Yet Further: How the Sinfulness and Malignity of Sin Appears by the Commandment

1 Thus, That it takes occasion from its being prohibited, and forbidden by the Law, to sin against, and transgress it the more: It has such a malignity, such an enmity in it, that it will not be subject to the Law of God (Romans 8:7), it strives to break this bond in sunder, and to cast this cord far from it; the Law stands in its way, and therefore it rushes upon the breaking of it with the more violence; sin grows angry, and swells like a river pent up, and stopped in its course. Thus the Apostle speaks of it (Romans 7:8), Sin taking occasion by the Commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence: The Law said, you shall not lust; at this Lust grows mad, and provokes to sin the more: nitimur in vetitum; gens humana ruit per vetitum nefas. Sin is proud and impetuous, it scorns to be checked, or have any chains put upon it: Poor we (such is the sinfulness of sin!) are apt to be the more proud, the more covetous, the more wanton, etc. because it is forbidden us.

2 The sinfulness of sin appears by the Commandment thus, that it takes occasion by the Commandment to deceive us, as the Apostle says it did him (Romans 7:11), just as the devil took occasion from the Commandment to deceive our first parents; as if God were envious to us, or at least we mistake his meaning, etc. Thus did the devil, and thus does sin take occasion from the Commandment to deceive us, to corrupt our understanding first, and by that our affection, and by that our conversation: The devil and sin put their interpretations on God's Text, they gloss and comment upon it, and put queries, has God said? (Genesis 3) and (2 Corinthians 11:3) You need not fear, there's no such danger, there is another meaning in this command, etc. — such are the sly and cunning tricks that Satan and sin put on us, to harden us by deceit (Hebrews 3:13).

3 Sin appears exceeding sinful by the Commandment, in that it makes use of it to slay and kill us; it works our death and ruin by it; as (Romans 7:11-13). Sin at first makes us believe (as the Serpent did Eve) that we shall not die, but live better, and be like Gods: But (James 1:14-15), being tempted, enticed and drawn away of our own lust, then when lust has conceived, it brings forth sin; and sin when it is finished, brings forth death, indeed all sorts of deaths, natural, spiritual and eternal; this is the wages and end of sin (Romans 6:21, 23). Man no sooner sinned, but he became mortal, dead in Law; and by living in sin, men become spiritually dead in sin (Ephesians 2:1-2), and (if grace prevent not) will die in sin, and be damned for sin, which is eternal death: Thus says the Apostle, while sin flattered and deceived me, (as if I should go unpunished) it brought me under condemnation and death; and though God does let sentence of death pass upon some men, that he may raise them from the dead, yet these persons find themselves dead first (before they pass from death to life) as was the Apostle's case in this place; Conversion is a resurrection from the dead: Sin kills men, grace revives men; so (like the Prodigal) they that were dead, are alive: But by this we see the sinfulness of sin, that it makes use of the Law, which was ordained to life, to condemn and pass sentence of death upon sinful men; that which was made to be our strength against sin, is become the strength of sin (1 Corinthians 15:56). Death were weak without its sting, which is sin, and sin were weak without its strength, which is the Law: Oh sinful sin, exceeding, out of measure sinful, that works death by that which is good, and was ordained to life!

Hereupon follow several things which proclaim the sinfulness of sin from the mouth of the Law: Do we not hear the Law (Galatians 4:21)? what dreadful things it speaks against the transgressors of it.

As 1. This, The Law allows us no favor, if we break it in any one thing, though we observe it in many things, if we keep not all, it is as if we kept it not at all; the Law will not pardon the least sin; there is no compounding with the Law, nor compensating a sin by doing a duty (Romans 2:25). What profits Circumcision? it profits if you keep the Law, but if you break the Law, Circumcision is as uncircumcision, it profits not at all: as one sinner destroys much good, so does one sin; it is like a dead fly in a box of ointment (James 2:10), whoever shall keep the whole, and yet offend in but one point, he is guilty of all (for the nature of all sin is in any and every one sin) if a man sin once, though but once, the Law casts him; for the Law is but the one will of God in various particulars, either of which transgressed is against the will of God, which runs through all (as a silken string through a great many pearls, which if it be cut or broken but in one place, the whole is broken) and wherever there is but one transgression, the Law pronounces the curse (Galatians 3:10). Had not God provided a City of refuge, a new and living way, we had never found any favor from, or by the Law (Romans 8:2-3). Hence

2 The Law (since sin entered) cannot justify any man, it has lost its power, and grown weak; as (Romans 8:23). If it were pitiful, compassionate and friendly, yet it lacks power to justify us; the Law cannot give life (though it were made to that end) (Galatians 3:21-22). If there had been a law given, which could have given life, righteousness had been by the law; but the Scripture has concluded all under sin, that the promise (namely, of life) might be given to them that believe: If the law could, implying that it was not in the law's power, but why not? it could at first; true, but it is weak through the flesh, all are concluded under sin, the law is transgressed, and therefore cannot give life: Sinful sin has weakened the law, as to the justification, but it has strengthened it, as to the condemnation of sinners.

3 The law makes sin abound, and aggravates it exceedingly (Galatians 3:19). Why does the law serve? Of what use is the law? It was added because of transgression, to make sin appear in its own colors: the law written in man's heart was so obliterated, that men could not discern sin by it, as they were accustomed: for, says the apostle, I had not known sin but by the law, namely newly promulgated and written, I did not know it by the law in my heart, for that left me alone; so that the law was added to revive the sight and sense of sin, that men might see what an ugly thing sin is, infinitely worse than men are generally aware of, till the commandment come. The law entered that sin might abound (Romans 5:20), not that men might sin more, but see their sin more, that men might take a full measure of sin in all the dimensions of it, in its height, depth, breadth and length; the holiness, goodness, justice, the severity, etc. of the law, do all set out sin in its ugly shape and color.

