knowest better to provide for thy self than in that way God hath set thee how doest thou cast folly on the waies of God and settest thy shallow way and heart of thine before Gods as if thou couldest provide for thy self and thy own good more wisely than God hath set thee in a way to do The Word of God and that revealed in the light of Nature is nothing else but several beams of the infinite Wisdom of God for the guiding of manking unto happiness and glory the light of Nature helps somwhat though it reach not far enough yet I say the light of Nature is made up of several beams of Gods Wisdom but the light of the Word is made up of beams of Wisdom a great deal more bright than the beams of Nature now any Sinner that forsakes the waies of God rejects these beams of Wisdom as if they were dark and doth as if he should say I know how better to provide by this way Hence carnal men account the waies of God foolishness and preaching of the Word foolishness and the usual title that they give to those that walk more strict than others is this What fools they are nothing but a company of fools that keep such a stir And it is an ordinary thing in the world for carnal hearts to cast folly upon the waies of God and for themselves they can sit at home and applaud themselves in their Wisdom as if they go in a neerer way than others and why should they be such fools as others And it is usual for Parents that be carnal to come to their Children and cast folly upon them when they look after the waies of God some do it openly but every sin doth cast folly upon God and his blessed way and in every sin thou settest thy wisdom above Gods Wisdom Fourthly In Sin thou doest cast dirt on the Holiness of God Holiness is the brightness of of Gods glory and in the waies of Sin thou castest dirt upon the face of Holiness it self Gods Nature is pure thy Sin is filthy and vile and contrary to him and doth what it can to darken the brightness of the infinite Holiness of God Fifthly Thou wrongest God in this That thou settest up thy Will above the Will of God Gods Will is to be the rule of all the actions and waies of the Creature but thou comest and settest up thy Will above Gods there is this hidious wickedness in every sin at least in every wilful Sin when it comes into the will then the will of man is set up above the will of the infinite and glorious God do not you account your selves wronged when you will have your will and a poor boy saith he will have it otherwise do not you account your selves wronged when he dares set his will before yours Oh consider this you that are wilful you cannot bear to have your will crost to have an inferior or a Child set their will against yours you are not able to bear it Oh consider what you do when you set your will against the will of the infinite God nay above it in two regards 1 Because when Gods will is one way and yours another you will rather have yours than God shall have his 2 Though God doth onlie will that which is right and good and is content to have his will satisfied in nothing but in things good you will have yours right or wrong good or bad God will have his in onlie that which is righteous and good if you were set upon your will in that which were good it were another matter but in that you will have your will right or wrong good or bad as come to men in their passion and reason with them why this is not wel yet say they I wil and this carries it what a proud Spirit is this that dares set up his will against Gods will good or bad right or wrong I must have it and this is in sin Sixthly Sin wrongs God in the Dominion and Power and Soveraigntie of God which with men is a verie tender thing where there is Sovereigntie there cannot be endured the least wrong Men be mightie tender of Power and Sovereigntie sure if they be so God may much more be tender of his which is as the apple of his eye Let me suggest one Consideration to you which should make anie mans heart to bleed to consider how God is wronged in the world and that is this You shall have poor men and servants that dare not do anie thing to displease those that have power over them if but a Master or Landlord or Justice of the Peace especially if it come higher Oh how they shake and tremble if they be displeased and if anie thing go against their mind they dare not do it but there is not the basest fellow the vilest wretch that lives the poorest worm but he dares venture to sin against God blaspheme the Name of God shakes at the word of a man of power or a man but a little above him but he dares fill his mouth with Oaths even in the face of God himself there he hath courage and valor and he scorns to be afraid what to fear an Oath he hath too brave a Spirit to be afraid of that Oh horrible wrong to the infinite God! What is anie Superioritie in man so great that men dare not offend them and yet the poorest Spirit that is dares wrong and blaspheme the Name of God Seventhly There is a wrong to God in his Justice Sin wrongs God in his infinite Justice 1 In that it is not afraid of God God expects all Creatures should fear him because of his Justice 2 Thou doest wrong to his Justice in that by waies of Sin thou doest as much as in thee lies even accuse the waies of God for unjust-waies and not equal but that your waies be more just and equal than Gods Therefore God in Scripture reasons the Case with his People What are not my waies equal are not your waies unequal Ezek. 18. 29. Certainly there is this in sin for if you account not your waies more equal why chuse you them Eightly You wrong God in his Truth As if all Gods threatnings against the waies of Sin you walk in were nothing but a Tale and a Lie as if all the Promises God hath made in his word of grace and mercy to poor Sinners that will come in and repent they were all but a Lie thus Sin wrongs God in his Truth Hence it is that a Sinner is in a woful estate because he hath thus wronged God he hath therefore all the Attributes of God pleading against him yea they are continuallie against thee Therefore look to it till your Sins be done away in Christ and your Souls clensed in him both night and day all the Attributes of God are pleading against thee for to require that wrong you have done to them may be righted upon thee A man is in a sad
condition if he have but divers thousands of men come to plead against him and these cry out for Justice justice upon him but if a man have a whol Kingdom and everie one comes and cries Justice Justice upon this man that hath wronged this Kingdom this man is in a woful estate but I speak of everie Sinner before God if that thy sins be not done away in Christ know it is not a whol Kingdom speaks against thee but all the divine Attributes al the Attributes of God be continuallie before the Lord crying out against thee Justice against this sin he hath wronged me saith one and me saith another and me saith another and thus and thus and thus and therefore thou art in an evil condition and it is much that thou shouldest sleep quietlie when all Gods Attributes plead against thee it is a hard case when the Devil pleads against a man and but accuse him and plead against him before God but when all the Attributes of God plead against him as I might shew you more at large how woful is his condition Object But you will say though all the other Attributes plead against me yet I hope Mercy will plead for me Answ But that pleads against thee too for thou wrongest his Mercie also Indeed there is no Attribute more wronged by Sinners ordinarily than the Mercy of God is The Mercie of God doest thou think that shall plead for thee That is wronged especiallie Why Because there is no Attribute abused to be an Abettor to Sin more than the Mercie of God is and it s abused and made to harden the hearts of men and women in Sin no Attribute so much abused The Justice of God thou thinkest that pleads against thee but Mercie thou thinkest pleads for thee Justice is not so much wronged by Sin as Mercie is The Justice of God is not made an Abettor of Sin Now that is the greatest wrong that can be for Gods Mercie to be made a means to abet Sin and to harden mens hearts in Sin It is a great wrong to make use of any Creature to be serviceable to our Sin if a man make Meat or Drink or Cloathes or anie Creature serviceable to his Lust it is a wrong to that Creature and to God the Creator of that Creature that thou makest serviceable to thy lust but if it be a wrong to the Creature what is it to make the Mercie of God serviceable to your lusts and who is there almost but makes the mercy of God in some degree or other Serviceable to his lusts It is a horrible thing thus to abuse mercie how doest thou think the mercie of God should plead for thee when thou doest it such infinite wrong when thou venturest upon sin because God is a merciful God Thus you wrong the Attributes of God by sin CHAP. XII How sin wrongs God in his personal Relations 1 The Father 2 The Son 3 The Spirit SEcondly Now for the Personal Relations of God Father Son and holy Ghost how they be wronged in way of sin First God the Father Consider of these in those operations most proper and especially attributed to them As now that attributed to the Father is the work