AGGRAVATION OF SINNE AND SINNING Against KNOWLEDGE MERCIE Delivered in severall Sermons upon divers occasions BY THO GOODVVIN B. D. LONDON Printed by M. Flesher for Iohn Rothwell and are to be sold at his Shop at the signe of the Sun in Pauls Churchyard MDCXXXVII AGGRAVATION OF SINNE BY THO GOODWIN B. D. LONDON Printed by M. F. for Iohn Rothwell and are to be sold at the Sun in Pauls Church-yard M DC XXXVII A TABLE OF THE CONTENTS OF the Aggravation of sin THe subject is the sinfulnesse of sin page 2. The mischievous effects of the evill of sin ibid. 1. It hath debased the soule ibid. 2. It defiles the soule 1. In an instant 2. Totally 3. Eternally 3 3. It robs the soule of the image of God 4 4. It robs a man of God himselfe 5 5. It was the first founder of hell 6 The essence of sin is the cause of all these evills ibid. Sin an evill that contains all the evils in the world 7 1. It is the cause of sorrowes and diseases and all evills ibid. 2. There is some peculiar mischief in sin not found in other evils as appears in divers instances 8 Quest What transcendencie of evill is in the essence of sin that makes it above all other evill 10 Answ It is contrary to God and all that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1. It is contrary to his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being ibid. being ibid. 2. It is contrary to all his attributes which are his name is to himselfe and what ever is his ibid. 1. To his lawes and ordinances 2. To his favourites 3. To his image in mans owne breast 11 Sinfulness of sin aggravated from the person suffering being God and man 12 The least sin virtually more or lesse containes all sin in the nature of it proved ibid. Every sin inclines our nature more to sin 13 Sin containes not onely all other evils in it but also all of its owne kind ibid. Sinne a perfect evill ibid. Reasons why sin is the chiefest evill 1. Because it is simply to be avoided for its selfe 2. Because there can be no worse punishment than it selfe 3. Because it cannot have a worse epithete given it than it selfe 14 Use Wonder at the abounding nature of sin 15 Examine our owne estates ibid. Quest When a mans sins may be said to be his own Answ 1. Then he commits sin out of his owne 2. Then he hates it not but loves it 3. Then he nourisheth it cherisheth it 4. Then he provides for it 5. Then he lives in sin 17 Use 2. Consider the punishment of sin is out of measure fearfull 18 It containes all miseries in it 19 What the damned speake of sinne in hell ibid. Use 3. Onely Iesus Christ can conquer sin 21 Christs righteousnesse abounds sins sinfulnesse 22 Come to God through Christ and take him to be our Lord and King 23 Sinne and Christ cannot stand together ibid. We will not take Christ while sin appears sinfull to us ibid. IMPRIMATUR THO WEEKES R. P. Ep o Lond. Cap. Domest AGGRAVATION OF SINNE ROM 7. 13. Was that then which is good made death unto mee God forbid But sinne that it might appeare sin working death in mee by that which is good that sinne by the commandement might become exceeding sinfull WEE finde our Apostle in the 9. verse to have been alive but struck upon the sudden dead by an apparition presented to him in the glasse of the law of the sinfulnesse of sinne Sin revived sayes the 9. verse appeared to be sinne sayes the 13. verse lookes but like it selfe above measure sinfull and hee falls downe dead at the very sight of it I dyed sayes he in the 9. it wrought death in me sayes the 13. that is an apprehension of death and hell as due to that estate I was then in But yet as the life of sinne was the death of Paul so this death of his was but a preparation to a new life I through the Law and dead to the Law that I might live to God Gal. 2. 19. and here hee likewise speakes of Gods worke upon him at his first conversion for then it was that hee relates how sinne became in his esteeme so above measure sinfull The subject then to be insisted on is the sinfulnesse of sinne a subject therefore as necessary as any other because if ever we be saved sinne must first appeare to us all as it did here to him above measure sinfull And first because all knowledge begins at the effects which are obvious to sense and interpreters of the nature of things therefore wee will begin this Demonstration of the evill of sin from the mischievous effects it hath filled the world withall it having done nothing but wrought mischiefe since it came into the world and all the mischiefe that hath beene done it alone hath done but especially towards the poore soule of man the miserable subject of it Which first it hath debased the soule of man the noblest creature under heaven and highest allyed made to be a companion fit for God himselfe but sinne hath stript it of its first native excellency as it did Reuben Gen. 49. 41. debased the soule more worth than all the world as Christ himselfe saith that onely went to the price of it yet sinne hath made it a drudge and slave to every creature it was made to rule therefore the Prodigall as a type is said to serve swine and feed on huskes so as every vanity masters it Therefore we find in Scripture that men are said to be servants to wine Tit. 2. 3. servants to riches and divers lusts c. And hence it is that shame attends upon it Rom. 6. 21. Now shame ariseth out of an apprehension of some excellencie debased and by how much the excellencie is greater by so much is the shame the greater and therefore unutterable confusion will one day befall sinners because sinne is the debasement of an unvaluable excellencie Secondly it not onely debaseth it but defiles it also and indeed there was nothing else that could defile it Mat. 15. 20. for the soule is a most pure beame bearing the image of the Father of lights as farre surpassing the sinne in purenesse as the sunne doth a clod of earth and yet all the dirt in the world cannot defile the sunne all the clouds that seeke to muffle it it scatters them all but sinne hath defiled the soule yea one sinne the least defiles it in an instant totally eternally First one sinne did it in the fall of Adam Rom. 5. 17. one offence polluted him and all the world Now suppose you should see one drop of darknesse seazing on the sunne and putting out that light and eye of heaven and to loosen it out of the orbe it moves in and cause it to drop downe a lump of darknesse you would say it were a strange darknesse this sinne did then in the soule to which yet the sunne is but as a Taper Secondly it
the 5. verse he goes to view the Rules I will get me to the great men for these have knowne the way of the Lord and when he saw that these had broken the bands then how shall I pardon thee for this So is it in his judgement towards a particular man when God lookes downe upon a man and sees him in his courses exceeding loose and wicked hee lookes first upon those rude affections in him which are uncleane profane debaucht greedy of all wickednesse Ay but sayes he these are foolish of themselves but I will looke upon his understanding and upon the superiour faculties which are the guides of these affections and see what they dictate to these unruly affections to restraine them And when he findes that the guides themselves are enlightned and have knowne the way of the Lord and that the will and the affections though informed with much knowledge yet break all bands then how shall I pardon thee Thee who art a knowing drunkard and a knowing unclean person c. so as thus to sin aggravates and maketh sin out of measure sinfull Now that knowledge and reason is a mans guide will further appeare by this That even erroneous knowledge doth put an obligation a bond and a tye upon a man which can be in no other respect but because knowledge is appointed to be a mans guide Thus if a man thinkes a thing which is in it selfe common and indifferent to be a sinne and forbidden as Rom. 14. 4. although the Law forbids it not yet to him it is uncleane though in Christ it is not uncleane that is by the Law of Christ For this his knowledge and judgement of the thing hath to him the force of a Law for it propounds it to him as a Law and as from God which reason of his God hath appointed as his immediate guide and the will is to follow nothing that is evill which is represented to it as evill this is the Law of meere nature in all conditions therefore if a man should doe an action which is in it self good if he thought it to be evill he should sinne and so è contra for he goes against the dictate of nature So that erroneous knowledge though against the Law is a law to me though not per se yet per accidens Now therefore if to go against a false light of conscience be yet a sinne though it proves that the commandement allowes the thing was done and was for it then to go against the true light of the Law how sinfull is it Againe thirdly the knowledge of the law binds the person so much the more to obedience by how much the more he knowes it so as though it would be a sinne when he knowes not the Law to transgresse it yet when he knowes it it is a greater sinne 'T is true indeed that conscience and the Law when they meet make up but one Law not two distinct Laws and therefore in sinning against knowledge though a man doth not commit two distinct sinnes yet the knowledge of it doth adde a further degree of sinfulnesse to it As a cloath is the same cloath when it is white that it was when it is dyed with a scarlet dye yet then it hath a dye a tincture given it which is more worth than the cloath and so when you sinne not knowing the Law the sin is the same for substance it would be if you had known it yet that knowledge dyes it makes it a scarlet sinne as Esay speaks farre greater and deeper in demerit than the sinne it selfe and the ground of this is because Lawes then come to be in force when they are promulged and made known so as the more they are promulged and knowne the more is the force of their binding and so the greater guilt Therefore Deut. 11. 