calveth and casteth not her calf They send forth their little ones like a flock and their children dance They take the timbrel and harp and rejoyce at the sound of the organ They spend their daies in wealth They live merrie brave lives therefore their hearts be hardened in sin that they say to the Almightie depart from us what need we the knowledg of God what need so much preaching and so much ado we desire not such things I beseech you mark and observe what kind of men those are that so slight the Word of God and disesteem of it and that in their carriage and actions do as it were say unto God himself depart from us for so it is though it may be they think not so when the Word and Ordinances depart yet they do as much as if they should say to God depart from us we desire not the knowledg of thy way I say observe what kind of men these are not men under Gods wrath or afflictions observe what men they are and when they say so I say not when they be under Gods wrath but those that live in Authoritie and flourish and have delights and contentments to the flesh these say depart I confess many poor people that know nothing of God and that be meer Atheists that live all their daies in meer Atheism to hear them say so it is no wonder But I speak of men inlightened and where almost have you anie so readie to say depart from us let the Word and Ordinances depart and that slight God in his Ordinances as men do that are in the greatest Prosperitie that enjoy comforts and brave lives and have the world at will Now let all such know That though they may bless themselves and the world may bless them yet wo to them when God saith let them prosper in sin Hosea 4. 14. I will not punish your daughters when they commit iniquity God threatens it as a Judgment not to afflict them I remember Origen upon that Text hath this note Will you hear the terrible voice of God God speaking with indignation I will not visite when you sin this he calls the terrible voice of God speaking with indignation This is the most extream of Gods anger when thus he speaks And so Luther hath such an expression Wo to those men at whose sins God doth wink and connive and that have not afflictions as other men And so Jerom in writing to a friend that prospered in wicked waies saith he I judg thee miserable because thou art not miserable So certainly those men are therefore miserable because they be not miserable and it were a thousand times better for these men to lie under some heavie and dreadful affliction in this world And this is the Second Use If there be so much evil in Sin then a man may be a miserable man though he be not an afflicted man because there is evil enough in sin alone to make a man miserable without affliction CHAP. LIV. Use 3. If there be so much evil in sin then it 's a mighty mercy to get the pardon of sin Use III. IF there be so much evil in Sin as you have heard of then certainly this must needs follow That to get pardon of sin is a mighty mercy It must needs be a wonderful thing to have the pardon of sin to get to be delivered from that which hath so much evil that is so dreadful it must needs be very hard to be obtained grievous diseases be very hardly cured Certainly Brethren those men and women that do think that to get pardon of and power against sin is a little or light matter I dare charge them as in the presence of God they never yet knew what sin meant and all that I have delivered about the evil of sin hath been but as the beating of the air to them to no purpose that yet make but light of the great work of procuring pardon for sin and making peace with God for their sin If all the world were in a confusion turned into a Chaos we should think it a great work of God to bring all in frame and oâ—der again Certainly it is a greater work of God for to deliver the soul from the evil of sin and free the soul of it than it would be for to raise up the frame of Heaven and Earth again if all were turned into a Chaos Therefore Numbers 14. 17 19. verses where Moses speaks of pardon of Sin see how Moses speaks of it there And now I beseech thee saith he let the power of my Lord be great according as thou hast spoken saying What was this concerning which God had spoken that he would shew his great power in See the 19. verse Pardon I beseech thee the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of thy mercy Mark let the power of my Lord be great and then pardon the iniquitie of thy people as if Moses should say Oh Lord this requires great power the Almightie power of God is required for pardoning of iniquitie as well as the infinite mercy of God Oh consider this you that think lightly of getting pardon of sin this is the greatest business in the world and certainly that soul that God doth set in good earnest about this work to get the pardon of sin that soul is the most busie Creature in all the world never was the soul taken up about a more blessed work since it had a being than this is if it understand what it is about it takes up the whol strength of soul and bodie when the soul is about so great a work therefore you that come to have some inlightenings to shew you the evil of sin and you be about that work of getting pardon Oh you had need intend it and work mightily and strongly indeed for know this you are about the greatest business the greatest work that ever Creature was about in the world there is no creature in all the world was ever about so great a work as thou art about when thou art about the getting pardon of sin thou hadst need mind it and follow it and not have thy heart taken up about other things for it is the great work of the Lord that infinitely concerns thee Oh that men and women had cleer apprehensions about the sweetness of this work 't is true Gods mercie is above all our sins and he is readie to pardon and to forgive but the Lord will have his Creatures know that it is the greatest work that ever he did yea and take altogether Justification of a sinner is as great a work as ever God did the means that tend to it and the work of a soul about procuring pardon is the greatest work that ever soul was about so you must understand it and you cannot but understand it if you understand what hath been delivered This is the Third Use CHAP. LV. Use 4. If there be so much evil in sin this justifie the
Man-kind The dreadful giving of the Law His dreadful Judgments for smal sins And examples of his wrath abroad in the world And the eternal torments in Hell Put all these six together and yet I say all these six is not so much to manifest the displeasure of God against sin as this one that now I shall tell you of and if there be any thing in the world that should make us to see the evil of sin it should be this if any thing make our hearts to shake and tremble at the evil of that sin of which it is so much guiltie then this I say that now I speak of should do it and that is this The dealings of God the Father with his Son when Jesus Christ that was the second Person of the Trinity God blessed for ever came to be our Mediator and to have but our sins imputed unto him and according to Scripturs phrase to be made sin Do but then take notice how God deals with him how God manifests himself to his own Son when his own Son did but take mans sin upon him to answer for it do but then consider how God the Father did deal with him The Scripture saith he did not spare his Son but let out the vials of his wrath upon him in a most dreadful manner If we do but consider First that Christ God blessed for ever should come and be in the form of a Servant should be a man of sorrows as the Scripture speaks that in the whol course of his life should live a contemptible life before men and undergo grievous sufferings But because I must hasten do but look upon Christ in his Agony and upon the Cross at his death and there you will see the dreadful displeasure of God against sin and in nothing more than that True there is the bright glass of the Law wherein we may see the evil of sin but there is the red glass of the sufferings of Christ and in that we may see more of the evil of sin than if God should let us down to Hell and if there we should see all the tortures and torments of the damned in Hell see them how they lie sweltring under Gods wrath there it were not so much as beholding sin through the red glass of the sufferings of Jesus Christ and that of his Agony And give me leave a little to shew to you how God let out himself against his Son when he came into the Garden and a little before when he was to die and suffer upon the Cross And for this consider these two things First The several Expressions the holy Ghost useth in the several Evangelists for the setting out of those dreadful things Christ suffered as a fruit of Gods displeasure upon him 1 One Evangelist saith that Christ was very sorrowful even to the death Mat. 26. 