of Creation now thou wrongest God the Father in this especial operation In that thou abusest the gifts God hath given thee that Body and Soul God hath made thou abusest it to Gods dishonor abusest his Creatures takest Gods own Creatures and abusest them to his dishonor yea thy own Members that God made thee to honor him withal thou takest them and with his own weapons fightest against himself not only fightest against him but with his own weapons faculties and gifts he hath given thee thou fightest against him Thus thou wrongest God the Father in his work of Creation Secondly Thou wrongest Christ in the Work of Redemption 1 Because the least sin thou committest if ever it be pardoned it is that which stab'd Jesus Christ to the very heart I say thy sin was that which pierced Christ and brought forth blood and water from him it was that which whipt Christ it was that which put Christ to death that shed the blood of Christ that crucified Christ I may say to every sinner that expects to be saved by Christ as Peter in the 2. Acts said to those Jews Whom you have crucified and the text saith that then they were pricked to their hearts Certain it is thou sinner man or woman whosoever thou art that dost expect to have part in the blood of Christ Thy sin crucified Christ made Christ cry out upon the Cross My God my God why hast thou forsaken me What dost thou think of thy sins now And if thou be such an one as hath never been affected with the Blood of Christ that was shed for thy sins then thou wrongest the Blood of Christ more for then thou dost trample the Blood of the everlasting Covenant under thy feet and accountest it a common thing Most men and women be such that live under the light of the Gospel that like Swine trample the very blood of Christ under their feet and make nothing of the Blood of Christ go to the Sacrament hand over head unpreparedly and so come to be guilty of the Body and Blood of Christ Certainly these be not strains of wit above the truth and reality of things there is a reality in it that thy soul is charged from God this day of wronging Christ the second Person Thirdly Thou wrongest the Spirit of God in defacing of the work of Sanctification what in thee lies in opposing the work of Gods Spirit in thy soul in resisting the motions of Gods Spirit Who is there but is guilty of resisting the motions of the Holy Ghost Who is there but at some time or other when they have been at the Word but they have had some stirrings of the Spirit of God within them when they have heard such and such truths of God But they have gone to company and laughed it away drunk and played it away talked it away What a wrong is this to the Holy Ghost thou wrongest the Holy Ghost by defiling thy Body which should be the Temple of the Holy Ghost CHAP. XIII Sin wrong the Counsels of God in setting that Order in the World that he hath set THirdly Thou wrongest the Counsels of God in setting that order in the world which he hath set To understand it know this God in his Eternal Counsel hath set a due order in all his Creatures they walk in an orderly way to fetch about that end that he himself did intend As a Workman that makes a curious work puts everie wheel and piece in a right frame and due order that so by that order his Art hath placed in the work the work may attain unto that end he made it for So God hath done he hath made all things by weight and measure in due order God made all things good very good and
the contrary But now you have heard there is nothing contrary to God to speak properly but only sin and if sin be the only contrary that God hath then certainly sin doth seek the destruction of God so much as it can though it be true a sinner can never do God hurt nor cannot hinder Gods working or Being at al whatsoever become of this wretch though he be destroyed and perish to al Eternity God will remain blessed for ever But this is the Nature of sin to seek the destruction of the Eternal God of glory Oh charge your hearts with this do not stay till God come at the day of Judgment to charge you with this for many poor sinners that went on blind-fold all their daies and never saw sin what it was then comes God upon their death bed and chargeth them with this and then their hearts are full of horror And so at the day of Judgment when God comes to charge them with this then they will be amazed and will see the truth of this Therfore seeing God doth it now before the day of Judgment do you now charge it upon your own hearts that so you may be humbled This is the Third Particular It strikes at God Fourthly Sin wrongs God exceedingly It doth that wrong unto God that all the Angels in Heaven and men in the world cannot make up again Any one sin take but the least sin that thou dost commit I say it doth that wrong unto God that all the Angels in Heaven and Men in the World can never make up again if all the Angels in Heaven and Men in the world should come and say Lord God this poor wretched Creature hath committed this sin this day O Lord we are content to suffer ten thousand yeers torment in Hell to satisfie for that wrong that is done to thee by this man or womans sin God would say it cannot be done by all Men and Angels they can never make up this wrong and yet as I shall shew hereafter God wil have this wrong made up or thou must perish Eternally Many men plead thus Who can challenge me and say I have wronged them in al my life they think this enough well suppose thou hast lived so that thou hast not wronged man either in word or deed Oh but thou hast wronged God the Living Eternal God can charge thee though man cannot that thou hast done him that wrong that all the Creatures in the world cannot make it good It were a sad thing if a man had done that wrong to a Kingdom that all the Blood in his Veins and in ten thousand generations more could not make up again he would be weary of his life You have done that wrong to the God of Heaven that all the Angels in Heaven and Men in the World can never make up again Well to conclude Though the things be hard and sad to think on God knows I treat in tender bowels and compassion to you and I do not know that ever I spake to any people in the world with more compassion and that in this particular And know though I speak of these things now yet if God give liberty I shall be as glad and willing to be large in shewing you the riches of the grace of the Gospel in Christ and Gods mercy in Christ And I hope your hearts will be as free and large in this as I am in speaking of this And if I were now treating never so much of the riches of Gods mercy in Christ I could not do it with more Bowels of Compassion than I do this but I do this that you may come to know your selves that you may come to know Christ that Christ may be precious in your thoughts For the special end of Christs coming was To take away sin to deliver from sin therfore we must know sin and charge our souls with sin that Christ may be precious Therefore if any soul shal go away and say Wo to me what have I done yea then such a soul is fit to hear of the Doctrine of grace and mercy in Christ and that in due time if God give liberty may be declared to such a soul But now for the present I beleeve this is a necessary point for you to know and this is that though some may perhaps rise against it that thousand thousands wil have cause to bless God for to all eternity when it is preached home upon their Consciences by the Spirit of the Lord which convinceth of the sinfulness of sin CHAP. XI 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 shewd 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 THis was that which we proposed in the third place but we shall handle it in this fourth place that we may enlarge upon it But how doth sin wrong God The wrong you do to God by sin is such wrong that if all the Angels in Heaven and Men in the World would be content to endure thousands of yeers of torment in Hell to make up that wrong it could not be any one sin that you commit doth such wrong to God How doth this appear To make it out I shal shew unto you four things 1 How sin doth wrong God in all his Attributes 2 How it wrongs God in his Personal Relations Father Son and Holy Ghost 3 How it wrongs him in his Counsels in that order he hath set in the World in all Creatures 4 How it wrongs God in the very End for which he hath done all that he hath done in the end of all his Works even his Glory First Sin wrongs God in his Attributes As thus First Sin doth hold forth this That there is not a sufficiency of good in God for the satisfying of a soul this language is apparant in every sin and it holds this forth so far as sin doth appear it holds this forth before all and speaks this language That there is not enough good in God That is the Blessed Glorious Al-sufficient Eternal Unchangable good and Fountain of all good yet sin makes this profession That there is not enough good in God to satisfie this soul or else why doth the soul depart from him in any sinful way and go to the Creature for any good if there be enough in God himself Now there is great wrong done to that blessed God who is goodness it self for any Creature to hold this forth That there is not sufficient good there but that the Creature must be fain to seek for it elswhere out of God So long as we seek comforts in the Creature in