12. 3. 8. God straitens the cords more the binding force of the law more upon those Jewes consciences to whom he at the first personally with majesty had promulgated it than upon their children though upon theirs also Now if all Gods Lawes being made knowne to Adam binde us and are in force and this when we know them not then if we do know them or might know them they binde much more and still the more clearely wee know them the obligation increaseth and the guilt insuing with it and the rather because now when wee come to know them they are anew promulged in a way of a peculiar mercie wee having defaced the knowledge of them in our fall Fourthly when the Law being knowne is broken there is the more contempt cast upon the Law and the Law-giver also and so a higher degree of sinning And therefore Numbers 15. 30. He that sinnes out of knowledge is said to reproach the Lord and to despise the word And therefore Saul sinning against knowledge Samuel calleth it rebellion and though it were but in a small thing yet he parallels it with witchcraft So also Iob 24. 13. they are said to rebell when they sinne against light because rebellion is added to disobedience For knowledge is an Officer set to see the Law executed and fulfilled and makes God present to the conscience Therefore Rom. 2. 14. it is called a witnesse and therefore in sinning against knowledge men are said to sinne before the face of the Lord himselfe now what a great contempt is that Therefore also Psal 50. the hypocrite sinning against knowledge is said to cast the law of God behind his back so as there is a contempt in this sinning which is in no other Fiftly the more knowledge a man sinneth against the more the will of the sinner is discovered to be for sinne as sinne Now voluntarium est regula mensur a actionum moralium willingnesse in sinning is the standard and measure of sinnes The lesse will the lesse sinne so much is cut off the lesse the will closeth with it at least wise so much is added by how much the will is more in it and therefore the highest degree of sinning is exprest to us by sinning willingly and this after knowledge Heb. 10. Now though an ignorant man commits the act as willingly as when Paul persecuted the Church yet he commits it not considered as sinne till he hath the knowledge of it but then when it is discovered to be sinne and the more clearely it is so discovered the will may be said to joyn with it as sinne Therefore the Apostle sayes To him that knowes to doe well and doth it not to him it is sinne Iames 4. 17. because by his knowledge the thing is represented as sinne and so he closeth with it the more under that notion and apprehension Sixtly in sinning against knowledge a man condemns himselfe but when out of ignorance meerely the Law onely doth condemne him So Rom. 2. 1. A man having knowledge in that wherein hee judgeth another he condemneth himselfe So Rom. 14. Now as self-murder is
God the Sonne under-went had a cup mingled him of his Father more bitter than if all the evils in the world had beene strained in and he dranke it off heartily to the bottome but not a drop of sinne though sweetned with the offer of all the world would goe downe with him Thirdly other evils the Saints have chosen and imbraced as good and refused the greatest good things the world had as evill when they came in competition with sinne So Moses those rather to suffer much rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sinne Heb. 11. from 24. to 28. So Chrysostome when Eudoxia the Empresse threatned him goe tell her sayes he Nil nisi peccatum timeo I feare nothing but sinne Fourthly take the Devill himselfe whom you all conceive to be more full of mischiefe than all the evills in the world called therefore in the abstract spirituall wickednesse Eph. 6. 12. yet it was but sinne that first spoiled him and it is sinne possesseth the very devils he was a glorious Angell till he was acquainted with it and could there be a separation made betweene him and sinne he would be againe of as good sweet and amiable a nature as any creature in earth or heaven Fiftly Though other things are evill yet nothing makes the creature accursed but sinne as all good things in the world doe not make a man a blessed man so nor all the evills accursed God sayes not blessed are the honorable and the rich nor that accursed are the poore but cursed is the man that continues not in all things Gal. 3. 10. a curse to the least sinne and on the contrary blessed is the man whose iniquities are forgiven c. Rom. 4. 7. Sixtly God hates nothing but sinne Were all evills swept downe into one man God hates him not simply for them not because thou art poore and disgraced but onely because sinfull It is sin he hates Rev. 2. 15. Isa 27. 11. yea it alone and whereas other attributes are diversely communicated in their effects to severall things as his love and goodnesse Himselfe his Sonne his children have all a share in yet all the hatred which is as large as his love is solely poured out upon and wholly and limited onely unto sinne All the question will be what transcendencie of evill is in the essence of it that makes it above all other evills and hated and it onely by God Christ the Saints c. more than any other evill Why It is enmity with God Rom. 8. 7. abstracts we know speake essences the meaning is it is as directly contrary to God as any thing could be for contrary it is to God and all that is his As 1. contrary to his essence to his existence and being God for it makes men hate him Rom. 1. 30. and as he that hateth his brother is a murtherer 1 Ioh. 3. 15. so hee that hateth God may be said to be a murtherer of him and wisheth that he were not Peccutum est Dei-cidium 2. Contrary it is to all his attributes which are his name men are jealous of their names Gods name is himselfe as 1. It makes a man slight Gods goodnesse and to seeke happinesse in the creature as if hee were able to be happy without him And 2. it deposeth his soveraignty and sets up other Gods before his face 3. It contemns his truth power and justice And 4. turnes his grace into wantonnesse And as to himselfe so to what ever is his or deare to him Besides A King hath 3. things in an especiall manner deare to him His Lawes His favour it es his image stampt upon his coine and so hath God First his lawes and ordinances God never gave Law but it hath beene broken by sinne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the definition of it The transgression of the Law 1 Ioh. 3. 4. yea it is called destroying the Law Psal 119. 126. And know that Gods Law the least tittle of it is more deare to him than all the world For ere the least tittle of it shall be broken heaven and earth shall passe The least sinne therefore which is a breach of the least law is worse than the destruction of the world and for his worship as envying God should have any it turns his ordinances into sinne Secondly for his favourites God hath but a few poore ones upon whom because God hath set his love sinne hath set its hatred Lastly for his image even in a mans owne breast the law of the members fights against the law of the mind and endevoureth to expell it though a man should be damned for it Gal. 5. 17. The flesh namely sinne lusteth against the Spirit for they are contraries Contrary indeed for me thinkes though it hates that image in others that yet it should spare it in a mans selfe out of self-love but yet though a man should be damned if this image be expelled it yet laboureth to doe this so deadly is that hatred a man hates himselfe as holy so farre as he is sinfull It abounds now so high as our thoughts can follow it no farther Divines say it aspires unto infinity the object against whom it is thus contrary unto being God who is infinite they tell us that objectively sinne it selfe is infinite Sure I am the worth of the object or party offended aggravates the offence an ill word against the King is high treason not the greatest indignity to another man Sure I also am that God was so offended with it as though he loves his Sonne as himselfe yet he though without sinne being but made sinne by imputation yet God spared him not and because the creatures could not strike a stroake hard enough he himselfe was pleased to bruise him Esay 53. 