4 The law witnesses against sin as exceeding sinful in its being become as a schoolmaster to us (Galatians 3:24). We should scarce ever have looked to Christ, had not the law whipped and lashed us, like a severe schoolmaster, for this (not to exclude others) is, as I conceive, much the meaning of this text, namely that the law kept us in awe and bondage, by its severity, until Christ came: Compare this text with Galatians 4:1-3. The heir, as he is a child or babe, differs nothing from a servant, but is under tutors and governors; so we (says the apostle) were in bondage, etc. To be under tutors, is all one as to be under a schoolmaster, and that's to be in a condition of bondage: Many go to school with an ill will, for they go to the ferula, to the rod, to the whip, to bondage, to fear and torment; the law does nothing but frown on us, puts us hard tasks, and lashes us for non-performance, till Christ come, and till we come to Christ, as the Egyptians did the Israelites (Exodus 5:14). The law is the state of bondage and fear; the very children are all subject to bondage through fear of death (Hebrews 2:14-15). This also argues the sinfulness of sin, that it made the law such a dread and terror to us (as it is to all) till Christ come, who is the end of the law for righteousness (Romans 10:4), and so takes off the schoolmaster's terribleness, by taking us into the university of an higher and better state, namely that of believing in him for righteousness, by which we come to have a spirit not of fear, but of power, of love, and of a sound mind, as Saint Paul speaks (2 Timothy 1:7).

5 The law silences man from making any complaint, how great soever the judgment of God be upon him: Mark what, to whom, and to what end and purpose the law speaks (Romans 3:19), that every mouth be stopped: All the world must be silent when God speaks judgment, for all are guilty: If living man complain, he has this answer presently, and in short, it is for his sin (Lamentations 3:39). There's no room for one that has sinned to complain when he is judged: a sinner, and yet complain? Oh, I am punished, it is for sin; now this stops his mouth: Man has no reason to enter into judgment with God, when God enters into judgment with man: O what a wicked thing is sin, that has brought man into such a condition, that he cannot speak one word for himself; if he should open his mouth, the law would stop it, by saying but this, you have sinned: The Law tells man that he is without excuse, and therefore it is in vain to plead; all on this side hell is mercy (for it is the Lord's mercy we are not consumed) and hell itself is just judgment, under this, or that, any, or all judgment, man under the law (the sentence and condemnation of the law) has no cause to complain, he must be silent for and because he has sinned.

6 And lastly, The law leaves a man without hope; when it has once passed sentence on man, there's no reversing it by the law: Hope is one of the last succors, and when this fails, the heart breaks, and sinners (as they are without hope, so they) are broken-hearted; Christ came to save sinners, and to heal the broken-hearted, men without hope (Isaiah 61:1), men that were in a desperate and despairing state: The law condemns without mercy (Hebrews 10:28), it leaves no place for hope from it, if you present it with petitions never so many, and seek a pardon with tears, the law is inexorable, he is cursed, and shall be cursed, says the law. Now if there be any reprieve, or hope of pardon, that's from the grace of heaven's prerogative, which is above the Law, and can revoke and annul its sentence, indeed bestow a blessing, where the law denounced a curse; but the law itself admits of no altering, it is like that of the Medes and Persians, peremptory, and unalterable: quod scripsi, scripsi, what I have written, I have written, says the Law. In all these respects, sin by the Commandment, and the law, does become and appear to be exceeding sinful. But

If it should be said by any, that though the law be severe to sinners, yet the Gospel is propitious and merciful to them; and therefore sin seems not (now at least) to be so vile a thing as heretofore: To this I shall answer, and make it evident;

6 That the Gospel also bears witness, indeed, and is the greatest and clearest testimony that's born against sin: Though sinners find favor from the Gospel, yet sin finds none: The Gospel is not, in the least, indulgent to the least sin: The whole voice of the Gospel is, these things are written, that you sin not: The Gospel is the declaration of the life and death, the design and doctrine of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was and is all against sin: The design of Christ was indeed to save sinners (1 Timothy 1:15), but to destroy sin (Romans 8:3; 1 John 3:5, 8); he came to save his people from their sins; he came not to save from the petty and contemptible evils of reproaches and afflictions, etc., but from the great and formidable evil of sin; from the guilt for time past, and the power for time to come; he came to redeem us from all iniquity (Titus 2:14). And this is the blessing with which he blesses us, to turn us every one away from every one of our iniquities (Acts 3:26), so that whoever names and calls upon the name of the Lord (that is, makes profession of being a Christian) is thereby obliged to depart from iniquity (2 Timothy 2:19). How the life and death of our holy and blessed Savior did witness against sin, I declared before: I shall now treat of the doctrine of the Gospel, which does so fully comport with, and is adequately fitted to his aim and design, namely, the taking away of sin.

The sum of Gospel doctrine (preached by Christ himself, and confirmed to us by them that heard him) was and is, repentance and faith (Mark 1:15), and under these the Apostle comprises the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:21, 27); both these doctrines speak aloud against sin, as exceeding sinful: Repent, says the Apostle, for the remission of sins; what an evil is that which man must repent of! And none but the God of all grace, rich in mercy, can remit and forgive? And which forgiveness argues him to be a God of great love, rich in mercy, etc., or else sin could not be forgiven, it being easier to heal diseases, etc., than to forgive sins, as our Savior tells us (Matthew 9:5-6). 'Tis the manifestation of his power; according to what Moses said in prayer, let the power of my Lord be great to pardon, etc. (Numbers 14:17-20). Repentance takes in many things; it's made up of sorrow and shame, confession and reformation, all and every of which speak sin's sinfulness: Repent, that your sins may be blotted out (Acts 3:19). If sin be not blotted out, man is undone; his name will be blotted out of the Book of Life: as repentance, so faith speaks against sin: Faith speaks men to be void of righteousness and life, for they both are by faith; and, as if men repent not, they will not be forgiven, so, if they believe not, they will be damned; for not only they that know not God, but they that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, will have vengeance taken on them, and be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord (2 Thessalonians 1:8-9). And how can they escape (that is, there's no possibility of escaping) this great damnation, that neglect the great salvation (Hebrews 2:3).

Let us take the doctrine of the Gospel apart, and 'tis (as in the whole, so in every part of it) against sin; not one Gospel doctrine, but the application of it is (and is to be made) against sin (Titus 2:11). The grace of God bringing salvation (or the saving grace of God) has appeared to all men (and so is against the sin of all men, and against all sin) teaching us to deny ungodliness, and worldly lusts (not one excepted) and to live soberly (as to ourselves) righteously (as to others) and godly (to God) in this present world, that is, all the days of our life; as it is (Luke 1:74-75). The Gospel is a witness against the old man, with all his corrupt affections, passions, lusts and deeds, and is all for new light and knowledge, new love and affection, new life and conversation; and its design is, that man be no longer an old, but a new creature (Ephesians 4:17-25; 2 Corinthians 5:17). 'Tis against all sin, and for all righteousness and holiness; 'tis against hypocrisy, and for truth; against formality, and for spirit and power.