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
submission unto him in thy Patience under his mighty hand thou hast behaved thy self stubbornly and stoutly and hast denyed to give God the glory of his Soveraignty Majesty Holiness Justice and Purity and this thou hast Chosen rather than to be content to lie under the Afflicting hand of God which way so ever it be taken it was a heavie Charge had it been true So for it to be alleadged against any Souls That they Chuse Iniquity rather than Affliction is a great and heavy Charge The Doctrinal truth which ariseth from the words thus opened is this That it is a very â—vâ— Choice for any soul under heaven to choose the least Sin rather then the greatest Affliction Better be under the greatest Affliction then be under the guilt or power of any Sin it is true that neither Sin nor Affliction is to be Chosen Affliction in it self is an Evil and Sin is an Evil but the object of the Will is good and choice is of the Will therfore neither barely considered as in themselves can be chosen but because of some Evils the less in comparison of the greater may come under a notion of good and so may be somtimes chosen the Will cannot chuse any thing but under the notion of good either real or in appearance and though Affliction be in it self an evil yet in regard of Sin it may come under the notion of good and that 's to be chosen rather than Sin Now this is the work I have to do to make out this Conclusion to you That any Affliction is to be chosen rather than any Sin that there is more evil in any Sin the least sin than in the greatest Affliction My principal business is To charge mens Consciences with the evil of their sin and shew to them how much evil there is in sin all men are a raid of afflictions and troubled at affliction but wher 's the man or woman that fears sin and â—â—yes from it as from a Serâ—ent and is troubled at sin more then any affliction That there is more vil in sin than in affliction in the General I suppose is granted of all none dare deny it but because they do not see how this is they have not convincing Arguments to bring this truth with power unto their Souls but I hope before I have done with this Point that I shal make it clear to every ones Conscience That there is more evil in sin than in affliction not only more evil in sin than in outward trouble in the world but more evil in sin than in al the miseries and torments of Hel it self Suppose that God should bring any of you to the very brink of that bottomless Gulf and open it to you and there you should see those damned Creatures lie sweltring under the wrath of the infinite God and there you should hear the dreadful and hideous cryes and shreeks of those that are under such soul amazing and soul-sinking torments through the wrath of the Almighty yet I say there is more evil in one sinful thought than there is in all these everlasting burnings and that is that which I shal endeavor to clear and prove to every mans Conscience that we shal not only see it an ill Choice that we chuse sin rather than affliction but if it come in competition to chuse sin rather than al the tortures and torments of Hell howsoever many of you admit of sin upon very easie terms yet the truth is That if it should come into competition whether we would endure al the torments that there are in Hell to all eternity rather than to commit one sin I say if our Spirits were as they should be we would rather be willing to endure al these torments than commit the least sin And Brethren do not think this is a high strain for that com to speak in the Name of God come not to speak Hyperbollically to raise Expressions higher than the things are in their reality no I come not for that end and I should take the Name of God in vain if I should do so therfore I dare not raise things beyond that which they are in reality in themselves Therfore know Whatsoever I shal say unto you in this thing that they are not Words or Expressions but I speak as in the name of God as I would take it upon mine own Conscience having to deal between God and you in this great work and in this place to deliver this truth That there is more evil in the least Sin than in al the miseries that possible a Creature is capable of either here or in Hel besides I hope if I shal make out this to you you wil then beleeve that sure you have not yet understood the sinfulness of Sin that yet the burthen of Sin hath not lain upon you to be felt as the burthen of sin Now then that I may fully convince you That there is more Evil in the least Sin than in any Affliction CHAP. II. The Servants of God have Chose the most dreadful Afflictions rather than the least Sin FIrst Those Servants of God that have been guided by the Wisdom of God to make their Choice they have rather chose the sorest and most dreadful Afflictions in this world than willingly to commit the least sin as now if you would but turn your thoughts to what you have read or heard of the Martyrs what hideous and grievous torments did they suffer the boyling of their bodies in scalding Lead laying of their naked backs upon hot Gridirons and â—ending and tearing their Members a pieces with Horses the pulling of their flesh off from their Bodies with Pinchers and others by red hot burning Tongs their enduring their flesh to be scorched with broyling of it first on the one side and afterward on the other side Yea weak Women have endured this To have their flesh harrowed with stones and sharp irons to have their bodies flayed and then thrown into rivers of cold ice and a thousand more whatsoever Hel and wicked men could devise they were content to endure al this and certainly could they have devised ten thousand times more exquisite torments then they did they would have been content to have endured that and whatsoever else rather than to act against their Consciences the least sin and they accounted this to be a good Choice when as they saw Sin against their Consciences on the one hand and al their torments on the other they did rather embrace these tortures then embrace that sin and for this their Choice they are renowned in the hearts of the Saints to al generations yea the holy Ghost doth witness That they have a good Report Heb. 11. Those that suffered sawing asunder and scourging and went up and down in Sheeps-skins and Goats skins in leather Breeches and Doublets and suffered the spoyling of their goods and of al that they had these had a good Report and the Holy Ghost commends them for
under Sin They can go to God and tell God their Afflictions and Challenge God with a holy boldness in Afflictions but who can go to God and Challenge God because he hath told a Lye or the like Doth this make them go with a holy boldness to God and Challenge Gods Promise because I have committed such and such a sin Secondly When Affliction doth come a gracious heart can kiss the rod and accept of the punishment of his sin but now a gracious heart can never be well pleased with his sin can never accept of sin though God punish one sin with another sometimes yet I say there cannot be a well pleasedness with sin and a kissing of that Thirdly A gracious heart may rejoyce in Affliction and have abundance of comfort in Afflictions account it all joy saith the Holy Ghost when you fall into trials and afflictions but now he can never rejoyce in sin no man can rejoyce in sin though God should turn sin to never so much good one cannot rejoyce in sin and have that comfort he may in affliction Fourthly A gracious heart may bless God for Afflictions bless God that ever he did Cast him into an afflicted estate but he can never bless God for putting him into a sinful estate though God do work good out of it Nay further That good a gracious heart hath sometimes by afflictions may incourage him to be more willing to go into affliction again when God calls him to it but if a gracious heart should get good occasionally by sin yet this good cannot incourage him to fall into sin again this were a desperate wickedness if he should Fifthly A gracious heart may desire of God that he would not take away Affliction till it be sanctified and that he would continue it till it be sanctified but no man may or ought to pray thus Lord continue me in this sin till I am humbled therefore you see there is abundance of difference between affliction and sin one hath a great deal of good annexed to it and the other hath none at all 5. Sin it is so evil that it is not capable of any good at all the air though it be dark yet it is capable of light that were a dismal darkness that were not capable of light to come to it and that which is bitter though never so bitter yet it is capable of receiving that which will sweeten it that which is never so venemous yet is capable of such things as will make it wholsom but sin is so dark that it is uncapable of light so bitter as there is no way to make it sweet so venemous as it is no way capable of any wholsomness now for the clearing of this consider these three Things 1. Put all the good in heaven and earth and in all the Creatures in heaven and earth