop of an evil conscience the guilt of one sin in an evil conscience is enough to swallow up all and make this man miserable in the height of all prosperitie Let a man be raised up as high as the world can raise him set upon a Throne having a Scepter in his hand and a Crown upon his head having all the Pomp and Glorie the world can afford yet if sinful yea if he have but the guilt of any one Sin upon his Spirit this man is a miserable man But let any one be as poor as Job and sitting upon the dunghil scraping his sores if delivered from the evil of sin this man is a happie man I remember a Speech of Anselm that I have read That he had rather be in Hell without sin than in Heaven with sin looking upon sin as so great an evil as if to be rid of sin would make a man happy under the torments of Hell and being under the guilt of sin it would make a man miserable though in Heaven Certainly then the guilt of Sin makes a man miserable in al outward prosperity and the deliverance from Sin will make a man happie under all outward afflictions and miseries So though a man be prosperous in his worldly estate yet if Sinful that hath enough in it to make a man miserable especially considered in this if there be these two Branches in it First If a mâ—n be prosperous by Sin Or Secondly Be sinful by his prosperity Then he is indeed a miserable Creature notwithstanding all his prosperity I beseech you observe it and it follows from the Point that hath been opened that there is so much evil in Sin As First If there be so much evil in Sin Let a man be never so prosperous if prosperity be furthered by sin or sin furthered by prosperity he must needs be a mâ—st wretched miserable Creature If prosperity be furthered by Sin as thus If any man raise himself to any outward prosperous estate in a sinful way although the world may judg such a man happy having his hearts desire satisfied yet it is most certain this man is a wretched man As suppose a man get preferment by a sinful way Oh his heart is eagerly desirous to get up to Preferment to get Livings and Estate in the world and he doth strain his Conscience for it and when there is a Sin between him and his Preferment he will get over the Sin he wil climb and scamble over this Sin to get the Preferment rather than lose the Preferment he will scamble over Sin and go through Sin unto his Preferment so eagerly desirous are men of Preferment that though Sin be between them and their Preferment they will break through they will break through the hedg but they will gain it Oh how many Schollers and others especially such whose Educations have been mean when they see any way of Preferment Livings or Estates though they have some Sin between them and Preferment how have they got it and think themselvssafe when they have got Livings and Preferment Oh these men be miserable and therefore miserable because preferred because prospered in their hearts desire And so for men that get riches and estates otherwise than by right by deceit and oppression in any sinful wicked way it may be now they have got fair houses and well furnished and means coming in and they bless themselves and think now they be happy yea and others also they think them happy and live bravely in the world but if you knew all you would look upon these men as most wretched cursed Creatures Certainly those men will one day curse the time that ever they had such an estate and will wish rather that they had begged their
strictness and care of Gods People against sin Two Directions to those that make Conscience of smal sins First Be even in your waies strict against all sin Secondly Be very yeilding in all Lawful things Use IV. IF there be so much evil in Sin Hence then is justified the strictness and care of the People of God against sin They be afraid of everie sin they dare not be so bold in the waies of sin as others are but they tremble when any sin is presented to them they be afraid and tremble others go on boldly and presumptuously and laugh at such as be afraid Oh such scrupulous Consciences Oh they dare not do such a thing because 't is a sin they say Oh they dare not by any means because they dare not sin thus others laugh at them because they think they be more scrupulous than they need be that should be afraid to do things so little as they think these are I beseech you observe the perversness of mens hearts you shall have them if men offend the Law of man them that are in Authoritie the Commands of men in things that they themselves will profess to be verie little and smal then they will cry out of such its Rebellion and Rebels against authoritie and they are not worthie to live and they would have the severest punishments that can be against them that will not obey mans authoritie in little things but mark these men that will so urge small things and where they be small the worse the disobedience say they in disobeying in small things Yet these men that seem verie Consciencious in such things when they see men afraid to offend God that dare not do little things if sinful dare not speak an idle word and be sinfullie merrie as others are that are afraid of intemperance and everie small thing as they think these men will jeer such what a horrible Sin is this What! urge mans Authoritie in small things and jeer those that be Consciencious to Gods Authoritie in small things What shal the Authoritie of man put weight upon smal things and not the Authoritie of the Almightie put weight in small things Well whatsoever they think brethren go on and make Conscience of small things and never call anie sin little because you have heard of so much evil in it go away with this impression of the Evil of Sin on your hearts Well by this I have heard of the Evil of Sin I have learned to account no sin smal though