Part III (continued, part 3)
2. Now for sins committed collaterally, or per modmn circumstantial
(that I may so express it), against knowledge, they are done either when
particular acts of sin are committed, and duties omitted, against light and knowledge ; and so the saints may and do often sin against know
ledge. Or,
Secondly, in regard of a known estate of sin and impenitency persisted
in, when men continue and go on in such a state against conviction of con
science, that such is their estates.
(1.) For the first, because particular acts of sin committed against know
ledge are infinite, and there will be no end of instancing in particulars, therefore I will not insist. Only in brief this distinction concerning such
acts may be observed , and the observation of it may be useful, that some
acts of sins against knowledge are merely transient, that is, are done and ended at once. And though the guilt of them is eternal, yet the extent of
the act is finished with the committing it, and reaches no further: as a
vain oath, breach of the Sabbath, &c., which acts cannot be repealed, though they may be repented of.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 habitual and continued permanency, life, and subsistence given it, such as that until a man doth recall them, he may be said continually to renew those acts, and
every day to be guilty of them, and to maintain it, and so habitually to commit them. As it is with laws, which, though made but once, are yet continued acts of the state whilst they stand in force unrepealed, so is it
in some sins. For instance, when a man doth take goods from his neigh-
AGAINST KNOWLEDGE. 175
bour unjustly, the act indeed is done but once ; but till he restores them, he may be said to steal them ; every day, every hour, he continues to do
it habitually. So a man having subscribed to falsehood, or recanted the
truth publicly, the act, though done but once, yet until a retraction bo
someways made, he continues that act, and so is daily anew guilty of it. So if a man should marry one whom it is unlawful for him to marry, as Herod did, though that sinful act of espousals whereby they entered into
it was soon despatched, yet, till a divorce, he lives in a continual sin. And such acts (of this latter sort I mean) against knowledge, are most
dangerous to commit ; because, to continue thus in them, though but once
committed, hazards a man s 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 parti cular acts committed against knowledge, besides this last distinction briefly touched, I will anon give you several aggravations and rules, whereby to measure the sinfulness that is in such acts so committed ; but, in the mean time, the second branch of this former distinction must be insisted
upon, and therefore I will bring in these aggravations and rules which con
cern particular acts, as distinct heads, after I have briefly spoken to this
other, which is, that,
(2.) Secondly, Those sin against knowledge who go on in an estate of sin and impenitency which they know to be damnable ; as Pharaoh, Exod.
ix. 27, who confessed that he and his people were wicked, and yet har dened himself in sin most dangerously ; and yet three sorts of men may apparently be convinced thus to sin.
First, Those that keep out, and withdraw themselves from professing Christ and his ways, and the fear of his name, out of shame or fear of man, or loss of preferment, or the like worldly ends, when yet they are convinced
that they are God s ways, and ought to be professed by them. I do not say that all who do not come in to profess Christ, and that do not join them
selves with his people, that they go 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. x), and yet out of fear or shame keep still on the other side, drawing in their horns altogether, these go on in an estate of impenitency against knowledge ; for put all these together, and it must needs appear to be so. As, first, when they are convinced that this is the
truth, and that salvation and the power of religion is only to be found in such ways and men ; and secondly, that these are to be practised and pro fessed; and yet, thirdly, out of shame, &c., keep still aloof of, and go on a
contrary way ; these must needs know that they go on in an estate of im
penitency against knowledge. This was the case of many of the Pharisees, who therefore sinned highly ; they believed, and were convinced that Christ was the Messiah ; and so then to be confessed, and followed, and to be cleaved unto, and then also they must needs know that his followers
only were the children of God. Yet, John xii. 42, it is said, Though they thus believed on him, yet they durst not confess him for fear of the Jews, and of the Pharisees, and of being put out of the synagogues. At the
latter day Christ shall not need to sever such from the rest as he will do the sheep from the goats, for they willingly remain all their days amongst them whom they know to be goats, and refuse the company, and fold, and
176 AGGRAVATIONS OF SINNING
food, and marks of the sheep which they know to be such ; they may apologise, and make fair with the saints, that their hearts are with them, but they will be ranked at the day of judgment as here they ranked them
selves, with the workers of iniquity. Of these doth the psalmist speak, Ps. cxxv. 5,
* Those that turn aside by their crooked ways, them shall the Lord leave with the workers of iniquity.
Those also thus sin, and are to be joined with these, who know the terms and condition of salvation, and how they must part with all for
Christ, and yet will not come to the price ; such do go desperately on
against knowledge in a bad estate, and do judge themselves unworthy of eternal life. Thus the young man in the gospel he was told that he was to
sell all, and that was the condition, and he knew heaven was worth it, and was convinced of the truth herein, that thus he ought to do, for he went away sorrowful ; now if he had not known that he went away without
happiness, he needed not have been sorrowful at all, but he knew the bargain of salvation was not struck up, and likewise what it struck at, and yet still rested in his former condition, and chose rather to enjoy his many posses sions. 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 do so ; for in that they promise to repent hereafter, and take up purposes to do it, when they have gone on a little while longer, to add drunkenness to thirst, they do thereby profess that there is a work of grace which they must attain
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. Whilst therefore such shall rest without present en
deavouring 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 he, Deut. xxix. 19, I will go on in the way of my heart, and
shall have peace afterward; this man sins most highly, and therefore God s wrath
* smokes against that man, and he says of him that he
* will not be merciful to him in that place.
Thirdly, Sunk and broken professors, such cannot but go on in a bad
estate against knowledge, when either men are fallen from the practice and
profession of what is good, which once they thought necessary to salvation, or when they continue to hold forth their profession in hypocrisy. Those
that have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of Jesus Christ, but are returned to their vomit again, some of these are in
genious,* and acknowledge themselves fallen, and their present estate mosi
miserable, and yet go on in it ; and such are to be pitied, but yet are in a most dangerous condition. Saul when he was fallen away, yet had this
ingenuity* a while left, he desired Samuel to pray to his God for him, and
told David that he was more righteous than he ; yet still went on in his
courses, and in the end, as some have thought, sinned against the Holy Ghost.
But others there are, who, though they be fallen from all the inward,
powerful, and secret performance of duties they once did practise, and from
all conscience of sinning, yet retain their profession, which they know to be
but an outside. These of all others go on against knowledge ; and, Rev.
xxii. 15, they are said to make a lie, not only to tell a lie in words, but
to make a lie in deeds. Now a lie is a sin of all others most against know
ledge, and indeed against a double knowledge, both/acti and juris; and so
* That is, ingenuous, and ingenuousness. ED.
