A64834:436
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 Arts or Artifices that sin useth to disguise it self: if sin were not an ugly thing, would it wear a visor? or if it had not evil designs, would it walk disguised and change its name? truth is not ashamed of its name or nakedness, it can walk openly and boldly; but sin is a cheat, a lye, and therefore lurks privily, and puts on false names and colours; for if it should appear like it self (as it sooner or later will to all, for conversion or confusion) it would fright men into dying fits, as it did the Apostle, and when they come to themselves, engage men to abhor and hate it, as he and the Prodigal did. Men would never be so hardy as they are to sin, but that sin hardens them, and hardens them by deceiving them, as the Apostle speaks, Heb. 3.13. take heed lest any be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin: Sin useth all manner of Arts, Methods, and Devices (as Satan doth) to draw us in, to inveigle us; it puts many tricks upon us, and hath all the faculties and knacks of deceiving and cheating us. I may truly say, that sin hath not learnt, but taught all the deceits, the dissimulations, flatteries, and false policies ⟨p. 205⟩that are found in Courts; the Stratagems of War, the Sophisms and fallacies of the Schools, the Frauds of Tradesmen, whether in City or Country, the Tricks of Cheaters and Jugglers, the Ambuscadoes of Thieves, the Pretensions of false Friends, the several Methods of false Teachers, and whatever else there is of Cozenage in the World, and practiseth them all upon us to make us sin.
2. The Arts or Artifices that sin useth to disguise it self: if sin were not an ugly thing, would it wear a vizard? or if it had not evil designs, would it walk disguised and change its name? truth is not ashamed of its name or nakedness, it can walk openly and boldly; but sin is a cheat, a lye, and therefore lurks privily, and puts on false names and colours; for if it should appear like it self (as it sooner or later will to all, for conversion or confusion) it would fright men into dying fits, as it did the Apostle, and when they come to themselves, ingage men to abhor and hate it, as he and the Prodigal did. Men would never be so hardy as they are to sin, but that sin hardens them, and hardens them by deceiving them, as the Apostle speaks,