N00731:18
The folly of sinning, opened & applied, in two sermons, occasioned by the condemnation…The folly of sinning, opened & applyed, in two sermons, occasioned by the condemnation…
The folly of sinning, opened & applied, in two sermons, occasioned by the condemnation of one that was executed at Boston in New-England, on November 17th. 1698. / By Increase Mather, president of Harvard College, in Cambridge, and preacher of the Gospel at Boston in N.E. ; [Two lines from Romans]The folly of sinning, opened & applyed, in two sermons, occasioned by the condemnation of one that was executed at Boston in New-England, on November 17th. 1698. / By Increase Mather, praesident of Harvard Colledge, in Cambridge, and preacher of the Gospel at Boston in N.E. ; [Two lines from Romans]
Boston: printed by B Green for Michael Perry over against the Town House, 1699
THE FOLLY OF Sinning. › Sermon 1 › Proposition 1: PROPOSITION I.
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.
But a man may not say, I thank God I was left, to commit such a sin. The Lord has promised that He will in faithfulness afflict his Children; He will hedge up their way with Thorns, to prevent them from sinning. In the Covenant of Grace there is a promise of Physic as well as […] Food: Afflictions are Physic for the Soul; but the Lord has not promised that He will leave his Servants to fall into great sins, although He has promised that if they do so, He will recover them out of their […]. Outward Afflictions will not cause God to depart. When Joseph was Sold into Egypt, God was with him. Act. 7.9. His Serv•••s […] experience more of his presence with ⟨p. 10⟩them, then when under sore Afflictions and Temptations. When they walk through the midst of the Valley of the shadow of death He is with them. Psal. 23.4. But Sin will cause God to depart. A Prophet said, The Lord is with you, whilst you are with him, but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you. 2 Chron. 15.2. When Israel Sinned, the Lord withdrew from them, and told them that if they did not put away the accursed thing, He would be with them no more. Josh. 7.12. Sampson found this to be true by woeful experience, although He was not at first sensible of it. Judg. 16.20. He wist not that the Lord was departed from him. It was because he had Sinned, that the Lord departed from him. When the case is so with a man, that he must either suffer or sin, if he is wise, he will choose to suffer any thing rather then sin. Moses did like a Wise man, when he chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, then to enjoy the pleasures of Sin. Heb. 11.25. For the greatest Affliction has not so much evil in it as the least Sin. Death is a more formidable evil than Affliction: But Sin is far more evil then Death it self. Solomon found it to be more bitter than […] ⟨p. 11⟩