16. He spared not his owne Sonne Rom. 8. 32. His love might have overcome him to have passed by it to his Sonne at least a word of his mouth might have pacified him yet so great was his hatred of it and offence at it as he powred the vialls of his wrath on him Neither would entreaty serve for though he cryed with strong cryes it should passe from him God would not till he had out-wrastled it And as the person offended aggravates the offence as before so also the person suffering being God and man argues the abounding sinfulnesse of it For for what crime did you ever hear a King was put to death their persons being esteemed in worth above all crime as civill Christ was the King of Kings And yet there is one consideration more to make the measure of its iniquity fully full and to abound to flowing over and that is this that the least sinne virtually more or lesse containes all sinne in the nature of it I meane not that all are equall therefore I adde more or lesse and I prove it thus because Adam by one offence contracted the staine of all no sooner did one sinne seaze upon his heart but he had all sinnes in him And
could not enjoy his Paramore All these as they live in their sins here and so are dead whilest they live and so are miserable making the greatest evill their chiefest good so when they come to die as we all must doe one day and how soone and how suddenly we know not wee carry our soules our precious soules as precious water in a brittle glasse soone cracked and then we are spilt like water which none can gather up againe or but as a candle in a paper lanthorne in clay walls full of cranyes often but a little cold comes in and blowes the candle out and then without a through change of heart before wrought from all sinne to all godlinesse they will die in their sinnes And all and the utmost of all miseries is spoken in that one word and therefore Christ when he would summe up all miseries in one expression tells the Pharisees they should die in their sins Iohn 8. 28. Vse 2. ANd let us consider further that if sin be thus above measure sinfull that Hell that followeth death is then likewise above measure fearful And so it is intimated to be a punishment without measure Ier. 30. 11. compared with Isa 27. Punish them as I punish thee sayes God to his owne but I will punish thee in measure And indeed sinne being committed against God the King of Kings it can never be punished enough But as the killing of a King is amongst men a crime so hainous that no tortures can exceed the desert of it we use to say all torments are too little any death too good for such a crime Now peccatum est Dei 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as I said before a destroying God as much as in us lies and therefore none but God himselfe can give it a full punishment therefore it is called a falling into Gods hands Heb. 10. 31. which as he sayes there is fearfull For if his breath blowes us to destruction Iob 4. 9. for we are but dust heaps yea his nod he nods to destruction Psal 80. 16. then what is the weight of his hands even of those hands which span the heavens and hold the earth in the hollow of them and if God take it into his hands to punish he will be sure to doe unto the full Sinne is mans worke and punishment is Gods and God will shew himselfe as perfect in his worke as man in his If sinne be malum catholicum as hath been said that containes all evils in it then the punishment God will inflict shall be malum catholicum also containing in it all miseries it is a cup full of mixture so called Psal 75. 8. as into which God hath strained the quintessence of all miseries and the wicked of the earth must drink the dregges of it though it be eternity unto the bottome And if one sin deserves a hell a punishment above measure what will millions of millions doe And we reade that every sinne shall receive a just recompence Heb. 2. 3. oh let us then take heed of dying in our sinnes and therefore of living in them for we shall lie in prison till we have paid the very utmost farthing And therefore if all this that I have said of it wil not engender answerable apprehensions of it in you this being but painting the toad which you can look upon and handle without affrightment I wish that if without danger you could but lay your eares to hell that standing as it were behind the skreene you might heare sinne spoken of in its owne dialect by the oldest sonnes of perdition there to heare what Cain sayes of murthering his brother Abel what Saul of his persecuting David and the Priests of Iehovah what Balaam and Achitophel say of their cursed counsels and policies what Ahab sayes of his oppression of Naboth what Iudas of treason and heare what expressions they have with what horrors yellings groanes distractions the least sin is there spoken of If God should take any mans soule here and as he rapt His into the third heavens where he saw grace in its fullest brightnesse so carry any ones soule into those chambers of death as Solomon calls them and leading him through all from chamber to chamber shew him the visions of darknesse and hee there heare all those bedlames cry out one of this sinne another of that and see sinne as it lookes in hell But there is one aggravation more of the evill and misery sinne brings upon men I have not spoken of yet that it blinds their eyes and hardens their hearts that they doe not see nor lament their misery till they be in hell and then it is too late Vse 3. BUt what doth sin so exceed in sinfulnesse and is the venome of it boyled up to such a height of mischiefe that there should be no name in heaven and earth able to grapple with it and destroy it Is there no antidote no balme in Gilead more soveraigne than it is deadly Surely yes God would never have suffered so potent and malicious an enemy to have set foot in his dominions but that he knew how to conquer it and that not by punishing of it onely in hell but by destroying it onely it is too potent for all the creatures to encounter with This victory is alone reserved for Christ it can die by no other hand that he may have the glory of it which therefore is the top of his glory as mediator and his highest title the memory of which he beares written in his name JESUS for he shall save his people from their sinnes Mat. 1. 21. And therefore the Apostle Paul his chiefest Herauld proclaimes this victory with a world of solemnity and triumph 1 Cor. 15. 36. Oh death where is thy sting oh grave where is thy victory the sting of death is sinne the strength of sinne is the Law but thankes be to God that gives us the victory through our Lord Iesus Christ which yet again addes to the Demonstration of the sinfulnesse of it for the strength of sinne was such that like Goliah it would have defied the whole host of heaven and earth It was not possible the blood of Bulls and goats should take away sinne Heb. 10. 4. nor would the riches of the world or the blood of men have beene a sufficient ransome Will the Lord be pleased with rivers of oyle shall I give my first borne for my transgression No sayes he there is no proportion for thy first borne is but the fruit of thy body and sinne is the sinne of thy soule Mich. 6. 7. it must cost more to redeeme a soule than so Psal 49. 9. No couldest thou bring rivers of teares in stead of rivers of oyle which if any thing were like to pacifie God yet are they but the excrements of thy braines but sinne is the sinne of thy heart yea all the righteousnesse that we could ever do cannot make amends for one sinne for suppose it perfect when as yet it is but
