A64834:354
Sin, the Plague of Plagues
Sin, the plague of plagues, or, Sinful sin the worst of evils a treatise of sins trial and arraignment, wherein sin is accused for being, proved to be, and condemned for being exceeding sinful : and that 1. as against God, his nature, attributes, works, will, law, image, people, glory and existence, 2. as against man, his good and welfare of body and soul, in this life, and that to come : with the use and improvement to be made of this doctrine, that men may not be damned, but saved, &c. : being the substance of many sermons preached many years ago in Southwark / by Ralph Venning ...Sin, the plague of plagues, or, Sinful sin the worst of evils a treatise of sins tryal and arraignment, wherein sin is accused for being, proved to be, and condemned for being exceeding sinful : and that 1. as against God, his nature, attributes, works, will, law, image, people, glory and existence, 2. as against man, his good and welfare of body and soul, in this life, and that to come : with the use and improvement to be made of this doctrine, that men may not be damned, but saved, &c. : being the substance of many sermons preached many years ago in Southwark / by Ralph Venning ...
London: printed for John Hancock, 1669
Title page typeset from the transcription.
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.
4 The creatures teach us to be fruitful under means, to answer the cost and charges that God bestows on us: The earth, which drinketh in the rain which cometh oft upon it, bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, Hebr. 6.7. with Is. 53.10. The Ox knows his owner, and the Ass his Masters crib, Is. 1. The Flock feeds the shepherd, &c. 1 Cor. 9.7. If thou be barren and unfruitful, thy gardens and thy fields; if thou be disobedient, thine Ox and thine Ass will upbraid thee, and God himself appeals to heaven and earth against thee, Deut. 32.1. Is. 1.2.
4 The creatures teach us to be fruitful under means, to answer the cost and charges that God bestows on us: The earth, which drinketh in the rain which cometh oft upon it, bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is drest, Hebr. 6.7. with Is. 53.10. The Oxe knows his owner, and the Ass his Masters crib, Is. 1. The Flock feeds the shepherd, &c. 1 Cor. 9.7. If thou be barren and unfruitful, thy gardens and thy fields; if thou be disobedient, thine Oxe and thine Ass will upbraid thee, and God himself appeals to heaven and earth against thee, Deut. 32.1. Is. 1.2.
2 The creatures, as they teach many duties, so they convince of many sins; they are in both respects Schoolmasters to man: The use we have of the creature now bears witness against sin; our eating flesh doth, there was no such grant in the first blessing, since sin our appetites more canine; our clothes witness against sin, and (in the Hebrew) the same word signifies treachery or prevarication, and a garment; the clothes that cover our nakedness tell us, that sin despoiled us of better robes, viz. our Innocency, the dust tells us we must to dust, having sinned; as the use, so the vanity and disappointments, and thence vexations we meet with, in and from the creatures, do all witness against sin. Particularly,