A64834:508
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. 1I shall evince that there is not, nor can be any profit to man by sin: can that be profitable that wrongs his soul? Alas, what doth it profit a man to gain the world and lose his soul? Sin costs dear, but profits nothing; they make an ill purchase that buy their damnation: What got Cain by killing Christ in his type Abel, or Judas by selling his person? surely he bought damnation dear, though he sold his Saviour cheap: Take your money, saith he, I have sinned; that I have sinned, made him weary of his gain and life; he got Hell, or (as the saying is) Devil and all. What profit have any by that whereof they are ashamed, Rom. 6.21. All the works of darkness are unfruitful (as to any good) Eph. 5.11. but good works are profitable, Titus 3.8. Sin is a very chargeable thing, it cannot be maintained without great cost. Men might build Hospitals at cheaper rates, then they can maintain their lusts: some mens sins cost ⟨p. 245⟩them more in a day, then their families do in a week, perhaps in a year. Some starve their families to feed their lusts, which have turned many an house out of door, and brought great Estates to a morsel of bread, beside what comes hereafter. Lusts consume health and wealth, Prov. 5. Gluttony, Drunkenness, Uncleanness are costly and chargeable sins.
1. 1I shall evince that there is not, nor can be any profit to man by sin: can that be profitable that wrongs his soul? Alas, what doth it profit a man to gain the world and lose his soul? Sin costs dear, but profits nothing; they make an ill purchase that buy their damnation: What got Cain by killing Christ in his type Abel, or Judas by selling his person? surely he bought damnation dear, though he sold his Saviour cheap: Take your money, saith he, I have sinned; that I have sinned, made him weary of his gain and life; he got Hell, or (as the saying is) Devil and all. What profit have any by that whereof they are ashamed,