N00729:31
Pillars of salt. An history of some criminals executed in this land, for capital…
Pillars of salt. An history of some criminals executed in this land, for capital crimes. : With some of their dying speeches; collected and published, for the warning of such as live in destructive courses of ungodliness. : Whereto is added, for the better improvement of this history, a brief discourse about the dreadful justice of God, in punishing of sin, with sin. : [Two lines from Deuteronomy]
printed by B. Green for Samuel Phillips, 1699
REFLECTIONS on the Dreadful CASE of Sin Punished With Sin. › Case 1 › Conclusion 3: Conclusion III.
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.
Conclusion III.
As well Scripture as Reason tells us, That Sins may truly be accounted Punishments; and that it is among the worst of Punishments, to be given up unto a Reprobate mind. As there is a Moral Evil in every Sin, so Sin may be reckoned a Penal Evil too. There is no Sin, but what is a Misery as well as a Sin. A man, by Running into Sin, does run into Darkness: The Sinner does, according to 1 Joh 1 6 Walk in Darkness: And is it not a miserable thing to Walk in Darkness from day to day? A plagued Egypt scarce knew a thing more miserable. By every Sin, a man is Degraded, and Debased and Disgraced, and made a miserable Wretch. Hence we are told, in Rom. 3 23. All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. Alas, By Sinning, we very sadly Loose our glory. Sin is in the very Nature of it, a Departure from God: and therefore it is a Departure from the Chief Good, and from that Felicity, and Fruition which is most of all to be desired. In every Sin, a man does that astonishing Thing, in Jer. 2.12. To Forsake the Fountain of Living Waters, and h•w out cisterns ⟨p. 11⟩that can hold no water. Now, Sy•s, Think, and judge, and say, Whether an Immortal Soul, can bring upon it self a greater misery. Yea, and the more of Sin any man doth commit, the more of misery does belong unto that man; and the more of Wrath will God at the last proportion out unto him. The Sinner is, as the Bible speaks, Heaping up Wrath; and by every New Sin, he adds unto that Heap, which being Fired by the Breath of God, shall scorch and scald upon him, throughout Eternal Ages. The Wages of Sin is Death; and the more Sin that any man hath done, the more of Wages, and of Burnings, and of Torments, will belong unto that man for ever. There are also Degrees of Sin; the Book of Truth informs us, that there are some Greater Abominations; and some Sins have more of misery in them, than others have. Some Sins bring more of Blemish on the Names of men, and more of Blindness, and Bondage, and Horror on their Minds. There are Miscarriages, that bring more of Confusion with them, and that more confound men in all their Interests. It may be, they are miscarriages, that render men presently and grievously obnoxious to the Resentments of the Societies which they belong unto, and that bring Censures and Ruins upon the obnoxious.