AGAINST KNOWLEDGE. 177
is this. [1.] That they profess themselves to be that they know they are
not. [2.] That they will not endeavour after that state they know they ought to get into if ever saved. This is the condition of many, who, being convinced of the power of religion, have launched forth into a profession, and hoist up sail, but now the tide is fallen, the Spirit withdrawn, the con
science of sin extinguished in them ; yet for their credit s sake still bear
their sails up as high as ever, even as many merchants do, who are sunk in
their estates, still bear a fair show, yea, will seem richer than ordinary, by purchasing lands, &c. Such a professor was Judas, he began seriously, and thought to have gone to heaven, and was earnest in good duties at first, as they also, 2 Pet. ii. 18, they really, or eVrw;, escaped the pollutions of
the world through the knowledge of Christ ; but in the end Judas became a
gross hypocrite, one that pretended the poor when he loved the bag, and on the sudden betrayed his master, when yet the disciples knew it not, sus
pected Judas as little as themselves ; and the end of those also, in that fore-named place, it is said to be worse than their beginning. Now because such sin so highly against knowledge, therefore their punishment is made the regula of all other wicked men s ; as when it is said that other
sinners shall have their portion with hypocrites, as the wicked angels punishment is made the measure of men s.
* Go, ye cursed, into the fire
prepared for the devil and his angels. So among men, such gross hypo
crites, their punishment is made the rule, and so the chief of all kind of torments which sinners of the sons of men shall undergo.
Application. Now let me speak a word to all such as thus go on in a
state of impenitency against knowledge. This is a high kind of sinning, and of all the most desperate, and doth argue more hardness of heart, and
despising the riches of God s goodness. For if, as in the Romans, ii. 4, to go on in sin when a man knows not, that is, considers not that God s
mercy. leads him to repentance, is made the sign and effect of a very hard
heart, treasuring up wrath, then much more, when thou knowest and con-
siderest thou art in an impenitent condition, and hast many motions lead
ing thee to repentance, is thy heart then to be accounted hard. When a man commits a particular act against knowledge, he haply and usually still thinks his estate may be good, and that he shall not lose God utterly, or hazard the loss of him, only his spirit being at present empty of communion with him, he steals out to some stolen pleasure ; but when a man knows
his estate bad, and that he is without God in the world, and yet goes on, he doth hereby cast away the Lord, and professeth he cares not for him, or
that communion which is to be had by him, as Esau did his birthright.
David, though he despised the Lord, yet he did not cast away the Lord, as Saul did ; for Saul ventured utterly to lose him, knowing his estate naught. David, when he sinned, thought God s eternal favour would still con
tinue, though for the present he might lose the sense of it.
But when a man goes on in a state of sinning, he ventures the loss of God s eternal love, and slights it, and knows he doth so. When a man knows that he is condemned already as being impenitent, and that all his eternal estate lies upon the non-payment of such duties of repentance, &c., and that the guilt of all his sins will come in upon him, and that an execu tion is out, and yet goes on, this is more than to commit one act against knowledge, whereby he thinks he brings upon himself but the guilt of that one sin ; and upon the committing of which, he thinks not the mortgage of
; herein men shew themselves more desperate. 2. In the next place, I come to those rules whereby you may measure VOL. IV. M
all lies, though it deserves it
178 AGGRAVATIONS OF SINNING
and estimate sinning against knowledge in any particular act of sinning ; and they are either before the sin, or in sinning ; three of either, which I make a second head, to explain this doctrine by.
(1.) First, Before.
[1.] The first rule is, the more thou knewest and didst consider the
issues and consequents of that sin thou didst commit, the more thou sinnest
against conscience in it: whenas, in Rom. i. 82, Thou knowing (says the apostle) that those that commit such things are worthy of death ; that
is, thou considerest that hell and damnation is the issue and desert of it, and yet committest it, yea, and this when haply hell fire at present flasheth in thy face, and yet thou goest on to do it: in this case men are
said to choose death, and to love it, Prov. viii. 36. When a man con
siders that the way to the whore-house are the ways to death, as Solomon
speaks ; so when thou, a professor, considerest with thyself before, This
sin will prove scandalous, and undo me, disable me for service, cast me out of the hearts of good men, and yet dost it. Thus that foolish king was told again and again, Jer. xxxviii. 17-19, that if he would yield to
the king of Babel he should save his life, and city, and kingdom, and live
there still, but if he would not, he should not escape ; but as Jeremiah
* Thou shalt cause this city to be burned with fire, yet he would not hearken. This is the word of the Lord, says Jeremiah, and he knew it to be so ; and yet being a weak prince, led bj his nobles, he would not follow his counsel. And thus Judas fully knew the issue ; Christ had said again and again, Woe be to him by whom the Son of man
told him, verse 23,
is betrayed ; and yet went on to do it.
[2.] The second rule is, the more consultations, debates, and motives
against it did run through thee before thou didst it, so much the greater and more heinous. How often did mercy come in and tell thee, that if thou lookest for any hope or part in it, thou"shouldest not do such an evil ! How often came that in, Shall I do this, and sin against God ? Did
any scripture come in to testify against thee in the nick ? Did God send
in the remembrance of such a mercy past to persuade thee, or some mer
cies to come, which thou dependest upon him for ? That which made
Spira s sin so great was such debates as these before ; and this made Darius s sin in casting Daniel into the lion s den so great, he debated it with himself, Dan. vi. 14, he was sore displeased with himself, and laboured
to the going down of the sun to deliver him. He considered that he was
at his right hand in all the affairs of his kingdom, and a man entrapped
merely for his conscience, and that to put him to death was to sacrifice I him to their malice. He knew him to be holy, and wise, worth all the
| men that sought after his life had yet yielded ; these considerations troubled him afore, and also after, insomuch as he could not sleep for
j them, verse 18. Now, because that every such consultation should set an !
impression upon the heart, and countermand the motions of sin, when
therefore thou dost it, maugre all such debates and motives to the con-
<
trary, this is much against knowledge, and very heinous. Therefore the
Pharisees, Luke vii. 30, are said to have rejected the counsel of God, eis
savToug, in or against themselves, the words will bear either. In themi
selves, because they knew it, and took it into consideration, and yet re-J
jected it ; and against themselves, because it was their destruction.