More particularly: 1 — The doctrinal part of the Gospel is against sin. 2 — The mandatory part of the Gospel is against sin. 3 — The promising part of the Gospel is against sin. 4 — The menacing part of the Gospel is against sin. 5 — The exemplary part of the Gospel is against sin. 6 — The [reconstructed: experimental] part of the Gospel is against sin.

1 The doctrinal part; indeed that which flesh and blood is apt to interpret as an encouragement to sin, and takes occasion from it to abuse it: As,

1 The doctrine of God's free and abounding grace (Romans 5:20-21). Saint Paul had taught, that where sin abounded, grace did much more abound, and grace did reign to eternal life: thereupon (Chapter 6:1), some were apt to take occasion to sin, as if they were encouraged by grace: but oh with what detestation and abhorrence does the Apostle speak against it; Shall we sin, either because grace does, or that grace may abound, God forbid! And when men would do evil that good might come of it, he speaks like a Son of Thunder, and tells them, their damnation is just (Romans 3:8). And Saint Jude writes an epistle purposely against them, that turn the grace of God into wantonness, (perverting the end of grace) calling them ungodly men, and men ordained to this condemnation (Jude 4).

2 The [reconstructed: doctrine] of redemption by the blood and death of Jesus Christ: Christ Jesus died for our sins, and some wicked wretches are apt to conclude, that they may live in sin, because Christ has died for sin; but he died for sin, that we might die to sin (Romans 6), and gave himself for us, to redeem us from all iniquity, and to purify us to himself (Titus 2:14). The death of Christ calls for dying to sin, and living to him that died for us (2 Corinthians 5).

3 The doctrine of privileges is against sin: God has dignified his people, and given them titles of honor (such as [illegible] when those of Caesars and Emperors are but [illegible]) behold it (as a matter of wonder) [illegible] of love the Father has [illegible], that we should be called [illegible] God! (1 John 3:1). And you, says Saint Peter of believers (1 Peter 2:9), are a chosen generation, a Royal Priesthood, and (which is more glorious) a holy Nation: Oh therefore abstain from fleshly lusts, therefore show forth the virtues (and by them the praises) of him who has called you out of your marvelous darkness, into his marvelous light.

4 The Doctrine of judgment to come is against sin; wicked men scoff at this (2 Peter 3), and think if they may be let alone till that day, they shall do well enough; but remember, for all things you must come to judgment, and therefore learn to fear God, and keep his Commandments, as the wise man teaches (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14). And the Apostle speaking of the day of judgment, says, knowing the terror of the Lord we persuade men (2 Corinthians 5:11), namely, not to sin, but to live in righteousness and holiness. Seeing this must be, what, oh what manner of persons should we be in all holy conversations, and godlinesses! (for the Greek is plural) indeed, and to take heed not to fall into the errors of the wicked, but to grow in grace, as Saint Peter concludes (2 Peter 3:16-18), all the Doctrine of the Bible, from the beginning of Genesis to the end of Revelation, is a continual preaching and witnessing against sin.

2 The Mandatory, the commanding and exhorting part of the Gospel witnesses against sin: What are men commanded and exhorted to, but to serve God in righteousness, and true holiness, all the days of their life? To depart from iniquity, as from the way to hell, and walk holily in Christ Jesus as the way of heaven: Indeed, God condescends so far, as to entreat men to be reconciled, that they may be happy (2 Corinthians 5:20), and what does this speak, but that sin is both displeasing to God, and destructive to man, that it is sinful sin.

3 The promising part and promises of the Gospel are all against sin: God has given to us exceeding great (Greek: the greatest) and precious promises, that by these we might escape the pollutions of the world through lust, and be made partakers of a divine nature (2 Peter 1:4), and that having these promises, we should cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, to perfect holiness in the fear of God (2 Corinthians 7:1). Promises of good are against the evil of sin.

4 The Menacing and threatening part of the Gospel is against sin; God threatens before men sin, that they may not sin, to prevent sin; and he threatens after men have sinned, that they may repent of sin: it is not only the Law, but the Gospel also that threatens sinners, and with no less than damnation (Mark 16:16), and when any have sinned, God threatens the execution of threatenings if they do not repent, as (Revelation 2:5, 16, 22; Revelation 3:3, 19). This also witnesses against sin.

5 The Exemplary part does (the examples recorded in the Gospel do) witness against sin, as the examples of the Old Testament, so those of the New are registered as witnesses against sin: The examples of good men and good things are set up as waymarks to show us what to do; the examples of the wicked as sea-marks to show us what to avoid; the good examples are, that we may not sin by omission of good (Hebrews 12:1), the bad, that we may not sin by commission of evil (1 Corinthians 10:6-11). Abraham's faith, Moses's meekness, Job's patience, etc. they are examples for us to follow, that we should tread in their steps. Ananias and Sapphira's lying, Judas his covetousness and apostasy, etc. are written for our example, that we might hear and fear, and not do so wickedly.

6 The Experiences that any have had of God's goodness, and their own deceitful and evil hearts, and what they have suffered by sin, do all bear witness against sin: Has God been so and so good, and are you so foolish to requite the Lord evil for his goodness, which should have led to repentance? (Deuteronomy 32:6). God was angry with Solomon because he departed from the Lord God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice (1 Kings 11:9). We should draw inferences as Ezra did (Ezra 9:13-14): After all that is come upon us for our evil deeds, seeing you have punished us less than our iniquity deserves, and have given us such a deliverance as this; what then? What [illegible] is there to be made of it? Shall we again break your Commandments? Oh no! would you not be angry with us, till you had consumed us? Oh yes! we could expect no other: Have you had so many experiences of a deceitful heart? What? and yet so foolish as to trust it (Proverbs 28:26). It is sad and dangerous sinning after experiences (Hebrews 6:4-6). It is impossible (very difficult, at least morally impossible) for those that have been enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, etc. to renew them again to repentance, if they fall away: you have had many an aching heart for sinning already, oh sin no more, lest a worse thing come to you. Having such a cloud of experimental witnesses, let us lay aside the sin that so easily besets us: If you sin against these witnesses, these witnesses will witness against you, and aggravate your condemnation. Let us therefore say to our sins, (as Ephraim to his idols) with a great indignation, get away from us, what have we any more to do with you!

That I may draw to a conclusion:

7 There is but one witness more, that I shall produce against sin, and that is sin itself; I shall demonstrate that sin proclaims its own sinfulness.

- 1 By its names, which it cannot disown. - 2 By the arts, which it owns and uses to disguise itself.

