N01064:71
A discourse concerning earthquakes. Occasioned by the earthquakes which were in New-England, in the…
A discourse concerning earthquakes. Occasioned by the earthquakes which were in New-England, in the province of Massachusetts-Bay, June 16. and in Connecticut-Colony [sic], June 22. 1705. : Also, two sermons, showing, that sin is the greatest evil; and, that to redeem time is the greatest wisdom. / By Increase Mather.A discourse concerning earthquakes. Occasioned by the earthquakes which were in New-England, in the province of Massachusetts-Bay, June 16. and in Conecticot-Colony [sic], June 22. 1705. : Also, two sermons, shewing, that sin is the greatest evil; and, that to redeem time is the greatest wisdom. / By Increase Mather.
Boston: printed by Timothy Green for Benjamin Eliot, 1706
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.
II. Sin is Exceeding Hurtful to the precious and immortal Souls of Men. Other Evils may hurt us as to our Estates, or Names, or Bodies, but not as to our Souls without Sin. A Philosopher could say, that his Enemies could only destroy the Case, but not the Jewel which was is it; meaning that they could only hurt his Body, which is like the Case, in which the Precious Jewel, viz. the Soul is contained. A great Truth this is. Our Lord himself has declared no lets, Mat. 10. 28. Fear not them which kill the Body, but are not able to kill the Soul. Then that which hurts the Soul is a greater Evil than that which hurts the Body. Who can declare the worth of a Soul? What shall a man give in Exchange for that Soul which is more worth than all the World, That then which is injurious to a Soul, that is more worth than all the World, how Exceeding Evil is it? But this is true of Sin; Prov. 8. 36. He that Sins against me wrongs his own Soul. Sin Robs the Soul of that which is its chief Glory, viz. the Image of God; Rom. 3. 23. All ⟨p. 48⟩have Sinned, and come short of the Glory of God. Man in his first Estate had all the Perfections united in him, which are to be found in other-Creatures; but the chiefest of all was that of Holiness, without which (as one says truly,) the Angels in Heaven would be Damned Devils and the Saints in Glory Damned Ghosts. But this Sin has utterly Deprived men of Look all the world over, you will not find one Unregenerate man that has the least spark of Grace, or Holiness in his heart, Rom. 3. 10. There is none Righteous, no not me Sin deba•eth the Soul: it causeth it to become a slave to the vilest Master that can be; Tit. 3. 3. Serving diverse Lusts. A more ignoble Servitude there cannot possibly be. Sin makes the Rational Soul to become a slave to the Sensual Soul in men. The rich Fool in the Gospel, said to his Soul, Soul, take thing Ease, Eat and Drink. One of the Ancients observes, that if he had the soul of a Swine in him, he could not have spoken more Brutishly. Sin turns Men into Beasts. It makes those that in their first Creation were a little lower than the Angels, to become like the Beasts that perish. Hazael said to the Prophet,