[3.] The third rule is, that the more confirmations any man hath had of
the knowledge of that which he sinneth in, and testimonies against it, the
greater sin against knowledge it is : when a man hath had a cloud of wit-;
AGAINST KNOWLEDGE. 179
nesses in his observation against a particular sin, and yet doth it, and goes on in it, it is the more fearful. To go on against that one witness, the bare
light and grudging of natural conscience only, is not so much ; but when it
is further confirmed and backed by the word written, which a man hath read, and with testimonies, out of which a man meets with such places, wherein
again and again in reading of it such a practice is condemned, and observes
it, and then also hears it reproved in sermons, and of all sins else hears
in private conference that sin spoken against also, yea, hath in his eye many examples of others sinning in the like kind, which have been pun
ished, yea, haply himself also ; yet to sin against all these is exceeding heinous. Sometimes God orders things so, as a sin is made a great sin by such forewarnings. So he contrived circumstances that Judas sinned a
great sin ; for Judas knew before that Christ was the Saviour of the world, he knew it by all the miracles he had seen, as also by his gracious words and converse, and he professed as much in following of him ; and he had
the written word against it, Thou shalt not murder the innocent. But
yet further, God, to aggravate his sin to the highest, orders it so, that
Christ should tell him of it when he was to go about it, pronounceth a woe
* it had been good for that man that he had never been born, Mark xiv. 21. And the disciples they were sorrowful at
to him, Luke xxii. 22, that
Christ s speech when he suspected one of them, and shewed an abomina
tion and detestation of such a fact ; there was a jury of eleven men, yea, witnesses against it ; yea, and Judas against himself, he asked if it were
he, yea, and Christ gave him a sop, and told him, Thou hast said it, and do what thou dost quickly
: which even then might argue to his conscience
that he was God, and searched and knew his heart ; and yet he went out and did it immediately. How did he sin against the hair, as we speak, and how did all these circumstances aggravate his sin ! But yet a more clear evidence of this is that instance of Pilate, whom God many ways would have stopped in his sin of condemning Christ, who
examining him before the Pharisees, he could find no fault with him as
concerning those things whereof they accused him, Luke xxiii. 14, and yet to allay their malice unjustly scourged him, ver. 16. And further, when he sent him to Herod, as being willing to rid his hands of him, Herod also found nothing worthy of death in him, ver. 15, which was another witness
might have confirmed him concerning Christ s innocency. Yea, yet fur
ther, that the fact might be more aggravated, a most notorious murderer s
life must be put into the scale with Christ s, and either the one or the other condemned ; and when the people yet chose Barabbas, why, says
Pilate, what evil hath he done? ver. 22. Then he distinctly knew and con
sidered that he was delivered up through envy. Yea, and when he was upon the bench, and ready to pronounce sentence as it were, God admonished him
by his own wife, Matt, xxvii. 19, whom God himself had admonished in a dream, she sending him word she had suffered many things by reason of him that night, and therefore have nothing (says she) to do with that
just man ; yea, he himself, when he condemns him, washeth his hands. And thus it falls out in many sinful businesses which men are about, that God often and many several ways would knock them off, and stops them
in their way, as he did Balaam, reproves them, as he did him by a dumb ass, 2 Pet. ii. 16 ; so these by some silent passage of providence, and not only so, but by his Spirit also standing in their way, with the threatenings ready drawn and brandished against them, as the angel did with a drawn sword
against Balaam ; and yet they go on ; this is fearful.
180 AGGRAVATIONS OF SINNING
(2.) There are three rules also, whereby the sinfulness of sin, as it is
against knowledge, may be measured, from what may be observed in the
act, as,
[1.] First, The less passion, or inward violence or temptation to a sin committed against knowledge, the greater sin against knowledge it is argued to be. For then the knowledge is the clearer, passion or temptation being as a mist. But then to sin when a man is not in passion, is to stumble at
noon-day. For as drunkenness takes away reason, so doth passion, which
is a short drunkenness, cloud and mist a man s knowledge. And so Aris
totle compares the knowledge of an incontinent person to the knowledge of one that is drunk. When Peter denied his Master, though he had warning of it before, and so it was against knowledge, and it was by lying, and
swearing, and forswearing, which are sins of all others most directly against knowledge, yet he was taken unexpectedly,. and when that which might stir up fear to the utmost in him was in his view ; for he was then in the judg ment-hall, where his Master, just before his face, was arraigned for his life, and he thought he might also have presently been brought to the bar with
him, if he had been discovered to have been his disciple ; so as his passion being up, his soul was distempered, reason had little time to recover itself, and therefore, though it was against knowledge, yet the less against know
ledge, because knowledge had lasam operationem, it had not its perfect work upon his heart ; but now Judas, in betraying his Master, had not only warning before, but was not tempted to it, but went of himself, and made the offer to the Pharisees, sought how
* conveniently to do it, plotted to do it, had his wits about him, had time to think of it, and therefore it
was, besides the heinousness of the act, more also against knowledge, and so the greater. So David, when he went to slay Nabal, was in hot
blood, in a passion ; but when he plotted to kill Uriah, he was in cold blood ; he was drunk when he lay with Bathsheba, but sober when he made Uriah drunk : he went quietly and sedately on in it. And there we
find David blamed only in the matter of Uriah, not so much for that of Bathsheba.
[2.] Secondly, The more sorrow, renisus, or reluctancy, and regretting of mind there is against a sin, it is a sign that the knowledge of it is the
stronger and quicker against it, and so the sin the more against knowledge ; for that gainsaying and displeasure of the mind against it ariseth from the
strength and violent beating of the pulse of conscience, and opposition of it
against the sin ; it springs from the greater and deeper apprehension of the
evil of the sin in the action which is then in doing. And though that re
luctancy be a better sign of the estate of a person than if there were none
at all, as there is not in those who are past feeling, and commit sin with
greediness, whose estate is therefore worse, and more incapable of repent ance, yet the fact itself is argued to be the more heinous, for it argues it
to be against strong, active, stirring knowledge. This argued Herod s sin
to be much against knowledge, as indeed it was, Mark vi. 26 ; the text says
* he was exceeding sorrowful : now that he could not have been, unless he had exceedingly apprehended what a great sin it was to behead John, who he knew was a just and holy man, ver. 20, and who was one that had a
great place in his estimation, for he observed him, and was wrought much
upon by his ministry ; and he knew that he did but sacrifice him to the malice of a wicked woman. And in this case the sin is also hereby made
so much the greater, in that conscience doth stir up a contrary violent
passion in the heart against the temptation, and therefore yet to do it, when
AGAINST KNOWLEDGE. 181
there is such a bank cast up that might resist it, yet then to break all down, such a sin wastes the conscience much.