1 I shall consider sin's names, which sin cannot deny, but confess to be its proper names; of which I shall instance but two. First, it is (as it is called) the work of the devil. Second, it is defiling, polluting, and pestilential filthiness, worse than any plague-sore.

1 Sin is the work of the devil (1 John 3:8; 1 John 5) — not that man's sin is not of himself, or only of the devil, but that sin is that which the devil does, and tempts others to do; so that to sin is to act and work like the devil; he that sins is of the devil. Man indeed is of God; but the sinner is, or sinful man is of the devil. The devil was the first sinner, and he that sins is of him, as his child (John 8:44). He that does the devil's work is of the devil; sinning is the devil's trade, and he that follows this trade is of the devil; he lives a devilish, a devil's life. The devil does nothing but sin; it is his business, and they that tread in his steps are of him, and like him — they are devils incarnate.

Particularly 1. To sin, and live in sin, is to do as the devil does, to be like him, and conformable to him. Sin is his work; he is so evil and wicked that he is called (emphatically, and by way of eminence) the [illegible], the evil, and the wicked one (1 John 2:13; 1 John 3:12), as if there were none evil, or at least so evil as he. Indeed, the devils are not only wicked, but called wickednesses in the abstract (Ephesians 6:12), and abstracts note essences. He sinned from the beginning, and continues sinning to this day; and they that do imitate him in his work are his children as much as if they were begotten of him (John 8:44) — you are of your father the devil, and his works, his lusts, you will do. He was and is a murderer; he attempted it upon God, but effected it on himself and man; he is the Abaddon and Apollyon, the murderer to this day (Revelation 9:11). He is (it is true) a liar, deceiver, a tempter, but he does all these as subserving his name as a King (for so he is called, Revelation 9:11) — his reigning sin, which is a destroyer or murderer (1 Peter 5:8). Now just thus it is said of them that sin (Proverbs 8:36): they destroy their own souls; they are [reconstructed: felo de se], self-murderers. Sin is devil's work.

2 He that sins does not only do as the devil does, such work as he, but he does work for the devil; he is servant and slave to the devil. He works in the children of disobedience, and they work for him; he is their Prince, and their God, whose servants they are, and whose work they do. His servants you are whom you obey, says the apostle (Romans 6:16). So then, they that serve and obey the devil are his servants; sin is the service of the devil, the work that sinners do for the devil. Oh what wages are they likely to have, who serve such a Master! Though sinners defy the devil in words, yet they deify him in works, and at last he will devilize them, and bring them into like nature and misery with himself. Sinners are led by him at his will, like his dogs on a string. When men are converted, they are delivered from his power (Acts 26:18), and they that apostatize or are excommunicated are delivered again to Satan. So that in whatever state a sinner be a sinner — whether infidel, formalist, or apostate — he is under the power of the devil, doing his work, and making work for his wages.

3 He that sins, as he is of the devil and does the devil's work, so (yet further) he is a devil — is so of the devil, and so does the devil's work, as to have the name of, and to be called, devil; he is as the devil to God, as a devil to himself, as a devil to others. St. Peter for one sin had the name of Satan (Matthew 16:23), but wicked men are called devils. Judas was a devil (John 6:70). Sin made angels devils, and it makes men devils, traitors (as Judas was) to their Lord and Master (Revelation 2:10). It is said, the devil shall cast some of you into prison; surely the devil did not appear in person to do it, but by his instruments and agents, devils incarnate. Oh sinful sin, the work of the devil!

Let me here take occasion to offer to your view some sins which are especially said to be the devil's sin, and they that do them are of, work for, and are like to, and called devils.

1 Murder, especially soul-murder, of which Antichrist the devil's son is hugely guilty, in making merchandise of souls (Revelation 18:13), and lying prophets that hunt souls (Ezekiel 13:18-20), that devour and destroy souls (Ezekiel 22:25, 27). The devil was a murderer from the beginning (John 8:44), and they that murder are (as Cain was) of the devil (1 John 3:12). The rise of murder is from anger and hatred; whoever hates his brother is a murderer (1 John 3:15). Therefore, says the apostle: be not angry, so as to sin; let not the sun go down on your wrath, for that is to give place to the devil (Ephesians 4:26-27). Pride is for contention, and that is for murder. Pride produces discontent, discontent produces envy, and envy, hatred and malice, and hence comes murder. If you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, this is not only earthly and sensual, but devilish (James 3:14-15). So that originally the devil's sin, and his condemnation, was from pride (1 Timothy 3:6). Pride made him discontented, envious, angry, and a murderer; and so it did Cain his eldest son, as a murderer. The proud spirit lusts to envy (James 4:5-7), and when St. Peter teaches us how to resist the devil, he tells us it must be by submission and humility (1 Peter 5:5-8).

2 The second sin that calls the devil father (and denominates them that do it to be his children) is lying (John 8:44) — the devil is a liar, and the father of lies. When Ananias told a lie, says the apostle, Satan filled his heart (Acts 5:3). And they that do lie are of the Synagogue of Satan, members and sons of the Synagogue of Satan (Revelation 2:9; Revelation 3:9). And God says of his children, that they will not lie (Isaiah 63:8). They that love and make lies are without among dogs and devils (Revelation 22:15) — they are without the gates of the City of God. And (Revelation 21:8) they have their portion with the devil in the Lake of Fire.

3 Deceivers and seducers are of the devil, who is the deceiver (Revelation 12:9 and 20:12), the old serpent that deceived Eve, and deceives the whole world: they that deceive the souls of men are like the devil, whether it be done by calling the truth into question, as the devil did at first, and against which the Apostle speaks (2 Corinthians 11:2), or whether by abusing and wresting, or false quoting of Scripture (2 Peter 3:16), as the devil did (Matthew 4:6), or by transforming themselves into angels of light (as the devil does, 2 Corinthians 11:14) — they that sin in the name of the Lord, and attribute that to the Spirit which is but their fancy, if not a falsehood; or whether it be done by false and pretended miracles, after the manner of Satan (2 Thessalonians 2:9-10).

4 They that tempt men to sin come under the devil's denomination, and do his work, who is the tempter (Matthew 4:1 and 1 Thessalonians 3:5); he tempts all men to one or other sin. The devil had a hand in Cain's murdering his brother (1 John 3:12), in Judas's treason (Luke 22:2), in Ananias's lie (Acts 5:3), in David's numbering the people (1 Chronicles 21:1), in Peter's denying his Master (Luke 22:31-32). He tempted to the first sin, and has tempted all men to sin (and to all sin) ever since: it is the devil's work, and sin, to tempt others to sin, and they that do so, do the devil's work.