dung Mal. 2. 3. and a menstruom cloath yet thou owest it already as thou art a creature and one debt cannot pay another If then we should goe a begging to all the Angels who never sinned let them lay all their stock together it would begger them all to pay for one sinne no it is not the merit of Angels will doe it for sinne is the transgression the destruction of the Law Psal 109. 1. and the least 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is more worth than heaven and all that is therein Onely though it be thus unconquerably sinfull by all created powers it hath not gone beyond the price that Christ hath paid for it the Apostle compares to this very purpose sinne and Christs righteousnesse together Rom. 5. 15 20. 'T is true sayes hee that sinne abounds and that one sinne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and instanceth in Adams sinne which staineth all mens natures to the end of the world yet sayes he the gift of righteousnesse by Christ abounds much more abounds to flowing over 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sayes the Apostle 1 Tim. 1. 14. as the sea doth above mote-hills Malach. 7. 14. Though therefore it would undoe all the Angels yet Christs riches are unsearchable Eph. 3. 8. hee hath such riches of merit as are able to pay all thy debts the very first day of thy mariage with him though thou hadst beene a sinner millions of yeares afore the creation to this day and when that is done there is enough left to purchase thee more grace and glory than all the Angels have in heaven In a word he is able to save to the utmost all that come to God by him Heb. 7. 5. let their sins be what they will But then wee must come to him and to God by him and take him as our Lord and King and head and husband as he is freely tendered we must be made one with him and have our hearts divorced from all our sinnes for ever And why not now doe we yet look for another Christ and to allude to us as Naomi said to Ruth Is there yet any more sonnes in my wombe that they may be your husbands So say I Hath God any more such sonnes or is not this Christ good enough or are we afraid of being happy too soon in being married to him But yet if we will have Christ indeed without whom we are undone how shall we thou continue in sinne which is thus above measure sinfull no not in one The Apostle speaks there in the language of impossibility and inconsistencie Christ and the raigne of one sinne they cannot stand together And indeed wee will not so much as take Christ untill first wee have seene more or lesse this vission here and sinne appear to us as to him above measure sinfull naturally we slight it and make a mock of and account it precisenesse to stick and make conscience of it but if once sinne thus appeares to any but in its owne colours that man will looke upon the least sinne then as upon hell it selfe and like a man affrighted feare in all his wayes lest he should meet with sinne and starts at the very appearance of it he weepes if sinne doe but see him and hee doe but see it in himselfe and others and cryes out as Ioseph did How shall I doe this and sinne and then a man will make out for Christ as a condemned man for life as a man that can no longer live oh give me Christ or else I die and then if upon this Christ appeares to him and manifests himselfe as his promise is to thē that seek him Ioh. 14. 21. his heart thereupon will much more detest and loathe it he saw it evill afore Out then it comes to have a new tincture added which makes it infinitely more sinfull in his eyes for he then lookes upon every sinne as guilty of Christs bloud as dyed with it though covered by it the grace of God appearing teacheth us to deny all ungodlinesse and worldly lusts The love of Christ constraines him Thinkes he Shall I live in that for which Christ died shall that be my life which was his death did he that never knew sinne undergoe the torment for it and shall I be so unkinde as to enjoy the pleasure of it No but as David when hee was very thirstie and had water of the well of Bethleem brought him with the hazard of mens lives powred it on the ground for sayes hee It is the blood of these men So sayes he even when the cup of pleasures is at his very lips It cost the blood of Christ and so pours it upon the ground And as the love of Christ constraines him so the power of Christ doth change him Kings may pardon Traytors but they cannot change their hearts but Christ pardons none hee doth not make new creatures and all old things passe away because he makes them friends favourites to live with and delight in and if men put on Christ and have learned him as the truth is in Iesus they put off as concerning the former conversation the old man with the deceitfull lusts and he ceaseth from sinne that is from the course of any knowne sin they are the Apostles owne words which shall judge us and if we should expect salvation from him upon any other termes we are deceived for Christ is author of salvation to them onely that obey him Heb. 5. 9. AGGRAVATIONS OF SINNING AGAINST KNOWLEDGE BY THO GOODWIN B. D. LONDON Printed by M. F. for Iohn Rothwell 〈…〉 be sold at the Sun in Pauls Church 〈…〉 M DC XXXVII Contents of Aggravation of sinning against knowledge Doct. TO sinne against knowledge is the highest aggravation of sinning page 34 1. Demonstrations of the point by comparing it with other kinds of sinning 36 How much sins against knowledge doe transcend sins of ignorance 37 1. In sins of ignorance there may be a supposition if he had known it he would not have done it but not so in these ibid. 2. The vast difference between them appears in the repentance God accepts for each a generall repentance for the one not so for the other 39 3. Some kinds of sinning against knowledge exclude from mercy which done ignorantly leave a capacity of it 40 4. Sinning against knowledge is the highest but that of sinning against the holy Ghost 41 6. Reasons 1. Because knowledge is the greatest mercy 42 2. Knowledge is the immediate guide of men in all their waies a man sins against his guide 43 That knowledge is so proved in that an erroneous conscience binds 45 3. Reason Knowledge layeth a further obligation to obedience ibid. Lawes come in force when promulged 46 4. There is the more contempt cast on the law 47 5. In sins against knowledge the will of the sinner closeth more with sin as sin ibid. 6. In sinning against knowledge a man condemnes himselfe 48 Three things handled concerning sins against knowledge ibid.
able to hold weight in the ballance Dan. 5. 22. what puts he into the other scale against him to weigh him up and to shew he was too light ver 21 22 he tells him how his father knew the God of heaven and how that his knowledge cost him seven yeares the learning among wild beasts and thou sayes he his sonne knewest all this and yet didst not humble thy selfe Here is the aggravation weighs downe all he knew the God of heaven against whom he sinned and that judgement on his Father for his pride and then withall he tels him that this God in whose hands is thy breath and all thy wayes thou hast not glorified I name this place among many others because it is parallel with this in the text I le name no more but give reasons and demonstrations for it First Demonstrations The greatnesse of this kind of sinning might many wayes be made appeare we will demonstrate it onely by comparing it with other kinds of sinning To sinne though out of simple ignorance when that ignorance is but the causa sine qua non of sinning that is so as if a man had knowne it a sinne he had not done it doth not yet make the fact not to be a sinne though it lesseneth it For Luke 12. 48. He that did not know his Masters will was beaten when the thing committed was worthy of stripes though he did not know so much because the thing deserves it And the reason is because the Law being once promulged as 1. to Adam it was and put into his heart as the common ark of mankinde though the tables be lost yet our ignorance doth not make the Law of none effect For the Law of nature for ever binds that is all that was written in Adams heart because it was thereby then published in him and to him for us But positive lawes as I may call them as to beleeve in Christ c. anew delivered bind not but where they are publisht Iosiah rent his clothes when the booke of the Law was found because the ordinances were not kept although they had not knowne the Law of many yeares yet because they ought to have knowne it therefore for all their ignorance he feared wrath would come upon all Israel So also Lev. 5. 17. sinnes of ignorance were to be sacrificed for yet however it lesseneth the sin therefore he shall be beaten with few stripes And sure if ignorance lesseneth them knowledge aggravates for contrariorum eadem est ratio therefore he that knowes shall be beaten with many stripes Yea such difference is there that God is said to wink at sins of ignorance Acts 17. 30. The time of this ignorance God winks at Whiles they had no knowledge God tooke no notice yea and he abates something for such sinnes because the creature hath a cloake hath something to say for its selfe as Christ sayes Iohn 15. 22. but when against knowledge they have no cloak Yea farther Christ makes a sinne of ignorance to be no sinne in comparison So there If I had not spoken and done those workes never man did they had had no sinne That is none in comparison but now they have no cloak no shelter to award the stripes or plea to abate of them And that you may see the ground of this vast difference betweene sinnes of ignorance and against knowledge consider first that if a man sin suppose the act the same out of ignorance meerly there may be a supposition that if hee had knowne it he would not have done it and that as soone as he doth know it he would or might repent of it So 1 Cor. 2. 