[3.] Thirdly, On the contrary, the more hardness of heart there is, and want of tenderness, in committing that sin which a man knows to be a sin,
it is argued thereby to be the greater sin against knowledge ; not only the
greater sin, but the greater sin against knowledge. For hardness of heart in sinning is an effect of having formerly sinned much against knowledge before. For as the light of the sun hardeneth clay, so the beams of know
ledge and conscience, lighting upon men s hearts, use to harden them , and do make them in the end past feeling. And therefore, in 1 Tim. iv. 2, sinning against knowledge is made the cause of a seared conscience, they speak lies in hypocrisy ; and therefore knowingly that they are lies, and such lies as damn others as well as themselves, which who believe are damned, 2 Thess. ii. 11, 12; and if so, no wonder if it follows, having their consciences seared with a hot iron. It is not a cold iron will sear their consciences, and make them insensible, but a hot iron, a burning and a shining light, which once having had place in their consciences, and being rejected, they begin to be hardened and seared ; for knowledge makes sins and the apprehension of them familiar to a man, and so less terrible and
frightful in the end, as bears and lions do become to their keepers through custom. Judas had a hard heart when he came to betray his Master ;
surely his conscience had smitten him at first more for nimming out of the
bag than it did now for this of murder. He could never have had such a hard heart, had he not had much knowledge. Was it not a heart, that when he was challenged to his face, he could set a brazen face on it, and did ask as well as the rest, Is it I ? When also Christ cursed him to his
face who should do it, and the disciples all abhorred it, had not Judas lived under such blessed and glorious means, and sinned long against knowledge, all this would have startled him and have staggered him in his purpose ; but he goes on as if it were nothing, though when he had done it his con
science was then opened too late. When a man formerly hath been troubled with a small sin, more than now with a gross lie, which he can digest better than once the other, or when before, if he omitted praying, it troubled
him, now he can go a week without, and is not sensible of it, it is a sign that his knowledge hath hardened him.
III. Thus having given such rules whereby you may estimate the sinfulness of particular acts, I will now proceed to other ways, aggravations taken from the kind of knowledge a man sins against, to sin against what kind of
knowledge is most heinous and dangerous. And these are five, drawn from the several qualifications of that knowledge, and the light which men sin
against ; for the greater, or the more strong and efficacious the light and
knowledge is, the greater is the sin of knowledge thou committest. And
this I make a third general head to explain this doctrine by, all these
five rules being applicable and common both to particular acts against knowledge, and also lying in an estate of impenitency against knowledge, and all other particulars which have been mentioned.
$ 1. First, then, to sin against the inbred light of nature \ that is, in such
sins, as though thou hadst wanted the light of the word in, thou wouldst have known to be such ; this is a high kind of sinning. Such the apostle speaks of, Jude 10, What things they know naturally, in these they corrupt themselves, as brute beasts ; putting as it were no difference of actions no more than beasts, no, not in what nature teacheth them ; and therefore
182 AGGRAVATIONS OF SINNING
therein are as beasts, for it is the light of nature puts the first difference between men and beasts ; and in such kind of sins the apostle instanceth
in this first chapter, as namely, that of unnatural uncleanness, in three
! 24, h savroTg, that is, alone by themselves ; so Beza and Theophilact understand it, which he makes there
particulars; as, 1. self-uncleanness, ver.
the first degree of unnatural uncleanness, which is therefore unnatural, because thou destroyest that which nature gave thee for propagation, quod
perdis liomo est. Then, 2. the unclean love of boys, men burning in lust with men, ver. 27, be it discovered in what dalliance it will, though not
arising to an act of sodomy, doing that which is unseemly, ver. 27, which he therefore says, is the perverting the use and intent of nature, and so is a sin against nature, leaving the natural use of women. My brethren, I am ashamed to speak of such things as are done in secret. These kind of sins, by the apostles ranking them, are in a further degree of unnaturamess than
any other, because they are made the punishments of other sins, which yet were against the light of nature also, namely, not glorifying God when
they knew him ; yet that being a sin, 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, stubborn to them, and without natural affection, as the apostle
says, ver. 30, 31, this is against nature, even the instinct of it. So unthank-
fulness, and requiting evil for good, is against a common principle in men s minds. Do not the Gentiles do 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 cruel and unmerciful, which is another reckoned up, ver. 31, there being usually principles of pity in all men s natures by nature, therefore for one man to prey upon and tyrannize over another, as fishes
^ do over the small ones, as Habakkuk complaineth, chap. i. 14, this is against nature, which teacheth you to do as you would be done to. So covenant-
breakers, and lying, and forswearing, mentioned ver. 30, inventors of evil, and truce-breakers, are sins against nature, and natural light. Lying is
against a double light, both moral ; both juris, which tells us such a thing ought not to be done ; and facti, whilst we affirm a thing that is not, the
knowledge of the contrary ariseth up in us against it, though there were no law forbade it ; therefore of all sins else, the devil s lusts are expressed by two : lying, which is a sin in the understanding, and malice in the will, John viii. 44.
[2.] 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 aggrava
tion, and a great one. There is a catechism of a blessed mother, Bathsheba, which she 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 sin ; and because it is incident to
kings most, they having all pleasures at command, she tells him particularly,
it destroys kings ; and so also not to drink wine was another instruc
tion there he was forewarned of. This aggravated Solomon s fault the more ; for, read the second chapter of Ecclesiastes, and we shall find there
that he was most guilty in the inordinate love of these two ; but he had not been brought up so, his good mother had not thus instructed him. And thus also when God would aggravate his own people s sin unto them, he
recalls them to their education in their youth in the wilderness. So Jer.
ii. 2, Go and cry to them, I remember the kindness and towardliness of
thy youth ; he puts them in mind of their education by Moses their tutor,
AGAINST KNOWLEDGE. 183
and their forwardness then. And so Hos. xii., when he was a child I loved him ; and then God had their first-fruits, ver. 3, this he brings to
aggravate their backsliding, ver. 5. Therefore the apostle urgeth it as a
strong argument to Timothy, to go on to persevere in grace and goodness, that he
* had known the Scriptures from a child, and therefore for him
to fall would be more heinous. 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 prepossess the mind with, before it should be deflowered 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 mind was most soft and tender, and so fitter to receive the deeper impression from it. And hence ordinarily the light sucked in then seasons men ever after, whether it be for good or for evil ; it forestalls and prejudgeth 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 keep him fixed and bent that way. So we see it is in opinions about religion, the light then entertained can never be disputed out ; so
in men s ways and actions, Train up a child in his way, and he will not
depart from it, Prov. xxii. 6. To sin therefore against it, and to put out the beams of it, or defile it, and to wear out the impressions of it, how wicked is it, and what a wretch art thou to do so ! Many of you young scholars* have had a good Bathsheba that instructed
you, not to pour out your strength to drink or women, but to pray privately, and to fear God, and love him ; and when you come hither, you have
good tutors also, who teach you to pray ; ministers who instil blessed truths into you, from which one would think you should never depart ; yet you do.