5 False accusing, slandering, evil speaking, and backbiting of others is of, and like the devil (Revelation 12:10); he is the accuser of the brethren; as he did Job and Joshua, so he does others very often without cause: they that do so, their tongues are set on fire of hell (James 3:6). Troublemakers, slanderers, and calumniators are called by the devil's name, Diaboli, of which we read in three places of Saint Paul's Epistles (1 Timothy 3:11; 2 Timothy 3:3; Titus 2:3). To carry slanders is the work of the devil.

6 Another sin, which is the work of the devil, and which makes them that do it like the devil, is hindering persons from believing and closing with the truth of the Gospel, which may be done several ways: as,

1 By keeping them in ignorance, and blinding them (2 Corinthians 4:4), either by stealing and taking away the word (Matthew 13:4 with 13:19), or by hindering and keeping off means from them (1 Thessalonians 2:18).

2 By sowing tares among the wheat (Matthew 13:27-28 with 13:38-39).

3 By perverting the ways of the Lord (Acts 13:10), representing them as tedious, dangerous, etc.: whoever keeps means from men, or men from means, or makes false representations of the ways of God, is of the devil.

7. Apostasy is a devil-like sin (John 8:44). The devil did not abide in the truth, but left his first love, life, and estate (2 Peter 2:4 with Jude 6). Hence Judas is called Devil (John 6:70), and apostates are said to turn aside after Satan (1 Timothy 5:15). As converts are turned from Satan to God, so apostates return from God to Satan: he that abides not in the truth is like the devil.

8. To name no more but this: persecuting the righteous for righteousness' sake is the devil's work (1 John 3:12; Matthew 23:35), and they that do it are of, and called, devils. Some he oppresses, some he possesses; and where he is dispossessed, he there turns persecutor (Revelation 2:10). The devil shall cast some of you into prison — this was a persecuting devil incarnate. Thus in the general and particular I have cleared this: that sin is the work of the devil; it is sin's name, and is a great witness against it.

I may here add that in some sense sin in men (or in some respects the sin of men) is more horrible and heinous than that of devils; I speak not of the first sins of either, but of their sins from the time that God discovered his pleasure concerning the disposal of devils and men. (1) The devil has some kind of gratification in tempting men (it is a kind of victory being a revenge) but men do wrong and torment themselves. (2) The devils are past hope, and grown desperate, being rejected of God (2 Peter 2:4), for Christ Jesus took not them on him (Hebrews 2:16); they are hardened against God as punishing them, and are grown so envious that they will be revenged on man, seeing they cannot on God: if they had but a door of hope opened, it is probable they would not be so wicked as they are. When there is no hope, persons are more resolute (Jeremiah 2:25). But now for men to sin, whom God has spared, for whom he spared not to give his own Son; men, whom God calls and woos, and even begs them to be reconciled and be happy — for these men to sin, oh what a horrible ingratitude is this! Oh what aggravating and inexcusable sin is this — it is worse than the devil's sin! They sin not against second mercy and offers of grace as men do! But I hasten to sin's second name: filthiness of flesh and spirit (2 Corinthians 7:1).

2. Sin is all filthiness, which denotes: 1. the loathsomeness of sin; 2. the infectiousness of sin.

1. That sin is a filthy, that is, a loathsome thing, will be clear, if we do consider a little that to which sin is resembled and likened, as to the most offensive and loathsome diseases; 'tis likened to a canker or gangrene (2 Timothy 2:17). Now with such persons as are under these diseases, others are loath to eat or drink: 'tis likened to the rot, to the filth and corruption of the foulest disease, which is so foul and rotten, as (according to the proverb) one would not touch it with a pair of tongs. The Apostle tells us of some who (like Jannes and Jambres) resist the truth, and calls them men of corrupt (or rotten) minds: and Solomon gives us to know, that as a sound heart is the life of the flesh, so envy (anything opposed to the sound heart) is rottenness to the bones; indeed, sin is likened to the plague, which every one flies from; 'tis so noisome and loathsome, that it separates the nearest relations: now sin is called the plague of the heart (1 Kings 8:38-39), which is much worse than any plague-sore of the body; and this is not all, but as sin is likened to the most loathsome diseases, so to other the most loathsome things that are; 'tis likened to the blood wherein infants are born, which is loathsome (Ezekiel 16:5-6). It is likened to mire and dung, to the very excrements that lie in ditches and common shores, wherein sows and swine do wallow, as 'tis expressed (2 Peter 2:22); indeed, to the vomit of dogs, in the same place; to the putrefaction of graves and sepulchers (Matthew 23:27-28), which is stinking, as Martha said of Lazarus, when he had been some days dead (John 11:39): 'tis likened to poison (Romans 3:13). All these things and others which I shall not name, are loathsome things, at which men stop their noses, and from which they hide their eyes; yet sin is more loathsome than they all, if we consider, that nothing but the fountain opened for Judah and Jerusalem to wash in, nothing but the blood of Jesus can cleanse from this filthiness: all the niter and soap in the world cannot get it out: besides, 'tis not only filthy, but filthiness; not only corrupt, but corruption, in the very abstract, and all the things to which sin is resembled are far short of sin, they are but shadows, which are very imperfect representations of things: all the former instances (or others of like name and nature) reach but to the body, and do not defile the man; but sin reaches and seizes on soul and spirit, and defiles the man (Matthew 15:19-20). This is the canker, the rottenness, the plague, the poison of the soul; and sin is not only worse than any, but than all of these: indeed, further, if our righteousness be but as a menstruous rag (Isaiah 64:6), how filthy must our sin be? The Apostle Saint Paul counted his righteousness which was of the law to be but dung (Philippians 3), what did he reckon his injuriousness, persecution, and blasphemy then? Surely as bad as death and hell; if not only our righteousness, but our righteousnesses, indeed, all our righteousnesses be as filthy rags, as 'tis in that fore-quoted place (Isaiah 64:6), what is our sin, our sins, and all our sins? Ah how filthy beyond expression or imagination! yet again, sin is not only filthy, that is, loathsome, but it is,

2. A polluting and infectious thing: 'tis of a pestilential and poisonous nature, and therefore called not only corruption, but pollution and defilement (2 Peter 2:20). There are many things that may make a man foul and loathsome, as leprosy and ulcerous tumors, etc., and yet the soul of a man may be pure and fair, as Job's was when his body was all over a scab or sore, and he sat on the dunghill; but sin (as was hinted before) defiles the man, and soaks into his very spirit, and infects that. But that we may take the clearer and fuller prospect of sin's pestilent and infectious nature and operation, let us behold it,

