A64834:506
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.
1. §11Then I infer, that they are miserably mistaken that seek for any good in Sin; as sin is, so its effects are, all evil to man: there are (woe unto them) that call evil good, or as 'tis in the Margin, Isa. 5.20. that say concerning evil, it i• good; they think (and stick not to say as they ⟨p. 243⟩think) that evil is good, and place their chief happiness in the chiefest evil, i. e. in sin, and (as 'tis said of Doeg, and such as he, Psal. 52.3.) they love evil more then good. Alas, how many do not only undo themselves, but take pains and pleasure to do and in doing of it; yea, that think it strange, that others are not so mad as they, and run not with them to the same excess of riot, 1 Pet 4.4. all which proceeds from this mistake, that evil is good, viz. to them, as bringing profit, honour, or pleasure to them, which is called the Lust of the Eye, flesh, and pride of life, 1 Joh. 2 16. from whence came the first sin, Gen 3.6. but, alas, (as the event proved then, 'twill always) they gather no grapes from thorns, nor figs from thistles, they seek the living among the dead, and may as well find case in and from Hell, as good in or from sin: the morsels of sin are deceitful, though called Dainties; sin is a mere cheat, with (not so much fair as) false shows it deceives the heart of the simple: the stolen waters of sin (how sweet soever they seem to be in the mouth and to the taste) will be gall and wormwood in the belly; bitterness in the latter end. All the corruption that is in the world, came in by lust, 2 Pet. 1 4 and all lust is deceitful, Eph. 4.22. and thus the woman was first deceived, and by her the man, 1 Tim. 2 14 and instead of being as God, which they thought was promised, they became as the Devil, which was the thing intended and designed by him; and sin first deceived, and then slew St. Paul, as he speaks,