A64834:531
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. §41Sin being so sinful, infectious, and pernicious, it can never be well with a man (how well soever he be) while he is in his sins. Was it well with Dives, though he fared deliciously every day? no, it was better with Lazarus that lay at his gate full of sores; for that's wel• ⟨p. 259⟩that ends well, which it never doth with sinners: if judgment be not executed speedily, 'twill surely, for they are condemned already, being sons of death and perdition. No man hath cause to envy the prosperity of sinners, 'tis not good enough to be envied; but 'tis bad enough to be pitied; they are but fatted, and thereby fitted to destruction, Prov. 1.32. the prosperity of fools shall destroy them; their folly alone doth it, but their prosperity doth double it, and do it with a vengeance; the prosperous sinner is in the worst case of all sinners, they are set in slippery places, and shall be cast down from their height, to the depth of destruction, Psal. 73.18.
- 1It cannot be well with men in their sin.
5. Sin being so sinful, §51it greatly concerns persons, and hugely obligeth them to be religious betimes, that they may prevent a great deal of sin, which without being early religious (and strictly so) they cannot possibly do: how precious and dear should that be to us, which prevents the being of what is so pernicious and destructive? how industriously careful should we be to keep our selves from that, which will keep us from happiness? and how ambitious to enjoy that, which capacitates us for the enjoying of God for ever, and gives us the first-fruits of it here? We cannot be too soon nor too much religious, but the sooner (and more) the better. If ever you mean to be religious, there is no time more proper then now, the present now, no day to to day: