Concerning Sin
the second covenant you are got into the city of refuge,—you are safe, and the justice of God is pacified towards you.
CONCERNING SIN
QUEST. XIV. WHAT is sin?
ANS. Sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of the law of God.—1 John 3:4., "Sin is the transgression of the law." Of sin in general:
1. Sin is a violation or transgression; the Latin word, transgredior, 'to transgress,' signifies to go beyond one's bounds; the moral law is to keep us within the bounds of our duty,—sin is a going beyond our bounds.
2. The law of God; it is not the law of an inferior prince that is broken, but of Jehovah, who gives laws as well to angels as men it is a law that is just, and holy, and good, Rom. 7:12. It is just, there is nothing in it unequal; holy, nothing in it impure; good, nothing in it prejudical. So that there is no reason to break this law, no more than for a beast that is in a fat pasture, to break over the hedge, to leap into a barren heath or quagmire.
I shall shew what an heinous and execrable thing sin is. It is malorum colluvies,—the complication of all evil; it is the spirits of mischief distilled; the scripture calls it the 'accursed thing,' Josh.
7:13., it is compared to the venom of serpents, the stench of sepulchres. The apostle useth this expression of sin, Out of measure sinful, Rom. 7:13., or, as it is in the Greek, 'Hyperbolically sinful.' The
devil would paint over sin with the vermillion colour of pleasure and profit, that he may make it look fair: but I shall pull off the paint from sin, that you may see the ugly face of it. We are apt to have slight thoughts of sin, and say to it, as Lot of Zoar, Gen. 19:20., 'Is it not a little one?' But that you may see how great an evil sin is, consider these four things:
1st. The original of sin, from whence it comes: it fetcheth its pedigree from hell. Sin is of the devil, 1 John 3:8., "He that committeth sin is of the devil." Satan was the first actor of sin, and the first tempter to sin: Sin is the devil's first-born.
2d. Sin is evil in the nature of it.
1. It is a defiling thing. Sin is not only a defection, but a pollution. It is to the soul as rust is to gold, as a stain is to beauty. It makes the soul red with guilt, and black with filth. Sin in scripture is compared to a 'menstruous cloth,' Is. 30:22., to a plague-sore, 1 Kings 8:38.;
Joshua's filthy garments, in which he stood before the angel, Zech.
3:3., were nothing but a type and hieroglyphic of sin. Sin hath blotted God's image, and stained the orient brightness of the soul. Sin makes
God loathe a sinner, Zech. 11:8., and when a sinner sees his sin, he loathes himself, Ezek. 20:42. Sin drops poison on our holy things, it infects our prayers. The high priest was to make atonement for sin on the altar, Exod. 29:36., to typify that our holiest services need
Christ to make an atonement for them. Duties of religion in themselves are good, but sin corrupts them, as the purest water is pollutted running through muddy ground. The leper, under the law, if he had touched the altar, the altar had not cleansed him, but he had defiled the altar. The apostle calls sin, "Filthiness of the flesh and spirit," 2 Cor. 7:1. Sin stamps the devil's image on a man; malice is
the devil's eye, hypocrisy his cloven foot. It turns a man into a devil, John 6:70., "Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil."
2. Sin is a grieving of God's Spirit, Eph. 4:30., "Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God." To grieve, is more than to anger.
QUEST. How can the Spirit be said to be grieved? For, seeing he is God, he cannot be subject to any passion.
Ans. This is spoken metaphorically: Sin is said to grieve the Spirit; because it is an injury offered to the Spirit, and he takes it unkindly, and, as it were, lays it to heart. And, is it not much thus to grieve the Spirit? The Holy Ghost descended in the likeness of a dove; sin makes this blessed dove mourn. Were it only an angel, we should not grieve him, much less the Spirit of God. Is it not sad to grieve our
Comforter?
3. Sin is an act of contumacy against God; a walking antipodes to heaven, Lev. 26:27., "If ye will walk contrary to me." A sinner tramples upon God's law,—crosseth his will,—doth all he can to affront, yea to spite God. The Hebrew word for sin, pashang, signifies
'rebellion;' there is the heart of a rebel in every sin, Jer. 44:17., "We will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven." Sin strikes at the very
Deity, Peccatum est Deicidium; Sin would not only unthrone God, but un-god him. If the sinner could help it, God would no longer be
God.