together Suppose the quintiscence of all the good of all the Creatures of heaven and earth were put together and bring that to sin and ad it to it it would not make it good no sin would remain still as evil as before it was Now that must needs be poyson indeed that bring all the soveraign things in the world and put to it yet there would not be a deminishion of the least strength of that poyson and so it is with sin Therfore I beseech you Brethren observe it those men and women be mightily mistaken that think I have been a sinful creature indeed but now I wil amend and reforme and be better that by adding some good to their former sinful Lives it will make all good Oh! know that there is so much evil in sin that the addition of all the good of all the creatures in heaven and earth cannot make it less evil than before so that you must not only now think to live better ad good unto your former evil but you must take a course for the taking away of the former evil for the delivering you from the guilt and stain and filth of your former sin 2. Sin is not capable of good All those good ends that any men have in the Cōmission of sin yet do not make their sin the better that cannot make sin good because they have good ends as thus There may be Three good ends some may think they have in the Commission of sin 1 They may perhaps think that by Commission of some sin they may further some grace do good to others or glorifie God there may be such deceit in the heart as thus 1 They may think such a sin will help such a Grace and help against such a temptation and such a sin may help my humility and it is ordinary this temptation when in trouble of Conscience make away thy self and then thou wilt sin no more for so long as I live I shall sin against God therfore make away thy self and so cease to sin But know if thou lay violent hands upon thy self and think thou shalt have this good by it to sin no more yet thy sin is wicked and abominable though thou put this good end upon it though it were possible to in crease Grace never so much by the least sinful thought we must not commit this least sinful thought for never so good an end as to help forward such a Grace 2 A Second end may be to do good to others and I say if it were possible if a man might be a means to save the whole world if he would commit one sin if he could save the whole world from eternal Torments by the Commission of one sin you should suffer the whole world to perish rather than commit one sin there is so much evil in sin It is the expression of Augustine in a Tractate of his concerning an officious Lye a friend of his wrote to him to Answer this Question about telling of a Lye Whether he might not tell a Lye to do good to another man Many think What though I do tell a Lye so I do another good indeed if I may do hurt then I must not but if I may do good may I not tell a Lye well this Question was brought to Augustine and saith he Thou must not tell a Lye to save the whole world this was his Answer Suppose that the Soul of thy Father Mother or Child this is but a supposition or the like should lie upon it to be saved or damned if thou wilt commit one sin suppose such a temptation should come thou must not commit one sin though the soul of thy father or mother or all the world lay upon it now it is another manner of thing to commit a sin to gain a groat Oh now by a deceitful word I may have this gain if it were twenty shillings thou must not venture upon sin to save the world therefore not to gain six pence or a shilling Certainly these be the truths of God and for one to come and speak these things in a solemn manner in
shall be worth all his work Now God had some end therefore in making thee and he must needs have some excellent end but now what do I think in my conscience was the End of God in making of the World and me what was it for no other end but that men and women might live and eat and drink and lye and swear and commit such wickedness was this Gods end I put it to your conscience every sinful man or woman think how hast thou lived what hast thou done in all thy life look back to thy former life and think how hast thou spent it I have gotten money and what to do is it only to eat and drink and the like and thou hast lived in a Course of Nature thy Conscience tells thee thus now I put this to thee Doest thou think in thy conscience this is the end thou livest in the world for Did God when from all Eternity he intended to make such a Creature as thou art to live in such a time in such a place and preserved thee all this while from such dangers at Sea or at Land I say did God aim at no other end but this that thou shouldest live to do thus Certainly thy Conscience will condemn thee if thou hast but a heart for to think of it Thou wert upon thy sick bed and then thou cryedst to God to spare thee well thou didest escape now I put this to thee Dost thou think God spared thee and gave thee thy life to live to no other end but this dost thou think this was the only end Take heed thou dost not go on in waies of crossing God in his end for God will have his end one way or other If a man have been at a great deal of cost to deliver another man from misery redeemed him from Captivitie and when he hath brought him home he rails at him that did this for him and doth him all the mischief he can And in any mans account he is exceedingly wronged that hath done thus and thus for one that is thereby as it were his Creature and yet he live and do thus and thus wrong and abuse him Certainly then God is wronged when he hath given thee a Body delivered thee from such and such dangers and thou livest to no other end but to satisfie thy lust thou exceedingly wrongest God This is so cleer that a man would wonder where mens consciences are that they live quietly and that their consciences flies not in their faces continually Certainly when God shall enlighten the Conscience and bring these things with power to their Souls then Sinners will stand amazed and wonder they saw not this before These things be so clear that its a wonder I was so blind that I had not eyes to see these before and yet who laies these things to heart And thus we have done with this First thing in the Explanation the wrong Sin doth to God in his Nature working against and striking at God and in his Relations c. Now there are I confess those things I most aimed at in this work behind therefore I will wind up in a word or two in some Corollaries and Consequences to be drawn from hence Only thus much when I have told you Sin is a greater evil than Affliction yea a greater evil than all the torments of Hell as I said in the beginning Then you may see by what I have said how this Truth results out of these Consequences because it wrongs God and God is so infinitely good If anie man be afflicted or perish in Hell eternally it is but the good of a Creature and the comfort of a Creature crossed in this but in Sin there is the crossing of the good of an infinite God and of his glory and there is more good in Gods glory than in all the Peace and Comfort of all Creatures in the world and if so then certainly there must be more evil in Sin that is cross to Gods glory than in all pains and torments that are but only cross to the Peace and Comforts that are in the Creature I say Hence followeth these Corollaries CHAP. XV. The First Corollarie It appears by this That but few men know what they do when they Sin against GOD. FIRST from this Certainly it doth evidently appear that there are but few men that know what they do in sinning against God nor have not known all this while It was the Complaint of the Prophet Jeremiah No man saith What have I done Certainly men in waies of sin never say Oh Lord what have I done Give me but that man or woman that have gone on in waies of sin that have imagined they have wronged God so much that they have done so much against the infinite eternal glorious God They think indeed they have done amiss what they should not do but it is another manner of matter it is not only doing what you should not do but it is a wrong to the infinite glorious God and therefore certainly it appears but few men know God or know Sin neither know what that God is with whom they have to deal neither know what sin is and how it makes against that God with whom they have to deal if men did only know God it were enough to keep them from sin And there is a notable place in the 1 John 2. He that saith I know him and keepeth not his Commandements is a liar and the truth is not in him If there be any man in the Congregation that saith he knows God and keepeth not his Commandements he lies saith the Holy Ghost What doest thou know God man or woman Sinner Man or woman doest thou know God that infinite glorious eternal God with whom thou hast to do and not to keep his Commandements but goest on in waies of sin Certainly thou art a Liar It may be many of you are apt to say We know God what need we have so much of God Preached If you say you know God and keep not his Commandements you are a Liar But now joyn these together To know what a glorious God this is and how sin works against this God Some knows somwhat of Gods Attributes and can discourse of him yet perhaps never knew before how sin made against this God this is that people fail in certainly both together hath not been known by most people I remember a Speech I have read of a German Divine upon his sick Bed he cryes out thus In this Disease I have learned what Sin is and how great the Majestie of God is These together We cannot know what sin is except we know how great the Majesty of God is put these together and these Two together will make men understand that they did never consider of before what their lives are and how people go on in a resolute inconsiderate way and know not what they do and what God is Therefore we may pray as Christ in another case Father