1. In its universality, how it has extended and spread itself over all the world; there is no land or nation, tribe, language, kindred, or people, where it has not been known, from the rising of the sun to the going down thereof, all climates, hot and cold, all quarters of the world, Americans, Africans, Asians, and Europeans have all been infected; not only Sodom or Samaria, but Jerusalem and Zion were infected and ruined by it: it is here, and there, and everywhere, but in Heaven. Beside this, it has infected all ages, it is almost as old as the world; it has run in a blood from Adam to Moses, and so on to this day, it is a plague that has lasted almost 6000 years; indeed, which is more, not one man has escaped it; all kind of men, of all ranks and qualities, high and low, rich and poor, kings and beggars have been infected by it; the wise, the learned, as well as foolish and illiterate (Romans 3:9-10). Who is there that has lived and sinned not, our Saviour excepted? And if any man say he has not sinned, he sins in saying so. By one man sin came into the world, but since, not one man but every man has sinned, all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), and death came upon all, inasmuch as all had sinned (Romans 5:12). If all men are mortal, then all are sinners, for death came in by sin; where there is no sin, there is no death, as in Heaven (Revelation 21:4). All men have died of this plague, indeed, our Lord and Saviour had not died, if he had not been made sin for us. Moreover this leprosy has spread itself not only on whole mankind, but on the whole of man; every whit of every man is infected, it has made flesh and spirit filthy (2 Corinthians 7:1), from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot, there is no sound part in him — all (as I instanced above) all his members are servants to sin; and it is no better within (Genesis 6:5), his heart is evil, the thoughts of his heart are evil, the imaginations of the thoughts of his heart are evil, the very thoughts of his thoughts are evil, every creature of the heart is evil. How the understanding is darkened and depraved, I showed above; that the heart is desperately wicked and deceitful beyond any knowledge but God's, the prophet assures us from God himself (Jeremiah 17:9), the mind and conscience is defiled (Titus 1:15-16). The will is become perverse and stubborn, worse than so, it is willful and mad, set upon sin and hell (Ecclesiastes 8:11). The affections (concupiscible) are inordinate, the passions (irascible) are unruly, so that man is more headstrong than the horse that rushes into the battle: it has made some men so restless, that they cannot sleep, unless (or until) they have done mischief (Proverbs 4:16).

To go on yet further, sin spreads its infections to the defiling of man's duties and holy things; it defiles his natural and civil actions, the plowing of the wicked is sin (Proverbs 21:4). Man should do all (from the highest to the lowest duty) to the glory of God; but, alas, what does man do that is not ill done, and to the dishonor of God. Sin infects men's prayers, the prayers of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord (Proverbs 28:9), indeed, though offered up with incense to perfume them (Isaiah 1:13). Under the law Aaron was to bear the iniquity of the holy things (Exodus 28:38). Israel brought God many a present, but sin (like a dead fly in a box of ointment) spoiled all (Isaiah 1:11-16). Yet again,

Sin infects all that belongs to man: when man was created, God furnished his house for him, gave him the world and fullness thereof, and it was good; but, alas, how is it changed! (As I spoke before) for sin has made all that belongs to man very vanity, that is, empty and unprofitable (Ecclesiastes 1). The fullness of the creature cannot fill a man, the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor ear with hearing, for all is vanity; the gloss and beauty, the pleasure and profit of creature-enjoyments are become vanity; indeed, and more, sin has made it vexation too, sin has embittered man's enjoyments; man lives among his comforts but a vexatious life; as in the fullness of his sufficiency he is in straits, so in the fullness of his comforts he is in sorrow, in the midst (the very heart) of laughter, his heart is sad. Man's enjoyments are disappointments, they fail his expectations, and so add not to his content, but vexation; neither the length nor the comfort of his life is in the abundance of these things (Luke 12:15), and which is yet worse, sin has not only made things vain and vexatious, but a snare and temptation to man; they are sin's baits, by which it catches men; what are honors, pleasures, and riches, but snares to the children of men? (Proverbs 30:8-9).

This we have said in brief as to the universality of sin's infection, how it has spread itself all over. 2. Let us consider how suddenly it infects, and withal does increase and multiply: sin is not barren, but, alas, too fruitful to beget and bring forth more: it is not lazy, but gets ground continually: how great a fire has a spark kindled? [Reconstructed: Adam's posterity] have not been so numerous as his sins: a little cloud (as it seems at first) no bigger than one's hand, grows and spreads to cover the whole hemisphere. The water that at first seemed little and shallow, swelled more and more, from the ankles to the knees, from the knees to the loins, from there to the head, till it grows to so great a river, as cannot be passed over; and so does sin, a very monster for its growth. Particularly let us observe how it increases in ourselves, and then how in others.

1. How it increases in ourselves. Sometimes the same sin increases from little to great, it grows from an infant to a man: it is as a snowball, that (like sic crescit eundo) grows bigger by rolling it in the snow: the little grain of mustard grows to a great tree; a little seed of sin becomes a great tree: Adam's sin was but one, but it was a breeding and big-bellied sin, the mother of all abominations. One sin transgresses the whole law (James 2:10). When lust has conceived, it hastens to bring forth, and when it has brought forth, it brings it up till it comes to its full stature (James 1:14-15). It is at first but a lust, an appetite, inclination, or motion, then it proceeds to enticement, by that to draw us aside, and then to tempt and impregnate us, by this temptation it conceives, and there is an embryo; this grows in the womb, and when it is brought forth, it is a sin; and this being finished or perfected, it proves deadly. So (James 3:5-6) the tongue is a little member, but as a little spark of fire, but it being kindled (becomes a world of iniquity, and) defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the whole course of nature; a little leaven leavens the whole lump, and sometimes one sin begets many more sins, not only of the same kind, but others also. (Joshua 7:11) God had forbidden them to take the accursed thing; but when they had taken, they dissembled also, and put it among their own stuff; and when Achan confesses his sin, you may see how one drew on another (verse 19-21): says he, when I saw, I coveted, and when I coveted, I took, and when I had taken, I hid them; thus one begat another. Sin degrees itself into a greatness, and multiplies into a number: if we abhor not the garment, we may be (as it) spotted with the flesh: if we withdraw not from occasions of evil, we may by the occasions be drawn to evil; and in not abstaining from appearances of evil, be brought to apparent evil. There is one chapter that gives us two sad instances of this thing (Genesis 34). Dinah, out of curiosity, will needs make a visit to the daughters of the land; while she goes to see the daughters, the son saw her (visamque cupit), having seen her, he took her, having taken her, he lay with her, and by lying with her, defiled her. The report thereof coming to Jacob's sons, they were grieved, being grieved, they were angry, being angry, they meditated revenge, meditating revenge, they spoke deceitfully, having deceived, they slew, and having slain, they fell upon the spoil: how hard it is to sin once and but once! Sin grows upon us. Let us see,

