Three treatises of the vanity of the creature. The sinfulness of sin. The life…Three treatises of the vanity of the creature. The sinfulnesse of sinne. The life…

Fourthly, it is a mortal & a poisonous pollution, the pollution of deadly sores, & putrefactions. I said unto thee in ¹thy blood live, yea I said unto thee in thy blood live. It notes that that estate wherein they were in their sins, was so deadly, that the cure of them was very difficult, it required the repetition of Gods power and mercy. If a child new borne should lie exposed in its blood to the injury of a cold air, not have the Navel cut, nor the body wrapped, or washed, or tended at all, how quickly would it be that from the womb of the mother it would drop into the womb of the Earth? The state of sin is an estate of nakedness, blood, impotency, obnoxiousness to all the temptations and snares of Satan, to all the darts of death and hell. The ancients compare it to falling into a pit full of dirt and stones, a man is not only polluted, but he is bruised and wounded by it. To conclude, ⟨p. 333⟩there is no deformity nor filthiness extant which did not rise from sin. It is sin which puts bondage into the Creature, which brings discords and deformities upon the face of Nature. It is sin which put devilishness into Angels of Heaven, and hurried them down from their first habitation. It is sin which put a sting into death, without which though it kill yet it cannot curse. It is sin which puts fire into Hell, and supplies unto all eternity the fuel & materials for those unextinguishable flames. It is sin which puts hell into the Conscience and arms a man with terrors and amazements against himself. It is sin which puts rottenness and dishonour into the grave; he that died without sin rose up without corruption. It is sin which wrings out those clamours and groans of brute creatures, which wrestle under the curse of Adams fall. It is sin which enrageth and maddeth one beast against another, and one man against another, & one nation against another. It is sin which brought shame and dishonour upon that nakedness unto which all the Creatures in Paradise did owe awe and reverence. It is sin which turned Sodom into a stinking lake, and Jerusalem the glory of the Earth, into a desolation and haunt for Owls and Bitterns. It is sin which so often staineth Heaven and Earth with the marks of Gods vengeance, and which will one day roll up in darkness, and devout with fire, and reduce to its primitive confusion the whole frame of nature.

Fourthly, it is a mortall & apoysonous pollution, the pollution of deadly sores, & putrifactions. I said unto thee in