38. he began to be the word in the Original signifies compassed about with sorrows to have sorrows round about him and as it were beset and besieged with grief and it was to the very death usque ad mortem sorrowful to the very death What was it for upon the apprehension of the wrath of his Father which he was to endure for the sin of man he was sorrowful to the death in the apprehension of it You it may be upon the sight of sin content your selves with some slight little sorrow You will it may be when you are told of sin cry Lord have mercy upon me I am sorry for it and so pass it away But Christ when God comes to deal with him he makes his soul to be compassed about with sorrows sorrowful to the death for our sins 2 Another Evangelist tels us he began to be amazed Mark 14. 33. that is when Christ came to drink the Cup of the wrath of his Father due for our sins he stood amazed at the sight of the dreadfulness of that Cup he was to drink of because he knew what Gods wrath was he understood what it was before he drunk of it and this made him stand amazed at it Many sinners hear Gods wrath and this makes them fear but they be not amazed at it they can pass it away and they be not affected with it afterward because they understand it not they know not what it is for a Creature to stand before the wrath of an infinite Deity Who knows the power of thy wrath saith the Scripture therfore they be not amazed But Christ that knew full well what the wrath of God was and saw to the bottom of it he understood to the dregs what that Cup was and he stood amazed at the sight of it when he was to drink it 3 Another Evangelist hath this Expression 't is in Luke 22. 44. Christ began to be in an Agony Now the word Agony signifies a strife a combat it is taken from the word that stgnifies a combate in Battel Christ was in an Agony in a Combate Combate with what with whom With the Wrath of God he saw coming out upon him to sink him he saw the Curse of the Law come out upon him he saw the infinite Justice of God of the infinite Deity come out upon him and he was in an Agony in combate with the infinite Justice and wrath of God and the dreadful Curse of the Law and so Christ came to be in an Agony These be the three Expressions of the Evangelists Secondly Consider the Effects of Christs being in an Agony and apprehending the wrath of his Father for sin 1 One Effect was this you shall find it in the story of the Gospel that the text saith he fell grovelling upon the ground upon the apprehension of Gods wrath and displevsure upon him for sin which he was to suffer he fell down grovelling upon the ground When he that upholds the Heavens and the Earth by his Power now falls grovelling upon the Earth having the weight and burden of mans Sin upon him he falls upon his face he falls to the ground Certainly Brethren Christ had that weight and burden upon him that would have prest all the Angels in Heaven and Men in the World down to the bottomless gulf of despair If all the strength of all the men that ever were since the beginning of the world and all the Angels in Heaven were put into one and he had but that weight upon him that Christ had it would have made him sink down into eternal despair for had not Christ been God as well as Man he could never have born it but would have sunk down eternally But the burden and weight was so great that he sinks down to the ground 2 A second effect of Christs bearing the wrath of God for Sin is this He sweat great drops of blood the word in the Original is Clodders of Blood Blood thickned into Clods Never was there such a sweat it was in the Winters night a cold night abroad upon the ground in a cold Winters
there is required an infinite price to make an attonement nothing can make an attonement between God and a sinner but an infinite price paid You may think when you have sinned it may quickly be made up again Every Fool can sin can be drunk be unclean and wicked but when you have sinned how will you get it away All the Angels in Heaven and Men in the world cannot do it all the Creatures in Heaven and Earth connot get away one sin You let out your thoughts idlely take the guilt of one sin of an idle thought I say it is beyond the power of al the Angels in Heaven and Creatures in the World to get away that Sin it must be an infinite price there must be more done for to get away the guilt of this sin than if God should say here is a poor Creature hath sinned and is guilty I will make ten thousand worlds for his or her sake and they shall be all given that I may manifest my mercie towards them Now if God do but deliver thee from one Sin he doth more for thee than if thou shouldest hear him speak from Heaven and say he would do all that for thee for you know what the Apostle saith 1 Pet. 1. 18. For as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as Silver and Gold from your vain Conversation received by tradition from your Fathers but with the precious Blood of Jesus Christ as of a Lamb without spot or blemish not with Gold and Silver if it were Gold and Silver all the Gold and Silver in the world would not redeem one but it was with an infinite price with which you were redeemed and mark from your vain Conversation he doth not say your vain wicked notorious Idolatry but vain Conversation yea and that vain Conversation which you might have some plea for received from the tradition of your fathers you will keep your old Customs you received from your Fathers received a great while ago you crie out of new things new kind of waies now I am sure I have lived this thirtie or this fourtie years and I never knew such things and heard of such things and so you will rest on the Traditions of your Fore fathers Mark what the Scripture saith speaking of those that were delivered from their vain Conversation and the vanities received by Tradition these were redeemed by the precious Blood of Jesus Christ not with Gold and Silver though you stick to them as being such as you received from your Fathers yet know all the world cannot deliver you from the guilt of one of these vain Conversations If you knew all you would see there were so much evil in one sin as required a price to ransom you from itâ— of more worth than Heaven and Earth yea than ten thousand Heavens and Earths there must be a price laid down of infinite worth And observe this before you go away there may be a price laid down to ransom a Captive and this price may Note not so much the greatness of the deliverance as the worth of the person for whom this price is laid down because the person is worthy not from the miserableness of the bondage but the greatness of the person But it is not so here the reason of the greatness of the price for your ransom is not from the worthiness of the person we be poor vile dirt and dross and filthy before God what if you were all buried to all eternity what great matter were it But God hath paid a great price to note the greatness of your misery and evil you have brought upon your selves by reason of sin and therefore this is the price of our ransom This is the third thing wherein the infiniteness of sin appears A Fourth thing to discover a kind of infiniteness of evil in Sin is this That Sin it is so evil that let there be never so much hatred against it in thy soul let there be as much hatred against it as possibly can be yet there is enough evil in sin to raise this hatred higher and higher if it were possible to an infinite hatred therefore there is a kind of infiniteness in it If Sin were but a meer finite Evil then there might be some bounds and limits set to the hatred of our sin but that cannot be there can be no bounds nor limits set to the hatred of our sin but we are to hate it more and more still and if we could grow to an infinite hatred therefore there must be some kind of infinite Evil in it Other things be not so we may set bounds to our hatred in other things but when it comes to sin there is no limits to be set to the hatred of it As Brethren thus It doth note the infiniteness of goodness that there is in God why Because we are to love God and our love to God must be without any bounds at all we love him thus much and still our love is to go further and higher and higher and if possible to raise our love to be infinite because he is an infinite good who is the object of our loves So hatred on the other side we are to hate sin we are to hate it more and more and still grow up in hatred and never set bounds to our hatred why doth not this as well argue a kind of infinitness in fin And