never so little in the eye of the world Is it a Sin If so do thou never admit of it if it be a sin abhorre it let this temptation never prevail with thee What will you not do this you may do worse This I would advise those gracious and godlie that do indeed make Conscience of small Sins and do well in making Conscience of small things I give you these Two Instructions to carrie along with you as you do make Conscience of small things and you do well in it because there is so much Evil in Sin So The First Instruction Be sure your Course be even this way that as you seem to make Conscience of some things smal so make Conscience of all Let not men of the world that observe your waies find you tripping and have just cause to say These men seem scrupulous in small things but in otherwaies they give libertie enough to themselves And say they though they will not swear they will lye and such like aspertions sometimes through malice the men of the world cast upon Profession But I speak to you in the name of the Lord take heed you give not occasion to the men of the world to say so to say I these be so scrupulous in Ceremonies and so nice in these things though certainlie we are bound to be so for God is a jealous God and if in anie thing we be Consciencious we must in his Worship be Consciencious there but then you had need be so much the more careful that they find you exact in everie thing that you do You servants perhaps you inquire after the Worship of God you yong people and it is a great mercie of God that God stirs up yong ones to inquire after the true worship of God and not to worship God in that ignorance that your fore-fathers did that took up everie thing upon custome or the use of the Parish they lived in for certainlie it is not the practise of manie nor the command of Authoritie can make it lawful if not warranted by the Word Well perhaps manie yong ones now begin to inquire after the way of Gods Worship and perhaps your Masters or Parents or may be Husbands be angry and vexed and wonder what is come to you because grown so scrupulous of these things Now I say you had need be verie exact in your Masters familie that you may not be found tripping in other things and you Wives had need be verie exact that your Husbands find you not faultie in other things and you Children had need be verie respectful to your Parents and careful of your Duties to them because they be more apprehensive of anie failings in that which is due to them then they are of any thing in the Worship of God and they know God tyes you to the practice of those duties Now if you cannot joyn in their practice and such Superstition as your Masters do Now if these Servants be unfaithful in Service and carelesss and stubborn and stout in answering again how doth this harden their Masters against this way of Worship and harden their hearts against them What You make Conscience of Superstition because sinful and is not this Sin as well as that to be unfaithful and stubborn and stout if you make Conscience of one sin why not of another therefore all you that seem to have more tender Consciences than others and more afraid of the least sin than others be sure you walk exactly and especially have a care of your duty towards men with whom you walk for they can spy you presently if you trip A Second Instruction I commend to those that make Conscience of little of the least Sin is this Be sure you be as yeilding and tractable in all other things as possible you may in all things lawful I ground it upon this Because those whose Consciences be tender and dare not commit the least Sin for anie seeming good they cannot but stand out rather than commit some evils some things that they be required to do they dare not do because sinful it cānot be but in some things they must stand out because they be convinced that it is a sin now this the world judges stoutness and pride you make Conscience of it but they think it pride and stoutness of spirit why Cannot you do this as well as others when alas God knows and your Consciences tels you that you would with all your hearts but cannot you
sins of thy youth many youths yong people run on in great iniquities in the times of their youth and multiply sins and ad Sin to Sin well know that thy youthful sins may prove thy ages terror and thou that art so full of Sins when yong and given up to all kind of Sin now hereafter thy bones may be full of the Sins of thy youth Thus much for this Use likewise because that it would require a Doctrine by it self I proceed to another CHAP. LVIII Use 7. If there be so much evil in sin how dreadful a thing it is for men or women to delight in sin Use VII IF there be so much evil in sin as you have heard mark then further what follows What a dreadful thing is it for men and women to delight in sin and rejoyce in sinful waies to make a sport of sin What infinite impudency is this for a Creature to make merry and rejoyce in Sin against God Hast thou nothing to be merry withal Hast thou nothing to rejoyce in but sinning against the Almighty What shall there be so much revealed to thee concerning the dreadful evil of thy sins and yet you so far from being convinced that there is so much evil in it as you rather look upon it as having more good in it than there is in God himself and Christ and Heaven and all the glorious things of eternal life for so doth everie man and woman that makes anie sinful way their chief joy I say they are so far from being convinced of so much evil in it as hath been declared as that they do rejoyce in it as if there were more good in it than there is in God himself or Christ or anie thing revealed in the Word concerning the treasures of the riches of the grace of God in Christ this is horrible wickedness it is an horrible evil in thy