2. How sin increases in others, and infects others; it went from one man to every man: how soon had the world got the name of ungodly world, or world of ungodly (2 Peter 2:5)? And after the flood, how soon was the world overspread with sin from seven or eight persons? One root of bitterness defiles many (Hebrews 12:15). Men's ill examples are very pestilential and pernicious, a little leaven leavens the whole lump, as our country proverb has it, one scabbed sheep infects a whole flock. The world grows worse and worse, the latter days most perilous because most sinful; and as if there had not been sin enough, some set up projects and trades of new sins, being inventors of evil things (Romans 1:30). Oh how diffusive and catching is this infection, for others will quickly be in these new-invented fashions of sin and sinning! Yet again,

3. The infection of sin is (tantum non) almost incurable — it is to us impossible, and only possible with God, and that at a costly rate, by the blood of Christ, to cure this plague, and cleanse us of it — it is very hard to be cured, because it is within us, and dwells in us (Romans 7:17, 20). An ulcer in the flesh is more easily cured than one in the lungs; a disease that is inward cannot be so well reached; yes, it is not only in us, but it is riveted in us, it is gotten into the flesh and spirit, as if it were one with us, as the leopard's spots and the Ethiopian's blackness. There was a leprosy so inveterate, that though they scraped the house round about and within, and threw out the dust, though they took other stones and mortar, yet it returned again (Leviticus 14). When distempers become as it were natural, and are in the constitution, they are hard to be cured; it is not easy obliterating that which is written with a pen of iron, and the point of a diamond; it is difficult to soften a heart of stone. Besides, this filthiness has had long possession, even time out of mind: it pleads prescription, so long a custom is become a law, and as another nature (Jeremiah 13:23). Yes, to show how hard it is to be cured and rooted out, we may observe, that very forceable means have been used for the cleansing of it, yet it has not been done: God poured out a whole flood of water, which washed away most sinners; yet sin (as I may say) kept above water, and was found alive and strong after the flood. When God sent fire and brimstone (hell, as an ancient calls it) from heaven on that center of sin, Sodom, etc., yet sin got out with Lot and his daughters. Fire and water are very cleansing and purifying things; yet these you see have not done it. When others sinned, the earth swallowed them up, yet sin remained, it did not die; the same sins are still in the world after all these judgments. Even in the saints themselves, with all the forces that faith can make, it is very hardly kept under, but the flesh will be lusting against the spirit, and when their affections do not cleave to sin, yet sin will cleave to their affection, and it makes them cry out as burdened with Saint Paul, 'Wretch that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death!' The victory is by Christ Jesus; it is death that kills sin. And yet,

4. It lives in its effects when we are dead and gone; for it follows us to our grave, and there it rots our bodies; when it can no longer reach our souls to make them vile, it yet forbears not to make our bodies putrid and vile. He that sinned not saw no corruption, but we that sinned do, and stink within a few days, as Lazarus did. Oh sinful and infectious sin!

Thus far of the names of sin, and how they witness against sin; there remains only one thing more to witness against it, and that is the second thing I mentioned as to sin witnessing against itself, namely,

2. The arts or artifices that sin uses to disguise itself: if sin were not an ugly thing, would it wear a mask? Or if it had not evil designs, would it walk disguised and change its name? Truth is not ashamed of its name or nakedness, it can walk openly and boldly; but sin is a cheat, a lie, and therefore lurks secretly, and puts on false names and colors; for if it should appear like itself (as it sooner or later will to all, for conversion or confusion) it would frighten men into dying fits, as it did the Apostle, and when they come to themselves, engage men to abhor and hate it, as he and the Prodigal did. Men would never be so hardy as they are to sin, but that sin hardens them, and hardens them by deceiving them, as the Apostle speaks (Hebrews 3:13): "Take heed lest any be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin." Sin uses all manner of arts, methods, and devices (as Satan does) to draw us in, to inveigle us; it puts many tricks upon us, and has all the faculties and knacks of deceiving and cheating us. I may truly say, that sin has not learned, but taught all the deceits, the dissimulations, flatteries, and false policies that are found in courts; the stratagems of war, the sophisms and fallacies of the schools, the frauds of tradesmen, whether in city or country, the tricks of cheaters and jugglers, the ambuscades of thieves, the pretensions of false friends, the several methods of false teachers, and whatever else there is of deception in the world, and practices them all upon us to make us sin.

And though it be impossible to reckon up all the particular ways whereby the deceitful hearts and sins of men abuse them; yet I will instance in a few, that it may be for a warning to sinners, and a witness against sin; and then conclude this part of our discourse.

1. Sometimes sin persuades us that such or such a thing is no sin, though it look like a sin, as the Devil dealt by Eve at first, and so deceived her: she was a little jealous and shy, that what the Serpent put her upon was evil, but he cunningly insinuates, that however it seemed to her, yet that it was not so. This way is the pride and wantonness of persons upheld, that though these things are appearances of evil, yet they are not evil: but, alas, it is next to being a sinner to look like a sinner; appearance in good is too little, in evil it is too much. It is a very hard thing to look like a sinner, to talk and garb it like a sinner, and not to be one; and which is the worst of it, it is more than likely, that what the Devil grants to be like a sin is a sin; and they that are persuaded otherwise, are deceived by him, as Eve was. It is great odds, but if we do like the picture, we shall like the thing: though an idol be no God, nor like him; yet God has utterly forbidden graven images, for they are of the Devil's carving.

If this prevails not, then (2) it would persuade, that though it may be a sin in another; yet (rebus sic stantibus) all things considered, it can be none in you, because you are necessitated, as for a poor man to steal; but no man is necessitated to sin, though under necessity, sin is sin in any, in all: for though temptations may mitigare and [reconstructed: excuse] à tanto, yet they do not excuse à toto, from its being a sin, or make it no sin.