8. If they had knowne they had not crucified the Lord of Glory The like sayes Christ of Tyre Sidon and Gomorrha that if the same things had beene done in them they would have repented But now when a man knowes it afore and also considers it in the very committing it and yet doth it then there is no roome for such a supposition and lesse hope For what is it that should reduce this man to repentance is it not his knowledge now if that had no power to keepe him from his sinne then it may be judged that it will not be of force to bring him to repentance for it for by sinning the heart is made more hard and the knowledge and the authority of it weakned and lessened as all power is when contemned and resisted Rom. 1. 21. their foolish heart becomes darker Aristotle himselfe hath a touch of this notion in the third of his Ethicks that if a man sinne out of ignorance when he knowes it he repents of it if out of passion when the passion is over he is sorry for what he hath done but when a man sinnes deliberately and out of knowledge it is a signe he is fixed and set in mischiefe and therefore it is counted wickednesse and malice And hence it is that those that have beene enlightned with the highest kind of light but that of saving grace Heb. 6. 4 5. and Heb. 10. If they sinne wilfully after such a knowledge of the truth God lookes on them as those that will never repent And therefore likewise the schoole gives this as the reason why the Devills sinne obstinately and cannot repent because of their full knowledge they sinne with they know all in the full latitude that it may be knowne and yet goe on Secondly the vast difference that in Gods account is put betweene sinnes of knowledge and of ignorance will appeare by the different respect and regard that God hath to them in the repentance he requires and accepts for them and that both in the acts of repentance and also in the state of grace and repentance upon which God accepts a man or for want of which he rejecteth him First when a man comes to performe the acts of repentance and to humble himselfe for sinne and to turne from it God exacteth not that sins of ignorance should particularly be repented of But if they be repented of but in the general in the lumpe be they never so great God accepts it This is intimated Psal 19. 12. Who can understand his errour cleanse me from my secret sinnes that was confession enough But sinnes of knowledge must be particularly repented of and confessed and that againe and againe as David was forced to doe for his murder and adultery or a man shall never have pardon Yea farther greater difference will appeare in regard of the state of grace and repentance for a man may lye in a sinne he doth not know to be a sinne and yet be in the state of Grace as the Patriarchs in Poligamie and in divorcing their wives but to lye in a sinne of knowledge is not compatible with grace but unlesse a man maintaineth a constant fight against it hateth it confesseth it forsaketh it hee cannot have mercy This cannot stand with uprightnesse of heart A friend may keepe
correspondencie with one hee suspects not to be an enemy unto his friend and be true to his friendship notwithstanding but if hee knowes him to be an enemie he must break utterly with the one if he leanes to the other Thirdly yet farther in the third place so vast is the difference that some kind of sins committed out of and against knowledge utterly exclude from mercy for time to come which done out of ignorance remained capable of and might have obtained it as persecuting the Saints blaspheming Christ c. Pauls will was as much in those acts themselves and as hearty as those that sin against the Holy Ghost for he was made against the Church and in these sins as himselfe sayes not sinning willingly herein onely but being carried on with fury as hot and as forward as the Pharisees that sinned that sinne onely sayes hee 1 Tim. 1. 13. I did it ignorantly therefore I obtained mercie Though it was ignorantly done yet there was need of mercie but yet in that he did it but ignorantly there was a capacity and place for mercie which otherwise had not beene But thus to sin after a man hath received the knowledge of the truth shuts a man out from mercie Heb. 10. and there is no more sacrifice for sinne for such sins I say such sins as these thus directly against the Gospell when committed with knowledge For sins against the Law though against knowledge there was an atonement as appeares Levit. 6. from the 1. verse to the 8. where hee instanceth in forswearing But to persecute the Saints and Christs truth with malice after knowledge of it there is no more sacrifice not that simply the sin is so great in the act it selfe of persecution for Paul did it out of ignorance but because it is out of knowledge so vast a difference doth knowledge and ignorance put betweene the guilt of the same sinne And therefore indeed to conclude this in the last place this is the highest step of the ladder next to turning off the very highest but that of sinning against the Holy Ghost which must needs argue it the highest aggravation of sinning when it ascends so high when it brings a man to the brinck and next to falling into the bottomlesse pit irrecoverably And therefore to sinne presumptuously which is all one and to sinne against knowledge as appears Numb 15. 26 27 28 29 30. it being there opposed to sinning out of ignorance such a sinne as David did of whom it is said 2 Sam. 12. 9. that he despised the word of the Lord which phrase also is used to expresse sinnes of presumption ver 31. of that 15. of Numbers To sinne I say presumptuously is the highest step So in Davids account Psal 19. 12 13. For first he prayes Lord keepe me from secret sinnes which he maketh sinnes of ignorance and then next he prayes against presumptuous sinnes which as the opposition shewes are sinnes against knowledge For sayes he if they get dominion over me I shall not be free from that great offence That is that unpardonable sinne which shall never be forgiven so as these are neerest it of any other yet not so as that every one that fals into such a sinne commits it but he is nigh to it at the next step to it For to commit that sinne but two things are required light in the mind and malice in the heart not malice alone unlesse there be light for then that Apostle had sinned it so as knowledge is the Parent of it it is after receiving the knowledge of the truth Heb. 10. 27 28. These are the Demonstrations of it the Reasons are First because knowledge of God and his wayes is the greatest mercie next to saving grace Hee hath not dealt so with every Nation Wherein In giving the knowledge of his wayes and as it is thus so to a nation so to a man and therefore Christ speaking of the gift of knowledge and giving the reason why it so greatly condemneth Luke 12. 48. sayes For to whom much is given much is required As if hee had said To know his Masters will that is the great talent of all other There is a much in that Thus it was in the Heathens esteeme also They acknowledged their foolish wisdome in morall and naturall Philosophie their greatest excellencie and therefore Plato thank'd God for three things that he was a man an Athenian and a Philosopher And Rom. 1. 22. the Apostle mentions it as that excellencie they did professe And Soloman of all vanities sayes this is the best vanity and that it exceeds folly as light doth darknesse Eccles 2. But surely much more is the knowledge of the Law and of God as we have it revealed to us this must needs be much more excellent And so the Jewes esteemed theirs as in this second Chapter of the Romanes the Apostle shewes also of them that they made their boast of the Law and their forme of knowledge of it and approving the things that are excellent And what doe the two great books of the creatures and the word and all meanes else serve for but to increase knowledge If therefore all tend to this this is then the greatest mercie of all the rest For secondly God hath appointed knowledge as the immediate guide of men in all their wayes to bring them to salvation and repentance for to that it leads them It is that same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Philosopher call'd it and therefore the Law Rom. 7. 1 2. is compared to an Husband so farre as it is written in or revealed in the heart that as an Husband is the guide of the wife in her youth so is the Law to the heart And whereas beasts are ruled by a bit and bridle God hee rules men by knowledge And therefore if men be wicked notwithstanding this light they must needs sinne highly seeing there is no other curbe for them as they are men but this if he will deale with them as men this is the onely way and therefore if that will not doe it it is supposed nothing will It is knowledge makes men capable of sin which beasts are not therefore the more knowledge if men be wicked withall the more sinne must necessarily be reckoned to them so as God doth not simply looke what mens actions and affections are but chiefly what their knowledge is and accordingly judgeth men more or lesse wicked I may illustrate this by that comparison which I may allude unto That as in Kingdomes God measures out the wickednesse thereof and so his punishments accordingly principally by the guides the governors thereof what they are and what they doe as in the 5. of Ieremie the 4. verse it appeares where first God lookes upon the poore people but he excuseth them these are foolish and know not the way of the Lord and therefore God would have beene moved to spare the Kingdome notwithstanding their sins But from them at