here then Brethren by the way you may have a note of your true love to God and true hatred against Sin whether it be right or no as now If you will know if you love God truly then you set no bounds to your love not only to your love to him but to your love to his waies and your love to Grace and Christ and the like you set no bounds That man or woman that would be Religious but so far and saith why will you be so strict and so hot and sets bounds to the working of their hearts in Religious waies let such men and women know their Religion is in vain it is but meerly a Natural one I remember a Speech Seneca a Heathen hath though he applies it another way yet he makes it appear he had some understanding of this Truth saith he Would you know when desires be Natural and when not Natural If they be Natural then they be in bounds and you set limits to them but when they break bounds then they be no more Natural But he applies it to sinful desires for he knew no better than desires at the highest as they had some Naturalness in them and saith he speaking of sinful desires so long as you keep your desires in certain bounds they be Natural and good but when once you let them out beyond bounds they be no more Natural We may very well applie it to speak of the Work of Nature and the Work of Grace Would you know whether the ground of your desires or work be Natural or Supernatural
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
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
other thing It is not so with Affliction Affliction is from God and by God and for God and is not contrary unto God because it is from Himself 2 Sin is so opposite to God that if it were possible that the least drop of it could get into Gods Nature God would instantly cease to be a God He could not continue one moment to be a God any longer such evil there is in sin If there should be such a Poyson that if one drop of it should come into the Ocean all the whol Ocean would be at an instant poysoned yea all destroyed and anihilated in one instant you would say that were a very fearful Poyson If a drop of Poyson should be so poysonful that if one drop of it got into Heaven that then presently the Sun Moon and Stars would fal down and be anihilated you would say this were a venemous Poyson Certainly if but one drop of sin should get into God the infinite Being of God would instantly cease to be The Sea though vast is not infinite the Heaven though vast is not infinite the infinite God would have no Being at all if sin should get into God therefore it is very evil Therfore also we ought to have holy thoughts of God seeing sin is so infinitely contrary to his Nature 3. So opposit is sin to God that if God should be but the cause of any sin in any other He would instantly Cease to be a God It strikes at the very life of God He would cease to be God he could be God no longer if he should be the Cause of any sin in any other We had need take heed therefore how we father sin upon God that he should be the cause of sin for such is the evil of sin that God must cease to be if he should be but any cause to give any efficacy to sin in us Indeed for Afflictions God will own that he saith in Amos 3. 6. Is there any evil in a City and the Lord hath not done it and in Mich. 〈◊〉 3. it is said there that God deviseth evil If there be no evil in the City but God doth it yea saith the Prophet God deviseth evil there is no evil of punishment but God deviseth it God will be content to own it to be the Author of all the torments of the damned in hel God will own God will say I have done it and I am the Author of al the torments of al the damned in hel but such is the evil of sin if God were the Author of that He could not be God any longer but would cease to be God 4. Such is the evil of sin that if God should but approve of it and like it if he should but like it when another have commited it even that would cause him to cease to be God Wicked men be ready to think because God is patient and long suffering that God is of the same judgment with themselves Psal 50. 21. Because I held my Peace thou thoughst that I was altogether such an one as thyself but I will reprove thee and set them in order before thine eyes it is the just temper and frame of wicked and ungodly men to this day because God holds his peace and comes not upon them to revenge sin presently they be ready to think that God approves sin and is of their judgment Indeed saith a wicked man many Ministers cry out of sin that it is very grievous but I hope God wil give liberty to my wayes and walkings sure God is not against them he approves of them otherwise why should God suffer me in them and be so patient towards me in them Oh! know when thou hast any such thought of God as this thou blasphemest God If that were true that thou thinkest That God did approve of thy wicked wayes God must cease to be God God would be God no longer Quest Why How doth this appear Answ This is the Reason of it Because then God were not infinitely holy and holiness is Gods Being and if God be not infinitely holy he is not God at all but ceaseth to be presently Which is impossible and blasphemous to think 5. Such is the evil of sin so opposite to Gods Nature that if God did not hate sin as much as he doth he would cease to be a God not only if he did allow of it and like of it for he may permit it in his Creature and not like of it But I say If God did not hate sin so much as he doth hate it if it could be conceived that God could but hate sin somwhat less than he doth I say he would instantly cease to be a God he could not remain to be God one moment if he did cease to hate sin in any degree less than he doth Quest Why How doth this appear Answ Thus If God cease to hate sin I do not speak of the manifesting of his hatred but that which is his nature that is proportionable to hatred as we say if God did not hate it so much as he doth then he did not hate sin infinitely for there cannot be any infinite and less than infinite stand together these two cannot ever stand that it should be infinite and less then so and remain infinite if it be infinite it remains so if there should be a degree under that it must be finite Now if Gods hatred to sin were less than it is it would be but a finite hatred and if it were a finite hatred then God could not be infinitely holy for infinite holiness must needs have infinite hatred against sin I beseech you observe this for you are ready to think Though God be against sin and hate it yet I hope God hates it not so much as many Ministers make of it tush God is not so much against sin as they speak of though its true when we do a miss we must cry God mercy and pray God to forgive us yet to make so much of sin as they do and that God sets himself so much against it as they say this is but their opinion and he hopeth God doth not hate it so much as they say Oh! Brethren take heed of this opinion for if God should hate sin less then he doth he should cease to be either he must hate sin with infinite hatred or he ceaseth to be God So evil and opposite is sin to Gods Nature And if these things be true there is a great deal of evil in sin If there be nothing so opposite to God as Sin and if but the least drop of sin should get into God it would make God cease to be God and if he should be but the cause of any sin in his Creature he would cease to be God and if he should but like it in his Creature he would cease to be God and if he should but hate it less then he doth he could not be God but al this is true Then we
