Chap. 38 XV. sin is worse to us than affliction, because sin brings more shame than affliction▪
have followed their sin, and so come to be hardened, it is I say a most dangerous thing, and many times God for ever leaves them to their hardness; yea, such evil there may be in sin, as if a man or woman has an enlightened conscience, and shall go against the light of their conscience, when they live under the means of grace, any one sin against the light of conscience may for ever harden them.
Thou that hast come to the Word and hast heard, these things thou knowest has come near to thy soul, and yet there has been that violence of corruption to go against the light of thy conscience, and that particular truth that has been made known unto thee from God, that one sin may be enough evil to harden thy heart, that the means shall never do thee good; therefore there is a great, deal more evil in sin than in any affliction.
I beseech you consider of this one note further in it; God comes many times, yea, usually with abundance of grace to the souls of men and women in their affliction, and that in the continuance of their afflictions, and in the increase of their afflictions, yet the means of grace work; but God can never come with grace while they sin, except sin be decreased; I say, God never comes to make any means of grace effectual, but it must be with the decrease, and with the taking away of sin; the means of grace may be effectual with the increase of affliction, but the means of grace can never be effectual but with the decrease of sin: therefore there is more evil in sin than in affliction, as against our selves.
CHAP. XXXVIII.
Sin is Worse to us than Affliction, Because Sin Brings more Shame than Affliction.
There is more evil in sin than in affliction as against our selves, In regard of the shame that it does bring; sin brings more shame than any affliction brings, Rom. 6. 20. What profit, or what fruit had you in those things whereof you be now ashamed? sin, it is that which brings shame, not only to a man or woman in particular, but likewise to a whole Nation, when sin prevails. Prov. 14. 34.
Righteousness exalts a Nation, but sin is a reproach to any People.
Afflictions are not a reproach any further than as they be the fruit of sin, and then there is shame in them (but this we shall speak of afterward) but sin is the proper cause of any reproach and shame: and certainly this Scripture has been fulfilled concerning us; our sin has been a reproach to this Nation: there was a time, this Nation was honored among other Nations, and a terror to them; but of late since we have sinned and grown Superstitious, and come nearer unto Popery, since there has been more wickedness among us.
This Nation has been an exceeding reproach: we may apply for that, that in the 13, of Hosea, according to the Interpretation of most,
When Ephraim spoke, trembling, he exalted himself in Israel; but when he offended in Baal, he died; thus Interpreters carry it: There was a time when Ephraim spoke, then was trembling in all Nations about him, and he exalted himself above other Nations: but when he sinned in Baal, then he died, his Honor died, he was a dead
Nation, and no body regarded him.
True, time was, when England spoke, there was trembling, and England exalted himself above other Nations; but since we sinned in Baal, and there has been so much Idolatry and Superstition, we have been a dead Nation in respect of what we have been before. sin is a reproach, to any Nation a shame: There is no such shame in affliction as there is in sin; that brings shame. That which argues worthlessness in any, that which argues there is little good or worth in any: or if any one should do any thing unbeseeming either his own excellency, or that supposed to be in him; as to lie in the mire, or to go naked, or in their carriage, or by any deportment, to behave
themselves besides that excellency supposed to be in him, this brings shame. Job 30. 7. Those that went up and down braying among the bushes, it was contemptible, and it was a shame: So for any man to do any thing beneath the excellency of a man, is a shame. Now there is nothing so below the excellency of a man as sin, no affliction brings a man under his excellency as sin does, therefore no affliction can be such a shame to man as sin.
Now the Rational creature that is guided by Counsel in his actions is the proper subject of shame: Bruit beasts cannot be capable of shame, because they have no Counsel to be the cause of their
Actions, but the reasonable creature failing in that which is his aim, coming short of the rule of his work, through his unskillfulness this causes shame. As now, Take any workman, if he do any work beneath the rule of the work through unskillfulness, it causes shame, he comes to be ashamed of it.
Now sin must needs bring shame, because it comes beneath the Rule of eternal Life, and therefore must needs cause shame. It is true, in natural things to fail through ignorance is a greater shame than to fail through wilfulness; but in spirituals, the greater shame is to fail through wilfulness. And the greater the Art, the greater the shame to come short of the rule of that art.
As suppose a General; it is a greater shame for him to fail, and come short of the Rules of Military Art, than for a Country-man to come short of his Rules of Husbandry, because one is more noble than the other.
Now Brethren, The Art of Divinity to guide to eternal Life, is the most Noble of any Art; and for any creature to fail and come short of this Art, is the greatest shame that can be. Though men be ashamed of any thing else, take a painter, or any workman or a husbandman, if he come short of the rule, he is ashamed, but if men fail of the Rule of eternal Life, they are not ashamed then.
I Remember Augustine has this Expression, said he, A Scholar if he fail in pronouncing a word and pronounce it amiss, if he pronounce
Omer for Homer (he instanceth in that) he is ashamed of that; but men be not ashamed of breaking the Rules of Divinity: And there is more failings in the Breach of the Rule of Divinity and in failing there, than in any Art whatsoever.
Now sin is the greatest shame, and the Reason why sinners be not ashamed, is, Because they know not the Excellency of man; they know not wherein the excellency of the Rational creature consists, and therefore they are not ashamed of that which brings them under the excellency of the Rational creature.
Besides, They know not God's infinite Holiness, therefore are not ashamed; They be now among other sinners, and they think though some seem to be Religious, yet they think others are as bad as themselves in their hearts at least, though not in Practice:
As Nero, because he was bad, he thought others were as bad as himself. So a wicked man, when he cannot see others break out in such great sins as he does, yet he thinks they are as bad some other way, and have some other sins as great. And because they live among them that are as bad as themselves, and live in the same sins, therefore they are not ashamed:
For as a collier living among colliers is not ashamed, but if he lived among princes and noblemen, he would be ashamed. So wicked men in this world because they live in this world among sinners, they conceive to be sinners like themselves they be not ashamed; but when God shall come to open what sin means, and what the Holiness of God means, and they see themselves stand in the presence of the holy God, then they will be ashamed. But certainly sin is a greater-shame than affliction; none need be ashamed of affliction any further-than it has a Connexion to some great sin; but sin in the greatest prosperity has shame with it.