the highest degree of murder and an aggravation of it so self-condemning must needs be reckoned God tooke it as a great advantage over him that hid his talent that out of thine owne mouth I will condemne thee thou wicked servant The doctrine being thus proved First I will explaine what it is to sin against knowledge Secondly I will give the aggravations of it Thirdly I will give rules to measure sinnes of knowledge by and the greatnesse of them in any act Lastly the use of all For the first what it is to sinne against knowledge First to explaine it I premise these distinctions The first distinction That it is one thing to sinne with knowledge another thing against knowledge There are many sinnes doe passe from a man with his knowledge which yet are not against knowledge This is to be observed for the removall of a scruple which may arise in some that are godly who else may be wounded with this doctrine through a mistake A regenerate man is and must needs be supposed guilty of more knowne sinnes than an unregenerate man and yet he commits fewer against knowledge than he First I say hee is guilty of more knowne sinnes For he takes notice of every sinfull disposition that is stirring in him every by-end every contrariety unto holinesse deadnesse to duty reluctancie to spirituall duties and when regenerated beginneth to see and know more evill by himselfe than ever he did before he fees as the Apostle sayes of himselfe Rom. 7. 10. all concupiscence and the holier a man is the more he discernes and knowes his sins So sayes the Apostle Rom. 7. 18. I know that in me dwels no good thing And ver 21. I finde when I would doe good evill is present with me And 23. I see another law All these he sayes he perceived and found daily in himselfe and the more holy that he grew the more he saw them For the purer and clearer the light of Gods Spirit shines in a man the more sinnes he knowes he will see lusts steaming up flying in his heart like moates in the sun or sparkes out of a furnace which else he had not seene the clearer the sun-beame is which is let into the heart the more thou wilt see them But yet in the second place I adde that neverthelesse he sinnes lesse against knowledge For then wee are properly said to sinne against knowledge when wee doe take the fulfilling of a lust or the performance of an outward action a dutie or the like into deliberation and consideration and consider motives against the sinne or to the dutie and yet commit that sinne yeeld to it and nourish that lust and omit that dutie Here now we sinne not onely with knowledge but against knowledge because knowledge stept in and opposed us in it comes to interrupt and prevent us but now in those failings in dutie and stirring of lusts in the regenerate afore mentioned the case is otherwise they are committed indeed with knowledge but not against it For it is not in the power of knowledge to prevent them for motus primo primi non cadunt sub libertatem but yet though such sinnes will arise againe and againe yet sayes a good heart they must not think to passe uncontrouled and unseene Therefore let not poore soules mistake me as if I moant throughout this discourse of all sins which are knowne to be sinnes but I meane such sinnes as are committed against knowledge that is when knowledge comes and examines a sinne in or before the committing of it brings it to the Law contests against it condemnes it and yet a man approveth it and consenteth to it when a dutie and a sinne are brought before knowledge as Barrabas and Christ afore Pilate and thy knowledge doth againe and againe tell thee such a sinne is a great sinne and ought to be crucified and yet thou cryest let it goe and so for the duty it tels thee again and againe it ought to be submitted unto and yet thou omittest it and committest the sin choosest Barrabas rather than Christ these are sinnes against knowledge now such sins against knowledg break a mans peace and the more consideration before had the more the peace is broken The second distinction is that men sinne against knowledg either directly or collaterally objectively or circumstantially First directly when knowledge it selfe is the thing men abuse or fight against becommeth the object the terminus the butt and mark shot at this is to sin directly against knowledge it selfe The second way collaterally is when knowledge is but a circumstance in our sinnes so as the pleasure of some sinne we know to be a sin is the thing aimed at that our knowledge steps but in between to hinder us in it and we commit it notwithstanding though we doe know it here knowledge is indeed sinned against yet but collaterally and as a stander by but as a circumstance onely shot at per accidens concomitanter and by the by as one that steps in to part a fray is smitten for labouring to hinder them in their sin as the Sodomiâ—es quarrelled with Lot they are both found in this Chapter and therefore come fitly within the compasse of this discourse First This collaterall kinde of sinning against knowledge is mentioned in the 21. verse where he saies They knew God yet they glorified him not there knowledge is made but a circumstance of their sinning they sinned against it but collaterally But then that other kind of sinning directly against knowledge is mentioned ver 28. They liked not to retaine God in their knowledge that is they hated this knowledge it selfe so as now they did not onely love sin they knew to be sin but also they loved not the knowledge of it so that because both are thus clearly instanced in wee will speake of both more largely Now sinnes directly against knowledge it selfe are many I will reduce the chiefe heads of them into two branches First in regard of our selves Secondly in regard of others First in regard of our selves five wayes we may thus sin against knowledge it selfe First when we abuse knowledge to helpe us to sinne as first to plot and contrive a sin as Iudas plotted to betray his Master if hee could conveniently so the text sayes Mark 14. 11. hee would doe it wisely and thus those that came to intrap Christ with most cunning questions did sinne and those who plot against the just as Psal 37. 12. So secondly when men use their wisedoms to tell a cunning lye to cover a sin as Plato sayes men of knowledge sunt ad mendacia potentiores sapientiores whereas fooles though they would lye yet often tell truth ere they are aware But also thirdly when they abuse morall knowledge which yet as Aristotle sayes is least apt to be I am sure should least be abused so as to make a shew of
that is alone by themselves so Beza and Theophilact understand it which he makes there the first degree of unnaturall uncleannesse which is therefore unnaturall because thou destroyest that which nature gave thee for propagation quod perdis homo est Then 2. the uncleane love of boyes men burning in lust with men ver 27. be it discovered in what dalliance it will though not arising to an act of Sodomie doing that which is unseemely ver 27. which hee therefore sayes is the perverting the use and intent of nature and so is a sin against nature leaving the naturall use of women My brethren I am ashamed to speak of such things as are done in secret These kind of sinnes by the Apostles ranking them are in a further degree of unnaturalnesse than any other because they are made the punishments of other sinnes which yet were against the light of nature also namely not glorifying God when they knew him yet that being a sinne the light of nature was not so clear in comparison of these therefore these are made the punishments of the other as being more against nature So for men to be disobedient to Parents stubborne to them and without naturall affection as the Apostle sayes ver 30 31. this is against nature even the instinct of it So unthankfulnesse and requiting evill for good is against a common principle in mens mindes Doe not the Gentiles doe good to those that do good to them your hearts use to rise against such an one out of common humanity or if you see one cruell and unmercifull which is another reckoned up ver 31. there being usually principles of pitty in all mens natures by nature therefore for one man to prey upon and tyrannize over another as fishes doe over the small ones as Habakkuk complaineth this is against nature which teacheth you to doe as you would be done to So covenant-breakers and lying and forswearing mentioned ver 30. inventers of evill and truce-breakers are sins against nature and natural light lying is against a double light both morall both juris which tels us such a thing ought not to be done and facti whilest we affirm a thing that is not the knowledge of the contrary ariseth up in us against though there were no law forbade it therefore of all sins else the Devills lusts are expressed by two lying which is a sinne in the understanding and malice in the will Iohn 8. 