order to God we seek for it in God though in the Creature if in order unto God but when we come to seek for any good any comfort in any way of sin as no sin can be committed but there is this in it Though deliberately you do not say that you think there is not comfort enough in God but you will have it in this sinful way you do not say so but there is this in thy walking in the way of sin God seeth this in the Nature of every sin Would not a Father think it a wrong to him or a Master think it a wrong to have his Son or his Servant go and complain to his Neighbor and say he hath not meat enough That wrong you would think your Child doth to you in going to shark at your Neighbors door for meat this you do to God when you go to sin As if you should say notwithstanding there is so much said of the infinit goodness of God and that infinite satisfaction in Him for my part I find not enough in Him I must have it elswhere This is a wrong to Gods Al-sufficiencie in this first regard Secondly A sinner going in waies of sin wrongs God thus he holds this forth That there is more good to be had in a sinful lust than there is to be had in all the glorie and excellencie in the infinite blessed God This you will say is a wrong if this can be made out that there is this evil in sin holding this forth That there is more good to be had in a base sinful lust than in all the glorie in Heaven and comfort in God Certainly this is so and God seeth it so and except God be satisfied for this sin in Christ God will charge this upon thy soul another day that hast been guilty of this great sin And that I may cleer it to your Conscience That in every evil way there is this Thus it appears Because everie sinful way is a departing from God and all that good in God now this in the account of Reason may appear to the weakest capacity That where there stands two goods propounded and I depart from one and chuse the other by my chusing though I say nothing when I chuse the one when I cannot injoy both together I do thereby profess I account more good to be in that other I chuse than in that former I parted from Thus it is in the waies of Sin God sets forth himself to the Soul and shews his goodness and excellencie as appeareth in all his glorious works and those that live under the Gospel as appeareth in his word to them and God woes the Soul My Son give me thy heart and here I am willing to communicate my self to thee and all that good in me to thy Soul if I have anie good anie thing in that infinite Nature of mine to comfort thy Soul and make thee happie here I am willing to let it out and communicate it to thee Thus God professes to all the world all the Children of men to whom at least the Ministerie of the Gospel comes if thy Soul will come in and close with him in that way he reveals to thee he is readie to communicate that goodness in him to thy Soul to make thee blessed But now anie man or woman in anie sinful way though they do not say so yet they profess by their practice this That though there be such goodness in thee yet here is such a sinful lust I expect more goodness in this than in thy blessed Majestie Certainly there is this in everie Sin and God seeth it and God will deal with a sinner according to this if he come to answer for his sin himself For Brethren thus it stands we cannot enjoy God and sinful waies both together so far as any decline to sinful waies so far they venture the loss of God eternally and all that good in God It may be God may have mercie upon thee and bring thee into Christ and Christ may satisfie God for that wrong thou didst to him this is nothing to thee but there is this evil in thee there is not one sinful way that thou closest with but thou venturest the loss of all that infinite good to be injoyed in the blessed God in that sin here is the evil of sin And is not this a wrong to God what is God if not better than a base lust The Devil himself is better than a base lust that is the Devil hath an Entitie in him he is of God though he be a Devil by sin yet he is a being that is of God but sin hath no good and therfore sin is worse than the Devil It is that which makes the Devil so evil as he is and yet thou in thy sinful way doest profess thou accountest more good to be in sin than in all the good of God himself as if sin were better than God himself For thou venturest the loss of God that thou maiest have thy sinful way Oh sinner stop in thy way and consider what thou doest and know all thy life long which thou hast lived hath been nothing else but a continual profession before all the world by thy sinful life That thou accountest more good in a lust than all the good in the blessed God to be enjoyed to al Eternitie II. Thou wrongest God in the way of thy sin thus in his Omnipresence and Omnisciency to put them both together 1 In that thou darest do that before the very face of God that God infinitely hates Is it not a wrong to any King yea to your selves though mean for those that are your inferiors to do that before your face that you hate above all things in the world thus a Sinner doth al the wayes of thy Sin are before the very face of God and they are such things as God infinitely hates yet thou darest do that before the face of God in some Sin that thou darest not do before the meanest boy or girle in thy house What a wrong is this to Gods Omnisciency and Omnipresence Nay perhaps thou darest not do it before a Child of six years old and yet darest do it before the face of the infinite blessed God if a man should be afraid to do a thing before any Servant in his house the very Scullion of the Kitchin and yet when he comes before the King doth it there were not this a wrong to his Majesty that any dare be so bold before him 2 Again Thou wrongest his Omnipresence in this in that thou darest to cast that which is filthy before his presence to cast Carrion a dead Dog before a Prince is a wrong men in sinful wayes do nothing but cast vomit and filth before the presence of a most holy God thus thou wrongest God in his Omnipresence and Omnisciency Thirdly Thou wrongest God in his way of Wisdom because in Sin thou professest Gods wayes are not wayes of Wisdom but thou
of the Law when it was first given That was only to set forth thus much to us That if the Law that God gave be broken that then God will be very dreadful to those that break it therefore he gives it at first in such a dreadful manner It may be many bold presumptuous sinners think it nothing to break the Law of the infinite eternal God but in that God gives the Law in such a dreadful manner as you may read in the 19. of Exodus how dreadfully God gave the Law God doth thereby declare to all the world how dreadful sinners are to expect him to be if they do break the Law But especially consider that dreadful Curse annexed to the Law Cursed is every one that abides not in every thing that is written in the Law to do that which the Law of God pronounces to be done a curse to every one that doth any thing at any time that shall break it That there should be such a dreadful Curse annexed this manifests the sore displeasure of God against sin Fourthly A fourth Manifestation of the sore displeasure of God against sin all this but to shew you further how Sin is a greater evil than Affliction the Manifestation I say of Gods displeasure against sin is seen in that we find in Gods word God hath so severely punâ—sh'd some sins that do appear to us to be very smal little sins and yet God hath been exceedingly severe against those sins which appear to us to be exceeding smal To instance in three 1 In 1 Sam. 6. 19. there you have this example that the men of Beth-shâ—â—esh when the Ark came to them they did but look into the Ark out of curiositie for ought we know for no other end but meerly out of curiositie Now because the Ark was a holy thing and none but the Priests of God were to meddle with it God did presently at an instant slay fiftie thousand and three score and ten men of them Upon this the text saith these men beholding this severitie of God for this offence they all said Oh! who shall stand before the holy God! If God be so holy that he cannot bear so smal a sin as this did appear to men that but for looking into the Ark so many thousands shall be slain presently who can stand before the holy Lord Many of you have slight thoughts of the Lord and his Holiness and think you may be bold and presumptuous you venture upon greater offences than this was but these men upon the venturing upon this one thing above fiftie thousand are slain presently This is the displeasure of God against sin though very smal to our thoughts 2 Again A second example you have in Uzzah that did but touch the Ark out of a good intention as being ready to fall yet that not being according to the Law God struck him with death presently it cost him his life he was struck with sudden death We are terrified when we see one fall down suddenly now upon that offence though he had a good meaning and good intention yet God brake in upon him with his wrath and struck him dead presently Consider this you that think you have good meanings and good intentions yet not doing according to the Law the least breach of the Law though we have a good meaning doth provoke the wrath of God and God when he pleaseth lets out this his wrath 3 A third example you have in that poor man that we reade of who did but gather sticks upon the Lords day and by the Command of God from Heaven this man must be stoned to death You would think these things little matters Alas poor man he might have need of them How many of you venture upon other manner of things upon the Lords Day profaning of it and yet God speaks from Heaven and gives command to have this man stoned to death Now Brethren though it be true that God doth not alwaies come upon men for such little sins it may be to