3 It is but one, and but this once. If sin be good, why but once? If evil, why once? One sin though but once, is one and once too much. Besides, when the serpent's head is in, it is hard keeping out the whole body; one makes way for another, it is almost impossible to sin once and but once. Yet then fourthly, says sin, it is but a little one; that cannot be a little sin which is against a great God, and deserves so great a punishment as death, for the wages of sin (of every single sin) is death (Romans 6:23). I but says sin, (5) it is in secret, none will see it; but this is a cheat, for it is impossible to sin so secretly but there will be two witnesses, God and conscience know all the sins that men commit. I but, says sin, (6) you will hate it and dread it ever after; as some go to Mass that they may distaste it, and to Plays to see the folly of them: but who would be a burnt child to dread the fire? It is bad making such costly experiments as may cost us the loss of our souls, it is dangerous meddling with that which is an appearance, and may be an occasion of evil, much more to parley and tamper with sin itself. But then (7) says sin, I promise you you shall get by it; so much profit, so much pleasure, so much honor shall you have by it; but sin's gain is loss, he that gets the world by a sin, pays too dear for it, for it is the loss, at least the hazard of his soul; the pleasures of sin are grievous; its honors, disgraces and shame. Did not our first parents [reconstructed: find] it so, and do we not? The apostle appeals (Romans 6:21). The precious substance promised, ends in a pernicious shadow, and the spoils we get by sin do but spoil us. Sin promises like a God, but pays like a Devil; sin tells us we shall not die, but live like Gods, but we find nothing but death and such a life as they have in Hell. Sin's performances are contrary to its promises: it promises gold, and [reconstructed: pays with] dross. If any man have a mind to true [reconstructed: miseries], let him take sin's [reconstructed: false promises]. Well but then, (8) says sin, others do it, and why may you not? It is not what others do, but what they ought to do that we are to follow; we must not follow any man, nor a multitude of men to do evil: if others will venture their damnation, what is that to us? It will be no (solamen miseris socios habuisse) no comfort to have had companions in sin, and to meet them again in Hell. I but, says sin (9) it is but repent, and God will forgive you: to this we have to say, that he who promised forgiveness to them that repent, has not promised repentance to them that sin; besides, if sin were to cost no more but repentance, one in his wits would be loath to buy repentance at so dear a rate; Repentance (though it may free from greater, yet it) puts men to more grief and pain, than ever sin could afford them pleasure. I but, says sin (10) you have escaped well enough hitherto, no evil has yet befallen you: to this say, it may be it is so much the worse, and not to be punished may be the worst punishment (Isaiah 1:5; Hosea 4:14, 17). But what will it cost if God does awaken me? If not that, what will it cost when God shall damn me? But then says sin (11) it is but your infirmity, you cannot help it: this is a thing (tell sin) that none but fools and children can pretend to; besides, to plead for infirmities, is more than an infirmity, and that which is but an infirmity today, may become a disease tomorrow, if not prevented; when once the will is engaged, it is past an infirmity, and is become a sin. If these (or other like) do not prevail, then it speaks more openly; Sin, (says Sin) either there's no such thing, there's no difference between good and evil; as all things come alike to all, so all things are alike; or says Sin, evil is good in God's sight, else he would judge it (Malachi 2:17). His silence bids you think that he is such an one as yourself (Psalm 50). But here tell sin, that this defeats and confutes itself, and proves nothing more clear than that sin is exceeding sinful: if there be no sin, or no difference between good and evil, to what purpose are these different words used by sin to prove that there is no difference? To say it is only in imagination and not real, is to deny that there is any such thing as sense and conscience, which every man owns, and cannot deny without denying himself and God to be. Between good and evil, there is more difference than between light and darkness, life and death, ease and pain, food and poison; and yet these are real, and not the differences of our fancy only. That all things come alike to all, is not always true, there are contrary instances; and to say, That all things are alike, is never true, but is a manifest contradiction. To say that evil is good in God's sight, and that he is such an one as a sinner, is to deny God to be; for if he be not good and just, he is not God: but this speaks men willfully ignorant; for the flood that drowned the old World, and the fire that fell from Heaven on Sodom; the judgments which God executes in the Earth continually (of which before) do all witness that God is displeased with, and the avenger of sin: as his giving us rain from Heaven, and fruitful seasons, are witnesses that he is good and does good; and that his Sun shines and his rain falls on the unjust as well as just, is a greater argument of his goodness, which calls for repentance, and that also does witness that sin is evil. And indeed over and above,

If sin were not exceeding sinful, what need it use all these tricks and subterfuges? If it were not, and its deeds were not evil, why does it avoid the light? Why (like a false coiner) does it put the King of Heaven's stamp on its base metal? Why does Jacob call himself Esau, and counterfeit his brother, if sin were not abominable? Why do the Gibeonites pretend to come from far, if they had not a mind to be unknown? If it were not false and a robber, why does it creep in secretly, climb up another way, and avoid the door? Why does it flatter and deceive? Why does it never keep promise, but breaks all that it ever made? It is because it is sinful sin.

Having shown what sin is, wherein its sinfulness [reconstructed: consists], and proved it by many witnesses (even itself being one) before I come to the fourth thing, namely, the application and improvement of this Doctrine; I shall in brief sum up the charge against sin. That which sin is accused for, and proved to be guilty of, is high treason against God, and that it attempts no less than the dethroning and ungoding of God himself; that it has unmanned man, made him a fool, a beast, a devil, and subjected him to the wrath of God, and made him liable to eternal damnation. It has made men deny God to be, or affirm him to be like themselves. It has put the Lord of Life to death, and shamefully crucified the Lord of Glory: it is always resisting the Holy Ghost: it is continually practicing the defilement, the dishonor, the deceiving, and the destruction of all men. [reconstructed: Oh] what a prodigious, monstrous, devilish thing is sin! It is impossible to speak worse of it than, or so bad of it as it is, for it is hyperbolically sinful! There is want in the words that are, and need of more and worse words than there are any to speak its vileness! To say it is worse than death and devil, the very hell of hell, is not to rail at it, but to tell it its own; for it is the Quintessence of evil, which has made all the evils that are, and is worse than all the evils it has made; it is so evil, that it is impossible to make it good, or lovely by all the arts that can be used; poison may be corrected and made medicinal, if not nutritive; but sin is sin, and can be no other, its nature cannot be changed, no not by a pardon. To speak as the thing is, it is not only ugly, but ugliness, not only filthy, but filthiness, not only abominable but abomination: there is not a worse thing in hell itself, it has not its fellow there. All this and much more may be said of and against sin; and having laid this groundwork, I shall now build upon it the fourth thing, namely,