heart that such an evil as sin is should be so suitable to thy heart that there should be anie suitableness between thy heart and so great an evil as sin is yea note that thou hast a verie cursed heart that should be suitable to that which is so evil a verie poysonous heart that there should be so much agreement between that which is so poysonous and the temper of thy heart True a toad will take poison and it is suitable to it it lives upon it and takes delight in it as you do in meat and drink Now those that can make Sin their meat and drink as Christ saith It is meat and drink to do the Will of my Father so it is meat and drink to manie ungodly men and women to do wickedlie Now hereby thou art declared to be a toad to be of a venemous nature that hast such a suitableness between thy Nature and Sin Sure nothing but a venemous toad can delight in poison so nothing but a heart more venemous and loath som than a toad is to the daintiest Ladie in the world to put a toads head to their mouth I say none but such a heart can take delight in a sinful and ungodlie way Suppose there were a suitableness between the corrupt humors in thy soul and sin yet now thou hast heard so much of the evil of it it is a cursed madness in thee to take delight in it because it is suitable to thy Nature What canst thou delight to drink sweet poison because poison is sweet and comes to be suitable because of the sweetnesse If thou know it to be poison and strong poison what a madnesse were it in thee to drink a â—â—ll draught only because 't is sweet There is the same madnesse in all men and women in the world that can take pleasure in sin because there is sweetness in it and the suitablenesse of it unto their corrupt nature There is not only difference but contrarietie between thy heart and a godlie mans a godlie man or woman had rather suffer all the torments in the World than endure that which thou makest thy chief Joy What a contrariety to God and the Nature of God what a difference between the Nature of God and thee That which is a burthen to the Spirit of God is the most delightful thing in the world to thy spirit Yea what a desperate heart hast thou that that which murthered Christ thou canst delight in Certainlie where there is delight and pleasure in Sin Sin increaseth infinitelie there must be most desperate increase of Sin For as it is with grace those men and women that have gracious hearts and come to make the waies of godliness their delight once Oh they grow up in godliness no men and women grow up in godliness so as these do that come to make the waies of God their delight If you would grow up in grace make the waies of God your delight and then you will grow in grace So contrarilie those men and women that come to make anie waies of Sin their delight and joy of their hearts they grow up in sin in a most dreadful manner And be it known unto you that according unto the measure of your delight in Sin so shall be the bitterness and torment that you shal indure herafter As Rev. 18. 7. it is said of Babilon So much as she hath glorifed her self so much torment give her So God will say of all sinners that hath taken pleasure in unrighteousnesse So much as you have rejoyced in sin so much torment give that soul Yea the time will come that God will take as much delight in your destruction as you have delighted in sinning against him Prov. 1. latter end God will laugh at their destruction and mock when their fear cometh Is there never a man or woman here in this congregation that hath committed sin and laughed at it or made some others commit sin and laugh at it I speak to you as in the name of God Is there not one man or woman whose Conscience tels them I have sworn an oath or told a lye and laughed at it made another drunk and laughed at it Dost thou laugh at sin rejoyce at sin take heed come in quicklie thou hadsi need fall down and mourn bitterlie at Christs feet otherwise certainlie thou art the man or woman at whose destruction God will laugh another day It were thy wisdom rather to howl and cry out in anguish of Spirit because of Sin than to make it matter of jollitie and joy Let us all take heed of making our selves merrie with sin We must not play with edge tools There is a notable place we have Prov. 26. 18 19. As a mad man who casts fire brands arrows and death so is the man that deceaves his neighbor and saith Am I not in Sport I beseech you consider this text many of you will cozen and cheat your neighbors and when you have done make a jest and mock of it that you cozened and cheated so what the holie Ghost speaks to such a man and
do good to the souls of their Children for know according to the nature of the wrong must the Restitution be One text is observable for this to shew that according to the nature of the wrong must the restitution be to the utmost that can be Exod. 22. 5. If a man shall cause a Field or Vinyard to be eaten and shall put in his Beast and shall feed in another mans field of the best of his own field and of the best of his own vinyard shall he make restitution This is the scope of the holy Ghost in this text of Scripture That if anie one shall wrong another in his vinyard or his field he shall make restitution and mark what the text saith not in anie slight manner but of the best of his field and vinyard he must not say I warrant my Cattel did not do any hurt but eat a little of the worst and I will make restitution of the worst no but must make restitution of the best of his field and vinyard he must not think to get off with a barren peice of ground but with the best must he make restitution This shews what a full restitution God will have So then if a man hath wronged his neighbor in his vineyard t is not enough for him to say I will make restitution in my barren ground