4. Sin is an act of disingenuity and unkindness. God feeds the sinner, keeps off evils from him, bemiracles him with mercy; but the sinner not only forgets God's mercies, but abuseth them; he is the worse for mercy; like Absalom, who, as soon as David had kissed him, and taken him into favour, plotted treason against him, 2 Sam. 15:10.
Like the mule, who kicks the dam after she hath given it milk, vas partusum, 2 Sam. 16:17., "Is this thy kindness to thy friend?" God may upbraid the sinner: I have given thee (may God say) thy health, strength, and estate,—thou requitest me evil for good, thou woundest me with my own mercies,—is this thy kindness to thy friend? Did I give thee life to sin? Did I give thee wages to serve the devil?
5. Sin is a disease, Isa. 1:5., "The whole head is sick;" some are sick of pride, others of lust, others of envy. Sin hath distempered the intellectual part, it is a leprosy in the head, it hath poisoned the vitals, Tit. 1:15., "Their conscience is defiled." It is with a sinner as with a sick patient, his palate is distempered, the sweetest things taste bitter to him. The word which is 'sweeter than the honey-comb,'
Isa. 5:20., tastes bitter to him; they 'put sweet for bitter.' This is a disease, and nothing can cure this disease but the blood of the Physician.
6. Sin is an irrational thing; it makes a man act not only wickedly, but foolishly. It is absurd and irrational to prefer the lesser before the greater,—the pleasures of life, before the rivers of pleasures at God's right-hand for evermore. Is it not irrational to lose heaven for the satisfying or indulging of lust? As Lysimachus who, for a draught of water lost a kingdom. Is it not irrational to gratify an enemy? In sin we do so. When lust or rash anger burns in the soul, Satan warms himself at this fire. Men's sins feast the devil.
7. Sin is a painful thing: its costs men much labour in pursuing their sins. How do men tire themselves in doing the devil's drudgery? Jer.
9:5., "They weary themselves to commit iniquity." What pains did Judas take to bring about his treason? He goes to the high priest, and then after to the band of soldiers, and then back again to the garden.
St. Chrysostom saith, "Virtue is easier than vice." It is more pains to
some to follow their sins, than to others to worship their God. While the sinner travails with his sin, in sorrow he brings forth; it is called
'serving divers lusts,' Tit. 3:3. Not enjoy, but serve: Why so? because not only of the slavery in sin, but the hard labour; it is 'serving divers lusts.' Many a man goes to hell in the sweat of his brow.
8. Sin is the only thing God hath an antipathy against. God doth not hate a man because he is poor, or despised in the world, you do not hate your friend because he is sick; but that which draws forth the keenness of God's hatred, is sin, Jer. 44:4., "O do not this abominable thing which I hate." And sure, if the sinner dies under God's hatred, he cannot be admitted into the celestial mansions. Will
God let him live with him whom he hates? God will never lay a viper in his bosom. The feathers of the eagle will not mix with the feathers of the other fowls; God will not mix and incorporate with a sinner.
Till sin be removed, there is no coming where God is.
3d. See the evil of sin, in the price paid for it; it cost the blood of God to expiate it. "O man (saith St. Austin) consider the greatness of thy sin, by the greatness of the price paid for sin." All the princes on earth, or angels in heaven, could not satisfy for sin; only Christ. Nay,
Christ's active obedience was not enough to make atonement for sin, but he must suffer upon the cross; for, "without shedding of blood is no remission," Heb. 9:22. O what an accursed thing is sin that Christ should die for it! The evil of sin is not so much seen in that one thousand are damned for it, as that Christ died for it.
4th. Sin is evil in the effects of it.
1. Sin hath degraded us of our honour Reuben by incest lost his dignity; and though he were the first-born, he could not excel, Gen.
