God has not made so, and that sin which God has not made so in
1. If ye would see your sins, look to the law of God. That is the glass wherein we may see our ugly face. Hence the apostle says, "I had not known sin but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet," (Rom. 7:7). Look to it for what is past and present, in order to your being humbled in the sight of a holy God. Look to it for your direction, if you would shun the fatal rocks of sin for the time to come. It is not what this man says, but what the word of God says, that is to be the rule of your duty.
2. See here what presumption it is in men to make that duty which God has not made so, and that sin which God has not made so in religion. This is for men to set themselves in God's room, and their will for the divine will. This is true superstition, however far the guilty seem to themselves and others to be from it. And in this too many of different denominations agree, making that duty and sin which God never made so. In this general they agree, however they differ in particulars. This is expressly forbidden; "Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it," (Deut. 4:2). Remarkable is the reason of this prohibition, "that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you." For to both agrees what our Lord said, "Why do ye transgress the commandment of God by your traditions?" (Matt. 15:3). Witness the deep ignorance of matters of salvation and the power of godliness, wherein many are kept by reason of these principles, which have no footing in the word of God.
3. Flee to Jesus Christ for the pardon of sin, for his blood and Spirit to remove the same. All the waters of the sea will not wash it out, but that blood alone. And repent and forsake your sin, or it will be your ruin.
Consider it is the greatest evil.