opposition to him but as in opposition to our own good that we should receive from God in the use of the means of grace and so Sin is more opposite to our good than Afflictions Affliction rather usually doth further the means of grace and prepare the heart for the entertaining of the means of grace affliction doth But Sin hardens the heart against it and hinders the efficacy of the means of grace upon the souls of men and women Hosea 5. and the last In their afflictions they will seek me early then the more afflictions are upon them the more ready are they to seek me Isay 26. 16. When thy chastening was upon them they powred forth their prayer Many men and women that never knew how to pray that would say they could not pray in their families that they could not pray in secret any otherwise than to say a prayer or that they had learned when they were children to say so many words they could not pray otherwise But when their Afflictions are upon them then their hearts could be driven to God and they could find how to pray otherwise There is a speech concerning Marriners He that knows not how to pray let him go to Sea noting that when he comes into the waves and tempests and storms that would teach him to pray You Marriners consider if ever it have taught you to pray my thinks of any sort of men in the world Marriners should have the gift of prayer because so often in affliction and in danger of their lives and many times they find though they know not how to use their mouthes to fashion their tongues to any thing but oaths at other times yet when in danger of their lives they can fall to prayer and powr forth their prayer when thy chastening is upon them they powr forth their prayer and that word there translated Prayer in the Original is a word that signifies to Inchant and the reason comes from hence because Inchanters did put a great deal of efficacie in a few words closed their Sentences in a few words and thought there was much efficacie in them So the prayers that comes from men women in Affliction hath much efficacie in them they be not vain light words but have abundance of efficacie so that Afflictions further the means of grace in the hearts of men and women it brings them to the Word and furthers that also it is as the rain that softens the Earth and fits it for the Plow Plow up the falloâ— ground of your hearts saith the Lord the Word of God is as the Plow to plow up the fallow ground of your heart Now Husband-men know when the Earth is drâ—e and hard they cannot plow their plows are kept out but when Rain comes and softens the Earth then their Plows can go Many times it is so with the hearts of manie men and women when they are in prosperitie the Sun-shine of prosperitie being upon them the Plow of the Word cannot get into their hearts but when afflictions or sickness comes then the Plow of the Word can get in and cast up the fallow ground of their hearts times of Affliction do bring men and women to the Word Therfore I remember I have read of Chrysostom in a Sermon of hi to the people of Antioch where he preached he tells them When they were in trouble then their Congregations were thrust and filled It was at such a time when Theodocius the Emperor by the Instigation of the Empress his Wife was angrie with the Citie and threatned to come against it and destroy it in a Warlike manner then all the people got together and the Congregations were thrust and then they prayed and sighed and great and much prayer there was when they were afraid the King would come in anger against the Citie to destroy it So that afflictions and troubles and fears they do bring men and women to the means of grace and they do further the means of grace and make the means to be profitable many times As it is with the Seed that is sowen if there be a dry hot time after the sowing it lies under the clods and comes not up but if there come rain then that which was sowen divers weeks before springs up So we sow the Word of God in your hearts but the Seed lies under the clods so long as there is the hot Sun-shine of prosperitie till afflictions come and the rain of affliction brings the Word out and then somwhat appears We have known men that never seemed to be wrought on by the Word yet when God hath laid his hand upon them in some affliction then there hath been brought to their remembrance such a Truth that they heard such a time and then they have acknowledged the power of the Word and Conscience hath then been awakened and not before I remember it is reported of Beza that famous Instrument of God in the Church That being a Papist and living in Paris and in great Honor as he was there being a man of great Esteem and good Birth and had Preferments there yet he had often times misgiving thoughts that he was not right that the Popish Religion was not right and that the Protestants were in the right because he had read the Scriptures and compared the Controversie yet because of his great Honors and preferments in Paris all went away and could not prevail but God laid upon him a great sickness and great afflictions and then that which he had but overly upon his spirit before now sunk into his heart more deeply that as soon as he began to recover he left Paris and all his Preferments and got to Genevah and there made publick profession of the Truth Thus Afflictions further the means of grace but it is otherwise with Sin that if let alone hardens the heart desperately against all the means of grace Though it be true God may somtimes put forth his Almightie Power and notwithstanding all the sin in the soul of a man or woman he may make the means of grace effectual though mans heart be never so stout and stubborn in their waies of sin yet God may please to come by his Almightie Power and over power the heart as he doth manie times yea God sometimes lets men go on in horrible wickedness to manifest his power the more As the Prophet Elijah when he would have fire come to devour the Sacrifice he poured much water upon it that so the Power of God might the more be manifested so God suffers deluges of sin to be somtimes in men and women that he might magnifie his Power so much the more in the efficacie of the means of grace But yet we are to know that sin and every sin of its own Nature doth harden the heart against God in the use of all the means of grace yea and so hardens the heart that if men and women live any long time under the means of grace and
continue in the waies of sin it is a thousand to one whether ever they be wrought upon afterward usually we find where the means of grace comes to any place it works for the most part at the first I do not nor will not limit God but for the most part at first it works upon men and women before they have by sin hardened themselves against it if once they have continued some little time under it and their hearts have followed their sin and so come to be hardened it is I say a most dangerous thing and manie times God for ever leaves them to their hardness yea such evil there may be in sin as if a man or woman hath an enlightened conscience and shal go against the light of their conscience when they live under the means of grace any one sin against the light of conscience may for ever harden them Thou that hast come to the Word and hast heard these things thou knowest hath come neer to thy soul and yet there hath been that violence of corruption to go against the light of thy conscience and that particular truth that hath been made known unto thee from God that one sin may be enough evil to harden thy heart that the means shall never do thee good therefore there is a great deal more evil in sin than in any affliction I beseech you consider of this one note further in it God comes manie times yea usually with abundance of grace to the souls of men and women in their affliction and that in the continuance of their afflictions and in the encrease of their afflictions yet the means of grace work but God can never come with grace while they sin except sin be decreased I say God never comes to make any means of grace effectual but it must be with the decrease and with the taking away of sin the means of grace may be effectual with the encrease of affliction but the means of grace can never be effectual but with the decrease of sin therefore there is more evil in sin than in affliction as against our selves CHAP. XXXVIII XV. Sin is worse to us than Affliction because Sin brings more shame than Affliction XV. THere is more evil in Sin than in Affliction as against our selves In regard of the shame that it doth bring Sin brings more shame than any Affliction brings Rom. 6. 