44. Secondly to sin against that light which thou didst suck in when thou wert young to sin against the light of thy education this is an aggravation and a great one There is a Catechisme of a blessed mother Bathsheba which shee taught Solomon when a child put in among the records of sacred Writ Prov. 31. wherein she counsels him betimes not to give his strength to women she foretold him of that sinne and because it is incident to Kings most they having all pleasures at command she tells him particularly it destroyes Kings and so also not to drink wine was another instruction there he was forewarned of this aggravated Solomons fault the more for reade the 2. Chapter of Ecclesiastes and we shall finde there that hee was most guilty in the inordinate love of these two but hee had not beene brought up so his good mother had not thus instructed him And thus also when God would aggravate his owne peoples sin unto them he recalls them to their education in their youth in the wildernesse So Ierem. 2. 2. Goe and cry to them Iremember the kindnesse and towardlinesse of thy youth he puts them in mind of their education by Moses their Tutor and their forwardnesse then And so Hos 12. when he was a child I loved him and then God had their first fruits ver 3. this he brings to aggravate their back-sliding ver 5. Therefore the Apostle urgeth it as a strong argument to Timothie to goe on to persevere in grace and goodnesse That he had knowne the Scriptures from a child and therefore for him to fall would be more hainous The reason is because the light then infused it is the first a virgin light as I may call it which God in much mercy vouchsafed to pre-possesse the minde with before it should be deflowred and defiled with corrupt principles from the world and did put it there to keep the mind chaste and pure and this also then when the minde was most soft and tender and so fitter to receive the deeper impression from it And hence ordinarily the light suckt in then seasons men ever after whether it be for good or for evill it fore-stalls and pre-judgeth a man against other principles and though a man comes to have more acquired knowledge and reasons after put into him when he is come to perfect age yet the small light of his education if it were to the contrary doth bias him and keeps him fixt and bent that way So we see it is in opinions about Religion the light then entertained can never be disputed out so in mens wayes and actions Traine up a child in his way and he will not depart from it Prov. 22. 6. To sin therefore against it and to put out the beames of it or defile it and to weare out the impressions of it how wicked is it and what a wretch art thou to do so Many of you young schollers have had a good Bathsheba that instructed you not to poure out your strength to drinke or women but to pray privately and to feare God and love him and when you come hither you have good Tutors also who teach you to pray Ministers who instill blessed truths into you from which one would think you should never depart yet you doe Think how grievous this is for if it is made an excuse for many a man in sinning that it answers but his education that he never knew or saw better as you say of many Papists then must it needs on the contrary be an aggravation of sinfulnesse And as it was Timothies commendation that hee knew the Scriptures from a child so it will be thy condemnation that thou knewest better from a child and yet rebellest against thy light Thirdly the more reall and experimentall the light is men sinne against still the more sinne as when they have learnt it from examples of godly men whom they have lived amongst or the observations of Gods dealings with themselves or others and not onely from the word notionally To sinne against such light this addes a further degree not onely to sinne against the bare light of nature but also further when nature hath besides lighted her torch at the Scripture and then when beyond all this the reall examples and observations made of Gods dealings with a mans selfe and others shall confirme all this this makes a mans sinfulnesse much more grievous for as exempla efficacius docent quà m praecepta so the knowledge got by experiments of mercies or judgements is of
Lawes come in force when promulged There is the more contempt cast upon the Law In sins againâ—… knowledge 〈◊〉 will of the sinner closeth more with sin as sin In sinning against knowledge a man condemns himselfe â— Things handled concerning sins against knowledge 1. What it is 〈◊〉 sinne gainst knowledge explained 1. Distinction To sinne with knowledge and against knowledge doe differ A regenerate man guilty of more sinnes known than another Yet not of more sinnes against knowledge 2. Distinction Men sin against knowledge either objectively or circumstantially onely What it is to sin directly against knowledge What to sinne against knowledg circumstantially onely This distinction explained out of this Chapter Sins directly against knowledg reduced to two Heads 1. In regard of ourselves five wayes When we abuse knowledge to help us to sin 3. wayes 1. To plot and contrive sinne 2. To colour sins committed by lyes 3. To colour sins by pretence of religion and use their knowledg of religion to plead for and instifie their sinâ— When men neglect to get knowledge that might preserve them from sinning c. When men refuse knowledge that they may sin more freely Is to hate the light and to endevour to extinguish it When men hold opinions against their consciences 2. Men sin directly against knowledge it selfe in respect of others By concealing knowledge Men endevour to suppresse knowledge in others When men go about to make others sinne against their consciences Iohn 9. 2. Generall Branch Sins committed collaterally or circumstantially against knowledge It is done 1. Either in particular acts of sinning or 2. In continuing in an estate of sinning against knowledge Particular instances being infinite A distinction is given concening them 1. Some sinne more transient 2. Some more permanent and continued until recalld though but once committed Which are of 〈◊〉 other most â—angerous to â—ommit when against knowledge 2. Going on in a sinfull estate against knowledge Three sorts of men thus sin Such as for worldly end forbear to professe Christ aâ—… his waies whiâ—â—… they know to be such Psal 125. ult Those that defer repentance Apostate professors goe on in an estate of sinning against knowledge Application 2. Head Rules whereby to estimate sinnes against knowledge Of two sorts Before sinning or in sinning 1 Before sinning 3. rules 1. The more a man consider the issues and consequents oâ— a sinne Rule The more consultations and deâ—â—tes before 3. Rule The more testimonies and warnings against sinne 2. Rules to measure the sinfulnesse of such acts in sinning 3. The lesse passion or temptation to a sin against knowledge The more inward regreet and sorrow and reluctancy the stronger is the knowledge and so more against it The more hardnesse of heart in committing a sinne knowne to be a sin the greater the sin as it is a sin against knowledge 3. Head Aggravations drawne from the kindâ— of that knowledge we sinne against which are five The more â—…ong the knowledge the â—â—eater the sin To sin against the inbred light of nature Hab. 1. 14. To sin against the light of education The more reall and experimentall light men sin against The more shining the light is in the conscience joyned with a taste the greater the sin To sin against professed knowledge How great an engagement motive it is to men of knowledge to turne to God and to take heed of sinning Such an one cannot sin so cheap as others their sins are more costly and chargeable and will have lesse pleasure in sinning Such are given up to greater hardnesse of heart Such God gives up to the worst and grossest of sins At death knowledg sinned against gives up to more horror and despaire Hell it ineaseth torent Ephes 2. 7. Psal 104. 24. Luke 6. 33. Rom. 11. 35. Psal 24. 1. Psal 50. 11 12. 1 Chron. 29. Psal 104. 29. Luke 6. 34. Psal 16. 2. Luke 6. 35. Psal 7. 11. Revel 2. 21. Mat. 18. 29. Luke 13. 17. Heb. 1. Iohn 1. 10. 1 Tim. 1. 16. 2 Pet. 3. 1. Acts 1. 25. 2 Pet. 3. 9. Gen. 6. Acts 17. 26 27 28. Acts 14. 16. Luke 6. Ier. 5. 26 27. Hab. 2. 10 11. Psal 137. 7. Psal 8. 5. Psal 139. 15. Eccl. 12. 2. Rom. 6. Psal 104. 23. Psal 104. 10 11. Psal 65. 11. 1 Pet. 4. 3. Iob 33. Eccles 5. 17. Iob 21. 25. Lamen 3. 22. Acts 14. 17. Psal 41. 3. Psal 127. 2. Ier. 31. 26. Gen. 28. 20. Iob 37. 17. Exod. 15. 26. Psal 68. 19. Deut. 8. 18. Prov. 22. 1. Iob 5. 21. 2 Sam. 1. 26. Gen. 33. 10. Iob 32. 8 9. Acts 14. 17. Eccles 8. 11. Deut. 32. 6. 1 Sam. 2. 25. Esay 7. 13. Hos 11. 6. Mat. 5. 46. Esay 1. Amos 2. 13. Psal 68. 19. 2 Pet. 2. 3. 2 Thes 5.