Think how grievous this is ; for if it is made an excuse for many a man
in sinning, that it answers 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 sinfulness. And as it was Timothy s commendation, that he 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.
[3.] Thirdly, The more real and experimental the light is men sin against,
still the more sin ; as when they have learnt it from examples of godly men whom they have lived amongst, or the observations of God s dealings with themselves or others, and not only from the word notionally. To sin
against such light, this adds a further degree ; not only to sin against the bare light of nature, but also further, when nature hath besides lighted her torch at the Scripture, and then when beyond ah
1 this the real examples and observations made of God s dealings with a man s self and others shall confirm all this, this makes a man s sinfulness much more grievous ; for as
easempla cfficacius docent quam pracepta, so the knowledge got by experiments of mercies or judgments is of more force and evidence. Knowledge learnt
by experience is the most efficacious. Therefore Christ himself, who knew
all things already, yet learnt, in the school of experience, by what he
suffered. A little of some knowledge distilled out of a man s own obser vation is most precious, every drop of it ; therefore the apostle urgeth it on Timothy, Continue in the things thou hast learned, and been assured
of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them, 2 Tim. iii. 14. There is a twofold motive, and both emphatical
: first, he was assured in himself ; * This was probably preached at Oxford. ED.
184 AGGRAVATIONS OF SINNING
and secondly, that which strengthened that assurance, and was a means to work it, was the example of the holy apostle, and of his own parents, knowing of whom thou hast learned it. And so, verse 10, the apostle
* Thou hast fully known my doctrine and manner of life ; and then also brings to his mind the education of those
again urgeth his own example,
his godly parents who instructed him. Hence also, Isa. xxvi. 10, it is made an aggravation, that in the land of uprightness men deal unjustly. Thus light drawn from the observation of God s judgments upon others, it much aggravates ; it is laid to Belshazzar s charge,
* Thou knewest all
this, how God dealt with thy father Nebuchadnezzar, Dan. v. 22. So some of you come here, and live in a religious society, and see sometimes
one, sometimes another of thy colleagues turn to Christ, yea haply, chamber-
fellow converted from his evil courses, and yet thou goest on ; this is sinning
against a great light.
[4.] Fourthly, The more vigorous, strong, powerful the light is that is in
thee, and more stirring in thy heart, and joined with a taste, the greater the sins committed against it are to be accounted. The more thou hast
tasted the bitterness of sin, and God s wrath, and hast been stung with it
as with a cockatrice, the more thou hast tasted God s goodness in prayer, and in the ordinances, the more of such a knowledge, and yet sinnest, the
worse. In John v. 35, Christ aggravates the Jews unbelief in himself, and their present hardness, that John was to them, not only a
* shining, but also a burning light ; that is, they had such knowledge engendered by his ministry, as wrought joy and heat as well as light ; therefore it is
* they rejoiced therein for a season. And thus their fall, Heb. vi.,
added,
is aggravated that it was such a light as had tasting with it. For to explain
this, you must know, that between ordinary national light, or that assenting to spiritual truths which is common with men, from traditional knowledge
living in the church, that between it and true saving light, or the light of
life, there is a middle kind of light, which is more than the common con
viction men have, and less than havinglight. It is a light which leaves
also some impression on the affections, makes them feel the powers of heaven and hell, and be affected with them. Now the more of such light
against a sin, be it drunkenness, or uncleanness, or oppression, and yet fallest to it again, the worse. For this is a further degree added to know
ledge, and not common to all wicked men. And therefore as those Jews who had not only common means of knowledge, but miracles also, and yet believed not, John xi. 47, shall be more condemned ; so those who have such tasting knowledge set on by the Holy Ghost, which is as much as if
a miracle were wrought, for it is above nature, a supernatural work of the
Spirit. And therefore to sin against such light, and such only, is that which makes a man in the next degree of fitness to sin against the Holy Ghost.
[5.J Fifthly, To sin against professed knowledge is an aggravation also, and an heavy one, to sin against a man s own principles which he teacheth
others, or reproves or censureth in others. Titus i. 16, those that pro fess they know God, and yet deny him, these are most abominable of all
others, for these are liars, and so sin against knowledge as liars do ; in
1 John ii. 4, such an one is called a liar in a double respect, both in that he says he hath that knowledge he hath not, it not being true, and because,
also, he denies that in deed which he affirms in word. This is scandalous
sinning. So, Bom. ii. 24, the Jews, boasting of the law, and of having the
# Qu. saving ? ED.
AGAINST KNOWLEDGE. 185
form of knowledge in their brains, caused the Gentiles to blaspheme when
they saw they lived clean contrary thereunto ; and, therefore, a brother
that walks inordinately was to be delivered to Satan, to learn what it was
to blaspheme, 1 Tim. i. 20, that is, to learn to know how evil and bitter a thing it is, by the torments of an evil conscience, to live in such a course
as made God and his ways evil spoken of, as it befell David when he thus
sinned. Yea, 1 Cor. v. 10, 11, though they might keep company with a
heathen, because he was ignorant and professed not the knowledge of God,
yet if a brother, one that professed, and so was to walk by the same rules, did sin against those principles he professed, then keep him not company. Thus did Saul sin. All the religion he had and pretended to in his
latter days was persecuting witches ; yet in the end he went against this
his principle, he went to a witch in his great extremity at last. And thus God will deal with all that are hollow, and sin secretly against knowledge, in the end. He suffers them to go on against their most professed principles. These are aggravations in general, applicable both to any act of sinning, or going on in a known state of sinning.