20. What profit or what fruit had you in those things whereof you be now ashamed Sin it is that which brings shame not only to a man or woman in particular but likewise to a whol Nation when sin prevails Prov. 14. 34. Righteousness exalteth a Nation but sin is a reproach to any People Afflictions are not a reproach any further than as they be the fruit of sin and then there is shame in them but this we shall speak of afterward but sin is the proper cause of any reproach and shame and certainly this Scripture hath been fulfilled concerning us our sin hath been a reproach to this Nation there was a time this Nation was honored among other Nations and a terror to them but of late since we have sinned and grown Superstitious and come neerer unto Poperie since there hath been more wickedness among us This Nation hath been an exceeding reproach we may apply for that that in the 13 of Hosea according to the Interpretation of most When Ephraim spake trembling he exalted himself in Israel but when he offended in Baal he died thus Interpreters carrie it There was a time when Ephraim spake then was trembling in all Nations about him and he exalted himself above other Nations but when he sinned in Baal then he died his Honor died he was a dead Nation and no body regarded him True time was when England spake there was trembling and England exalted himself above other Nations but since we sinned in Baal and there hath been so much Idolatry and Superstition we have been a dead Nation in respect of what we have been before Sin is a reproach to any Nation a shame There is no such shame in Affliction as there is in sin that brings shame That which argues worthlesness in any that which argues there is little good or worth in any or if any one should do any thing unbeseeming either his own excellency or that supposed to be in him as to lie in the mire or to go naked or in their carriage or by any deportment to behave themselves besides that excellency supposed to be in him this brings shame Job 30. 7. Those that went up and down braying among the bushes it was contemptible and it was a shame So for any man to do any thing beneath the excellency of a man is a shame Now there is nothing so below the excellency of a man as sin no Affliction brings a man under his excellency as sin doth therefore no Affliction can be such a shame to man as sin Now the Rational Creature that is guided by Counsel in his actions is the proper subject of shame Bruit beasts cannot be capable of shame because they have no Counsel to be the cause of their Actions but the reasonable Creature failing in that which is his aim coming short of the rule of his work through his unskilfulness this causeth shame As now Take any workman if he do any work beneath the rule of the work through unskilfulness it causeth shame he comes to be ashamed of it Now sin must needs bring shame because it comes beneath the Rule of eternal Life and therefore must needs cause shame It is true in natural things to fail through ignorance is a greater shame than to fail through wilfulness but in spirituals the greater shame is to fail through wilfulness And the greater the Art the greater the shame to come short of the Rule of that Art As suppose a General it is a greater shame for him to fail and come short of the Rules of Military Art than for a Country-man to come short of his Rules of Husbandry because one is more noble than the other Now Brethren The Art of Divinity to guide to eternal Life is the most Noble of any Art and for any Creature to fail and come short of this Art is the greatest shame that can be Though men be ashamed of any thing else take a Painter or any Workman or a Husbandman if he come short of the Rule he is ashamed but if men fail of the Rule of eternal Life they are not ashamed then I Remember Augustine hath this Expression saith he A Scholler if he fail in pronouncing a word and pronounce it amiss if he pronounce Omer for Homer he instanceth in that he is ashamed of that but men be not ashamed of breaking the Rules of Divinity And there is more failings in the Breach of the Rule of Divinity and in failing there than in any Art whatsoever Now sin is the greatest shame and the Reason why sinners be not ashamed is Because they
know not the Excellency of man they know not wherein the excellency of the Rational Creature consists and therefore they are not ashamed of that which brings them under the excellency of the Rational Creature Besides They know not Gods infinite Holiness therefore are not ashamed They be now among other sinners and they think though some seem to be Religious yet they think others are as bad as themselves in their hearts at least though not in Practice As Nero because he was bad he thought others were as bad as himself So a wicked man when he cannot see others break out in such great sins as he doth yet he thinks they are as bad some other way and have some other sins as great And because they live among them that are as bad as themselves and live in the same sins therefore they are not ashamed For as a Collier living among Colliers is not ashamed but if he lived among Princes and Noblemen he would be ashamed So wicked men in this world because they live in this world among sinners they conceive to be sinners like themselves they be not ashamed but when God shall come to open what sin means and what the Holiness of God means and they see themselves stand in the presence of the holy God then they will be ashamed But certainly sin is a greater-shame than Affliction none need be ashamed of Affliction any further-than it hath a Connexion to some great sin but sin in the greatest prosperity hath shame with it CHAP. XXXIX He that Sins wrongeth dispiseth and hateth his own Soul Use 1. Then see the malitiousness that is in Sin Use 2. To pitty those that go on in sinful wayes Use 3. Let Sin be dealt hardly with THus we have Discovered how Sin makes more against our good than Affliction doth Now there be divers things which follow hence as Consequences I spake of one or two before I will name them no more But only thus far Hence we see that sin makes more against our selves than any thing else Therefore it is the worst way for any to provide for themselves by giving way to live in any sinful course And for this I shall ad Two or Three Scriptures I spake not of before to shew how men go against themselves and those men that think to provide best for themselves the truth is in the wayes of sin they go most against themselves You have these Three notable Expressions for this in Scripture First That men by Sin wrong their own Souls Secondly That they Dispise their own Souls Thirdly They Hate their own Souls If I should Charge these Three things upon the most vile sinner at this present before the Lord Oh thou dost wrong thy own soul Thou dost despise thy own soul Thou hatest thy own soul he would be loth to yeild to it and yet the Scripture chargeth this upon sinners Prov. 8. 36. He that sins against me wrongs his own soul he doth not only wrong God that was in the first thing we opened but by sin he wrongs his own soul You will say somtimes I do no body wrong I thank God none can say I wrong them but thou wrongest thine own soul and certainly it is as great an evil to wrong thy own soul as to wrong the Body of another and a great deal more Nay further mark All they that hate me that is Wisdom and Instruction the Rule of Lise they love death It is a strange expression if any Minister should say thus to you you love death you would think it a rash speech from us the Holy Ghost saith so of al that hate Instruction if there be any Truth of God revealed against sin and thy heart rise against it thou lovest death thy own ruine and thy own destruction And what pitie is it for men and women to die who can pitie them that die eternally when as they love death if they love death they must have it So the Holy Ghost saith they wrong their souls and they love death and Prov. 15. 32. He that refuseth Instruction destiseth his own soul when you come and hear any Instruction against any sinful way and refuse it you despise your own souls as if your own souls were worth little Hence it is that men and women though they hear Sin tends to the death of their souls to their eternal ruine yet if they have but any temptation but to get a groat or sixpence they will venture upon it what is this but to despise thy soul that is to despise a thing to account it little worth though thy soul be worth a whol world There is none so poor in this place the meanest boy servant or girl but hath a soul more worth than Heaven and Earth but though the meanest here hath a soul more worth than the World yet we see it ordinarie that to get twopence or a groat they will venture the ruine of their souls Is not this to despise their souls as if they were not worth a groat or sixpence and they will lye or steal to get that which is less Nay not onlie so but they are haters of their own souls and this you have Prov. 29. 