An exposition with practical observations continued upon the thirty-fifth, thirty-sixth, and thirty-seventh chapters of…

First, There is an exceedingness of sin, in the strength that it hath over us, when it doth easily command and prevail, then we sin exceedingly, o• then sin is exceeding sinful, it hath got a mighty hand over us. O how sadly do the sins of many exceed thus! they are held down by their corruptions as slaves and captives, they cannot get themselves out from under the power of a base ⟨p. 229⟩lust. As the devil leads some, so lusts and corruptions lead others captive at their will, they are at the beck and command of sin. Thus sin exceeds in the wicked, who either know not God, or who walk daily contrary to their knowledge.

First, There is an exceedingness of sin, in the streng•h that it hath over us, when it doth easily command and prevaile, then we sin exceedingly, o• then sin is exceeding sinfull, it hath got a mighty hand over us. O how sadly do the sins of many exceed thus! they are held down by their corruptions as slaves and captives, they cannot get themselves out from under the power of a base ⟨p. 229⟩lust. As the devil leads some, so lusts and corruptions lead others captive at their will, they are at the beck and command of sin. Thus sin exceeds in the wicked, who either know not God, or who walk daily contrary to their knowledge.

Secondly, That man doth exceed in his transgression, or his transgression doth exceed, who sins with, or hath a very ill frame of heart in sinning. Many a good man falls into sin, and yet he hath not, as I may say, a base or wicked frame of heart in sinning, but his very sinning is, upon the matter, against his own heart, and the bent of his spirit, his heart goeth not with it. The more of the heart or will is mingled with any sin, the more exceeding sinful it is. I may say of some men (I would not be mistaken) That they do evil with a better frame of heart, than others do good; there are some that do good with very bad, yea with base hearts; The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination; how much more when he brings it with a wicked mind, or (as we put in the Margin) with wickedness, (