no but out of his vinyard must he make restitution so if he have wronged his neighbor in his field he must not go and say I will give a part of the Common but of the best of his field must he make restitution so if he have wronged another in his estate he must give of his estate and if the wrong be to the soul the restitution must be to the soul according to the wrong must be the restitution And I beseech you be convinced of this All the sorrow in the world is not sufficient without you make restitution this is so cleer out of the word and even by the light of nature and of Conscience that they may easilie convince themselves whosoever doubts of the thing nothing in Religion more cleer than this is therefore restitution is required by God of thee as ever thou wilt expect to find mercie This Argument if God be pleased to set it home will make many men and women who when they were yong were ring leaders to wickedness to others Oh how forward would they be to good now they would be ring-leaders to good to others now I pronounce it as in the name of God you can have no assurance of the truth of Repentance except there be some indeavor in some degree to be as forward for God now as thou hast been in the waies of sin before if you have been Ring-leaders to the sin of Sabbath breaking you must be Ring-leaders to draw others to keep the Sabbath and if you have been Ring-leaders to ungodlinesse you must be forward to draw others to godlinesse Oh take heed of this it is a woful thing to draw others to sin seeing there is so much evil in sin as there is CHAP. LXIV Use 14. If there be so much Evil in Sin than there ought to be no pleading for sin Use XIV IF there be so much Evil in Sin as you have heard hence then surely there ought to be no pleading for sin there is too much evil in it for any one in the world to plead for it to make any excuse or any Plea for it As if there be a notorious wicked house where there is much evil done in it we account it a great disgrace for any to Plead for it If it be in Question and any Justice of Peace plead for wicked Ale-houses it is a blot to him If there were no sin committed in it it were not much but if it be a notorious house for sin to Plead for it is accounted a great blot And now you that have heard of the great evil of sin will you ever open your mouths to deminish and excuse sin and yet how ordinarie is this in the world Some go to evil wicked company and when they spend their times in drinking Plead Why they must have recreation I pray what work do they tire themselves withal that needs so much recreation what service do they do for God wherein they spend their Spirits and the strength of their Souls in serving God that they need so much refreshing And so when they spend whole daies in drinking and eating why they do but rejoice in the use of the Creature and may they not keep Companie with such men that be honest men and so anie kind of sin wicked ribaldry talking is but mirth and notorious covetousnesse but providing for their Familie and horrible pride but handsomnesse somwhat they will have to say Pleas and Excuses for almost anie sin Certainlie brethren if we understood the nature of sin we would say as Jerubael Let Baal plead for himself So let sin plead for it self never be heard to open thy mouth to plead for sin in others excuse it in others much lesse in thy self Those that be so full of excuses and pleas for sin it is an evident argument God never discovered the evil of sin yet to them never caused the weight and burthen of sin to lie upon their Conscience nor what we have mentioned of the evil of it Oh! know thou hast to deal with the infinite God it is a matter of thy soul and eternal estate and think not to put it off with vain pleas and excuses but set thy self in the presence of the eternal infinite God Indeed if you have to deal with your Mothers or Friends you may put them off with excuses for sin but if you would set your selves as in the presence of God and there set sin before your eyes you would not so easilie put it off with excuses as you do CHAP. LXV Use 15. If there be so much Evil in Sin Then of all JVDGEMENTS spiritual Judgements are the greatest Use XV. IF there be so much Evil in Sin as hath been delivered then above all Judgements spiritual Judgements are the greatest Oh! what a dreadful thing then is it for God to give men or women up to sin this is the most fearful Judgement that can befal anie man or woman in the world except God should send them quick down to hell Yea it may be if God should send them quick down to Hell and cause Hells mouth to open presentlie it would not be so great a Judgement as to give them up to sin And yet this the Scripture speaks of much of Gods wrath burning this way God hardened the heart of Pharaoh God gives up to a Reprobate sence he that wil be filthie let him be filthie still he gives men up to their own Counsels I might shew you divers texts of Scripture for this but there are Two Things in this POINT that requires large discusion 1 How can God that is so infinitly good have a hand in