make known his Patience and long-suffering Perhaps the Lord doth let others go on for a long time in greater sins but yet God by a few such examples doth declare to all the world what the evil of the least sin is and how his displeasure is out against the least sin If he do forbear that is to be attributed to his patience and long-suffering but not to the littleness of the sin or the littleness of the evil that is in that sin This is a Fourth Fifthly A fifth thing wherein God manifests his displeasure against sin is in those dreadful and hidious Judgments that the Lord executes abroad in the world that we have the stories of in the Scripture and all Ages As that God should come and drown a whol world except eight persons all the whol world swept away and drowned And so that God should command fire and Brimstone to come down from Heaven and burn and consume whol Cities Sodom and Gomorrah and the Cities adjoyning yea and all the men women and children but only Lot and those few with him And so the fire to come down upon those Captains and their Fifties 2 Kings 1. And the Earth swallowing up Corah Dathan and Abiram There is no Age but hath some one or other dreadful example of His Judgments against Sin The wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all unrighteousness Now Brethren though some people have scaped and these manifestations of Gods Judgments are not so general and ordinary yet when they are but now and then God manifests what his displeasure is against Sin and what might be to all that Sin against him Sixthly A sixt manifestation of Gods displeasure against Sin is in those eternal torments and miseries in Hell that the Scripture speaks of the worm that never dies and the fire that never goes out when you hear Ministers speak of fire that never is quenched for poor people to lie burning in fire thousands of thousands of years in eternal flames scalding under the wrath of God you stand agast at the dreadfulness of these expressions Certainly these are only to reveal the displeasure of God against sin because there is no finite time can be sufficient to manifest to the full the displeasure of God against sin therfore those that perish must perish eternally CHAP. XXIII A Seventh discovery of Gods displeasure against sin opened from the sufferings of Christ First See the several expressions of Scripture 1 He was sorrowful to death 2 He began to be amazed 3 He began to be in an Agony Secondly See the effects of Christs being in an Agony 1 He fell grovelling on the ground 2 He swet drops of blood 3 He cries to God if it be possible to let this cup pass from me Thirdly There is eight Considerations of Christs sufferings SEventhly And that is greater than all that hath been said Put all the former six together His dealings with the Angels and with
night and he had nothing else upon him to make him sweat but the burden of sin and the weight of the wrath of God being upon him he being under that burden sweat and such a sweat as made the very blood break through his very Veins and run to Clodders and so run down upon the ground Clodders of Blood and all this but upon the apprehension of the wrath of God his Father against him for our Sin Now you know when Porters be under great Burdens somtimes they sweat but never did any sweat like this sweat of Christ being under the weight of mans Sin sweat so as Clodders of Blood should fall from him One would think fear should rather draw in the Blood fear naturally draws in the blood to the heart therefore it is that men and women when they are skar'd and are afraid they are so pale in their Countenance fear causeth paleness in the outward parts because the blood retires to the heart when they be afraid But such was the amazement upon Christ upon the apprehension of the wrath of his Father for Sin that it sends out blood in Clodders trickling down his sides 3 And then a third expression which shew the effect of Gods wrath on Christ is the Prayer of Christ Christ doth as it were shrink under this weight and burden of sin and cries to God if it be possible let this Cup pass from me When we cry with vehemency we say if it be possible let it be thus or thus but Christ cries out so three times We may apprehend Christ taking as it were the Cup of the wrath of his Father in his hand and because he knew it was the end wherefore he came into the world that he must drink of it for satisfaction for mans Sin and being willing to save Man-kind that he knew could not be saved but he must drink the Cup he takes it in his hand readie to drink it but beholding the hidiousness and dreadfulness of this Cup and knowing what was in it he puts it away and cries Father if it be possible let this Cup pass but now he sees if he did not drink it all the Children of men must be eternally damned for such was our miserie if Christ had not drunk this Cup we had all eternally perish't therefore Christ puts it to his mouth again as it were the second time but yet seeing what dreadfulness was in this Cup and he knowing it he takes it away again and cries If it be possible let this Cup pass but yet having love to Man-kind being loth to see so many thousands of poor Creatures perish eternally he puts it to his mouth again a third time and yet seeing the dreadfulness of it puts it away again and yet saith If it be possible let it pass This might make a man tremble to think that he shall as Job saith 21. Job drink of the wrath of God Thus it was with Christ and all this while he did not drink it But afterwards when he comes to the Cross there he drunk the Cup of Gods wrath and there he cries out with another cry more bitter than all the other and that is My God my God why hast thou forsaken me so that he apprehends himself forsaken Oh the wrath of the Almighty that then was upon the Spirit of Jesus Christ at that time What! for the son of God blessed for evermore thus to cry out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Oh you Heavens how could you be able to behold such a Spectacle as this was or the Earth be able to bear it Truly neither Heaven nor Earth were able for the Scripture saith that the Sun withdrew his light and was darkened so many hours it was from twelve to three that the Sun withdrew his light and did not shine but there was dismal darkness in the world as not being able to behold such a Spectacle as this and the Earth shook and trembled and the Graves opened and the Rocks clove in sunder the very stones themselves were affected with such a work as this and the vale of the Temple rent asunder these things were done upon Christs bearing of the Wrath of his Father for Sin Here you have the fruits of Gods displeasure for sin and in this you may see surely sin must needs be a vile thing that causeth God the Father thus to deal with his own Son when he had mans sin upon him Thirdly Consider yet further for there is much in it and if this do not shew the evil of sin and cause you to fear and tremble those that be guilty of sin and their consciences tell them so if their hearts tremble not certainly their hearts be hard and their minds be blinded and little hopes can they have for the present of ever having their parts in these sufferings of Christ what shall Christ suffer such sufferings and wilt thou go away and have slight thoughts of sin shall sin be so great a burden to Christ and wilt thou be so merry under it Certainly you see it is more than you were aware of for you to say I trust in Jesus Christ and hope to be saved by Jesus Christ you see how Christ felt sin the Scripture saith he was made a Curse Were it not we had it from the holy Ghost no man or Angel durst say so that Christ should be made a Curse in the abstract not Cursed but made a Curse What! he that was God and Man by the sin of man was made a Curse Oh the displeasure of God against sin But yet to give it you a little more fully see these Aggravations and you will say certainly the displeasure of God was great against his Son 1 As first All that Christ suffered he perfectly knew it long before he suffered and yet it was so dreadful unto him Oh Brethren there be many men and women understand nothing at all of the wrath of God against sin these think there is no great matter in it Of all the men and women in the world when they come to suffer this wrath it will be dreadful to them because it come unexpectedly they that went on merrily and cheerfully in the waies of sin and for the wrath of God never thought of it now then when the wrath of God comes on them it will be more dangerous and intollerable This is the reason why many people when their consciences are awakened upon their sick Beds then they despair crying and roaring under Gods wrath and rage with despair Why Because they never in their lives came to understand the danger of sin and of Gods wrath for sin and because it comes now suddenly upon them they be not able to bear it But it was not so with Christ Christ understood this long before he knew what it would be before he took our Nature and he knew what it would be when he came in humane Nature to undertake it Those men and women that know
