A30575:1213
An exposition with practical observations continued upon the eleventh, twelfth, & thirteenth chapters of…
An exposition with practical observations continued upon the eleventh, twelfth, & thirteenth chapters of the prophesy of Hosea being first delivered in several lectures at Michaels Cornhill, London / by Jeremiah Burroughs ; being the seventh book published by Thomas Goodwin ... [et al.]An exposition with practical observations continued upon the eleventh, twelfth, & thirteenth chapters of the prophesy of Hosea being first delivered in several lectures at Michaels Cornhil, London / by Jeremiah Burroughs ; being the seventh book published by Thomas Goodwin ... [et al.]
London: printed by Peter Cole, 1651
Title page typeset from the transcription.
AN EXPOSITION Of the PROPHESY of HOSEA. › Chapter 13 › Verse 2: VER. 2.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Secondly, Every act of sin hath such a nature in it, as to increase the habits: Corruption doth grow by acting. As 1it is with Grace, every act of Grace doth extend Grace in the heart of a man; the way to grow in Grace is, to act ⟨p. 433⟩Grace much, so that when you are acting of your Grace, you do not only that that is your duty, but you are growing in Grace, for when you are acting of Corruption, you are not only doing that that is evil, but you are increasing it, and therefore every sin that causes us to decline from God, makes us to go more and more from God.
Secondly, Every act of sin hath such a nature in it, as to encrease the habits: Corruption doth grow by acting. As 1it is with Grace, every act of Grace doth extend Grace in the heart of a man; the way to grow in Grace is, to act ⟨p. 433⟩Grace much, so that when you are acting of your Grace, you do not only that that is your duty, but you are growing in Grace, for when you are acting of Corruption, you are not only doing that that is evil, but you are encreasing it, and therefore every sin that causes us to decline from God, makes us to go more and more from God.
- 12.
Thirdly, Every sin that is against Conscience, it weakens 1the work of Conscience; the Authority of Conscience will quickly be weakened when it is once broken; break but off the yoke of Conscience, and Conscience will be weaker than it was before: At the first time when a man sins against Conscience, his Conscience hath a great deal of strength in it, and mightily troubles him at the very first, but having had a flaw (as it were) it grows weaker. I remember a notable story which that reverend and famous Divine, Doctor Preston hath, of one in Cambridge that had committed a great sin, and he had this temptation