should sin against and wound your own consciences therefore let them do what they will you cannot do what is required let masters rage and be angry and husbands be displeased you cannot yeeld your consciences will not suffer you Now that you may convince them that it is conscience and not stubbornness how shall this be known that it is consciousness and not stubbornness for we cannot see into your consciences I give you this Note to discover it to them be more pliable and yeilding in all other things and there to go beyond all other women or children or servants As now if there be a woman whose Conscience cannot yeild to some things and her husband is displeased because he beleeves it is stoutness now that her husband may beleeve it Conscience and not stoutness it concerns that woman to observe whatsoever gives content to her husband in everie thing else to be more yeilding and pliable and tractable and herein denying her own will to give content to her husband in other things and herebie he will be convinced sure she is not stout and stubborn in other things why because in this I find her more pliable and yeilding and willing than before So for Servants if you cannot yeild in that your Masters would have you strive to give him the more content in other things Children to your Parents in other things be more dutiful and one neighbor to another if neighbors would have you do that which is against your Conscience when you cannot do that yet in other things yeild to your own prejudice to convince them that in what you do not yeild it is meerlie out of Conscience and not stubbornness This is the Fourth Use I might here have gone further and if there be so much evil in Sin I would have labored with men and women to come to be sensible of all the evil of sin and to have stopped sinners in their sinful waies and courses and likewise to have drawn sinners to Christ and to have made men and women to prise Jesus Christ by whom all their sins may possibly come to be forgiven who is the onlie Ransom Propisiation for sin for this brethren is the ground of all I have said that we might be made to esteem Christ and prise Christ And in this regard though what I have said seems legal yet certainlie it is a fond unistake in people that think Christ is not preached except the word Christ be named But know all that hath been said about the Sinful ness of Sin hath been a Preaching of Christ for it hath been in way and order to bring Souls to Christ that I might cause Souls to flie to Christ and go to him that is the onlie Propisiation for Sin and the onlie Ransom for Souls And certainlie brethren if once these things I have delivered concerning the Evil of Sin come to be apprehended and the Soul made sensible of them Oh! how sweet and precious and dear will Christ be to such a Soul and the Name of that great God will be honored in such a Soul But I shall prosecute this in the following Discourse CHAP. LVI Use 5. If there be such Evil in Sin hence then is justified the dreadful things spoken in the Word against sinners THere is more Evil in Sin than in all Affliction That 's the Argument we have been long upon and have made some good entrance into the Application of it there hath been Four Uses made of this Point already that hath flowed naturally from the Evil of Sin There are yet divers more Uses which are of great Concernment wherefore we proceed to it Vse V. If there be such dreadful Evil in Sin Hence then the Word of God that speaks such dreadful things against sinners cannot but be justified of all those that know what sin is There are verie severe and fearful things revealed in the Word against Sin Now such as understand not what the Evil of Sin is are readie to think them verie hard For indeed it is onlie by the word we come to understand wherein the true Evil of Sin lies Paul to the Romans tels us That before the Law came he knew not Sin And had I Preached these Sermons concerning the Evil of Sin before the Athenians the wisest of Phylosophers they would have said as they did concerning Paul What new What strange Doctrine is this And so it is like it hath been unto all those who have no other rule to judge of things by than carnal Reason and Sence Those who are not acquainted with the mind of God revealed in his Word they perhaps have strange thoughts concerning all that hath been delivered and think I have been but an hyperboler al this while but certainly those that judg of things according to the word they see that there is a realitie in all that hath been delivered and they justifie the Word in all yea they justifie the severitie of the word against sin when they see it even against themselves for their own sins that 's a good sign when the heart of a man or woman doth not onlie justifie the word in general but when the word comes most powerfullie and sharplie against his own sins yet he lies under the power of the Word and saith It is good and holy and righteous the word of the I ord though it speaks bitter things against his own sins There are many men and women that have some seeming good affections and some tenderness of spirit and would seem to melt at a Sermon when some truths be delivered to them but when the severitie and strictness of Gods Justice in the word is presented before them their hearts flie off and they seem to be verie hard things We have a notable example for this in Luke 20. if you read in the storie before you shall find the people spoken of were much stirred with many things they heard of in the Word but in the 16. verse when Christ told them he would come and destroy those husband-men that had used the messengers so ill that were sent for fruit and the Kings only Son too He shalâ— come and destroy those Husbandmen and give the Vinyard unto others and when they heard it they said God forbid Oh God forbid that there should be so much severitie those people in this particular discovering a slightness of spirit that though they were people that seemed to have tender hearts and were much stirred and their hearts melted at some truths delivered well but yet when they heard of the severe Judgments against evil men Oh they had more compassion in them than God had said God forbid that things should be so hard What is not God a merciful God and we hear of nothing but severity that there should be such severitie in God utterly to destroy God forbid Thus people now a daies when they hear Arguments of Gods goodness and mercy their hearts be ready to melt and yeild and they be