not what storms and tempests are it is grievous to them when they come to know them suddenly when they are in the midst of a storm or tempest at Sea Oh they are grievous but Marriners that know beforehand what they are like to meet withal it is not grievous to them But Christ though he knew it beforehand yet how dreadful was it to him when it came 2 Consider Christ had no sin in himself to weaken his strength and take away his strength and so make the burden greater he had no sin but only by imputation But now when the wrath of God comes upon us we having so much sin in our Natures this weakens us and will therefore make the burden of Divine wrath so much the more intollerable to us For as it is with a sound man If a great weight be laid upon a man healthful and strong he feels not the burden of it but if you lay the same weight upon a man very sick and weak through distemper of body it is grievous to him So here If the weight of Sin were so grievous to Christ that had no distemper of weakness how grievous will it be to a sinner that is distempered and so weakened with sin If the shoulders of a Porter be sore and all the Skin off and a boyl upon his shoulder how grievous would the burden be then So it is with us when God comes to lay the burden of his Wrath upon us we be but weak Creatures at the best but through the distemper of sin in our hearts we are more weak and more unable to bear because we be sore and have boyls of sin this makes Gods wrath much more dreadful but it was not so with Christ 3 Christ had absolute perfect Patience there was not the least impatiency in Christ therefore when Christ that had perfect Patience and yet did thus cry out and sweat and was thus sorrowful under it surely there was some fearful burden in this Some men and women will lie and roar out under some pains and it may be it is great but had they perfect patience they would not make such dolor and out-cries it is through the weakness of their Patience that they make such out-cries and manifest such sence of their affliction But Christ made not such out-cries through impatiency 4 Consider Christ had the strength of an infinite Deity to support him He had the strength of God he was God and Man he had the strength of the Divine Nature to support the Humane Nature which no Creature can have as Christ had for there was an Hypostatical union between the Divine and Humane Nature at that time and yet notwithstanding the Hypostatical union of both Natures yet Christ expresseth himself thus and is thus sensible of the Wrath upon him for the sin of Man 5 Consider Christ was the Captain of all that were to suffer hereafter and therfore he would if he had had no more upon him than that which the humane Nature could have born have manifested one would think abundance of Resolution and Magnanimity and not have cried out so and surely had there not been the suffering of the Wrath of the Deity and the Curse of the Law in it certainly he that was the Captain of all that were to suffer he would have manifested it to be a light burden he met withal for there be many Martyrs have suffered outwardly as great Extremities as ever Christ did for outward torture and born them with joy therfore seeing the Martyrs many of them suffering greater tortures to their bodies and have born them with Joy no sorrow nor crying out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me nor If it be possible let this cup pass but endured them with a great deal of Joy Now how comes it to pass that the Martyrs did bear them with such joy and Christ the Captain of them all falls to the Earth and cries out so Certainly there was more in Christs sufferings than in all the sufferings in the world more of the displeasure of God 6 Consider That it was through the strength of Christ that all that ever did suffer were inabled to suffer what they did undergo Now if Christ had that strength that through him all the Martyrs were inabled to suffer what they did certainly Christ had abundance of strength in himself to suffer when he came to it How comes it to pass then that the strength whereby they were inabled to suffer being from Christ they manifested not that horror and trouble that Christ himself did Certainly therefore Christ suffered other manner of things than they did 7 Consider this Christ did know what an infinit good his sufferings would do that by suffering he should save so many thousands reconcile God and man glorifie his Father that he should do the greatest work for God and his Father that ever was that by his sufferings there should be that work done that should be matter of eternal praise and Hallelujahs of the Saints and Angels eternally in the Heavens And yet though Christ knew and understood what good should be done by his sufferings yet see how sensible he was of the greatness of it One would have thought the good he saw to be done should much have lightened it and so certainly it did 8 Consider Christ did know his sufferings were to continue but a litle while though they were extream yet that they should last but for a few hours and then he should be glorified And yet though he did understand his sufferings were to last but a few hours and then himself should come to glory yet for all this they were thus hidious and dreadful to him Oh Lord then how hidious shall the sufferings of the damned be to them when as every damned soul that goes to Hell knows certainly how he must lie to all eternity after thousands of thousands and ten thousand millions of years after so many thousands of years as there be drops in those mighty Waters which you sail over yet the time is no more expired than the very first moment they enter'd into those miserable torments Consider of this thus you that have to do in the great Waters consider how many drops there might be in the Sea as big as the bill of a Bird could carry and that this Bird should be supposed once in a thousand years to carry away one drop yet this Bird would sooner empty that mighty Sea than the torments of the damned should be at an end Oh how dreadful will it be to them when as Christs tortures which he did endure but a little while made him to cry out so Oh Brethren put all these together and then know the evil of sin Oh that we could apprehend it now before we come to feel it For this is the end for which I speak of these things and present them before you that you may now know them and never come to feel experimentally what they be Blessed
one person to another Christ comes in and he puts on the Sentence of Condemnation for thee that hast it passed against thee so that the Sentence is not properly nullified but transferred to Christ Eccles 8. 11. saith the text there Because Sentence against an evil Work is not speedily executed therefore the heart of the sons of men are fully set in them to do evil Mark the Sentence against an evil work is not speedilie executed so that it appears there is a Sentence against every evil work The Sentence is out Brethren thou goest and art drunk or to the commission of such a sin I say presentlie the Sentence of death is clapt upon thee the Sentence is out against all sinners You see men go on and live in prosperitie a great while in the world but they be under the Sentence all the while sin is not removed by the blood of Christ and all the comforts I beseech you observe that that any man or woman have in the world that are in their natural condition and are not delivered from Condemnation by Christ they are all but just as meat and drink and some refreshments that are grantnd to a condemned Malefactor before Execution Suppose a Malefactor is condemned but now Execution is not till two or three daies after in that space of time he hath granted unto him libertie to have meat and drink and friends come to him and he may refresh himself in those two or three daies but he hath forfeited all his Estate and the tenure now upon which he holds any comfort it is not the same which he had before but meerly through the bountie of the Prince it is that he hath comforts So here wicked men have committed sin and the Sentence of death is out against them and they have forfeited all the comforts of their estates and of their lives only God in patience grants unto them some outward comforts here a few daies before Execution and upon this tenure do all wicked men hold their Estates I will not say that every wicked man is an Usurper of their Estates as some perhaps have held that they have no right at all before God some right he hath as you cannot say a Malefactor hath no right when he is condemned to meat and drink before Execution he hath right to what is given to him of Donation and Bountie but not that right which he had before So I say for wicked men that have Estates in this world they have a kind of right to that they have but how Just that right that a condemned man hath to his dinner or supper before Execution this is the right of wicked men to their Estates that is God of his bountie grants a little while before Execution they shall have a few comforts to them in this world And this is the evil of sin and the least sin there is not any one sin but the fruit of it is Condemnation And Brethren you must not mistake to think that wicked men are never condemned until they come before God in the day of Judgment they be condemned here mark that John 3. 