24. He that is partner with a Thief hates his own soul there is an instance in that one sin but it is true of everie sin for this must be taken as a rule to help you to understand the evil of sin Know what is said of any one sin is vertually true of all that evil which is in any one sin is vertually in any sin he hates his own soul that goes on in anie one sin therefore if you will provide for your own good you must abandon sin Object But it may be said Is that Lawful for a man to abstain from sin out of self respects for this I am upon I am shewing how sin is against our selves and therfore urge you to abandon and take heed of sin as it is against our selves then this Question ariseth What should we abstain from sin out of self respects what good is in this is that from grace To that I answer three things Answ 1. That at first when God doth begin to work upon the soul God doth usually move us from self most and these self grounds works most to take men and women off from the acts of their sin from outward acts at least and to stop them from the commission of sin and bring them to the means of grace self motives God makes use of at first but yet the work is not done till the soul goeth beyond these it is good for men and women to abstain from sin upon any grounds there is so much evil in sin that upon any grounds men and women abstaining from sin it is well but only except it be such a ground that the ground it self be a greater sin than the sin I abstain from But yet the work is not done Therefore 2. Know That though when grace is come
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
God and said Oh Lord my God I am ashamed and blush to lift up my faee to thee my God for our iniquities are increased over our heads and our trespasses are grown up to the heavens c. There mark the Prayer Ezra makes at the evening Sacrificed when the time was come that he should stir and seek God then his Spirit was mighty active and stirring though he were astonished before If it had been melancholly his heart would have sate still then so that trouble of Conscience puts life into the Soul in Prayer And so it makes the soul active in meditation and contemplation melancholly people be dull and heavie and know not how to meditate nor what to meditate on Those troubled in Conscience Oh what quick thoughts have they about God Christ and eternity and the law and sin and their souls work about such objects that they can have no help unto from their bodies and senses and yet their spirits are raised higher than before in their workingsâ—… And so when they come to hear the Word Oh how active be their spirits in catching of the word and at every truth I appeal to you that are troubled what difference there is between your spirits now and what they were before you were troubled for sin before you came to the Congregation to see and be seen and wondered what men meant to be so earnest and now you mark every truâ—h and catch hold of every sentence and mark the mind of God and understand what is said before you came and heard and never understood what was meant by such and such things you saw the Minister earnest but you could not conceive what the man meant in his earnestness but now you see what he means in his earnestness and understand what weight is in those truths you hear revealed this is somâ—what like when the spirit is thus â—…ed and acted in Prayer and Pearing And in Conference when you were in Conference with good men before Conference about good things was dry and a dull thing and you savored not the things confered on but presently were asleep but now if you come where there is Conference of God and his Word and Christ and the like your mind closeth with this If you were only melancholly this would make you more dull and heavie but this makes you more lively and active therefore there is a great deal of difference Lastly Trouble of Conscience cannot be cured as Melancholly is Melancholly many times is worn out with time and Physick cures that and outward comforts and contentments cures that but trouble of Conscience is a wound of a higher nature As Francis Spira said when they brought Physitians and thought it trouble of body Alas poor men they think to cure me by Physick Ah it is another manner of malladie and must have another manner of medicine than Plaisters and Drugs to cure a fainting Soul and Spirit for Sin Conscience must have Gospel Antidotes therefore you that thought you had trouble of Conscience for Sin and you are now eased or perhaps not so much troubled now as before look back what cured you how comes it to pass you be less troubled than before hath time worn it away such a Sermon and such apprehensions of such a truth darted into you mightily and troubled you you had such troubles but what hath cured you many times one can give no account but this Sure time hath worn it away if so then it was not a right trouble So it may be you took Physick your body was troubled before now it is lively and more blood in your veins more spirit now and may be now your affliction is taken away and this hath â—ured you if there be no other trouble than this certainly you know not what trouble of conscience means at least not in a saving way either it was not trouble of conscience at all or else it is not cured aright but as the thorn that lies rotting and rankling in the flesh a thorn when it first gets in puts one to a great deal of pain perhaps if it be let alone the pain will be over for the present but it lies rankling and will put you to pain afterward if it be not cured So of trouble of Conscience for Sin and if nothing have cured it but these things it is like the thorn in the flesh and will trouble you afterward There is another manner of Cure for it is the greatest thing God can do to comfort a troubled Conscience it must be the bloud of Christ applied by the holy Ghost it must be a plaister made of the bloud of Jesus Christ and applied by the holy Ghost to Cure this And therefore I beseech you consider what hath been said about this Argument and as the Psalmist saith Blessed is the man that wisely considereth of the poor so I say blessed is the man and woman that wisely considereth of these troubles in this dont cast it upon your children friends Oh they be froward or mad-men or melancholly Oh do not say so You that are acquainted with storms and tempests you think them dreadful it may be some of your friends have lately known what dreadful storms there have been now if any of them should make relation of it and another should saâ— this is but a conceit and a fancy and no reallity but a dream would you think these men spake like wise men Certainly if any storm you have met withal at Sea hath terror in it know stroms in Conscience hath a thousand times more than storms at Sea Therfore when you see any troubled in Conscience for sin fear and tremble let your Conscience shake at it and make use of their trouble I remember a story of one Vergerius that came to comfort Francis Spira and he came to comfort him as other men did but he saw such dreadfulness upon Francis Spira that it struck terror in his Soul that he left his Bishopprick and went to Basil and became a famous Protestant Thus when we hear of troubles of Conscience slight it not but let the fear of God be upon you go and renounce Sin Oh if some of our friends did know what slighting of a troubled Conscience were it would make them do as he did though he had a rich Bishopprick he renounced all And thus we have done with this First Use CHAP. LIII A Second Vse from the whol Treatise shewing that a man may be in a most miserable condition though he be delivered from outward affliction First If a man be prosperous by sin if a man raise himself to a prosperous condition by any sinful way let such men consider three things 1 What is got by sin it cost dear 2 What is got by sin is accursed to thee 3 What is got by sin must be cast away or thy soul is cast away Secondly When men come to be more sinful by their prosperity explained in three Particulars 1 When prosperity is
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