many are said to doe in 1 Tim. 4. 2. he foretels they should speake lyes in Hypocrisie and invent lyes that should have a pretence of holinesse which they know to be a lye or else they should not be said to speake lyes in hypocrisie but they doe it to maintaine their honour and greatnesse which must downe if their doctrine prove false and though many are given up to beleeve their lyes 2 Thes 2. 11. as a punishment of their not loving the truth yet others of them shall know they are lies and yet vent them for truths Thus when men fashion their opinion to the times and wayes of preferment and their dependances on Great ones or to maintaine and uphold a faction or out of pride having broached an error maintaine it though the pulling out that one tile doth untile all the house These are the two causes given of perverting the truth 1 Tim. 6. 4 5. namely pride and covetousnesse and supposing gaine godlinesse and so fashioning their religion accordingly when men are Knights of the post that will write or speak any thing whereby they may get gaine and preferment Secondly men sin against knowledge in regard of others First by concealing it the Apostle indeed sayes in a certaine case Hast thou knowledge keepe it to thy selfe He speakes it of opinions or practices about things indifferent which might scandalize the weake but if thou hast knowledge which may edifie thy brother thou oughtest to communicate it Socrates knowing there was but one God said in his Apologie for his life that if they would give him life upon condition to keep that truth to himselfe and not to teach it to others hee would not accept life upon such a condition and I remember he expresseth his resolution in words very nigh the same words the Apostles used Acts 4. 20. whether it be better to obey God than men judge you and we cannot but teach the things wee have heard and seene sayes Christ for knowledge is a thing will boyle within a man forvent and cannot be imprisoned It is light and the end why light was made was to be set up to give light And Christ argues from an apparent absurdity to put a light under a bushell which may give light to all the house Hast thou knowledge of God and of his wayes thou canst not but speake if withall thou hast but a good heart to all in the familie to thy wife in thy bosome c. God took it for granted that Abraham would teach his children what he should know from him The same disposition is in all the children of Abraham Secondly when men endeavour to suppresse knowledge As the Pharisees they kept the keyes of it in their hands and would not open the treasures of it themselves nor let others doe it neither So they Acts 4. 16. could not deny but a great miracle was done by the Apostles say themselves but that it spread no further let us threaten them and charge them that they speake no more in his name And this they did against their consciences by their owne profession we cannot deny it as if they had said if wee could we would but it was too manifest it was the truth So when Masters keep their servants from the meanes of knowledge they are thus guilty Thirdly when wee would make others sinne against their consciences The Pharises when the blind man would not say as they said they cast him out they would have had him say that Christ was a sinner when through the small light he had hee judged it evident enough that a sinner should not doe such a miracle as was never done since the world began And so Iezabel made the Judges and witnesses sinne against conscience in accusing Naboth and so some of the Gentiles that would hold correspondencie with the Jewes would have constrained the Galathians to be circumcised Gal. 6. 12. Those that knew that circumcision was to be abolisht yet they would perswade them to it by a clubb argument drawn from avoiding persecution not from evidence of the Truth or by reasons that might convince them and their consciences therfore he sayes they constrained thē The perswaders might indeed glory as having their cause and side strengthened but they wanne little credit to their cause by it for as the perswaders arguments were suited to flesh so the others yeelding was out of flesh and so they glory in your flesh and weaknesse sayes he as the Papists urged Cranmer not by arguments but threats and promises to recant this is the greatest cruelty in the world to have a man murder himselfe stab his conscience To offend a weak conscience is a sinne if but passively when thou dost something before his face which his conscience is against but if thou makest him wound his own conscience and to doe an act himselfe which his owne conscience is against it is much worse as if thou beest a Master and hast a servant who pleadeth conscience that hee cannot lye for thy advantage in thy shop or who will not doe unlawfull businesses on the Sabbath day and pleads conscience wilt thou smite him and whip him God will smite thee thou whited wall How darest thou smite him and so cause him to doe that for which God will whip him worser Shew mercy to those under you enforme their consciences wring them not you may hap to break the wards if you doe Now for sinnes committed collaterally or per modum circumstantia that I may so expresse it against knowledge they are done either when particular acts of sinne are committed and duties omitted against light and knowledge and so the Saints may and doe often sinne against knowledge Or Secondly in regard of a knowne estate of sinne and impenitencie persisted in when men continue and goe on in such a state against conviction of conscience that such is their estates For the first because particular acts of sin committed against knowledge are infinite and there will be no end of instancing in particulars therefore I will not insist Onely in briefe this distinction concerning such acts may be observed and the observation of it may be usefull That some acts of sinnes against knowledge are meerely transient that is are done and ended at once And though the guilt of them is eternall yet the extent of the act is finished with the committing it and reacheth no further as a vaine oath breach of the Sabbath c. which acts cannot be repealed though they may be repented of But others there are which though the act may be but once outwardly and professedly done yet have an habituall and continued permanency life subsistence given it such as that untill a man doth recall them hee may be said continually to renew those acts and every day to be guilty of them and to maintaine it and so habitually to cōmit them As it is with Laws which though made but once are
yet continued acts of the State whilest they stand in force unrepealed so is it in some sins For instance when a man doth take goods from his neighbour unjustly the act indeed is done but once but till hee restores them he may be said to steale them every day every houre he continues to doe it habitually So a man having subscribed to falshood or recanted the truth publiquely the act though done but once yet untill a retractation be some wayes made hee continues that act and so is daily anew guilty of it So if a man should marry one whom it is unlawfull for him to marry as Herod did though that sinfull act of espousals whereby they entred into it was soon dispatcht yet till a divorce he lives in a continuall sin And such acts of this latter sort I meane against knowledge are most dangerous to commit because to continue thus in them though but once committed hazards a mans estate and therefore men find when they come to repent the greatest snare and trouble and difficulty in such kind of sins to extricate themselves out of them by a meet and true repentance But as concerning the first branch of this distinction namely of particular acts committed against knowledge besides this last distinction briefly touched I will anon give you severall aggravations and rules whereby to measure the sinfulnesse that is in such acts so committed but in the meane time the second branch of this former distinction must be insisted upon and therefore I will bring in these aggravations and rules which concerne particular acts as distinct heads after I have briefly spoken to this other which is That Secondly those sinne against knowledge who goe on in an estate of sin and impenitencie which they know to be damnable As Pharaoh Exod. 9. 27. who confest that the and his people were wicked and yet hardned himselfe in sinne most dangerously and yet three sorts of men may apparently be convinced thus to sin First those that keep out and with-draw themselves from professing Christ and his wayes and the feare of his name out of shame or feare of man or losse of preferment or the like worldly ends when yet they are convinced that they are Gods wayes and ought to be professed by them I doe not say that all who doe not come in to professe Christ and that doe not joyne themselves with his people that they goe on against knowledge for many are ignorant and mistaken about them but when men are convinced of the truth and necessity of professing and confessing of it even unto salvation as the Apostle speaks Rom. 10 and yet out of fear or shame keep still on the other side drawing in their hornes all together These goe on in an estate of impenitencie against knowledg for put all these together and it must needs appeare to be so as First when they are convinced that this is the truth and that salvation and the power of religion is onely to be found in such wayes and men and Secondly that these are to be practiced and professed and yet Thirdly out of shame c. keepe still a loofe off and goe on a contrary way these must needs know that they goe on in an estate of impenitencie against knowledge This was the case of many of the Pharises who therefore sinned highly they beleeved and were convinced that Christ was the Messiah and so then to be confest and followed and to be cleaved unto and then also they must needs know that his followers onely were the Children of God Yet Ioh. 12. 42. it is said though they thus beleeved on him yet they durst not confesse him for feare of the Iewes and of the Pharises and of being put out of the Synagogues At the latter day Christ shall not need to sever such from the rest as hee will doe the sheepe from the goats for they willingly remaine all their dayes amongst them whom they know to be goats and refuse the company and fould and food and marks of the sheep which they know to be such they may apologize and make fair with the Saints that their hearts are with them but they will be rankt at the day of Judgement as here they ranked themselves with the workers of iniquity Of these doth the Psalmist speake Those that turne aside by their crooked wayes them shall the Lord leave with the workers of iniquity Those also thus sinne and are to be joyned with these who know the tearms and condition of salvation and how they must part with all for Christ and yet will not come to the price such doe goe desperately on against knowledge in a bad estate and doe judge themselves unworthy of eternall life Thus the young man in the Gospell he was told that he was to sell all and that was the condition and hee knew heaven was worth it and was convinced of the truth herein that thus he ought to doe for he went away sorrowfull now if he had not knowne that he went away without happinesse he needed not have beene sorrowfull at all but he knew the bargaine of salvation was not struck up and likewise what it stuck at and yet still rested in his former condition and chose rather to enjoy his many possessions This man now went on in his state against knowledge Secondly as also those who upon the same or like ground defer their repentance these go on in a bad estate and must needs know they doe so for in that they promise to repent hereafter and take up purposes to doe it when they have gone on a little while longer to adde drunkennesse to thirst they doe thereby professe that there is a work of grace which they must attaine to ere they can be in the state of grace for they would not promise so much hereafter but that they know not how without such a work they should be saved Whilest therefore such shall rest without present endevouring after it so long they are judged in themselves to be in a bad estate at present When men know the curses due to their present estate and yet say as hee Deut. 29. 19. I will goe on in the way of my heart and shall have peace afterward This man sinnes most highly and therefore Gods wrath smoakes against that man and he sayes of him that he will not be mercifull to him in that place Thirdly sunk and broken professors such cannot but goe on in a bad estate against knowledge when either men are falne from the practice and profession of what is good which once they thought necessarie to salvation or when they continue to hold forth their profession in Hypocrisie Those that have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of Iesus Christ but are returned to their vomit againe some of these are ingenious and acknowledge both themselves faln their present estate most miserable and yet goe on in it and such are to