18. He that beleeves not is condemned already now condemned not hereafter but a condemned man already this is a sad condition indeed If a man had the Sentence of death so past that the whol Parliament could not help him you would think that man in a sad condition Now let me speak it and God speaks it to the conscience of every sinner I say thou that standest before God in any one sin and not delivered through the blood of his Son Christ thou standest so under the Sentence of condemnation as all the Creatures in Heaven and Earth cannot help and deliver thee thou must have some help beyond the help of all the Creatures in Heaven and Earth to deliver thee When Paul would comfort the Saints against all troubles and afflictions they meet withal Rom. 8. he begins thus There is no condemnation to them in Christ Jesus as if he should say this is the comfort no Condemnation If I know I am delivered from the Sentence of Condemnation let what will fall out I am well enough but this be sure of there is Condemnation to those that are not in Christ I remember Luther had this Speech when he had got assurance of pardon of sin that he was freed and absolved by God he cries out Lord strike Lord now strike for I am absolved from my sins thou hast delivered me from sin now strike now let any affliction befal that possibly can let never so much trouble attend I am absolved from sin now Lord strike This is the Eighth Sin is more opposite against the good of man than Affliction for it brings them under the Sentence of Condemnation CHAP. XXXII Ninthly Sin is a greater Evil to man than Affliction because it breaks the Vnion between God and the Soul NInthly Sin is a greater evil than Affliction in this In that it is the very thing that breaks the Vnion between God and the Soul It is that doth it and no Affliction doth it Now Brethren this I confess might seem to be less than that of Hatred and might have come before it but now I bring it in here That it breaks the Union between God and the Soul Isa 59. 2. Your Sins have separated between you and your God! We are to know The Souls of men are capable of a very near and high Union between God and them the more spiritual any thing is the more power hath it to Unite and the more neer the Union As thus The beams of the Sun because they be very spiritual they can Unite a thousand of them into one Point as it were but grosser things cannot so Unite themselves together So Brethren God being a Spirit and our Souls being Spirits they come to be capable of a most neer Communion one with another And the Souls of men are neerer a glorious Union with God in this regard more neer than any Creature but the Angels Because the Object of mans Understanding is not any particular truth but Veritas truth in general truth it self in the whole latitude is the Object of mans Understanding So the Object of mans Will Is not this good or that good in particular but Bonitas good in general in the full latitude of it It is not so with other Creatures they have their Objects in some particular thing in such a limit and compass and they can work no further nor higher But it is otherwise with mans Soul God hath made man in such a kind that the Object of his Soul should be Truth and Goodness in the full latitude in the infinitness of it take it in the utmost extent that can be yet still it is the Object of the Soul of man Now hence it is that the Soul of man is of such a wonderful larg extent even capable of God himself of enjoyment of Union and Communion with God himself
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
is the first Your Sin is opposite to al Good spoils al Good Secondlie Sin brings a Curse upon all I opened before how it puts man under a Curse but now I am to shew how it brings a Curse upon the whol World Gen. 3. Cursed shall the Earth be for thy sake and so by the same reason upon the whol World that thou hast to do withal not only the Sinner but through mans sin the world is under a Curse and therefore it is a most dangerous thing for any man or woman to seek after happiness in the things of the world when as the whol world is under a Curse and wilt thou seek thy happiness in that which is under a Curse no mervail though the Devil himself be called the god of this World why because the world is accursed through the Sin of man Sin brings a Curse upon the whol World Thirdly Sin is a burden to Heaven and Earth to all Creatures Rom. 8. 22. The whol Creation groans and travels in pain to be delivered and that through the Sin of man Now what is the evil of Sin when it is so weightie that it makes the whol frame of Heaven and Earth to groan to bear the burden of it It may be thy Sin is light to thy Soul thou earriest it lightlie but as light as it is to thee it is such a heavie burden to Heaven and Earth and the whol Frame of the Creation that if God did not hold it by his mightie Power it would make it not only shake but fall down Fourthly Sin turns the greatest Good into the greatest Evil therefore opposite to all Good As thus Take the greatest good of man in prosperitie the more prosperitie thou hast though a fruit of Gods Bountie yet thy Sin turns it to the greatest evil to thee As if Poyson get in Wine it works more strongly than in Water so Sin in a prosperous Estate usually works more strongly to turn it to a greater evil than Sin in a lower Estate Poor men by Sin have their Water poysoned and rich men by Sin have their Wine poysoned Now poysoned Wine hath more strength than poysoned Water And it turns not only prosperitie but the best means not only the means of grace but the better any means is thou injoyest the more evil it is turned into to thee except the means take away the sinfulness of thy heart if thou retainest the sinfulness of thy heart the more powerful Sermons thou hearest and the more glorious Truths laid open the worse will be thy condition and thou wilt one day curse the time that ever thou hadst such means Yea Sin turns God to be the greatest evil and makes him the greatest evil in all his Attributes And Christ himself though infinitely good to be the greatest evil Christ is a stumbling stone to wicked men and laid by God a stumbling stone What! Christ the precious Corner stone that hath infinite Treasures of all Excellencie in whom the Fulness of the God head dwels bodilie yet this Christ a stumbling stone and the greatest evil through sin to wicked men so that one day they will curse the time that ever they heard of Christ So Sin is opposite to all good because it turns the greatest good to the greatest evil Fifthly and Lastly Sin is the greatest evil Because if let alone it would bring all things to Confusion Therfore it is said by Christ all things subsists were it not for Christ who sets himself against the evil of sin al things would be brought to Confusion 1 Joh. 5. 