Use. Now, the use of all that hath been spoken, what is it but to move
all those that have knowledge to take more heed of sinning than other men, and those of them that remain in their natural estate to turn speedily and
effectually unto God ? For if sinning against knowledge be so great an
aggravation of sinning, then of all engagements to repentance knowledge is the greatest.
First, Thou who hast knowledge canst not sin so cheap as another who
is ignorant. Therefore, if thou wilt be wicked, thy wickedness will cost thee ten times more than it would another. Places of much knowledge, and plentiful in the means of grace, are dear places to live in sin in. To be drunk and unclean after enlightening, and the motions of the Spirit, and powerful sermons, is more than twenty times afore ; thou mightest have committed ten to one, and been damned less. This is condemnation,
Bays Christ, that light came into the world. Neither canst thou have so much pleasure in thy sins as an ignorant person, for the conscience puts forth a sting in the act when thou hast knowledge, and does subject thee to bondage and the fear of death. When a man knows how dearly he must
pay for it, there is an expectation of judgment embittereth all. Therefore the Gentiles sinned with more pleasure than we. Therefore, Eph. iv.
18, 19, the apostle, speaking of them, says that through their ignorance and darkness and want of feeling they committed sin with greediness, a!hd so with more pleasure, they not having knowledge, or hearts sensible of the
evils that attend upon their courses.
Secondly, Thou wilt, in sinning against knowledge, be given up to greater hardness. If the light that is in thee be darkness, says Christ,
< how
great is that darkness. Therefore, the more light a man hath, and yet goes on in works of darkness, the more darkness will that man be left unto, even to a reprobate mind in the end.
Thirdly, It will procure thee to be given up to the worst of sins more than another man ; for God, when he leaves men, makes one sin the punishment of another, and reserves the worst for sinners against know
ledge. These Gentiles, when they knew God, they worshipped him not, God gave them up to the worst of sins whereof they were capable, as un natural uncleanness, &c. Put these are not sins great enough for thee, that art a sinner of the Christians, to be given up to drunkenness or adultery,
186 AGGKAVATIONS OF SINNING
&c. ; otherwise than to discover thy rottenness, these are too small sins ; but thou slialt be given up to inward profaneness of heart (as Esau was,
having been brought up in a good family), so as not to neglect holy duties
only, but to despise them, to despise the good word of Go.d and his saints, and to hate godliness and the appearance of it ; thou shalt be given up to contemn God and his judgments, to trample under foot the blood of the
covenant, or else unto devilish opinions. Those other are too small to be
punishments of thy sin, for still the end of such an one must be seven times worse than the beginning, as Christ says it shall. If thou wert a drunkard, a swearer, or an unclean person before, and thy knowledge wrought some
alteration in thee, thou shalt not haply be so now at thy fall, but seven times
worse, profane, injurious to saints, a blasphemer, or derider of God s ways and ordinances.
Fourthly, When thou comest to lay hold on mercy at death, thy knowledge will give thee up to more despair than another man. Knowledge, though when it is but newly revealed, it is an help ; yet not made use of, turns
against the soul, to wound it, and to work despair ; and this both because we have sinned against the means that should have saved us, as also because such as sin against knowledge, sin with more presumption ; and the more
presumption in thy life, the more despair thou art apt to fall into at death.
Therefore, Isa. lix. 11, 12, what brought such trouble and roarings like
bears upon these Jews? and that when salvation was looked for, that
yet it was so far off from them, in their apprehensions ? Our iniquities
testify to our face, and we know them. Now, then, sins testifyto our face when our conscience took notice of them, even to our faces when we were committing them ; and then also the same sins themselves
(say they)
<
will again testify to our faces, when we have recourse for the pardon of them. Therefore thou wilt lie roaring on thy deathbed, and that thou knowest them will come as an argument that thou shalt not have mercy. As ignorance is a plea for mercy,
* I did it ignorantly, therefore I obtained
mercy, so I did it knowingly, will come in as a bar and a plea against thee, therefore I shall not have mercy.
Fifthly, Both here and in hell, it is the greatest executioner and tormentor. In this sense it may be said, Qui auget scientiam, auget dolorem, He that
increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow, as Solomon speaks ; for know
ledge enlargeth our apprehension of our guilt, and that brings more fear and torment.
* Have they no knowledge who eat up my people ? Yes, there is their fear, says David. Therefore, Heb. x. 28, after sinning after
knowledge, there remains not only a more fearful punishment, but a more
fearful expectation in the parties consciences. And this is the worm in
hell that gnaws for ever. Light breeds these worms. But then you will say, It is best for us to be ignorant, and to keep our
selves so.
I answer, No. For to refuse knowledge will damn as much as abusing
it. This you may see in Prov. i. 23, Ye fools (says Wisdom), you that hate knowledge, turn, and I will pour my spirit upon you, and make known my words to you. Well, ver. 24, they refused, and would none of his
reproof; therefore, says God, I will laugh at your calamity, that is, I
will have no pity, but instead of pity, God will laugh at you ; and when
your fear comes, I will not answer, because ye hated knowledge, ver. 29 ; so as this is as bad, there remains therefore no middle* way of refuge to
extricate thyself at, and avoid all this, no remedy but turning unto God ; otherwise thou canst not but be more miserable than other men. Yea, and
AGAINST KNOWLEDGE. 187
this must be done speedily also. For thou having knowledge, God is
quicker in denying thee grace, and in giving thee up to a reprobate mind, than another man who is ignorant. He will wait upon another that knows not his will and ways, twenty, thirty, forty years, as he did upon the chil dren of the Israelites that were born in the wilderness, and had not seen
his wonders in Egypt, and at the Red Sea ; but those that had, he soon sware against many of them, that they should never enter into his rest.
* swift witness against those to whom the gospel is
Christ comes as a
preached, Mai. iii. 5 ; he makes quick despatch of the treaty of grace with them. Therefore few that have knowledge are converted when they are
old, or that lived long under the means. And therefore you that have
knowledge are engaged to repent and to turn to God, and to bring your hearts to your knowledge, and that speedily also, or else your damnation
will not only be more intolerable than others, but the sentence of it pass out more quickly against you. Therefore as Christ says, John xii. 86, Whilst you have the light, walk in it. For that day of grace which is
very clear and bright, is usually a short one. And though men may live many natural days after, and enjoy the common light of the sun, yet the day of grace and of gracious excitements to repent may be but a short one.
AGGRAVATIONS OF SINNING AGAINST
MERCY.
Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness, and forbearance, and longsuffer-
ing ; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth tliee to repentance ?
But, after thy hardness and impenitent heart, treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment of
God. ROM. II. 4, 5.
THIS is the last and most weighty aggravation which the apostle puts into
the measure of the Gentiles sinfulness (which in the former chapter he had, verse 29, pronounced full before), to make it fuller yet. Their sinning
against mercies, and despising the riches of God s goodness, patience, and
forbearance, the hateful evil and iniquity whereof can be better no way set
off and illustrated unto men s consciences, than by a display of the riches
of that goodness which men sin against.
My purpose therefore is to unlock and carry you into that more common
treasury of outward mercies, and lead you through the several rooms
thereof, all which do continually lead you unto repentance ; that then,
reflecting upon our ungrateful waste and abuse of so many mercies in sin
ning, thereby our sins, every sin, the least, may yet appear more sinful unto us,
* who are less than the least of all mercies. Know then, that
* unsearchable riches of grace laid up in
besides that peculiar treasure of
Christ, Eph. ii. 7, the oner of which neglected and despised adds yet to
all that sinfulness, a guilt as far exceeding all that which shall be spoken
of, as heaven exceeds the earth, there is another untold mine of riches
the earth is full of, as the Psalmist tells us, Ps. civ. 24, and the apostle
here, which these Gentiles only heard of. and which we partake of all as much as they. As there are riches of grace offered to you which can never be exhausted, so there are riches of patience spent upon you which you will have spent out in the end, the expense of which cast up, will alone amount
to an immense treasure, both of guilt in you and of wrath in God, as these words inform us.
To help you in this account, I will,
1. In general, shew what goodness or bounty, patience, and longsuffer-
ing are in God.
2. That there are riches of these spent upon all the sons of men.
3. That these all lead men to repentance. And then,
AGGRAVATIONS OF SINNING AGAINST MERCY. 189
4. I will expostulate with you and aggravate your sinfulness in going on
to despise all these by unrepentance, as the apostle here doth.
1. First, In that God is said here to be (1.) good or bountiful; (2.)
patient or forbearing ; (3.) longsuffering ; they seem to note out three de
grees of his common mercies unto men.
(1.) First, He is a good or a bountiful God ; for so as goodness is here
used, I exegetically expound it. For though it be true that goodness and
bounty may differ, yet when riches of goodness are said to be communi
cated, it imports the same, and is all one with bounty. And such is God. And all those noble and royal qualifications and properties which concur to
make one truly good and bountiful, do meet and abound in him, in all those
good things which he doth bestow, and are found truly in none but in him, so that it may be truly said, that there is none good but God, as Christ
says of him.
Now bounty in the general, which is in God, may be thus described.
It is a free, willing, and a large giving of what is merely his own, look
ing for no recompence again.
To explain this, that you may see that all these conditions are required to true goodness, and all of them to be found in God only.
[1.] He that is bountiful, he must be a giver and bestower of good
things ; and all he bestows it must be by way of gift, not by way of recom
pence unto, or by desert from the party he bestows all on. Therefore
Christ says, Luke vi. 33, that to do good to those who have done or do
good to us, is not thankworthy, nor is it bounty. But God is therefore
truly good, because he simply, merely, and absolutely gives away all which he bestows. For he was not, nor can any way become, beholden to any of
his creatures, nor had formerly received anything from them which might move him hereunto ; so Rom. xi. 35, Who hath first given him, that he may recompense him again ? Nay, until he gave us a being, we were not
capable of so much as receiving any good thing from him.
[2.] He who is truly termed good or bountiful, all that he gives away must be his own ; and so all which God bestows it is his own. So Ps. xxiv. 1,
* The earth is the Lord s, the ground we tread on, the place we dwell in ; he is our landlord. But is that all ? For the house may be the landlord s when the furniture is] the tenant s. Therefore he further adds, And the
fulness of it is his also ; that is, all the things that fill the world, all the
furniture and provision of it both, all the moveables. So Ps. 1. 11, 12, The cattle and the fowls upon a thousand hills are mine, says he ; and
* the com and oil which you set and plant,
also all the standing goods,
4 are mine, Hos. ii. 9 ; yea, and the Psalmist, in the 24th Psalm, adds
further, that they who dwell therein are his also ; not the house and
furniture only, but the inhabitants themselves. And this by the most sure and most sovereign title that can be, better than that of purchase or inheri tance of and from another ; for he hath made them. All is thine, because
all comes of thee, says the same David, 1 Chron. xxix. 11, 12. And all
things are not only of him, but through him, Rom. xi. 36 ; that is, they cannot stand nor subsist without him. Even kings, the greatest and most bountiful of men, their bounty is but as that of the clouds, which though they shower down plentifully, yet they first received all from the earth below them.
[8.] He must give largely, it is not bounty else. Now God is therefore said to be rich in goodness, because he is abundant in it. So we find it, comparing Ps. xxxiii. 5, with Ps. civ. 24, in which it is said, that
* the
190 AGGRAVATIONS OF SINNING
* his riches ; which we may judge of, by what he says in the 27th verse of that 104th Psalm, of what an house he
earth is full of his goodness, and
keeps, and what multitudes he feeds ; All these, saith the Psalmist, wait on thee, that thou mayest give them meat ; and thou openest thy hand, and
they are filled with good. King Ahasuerus, to shew his bounty, made a
feast to his chief subjects, but it was but for half a year, and not to all ; some few half years more would well nigh have beggared him ; but
IGod doth thus continually. The greatest and most bountiful of men, when they would express the largest of their bounty, speak but of giving half of their
kingdoms ; so Herod and he did but talk so too ; but God bestows whole worlds and kingdoms, as Daniel speaks, Dan. iv. 32, and gives them to whom he please.
