A64834:355
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.
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,
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 cloaths witness against sin, and (in the Hebrew) the same word signifies treachery or prevarication, and a garment; the cloaths that cover our nakedness tell us, that sin dispoiled 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,
1 The Creation witnesseth against Atheism, Rom. 1.20. He that hath said in his heart ⟨p. 162⟩there is no God, is called fool by every creature; quaelibet herba Deum. The very notion of a creature supposeth a God, and we may more reasonably conclude, that there is nothing then that there is no God; their being made, argues a first cause, and who is that but God? 'Tis so clear, saith the Apostle, from the Creation, viz. the Eternal Godhead, that they are left without excuse,