19. The whole world lies in wickedness Just as a Carrion lies in slime and filth and there rots so the whol world would be in the same case that the Carrion is that lies in filth and brought to confusion were it not that God hath his number of Elect and they keep the world from confusion Now put all these together sin spoils all brings a Curse upon all is a burthen to heaven and earth turns the greatest good to the greatest evil and would bring all things to Confusion if let alone This is the evil of sin in Opposition to all good There be but Three more and they be 1 To shew how sin is the evil of all evils whatsoever 2 Hath a kind of infiniteness in it And 3 It hath Reference to the Devil But these I cannot come to in this Chapter but shall in the following to conclude all much you have read of the evil of sin and how it is above all afflictions afflictions are of a lower nature Oh Brethren This is that we should seek for and prise to injoy those means that may lessen sin and oppose wickedness among us And of all others these be the two great means to crush sin and bring down or make it less in all places the great Ordinance of the Magistracy and the great Ordinance of the Ministry Now as I told you before Reproach hath come to our Nation through sin and from whence is it sin hath grown to that height it hath but because there hath been corruption in both great Corruption in Magistracy and Ministery among us As we read of Dan and Bethel two Calves set up there Dan signifieth Judgement and Bethel The house of God So there was great Corruption in Dan and Bethel places of Judgement Magistracy and Bethel the house of God in the Ministry Now it hath pleased God of late to begin to be merciful to us this way through that great Ordinance of good he hath appointed for us The Assembly of Parliament to purge both Dan and Bethel Magistracy and Ministry to cast out Corruption from places of Judgement and the House of God And as we are to bless God for this so we are to further this work of theirs and stand by them to the utmost that we are able in all good wayes those Worthies of God in that great Assembly for the finishing of that Work which they have begun and that our sins and wickedness may be done away from among us And for that which hath been done certainly God hath received much praise and we have cause to bless God for it And those that have gone on in a good way according to what the Law doth permit them they are to be incouraged And in a more especial manner you that be the especial means of good to this Land I mean in regard of Safety and your imployment the Marriners in whom much of the Strength of this Nation consists for our Walls be Water and Wooden Walls Seas and Ships be the Walls of this Land and therefore much of the Good and of the Safety and Prosperity of this State depends upon those And if God stir up their hearts to the maintainance of their Protestation and Parliament and Liberties and to set themselves against Popery and Superstition and to incourage the Parliament in their good way this is that we be to bless God for and incourage you in We
nothing else but the wrath of God working through that channel and let out through that though now thou die and the matter of the disease be gone yet when thou comest to hell there thou shalt meet with the same grievous pain only in another way That is The wrath of God shall let out this evil immediately through his wrath which was mediately through the Creature before and now it is immediately from himself And this meditation rightly considered is enough to bring down the proudest stoutest sinner on the earth to Consider how the Wrath of God is all that evil to a sinner that all the Creatures in Heaven and Earth are able to convey and much more And thus you have this opened how Sin is the evil of all evils THE FIFTH PART OF THIS TREATISE CHAP. XLII Sin hath a kind of Infiniteness in it Opened in Seven Particulars First Because nothing but an Infinite Power can overcome it Secondly Sin hath a kind of infiniteness because it hath an infinite desert in it expressed in Three Particulars 1 The desert of the loss of an infinite Good 2 It deserves to put an infinite distance between God and thee 3 It deserves infinite misery Thirdly Sin hath a kind of infinite Evil because there is required an infinite Price to make an Attonement between God and Man Fourthly There is a kind of infinite Evil in Sin because we must hate it infinitely Fifthly Sin is an infinite Evil because it is the Vniversal Cause of all Evil. Sixthly The Scripture make use of Evil things to set out the Evil of Sin Seventhly There 's an infiniteness in Sin because the Scripture set out Sin by Sin it self A Fifth General Head that was Propounded in the beginning is this Sin hath a kind of Infiniteness of Evil in it It is true we must acknowledg that nothing but God can be properly said to be infinite There is not an infiniteness in a strict sense in sin for then certainly all the Mercy of God and all the Power of God could never overcome it if properly and absolutely sin had an infiniteness in it therefore I do not say it is properly infinite Well but there is a kind of infiniteness it comes exceeding neer to infiniteness if we may so speak though it is somwhat improper to say it comes neer but we must speak so as we can to our own apprehensions you shall see in the opening what I mean As thus There is a kind of infiniteness of evil in sin beyond all bounds First Because there is nothing but infinite Power can overcome it Take the least sin that any man or woman lies under the power of nothing but the infinite Power of God can overcome that sin and this is the reason that many that have had many convictions of conscience of the evil of sin many resolutions against sin many Vows and Covenants and Promises they have made against sin Oh when they are sick now they see the evil of sin now they promise if God will restore them they will never do the like and they speak from their hearts they do not only dallie but they do verily think they will never come in companie more and commit sin more because it is so evil but when they be well they be under the power of sin as before and al their resolutions and experiences and all their own strength and power and all the means they have are nothing though sin be opened to be never so vile and they be convinced thereof yet al comes to nothing Certainly there is more dreadful evil in sin than we be aware of and all the pleasure and profit we have by sin can never countervail that evil that is in sin and this they see and therefore promise and hope they shal never commit such sins again Perhaps there hath been such thoughts in your hearts may be God hath had some beginnings to come in by his Power into your souls this is the way of Gods coming in to the hearts of men and women when he comes to convince and give them such resolutions But know all thy resolutions cannot overcome sin perhaps you may forbear for the present the acts of sin a while may be restrained but nothing but the infinite Power of an infinite God can overcome any one sin any one lust Sin shall not have Dominion over you Rom. 6. 14. for you are not under the Law but under Grace saith the Holy Ghost as if he had said if you be not now under the Grace of the Gospel in which the infinit Power of God comes upon the soul to deliver them from the Dominion of Sin Sin would for ever have Dominion over you but sin shall not have Dominion over you because you be not under the Law but under Grace It is the Grace of the Gospel through which this infinite Power of God comes upon your hearts that keeps sin from having Dominion over you This is the first there is a kind of Infiniteness in it because nothing but the infinite Power of God can overcome it Secondly There is a kind of Infiniteness in it Because it hath an infinite desert it doth deserve that which is infinite There is an infinite desert in it therefore a kind of infiniteness in it As thus the infinite desert of Sin may be set out in these three Particulars 1 The desert of the loss of an infinite Good all the good in God By every sin thou dost deserve to be deprived of that good there is in God that desert comes upon thee to lose all the good there is in the infinite God not in this or that particular good but in the Infinite God and all the good in him 2 Every Sin doth make an infinite breach between God and you not only you do deserve to lose all the good in God but it puts an infinit distance between God and thee Abraham could say to Dives when Lazarus was in his bosom there is a great gulph between you and us There is a great gulph between the sinner and those that are godly but what a gulf is there between God himself and a sinner If there be such a gulf between Abraham and Dives surely a greater gulf between God himself and a sinner 3 The desert of Sin is Infinite In regard of the Infiniteness of misery and pain and tortures that sin deserves which becaus they cannot possibly be infinit in degree for it is impossible for a finite Creature to bear any one moment pains infinite in degree But because it deserves infinite torment it must therefore be infinite in time because it cannot be infinite in degree and so it is infinite this way in duration because it cannot be infinite in degree thus sin is infinite Certainly that which makes such an infinite loss and such an infinite breach and brings such infinite tortures this must be an infinite evil in a kind Thirdly Sin is a kind of infinite evil Because