[4.] He that is bountiful must give all he gives freely, and willingly. Which, though I put together, yet may imply^two distinct things. As, first, that he that gives must be a free agent in it, who is at his choice, whether he would give anything away or no. The sun doth much good to the world,
it affords a large light, and even half the world at once is full of its glory, yea, and all this light is its own, not borrowed, as that of the moon and
stars is ; yet this sun cannot be called good or bountiful, because it sends forth this light necessarily and naturally, and cannot choose but do so, nor can it draw in its beams. But God is a free giver, he was at his choice whether he would have made the world or no, and can yet when he pleaseth withdraw his Spirit and face, and then they all perish, Ps. civ. 29. Secondly, It must be willingly also ; that is, no way constrained, nor by extraction wrung from him who is to be called bountiful. A willing mind in matter of bounty, is more accepted than the thing, 2 Cor. viii. 12. Now of God
it is said, Dan. iv. 32, that he gives the kingdoms of the world to whom he
will, and none sways him, or can stay his hand, ver. 35, yea, he gives all away with delight. So Ps. civ. 31, having spoken of feeding every living
thing, and of other the like works of his goodness throughout that Psalm, he concludes with this, God rejoiceth in all his works ;
r that is, doth al
the good he doth to his creatures with delight. It doth him good (as ii
were) to see the poor creatures feed.
[5.] Last of all, looking for no recompence for the time to come. This
is another requisite in bounty. Says Christ, Luke vi. 34, If you give receive again, as sinners do, this is not thankworthy ; but ver. 25, so doth not your heavenly Father. For, says he, Do good, and hope for nothing
again ; so shall you be like your Father, and then you shall shew yourselves true children of the Most High. In which word he insinuates a reason why God gives all thus ; because he is so great and so high a God, as nothing we do can reach him, as David speaks, Ps. xvi. 2, My goodness extends
not unto thee ; he is too high to receive any benefit by what we do. And even that thankfulness he exacts, he requires it but as an acknowledgment of our duty, and for our good, Deut. x. 12.
(2.) And so much for the first, namely, what goodness and bounty is ; and how God is truly good, and he only so. But this attribute of his, and
the effects of it, he exerciseth towards all our fellowcreatures, and did to Adam in paradise. But now to us ward (as the apostle speaks), namely, the
sons of men, now fallen, he extendeth and manifests a further riches, namely, of patience and long-suffering, which the devils partake not of, the good
angels and other creatures that sinned not, are incapable of. For as Christ
says, Luke vi. 35, in what he bestows on us, he is kind to such as are
evil and unthankful. Mercy is more than goodness, for mercy always doth
AGAINST MEECY. 191
respect misery ; and because all the creatures are subject to a misery, Rom.
* bondage and vanity, therefore
* his tender mercies are
viii. 20-22, of
over all his works. But yet patience is a further thing than mercy (as mercy is than goodness), being exercised, not towards miserable creatures
only, but towards sinners, and includes in it more three things further
towards them.
[1.] Not only that those persons he doth good unto do offend and injure him, but that himself also is exceeding sensible of all those wrongs, and moved by them, and also provoked to wrath thereby ; it is not patience else. So in 2 Peter iii. 9, it is not slackness, says he there, God is not slack, that is, he sits not in heaven as one of the idol gods, that regarded not what acts were kept here below, or took not to heart men s carriages towards him ; but is longsuffering, or patient, that is, he apprehends himself wronged, is fully sensible of it, is angry with the wicked every
day, Ps. vii. 11, he hath much ado to forbear ; even when he doth forbear and letteth them alone, he exerciseth an attribute, a virtue towards them,
namely, patience, in keeping in of his anger, which is as to keep fire in one s bosom.
[2.] But, secondly, this is not all. He doth not simply forbear and re
strain his anger, but vouchsafeth that time he forbears them in, that they might repent in it, and his mercies as means leading to repentance. So it
follows in that, 2 Pet. iii. 9, ( But God is longsuffering to us-ward, and
his longsuffering hath this in it, not willing that any should perish, but come unto repentance. So also Rev. ii. 21, it is called space to .repent. And all the blessings he vouchsafeth, he gives them as means and guides to
* lead them to repentance, as here. And Mat. xviii. 29, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all ; that is, give me a longer day and space to pay the debt in, and be willing to accept it when I bring it, and let me
lie out of prison that I may be enabled to pay it.
[3.] Thirdly, There is yet further thing in his patience, namely, a waiting and expectation that men would come in and repent. So Luke xiii. 7, These three years have I come seeking fruit, but have found none. There was an expectation, a longing, a desire it would bring forth fruit.
* Oh, when shall it once be ? says God, Jer. xiii. 27.
(3.) In the last place, that other attribute of longsuffering, which is the
third, is but as a further degree of patience, but patience lengthened out
farther ; that is, when God hath been thus patient, hath forborne and waited for their coming in, and that not for three years, but haply thirty,
forty years, and still they turn not, his patience then begins, as we would
think, to be as it were worn out, and his anger begins to arise, as if he could forbear no longer, as it was towards that tree,
* Why cumbereth it the
ground ? cut it down ; yet he goes on to spare a man another year, and many more years still after that, and endureth with much longsuffering (as Rom. ix. 22) the vessels of wrath, endures to wonderment, above mea
sure, beyond all expectation, all patience, as it were ; this is longsuffering. 2. The second general head is, that there are riches of this his goodness, &c., expended on us.
It is rich goodness, patience, and longsuffering
: (1.) rich in themselves, in regard of their abundance, as they came from him ; and (2.) rich also in
regard of their precious usefulness unto us, as they may be improved by us.
(1.) First, In themselves they are rich. [1.] If we consider what is ex
pended all that while he la;^ out, not simply his power to sustain and uphold
all things and to maintain us freely, so to do is nothing to him. For whilst
192i AGGRAVATIONS OF SINNING
he doth but so, nothing goes out of purse, or is detracted from him ; as I may so speak, he feels not the expense either of power, providence, &c.
All this cost him but words. For he upholds all, creates all by the word of his power , Heb. i. 3. And thus to maintain the angels, and to have maintained all mankind before they fell, had been no more. But, my brethren, when now he maintains us sinners, not simply power goes forth from him, but his glory is expended and taken from him, and for the while
wasted, detracted from. He loseth at present every day infinitely by us, and he is sensible of it ; every sin takes glory from him, robs him, as he himself complains
: that he who made the world upholds it, keeps it to
gether as the hoops do the barrel it would fall to pieces else, to nothing in whom all live, as fishes in the sea, yea, upon whom all live ; that he should live unknown, unthought of, unserved, yea, disgraced, dishonoured
in the world, and have this world lost to him as it were, and sin, the devil, wicked men, to have all the glory from him, to be exalted, to carry the whole world afore them : this spends upon him, he had need of riches to do tin s.
[2.] Secondly, Consider the multitude of sinners that thus spend and live upon these riches, no less than all the world. He had need of multitudes of
patience in him ; he forbears not one, but all and every one. We look upon one man, and seeing him very wicked, we wonder God cuts him not