A77976:231
The Evil of Evils
The eighth book of Mr Jeremiah Burroughs. Being a treatise of the evil of evils, or the exceeding sinfulness of sin. Wherein is showed, 1 There is more evil in the least sin, than there is in the greatest affliction. 2 Sin is most opposite to God. 3 Sin is most opposite to mans good. 4 Sin is opposite to all good in general. 5 Sin is the poison, or evil of all other evils. 6 Sin hath a kind of infiniteness in it. 7 Sin makes a man conformable to the Devil. All these several heads are branched out into very many particulars. / Published by Thomas Goodwin, William Bridge, Sydrach Simpson, William Adderly, [double brace] William Greenhil, Philip Nigh, John Yates.The eighth book of Mr Jeremiah Burroughs. Being a treatise of the evil of evils, or the exceeding sinfulness of sin. Wherein is shewed, 1 There is more evil in the least sin, than there is in the greatest affliction. 2 Sin is most opposite to God. 3 Sin is most opposite to mans good. 4 Sin is opposite to all good in general. 5 Sin is the poyson, or evil of all other evils. 6 Sin hath a kind of infiniteness in it. 7 Sin makes a man conformable to the Devil. All these several heads are branched out into very many particulars. / Published by Thomas Goodwyn, William Bridge, Sydrach Sympson, William Adderly, [double brace] William Greenhil, Philip Nye, John Yates.
London: printed by Peter Cole, 1654
Title page typeset from the transcription.
THE EVIL of EVILS: OR, The Exceeding Sinfulness OF SIN. › Chapter 19
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 God in his infinite Glory, and what an infinite blessed Being God is, and how worthy of all the honour the Creature can give: set this before your Eyes in a fixed and settled way.
1 God in his infinite Glorie, and what an infinite blessed Being God is, and how worthy of all the honor the Creature can give: set this before your Eyes in a fixed and setled way.
2 Look upon God, in all the relations God hath to you, as your Creator from whom you had your being; as he that preserves your being every moment; look upon him as your Lord, infinitely above you, at whose mercy you wholly lie: Thus view God, and see him in his glory, and the relations he hath to you; and thus by beholding God in such a manner is an especial way to work strongly upon the heart. For hereby I come to see, as it were, the present evil of Sin; the other is but only a sight of the evil of Sin to come; as when a man or woman looks upon Sin as bringing Hell, that is but only to look upon that evil of Sin that is to come hereafter. But we know that present things do most affect; as now any good thing, if it be to come, it doth not take the heart so much as a present good. As when the soul makes the good of the Promises to be present, then they affect the soul; but if the soul look upon them as to come, they do not so much affect: So if the evil of Sin be looked upon as bringing Hell ⟨p. 98⟩and misery, this is looked upon as to come hereafter, so that it may be avoided; but if I look upon Sin as against God, then I look upon Sin as a present evil upon me, that flows from the very nature of sin, and cannot be avoided, and this evil is even now upon me, and doth as immediately flow from the Nature of Sin, as light doth from the Sun it self: And now looking thus upon Sin, is a mighty means to break the heart.
2 Look upon God, in all the relations God hath to you, as your Creator from whom you had your being; as he that preserves your being everie moment; look upon him as your Lord, infinitlie above you, at whose mercie you wholly lie: Thus view God, and see him in his glorie, and the relations he hath to you; and thus by beholding God in such a manner is an especial way to work stronglie upon the heart. For hereby I come to see, as it were, the present evil of Sin; the other is but onlie a sight of the evil of Sin to come; as when a man or woman looks upon Sin as bringing Hell, that is but onlie to look upon that evil of Sin that is to come hereafter. But we know that present things do most affect; as now any good thing, if it be to come, it doth not take the heart so much as a present good. As when the soul makes the good of the Promises to be present, then they affect the soul; but if the soul look upon them as to come, they do not so much affect: So if the evil of Sin be look't upon as bringing Hell