Christ said to the Pharisees Who hath forwarned you to fly from the wrath to come So God will say Why what is the matter who told you this I hope some poor soul will have experience of this when you go to pray for Christ and you shall Pray after another manner than formerlie when your Prayers shall be even cries to heaven when God shall say Why what is the matter why cry you more than before I hope some poor souls can give a good account of it and say I see my self lost and undone without Christ better be a Dog or a Toad or anie thing than a man if I have not Christ because they are not capable of sin and my heart is full of sin and I have heard the evil of it and therefore Oh give me Christ or I am undone Oh! such a Soul will be exceeding acceptable unto God And therefore to such a soul I propound in the name of the Lord the Doctrine of Life and Salvation and Peace be it known therefore to you God the Father looking upon the sinful Children of men and seeing them all in a perishing condition by Sin out of infinite bowels of tender compassion he hath provided a glorious way of Mediation of Propisiation for Sin and to that end he hath sent his onlie beloved Son out of his bosom that hath taken mans Nature upon him united in a personal union to that end that he might be a fit Mediator to stand between a provoked God and sinful souls and this Christ hath born the full vials of the wrath of his Father the curse of the Law due to sin satisfied infinite divine Justice made a full Attonement between God and sinful man Onlie upon these terms now he doth tender and offer to everie poor wearied distressed soul al that his Son hath purchased by his blood all his merits that they might be an attonement for thy sin a Propisiation for thy soul to discharge all thy sin that thou mightest come through him to stand acquited before the father for ever more This is the sum of the Gospel and this I present and Preach it and offer it to you and this not onlie to the least sinner but to the greatest sinner in the world this I present as in the name of God that is the message we have in the name of God to deliver unto you and now whatsoever your sins have been heretofore God onlie requires that your souls should now stand admiring at the infinite riches of his Grace in his Son and that your souls should be taken off from the Creature and Sin and live upon Christ surrender your souls to him and cast your souls on that infinite rich grace of God in him and upon that instant every one of your sins though never so great and hainous yet I pronounce in the Name of the Lord everie one of them is pardoned and all done away as if they had never been committed This is the Sum of the Gospel unto those that come to see their Sins and be sensible of their need of Christ by their Sin Object But you will say This makes all you have done but a little matter if Sin may be done away thus what need all this discovery of the evil of Sin it is not so great an evil if it may be thus wash't away Answ Ah poor carnal heart that speaks thus Is this a light or little matter True it is in a few words in the end of a Sermon but be it known to you There is more in these words I have spake in this last half quarter of an hour there is more of the glorie of God in them than in Heaven and Earth beside not because they come from me but because I have spoken that which is the Sum of the Gospel and in truth in one Sentence of the Gospel there is more of the glorie of God than in all Heaven and Earth besides You must be convinced of this and know it is so and if ever you come to be partakers of the good of the Gospel you will see it to be so Oh Brethren in that I have said there is the glorious Mysterie of Godliness great is the Mysterie of Godliness God manifest in the flesh the great Counsel of God working from all Eternitie is in this in the Sum of the Gospel The greatest work that ever God did was in sending his Son and in the offer of his Son to Sinners that their sins might be pardoned Therefore think it not a smal thing and hear when I call upon Sinners to come and cast their souls upon Christ It is one of the gloriousest works that ever was done for a sinful soul to come and close with Christ the Mediator and if once you come in your hearts will be so full of the glorie of God that presentlie all the glorie of the Creature will be darkned in your eyes and you will be so filled with the glorie of God that you wil come to see the filthiness of Sin this way as much as in anie way All the Sermons I have delivered concerning the evil of sin will not set out the filthiness of Sin to you as that glorie of God that your hearts will be filled withal as soon as you come to close with God in this Mysterie of the Gospel Perhaps it is not so apparant to everie soul but wait a while and there will more of the evil of sin be discovered in this than in anie way Vse XI And then the Use that I shall make of it is this If there be such evil in sin then bless bless God for Christ Blessed is that man and woman whose sin is pardoned Psalm 32. Oh blessed is he whose sin is forgiven Certainly it is a blessed thing that sin should be forgiven this requires a whol Sermon by it self I shall but name it now because I shal it may be hereafter speak of this particularly of the great Blessedness of the Pardon of Sin onlie take notice of it any that hath a comfortable assurance of their sin being pardoned go away rejoycing Son Daughter rejoyce your sins are pardoned there is enough in that word to bring comfort and joy to your souls CHAP. LXII Use 12. If there be so much evil in sin then it is of great concernment to be Religious betimes and there by prevent much sin Use XII AGain One Use more If there be such evil in Sin Then it is of great use to begin to be Godlie and Religious betimes for yong ones to come to be godlie betimes why Because they may come to prevent so much evil and so much Sin Oh happie those that begin to be godlie when yong you prevent a thousand sins that others commit by their not knowing sin betimes True if there were no other use of Godliness than meerlie to bring you to Heaven then you might stay till your sick and death beds and then be Religious it were enough but besides bringing
Striking Sin is a striking at God 50 Spirit Sin wrongs the Spirit of God 71 Sweat Christs sweat 128 Strictness Strictness of Gods people justified 448 Stubbornness Stubbornness distinguished from from Conscientiousness 452 Separate What separates men for God 291 What separates men from God 292 Slave vide Subject Soul Christs Soul sufferings 401 Sorrow Christs sorrow 125 Sin More evil than any misery 3 c. A heavie Thing 7 A Non-Entitie 11 No good in the being of it ibid It is cause of no good 12 It comes not from good 13 No good annexed to it 14 No good of Promise ibid Of Evidence ibid Of Blessing 15 Sin is Opposite to all good 319 Sin in its self is misery 354 Sin sells the soul to the devil 367 Turns the soul into a Devil 368 Sensible Some more sensible of affliction than sin 528 Sinner Every sinner guilty of all the sins in the World 362 Succession Of Sin 362 363 Subject Difference between a Slave and a Subject 366 T Temptation To avoid 98 Edward the 6th avoids it with tears 101 No sin if not entertained 372 Terror What causeth terror 273 274 Thoughts Thoughts of God terrible to some 273 Time Time spent in sin is lost 28 Truth Sin wrongs God in his truth 67 Truth in its Latitude the object of mans understanding 283 Turns Sin turns all good into evil 321 Exhortation to turn from sin 476 V Venture No good should be ventured for sin 26 Venome Of sin 43 Vile A wicked person is a vile person 141 144 Useless Wicked men useless men 29 Undo Man doth undo himself by sin 140 262 Union What breaks Union 282. 284 Spiritual things Unite 282 Why mans soul is capable of Uuion with God 283 284 W Wisdom Sin wrongs God in his wisdom 63 Weapons Sinners fight against God with his own weapons 77 Way Of the godly and wicked difference 441 Worse No man is worse for Affliction but for Sin 141 Worth All the men in the world not worth one Christian 143 145 The end is worth the means 260 261 Work Sin is not the work of God 25 Sin opposite to God in its working 41 World Sin would destroy the world were it not for Gods wisdom 74 Wrong What wrong sin doth to God 54 They who have wronged God must do much for God 109 110 111 112 Sin wrongs the Soul 309 Wrath Of God 125 Christ drinks the Cup of Gods wrath 129 What the wrath of God is 343 Will A Sinner exalts his will above Gods 64 65 Fulfils the Devils will 363 364 365 Walk How God walks contrary to sinners 286 Word The Word must be prized 406 407 The Word justified for threatning 455 456 Worm Sin is the matter whereon the worm breeds 263 Wayes to kill the worm of Conscience here 26 The Blood of Christ cures the worm here 264 Weight Of Sin what 132 God weighs out Afflictions to Saints 334 335 It is good to bring sins weight upon our selves 474 Y Youth It is good to be godly in Youth 488 FINIS THere are these several Books of Mr. Jeremiah Burroughs that will shortly be published viz. His Sermons on Job 36. 21. The second of Peter the 1. and 1. The first Epistle of John 3. 3. The second of Corinthians 5. 7. Matthew 11. 28 29 30. The second of Corinthians 5. 18 19 20. There are also in the Press Seventeen Books being the substance of many Sermons Preached at Harford in New England By Mr. Thomas Hooker somtime Fellow of Emanuel Colledg in Cambridg in England which are Discourses on Seventeen several Scriptures Reader â—…is Treaâ—ise was first Preached at Stepney neer London on the Lordsday mornings â—t was begun Nov. 29. 1641 and finished Feb. 27 1641. It is thought good â—o give the Reader Notice hereof in espect to â—ome Expressions â—…d in 〈◊〉 Treaâ—…e Doct. * This was written in the Year 1641. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Praepositio 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 auget significationem declarat animum undique maerora obsessuÌ„ circum vallatum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 significat attonitum esse ex significationem auget ita ut sit animo corpore per horrescere Medici vâ—cant horripilationem Gerrh in Harm 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Beza Hesychius dicit significare palaestrum bellum proprle est timor quo corripi solent in certamen descensury Stephan in Thes * This was preached on the 2. of January * This was 23. of January * This was Preached at Stepney the 26. of February