49:4. God made us in his own image, a little lower than the angels; but sin hath debased us. Before Adam sinned, he was like an herald
that bath his coat of arms upon him; all reverence him, because he carries the king's coat of arms; but let this coat be pulled off, and he is despised, no man regards him. Sin hath done this, it hath plucked off our coat of innocency, and now it hath debased us, and turned our glory into shame: Dan. 11:21., "And in his estate shall stand up a vile person." This was spoken of Antiochus Epiphanes, who was a king, and his name signifies 'illustrious;' yet sin hath degraded him, he was a vile person.
2. Sin disquiets the peace of the soul. Whatever defiles, disturbs; as poison tortures the bowels, corrupts the blood, so sin doth the soul,
Isa. 57:21. Sin breeds a trembling at the heart; it creates fears, and there is torment in fear, 1 John 4:18. Sin makes sad convulsions in the conscience. Judas was so terrified with guilt and horror, that he hanged himself to quiet his conscience. And is not he like to be ill cured, that throws himself into hell for ease?
3. Sin produceth all temporal evil, Lam. 1:8., "Jerusalem hath grievously sinned, therefore she is removed." It is the Trojan horse,— it hath sword, and famine, and pestilence, in the belly of it. Sin is a coal that not only blacks but burns. Sin creates all our troubles; it puts gravel into our bread, wormwood in our cup. Sin rots the name, consumes the estate, buries relations. Sin shoots the flying roll of God's curses into a family and kingdom, Zech. 5:4. It is reported of Phocas, that having built a wall of mighty strength about his city, there was a voice heard, "Sin is within the city, and that will throw down the wall."
4. Sin unrepented of brings final damnation. The canker that breeds in the rose is the cause of its perishing; and corruptions that breed in men's souls are the cause of their damning. Sin, without repentance, brings the 'second death,' Rev. 20:14., that is, mors sin morte,
BERN.,—"a death always dying." Sin's pleasure will turn to sorrow at last; like the book the prophet did eat, Ezek. 3:3., sweet in the mouth, but bitter in the belly. Sin brings the wrath of God, and what buckets or engines can quench that fire? Mark 9:44., "Where the worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched."
Use 1st. See how deadly an evil sin is, how strange is it that any one should love it? Ps. 4:2., "How long will ye love vanity?" Hos. 3:1.,
"Who look to other gods and love flagons of wine." Sin is a dish men cannot forbear though it make them sick. Who would pour rosewater into a kennel? What pity is it so sweet an affection as love should be poured upon so filthy a thing as sin! Sin brings a sting in the conscience,—a curse in the estate,—yet men love it. A sinner is the greatest self-denier; for his sin he will deny himself a part in heaven.
Use 2d. Do any thing rather than sin! O hate sin! There is more evil in the least sin, than in the greatest bodily evils that can befall us.
The ermine rather chooseth to die than defile her beautiful skin.
There is more evil in a drop of sin, than in a sea of affliction; affliction is but like a rent in a coat, sin a prick at the heart. In affliction there is aliquid boni, some good; in this lion there is some honey to be found, Ps. 119:71., "It is good for me that I have been afflicted." Utile est anima si in hac area mundi flagellis trituretur corpus, AUG. Affliction is God's flail to thrash off our husks; not to consume; but refine. There is no good in sin; it is the spirit and quintessence of evil. Sin is worse than hell; for the pains of hell only are a burden to the creature; but sin is a burden to God, Amos. 2:13.,
"I am pressed under you, as a cart is pressed that is full of sheaves."
Use 3d. Is sin so great an evil? Then how thankful should you be to God, if he hath taken away your sin? Zech. 3:4., "I have caused thy
iniquity to pass from thee." If you had a disease on your body, plague or dropsy, how thankful would you be to have it taken away? Much more to have sin taken away. God takes away the guilt of sin by pardoning grace, and the power of sin by mortifying grace. O be thankful that this sickness is "not unto death;" that God hath changed your nature, and by grafting you into Christ, made you partake of the sweetness of that olive; that sin, though it live, doth not reign, but the elder serves the younger, the elder of sin serves the younger of grace.