A Divine Cordial

9. The sins of others work for good, as they give an occasion to us of doing good: Were there no sinners, we could not be in such a capacity for service. The Godly are often a means to convert the wicked: their prudent advise, and pious example, is a lure and bait to draw sinners to the embracing of the Gospel. The disease of the Patient works for the good of the Physician; by emptying the Patient of noxious peccant humours, the Physician enricheth himself: So by converting sinners from the error of their way, our Crown comes to be enlarged, Dan. 12.3. They that turn many to righteousness, shall shine as the Stars for ever and ever: Not as Lamps or Tapers, but sicut Stelia, as the Stars for ever. Thus we see the sins of others work for our good.

9. The sins of others work for good, as they give an occasion to us of doing good: Were there no sinners, we could not be in such a capacity for service. The Godly are often a means to convert the wicked: their prudent advise, and pious example, is a lure and bait to draw sinners to the embracing of the Gospel. The disease of the Patient works for the good of the Physician; by emptying the Patient of noxious peccant humours, the Physitian enricheth himself: So by converting sinners from the errour of their way, our Crown comes to be enlarged, Dan. 12.3. They that turn many to righteousness, shall shine as the Stars for ever and ever: Not as Lamps or Tapers, but sicut Stelia, as the Stars for ever. Thus we see the sins of others work for our good.

2. Our own sins shall work for good: This must be understood warily, when I say the sins of the go•ly work for good, not that there is the least good in sin. Sin is like poison, which corrupts the blood, infects the heart, and without a Sovereign Antidote brings death: Such is the venomous na•u•e of sn 'tis deadly and damning