N01064:72
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.
And yet afterwards he proved himself to be as savage a Beast, as the Prophet told him he would be. The Scripture would not call wicked Men Dogs and Swine, if sin had not debased their very souls, and made them vile. Nay, that which is worse must be said, Sin has turned the Soul into a Devil. Christ says of Judas, He is a Devil, Joh. 6. 70. Because he had a false Heart in him, and was such another Hypocrite as the Devil. In the Scripture, Sinners are called the Devils Children, because their Souls resemble him. The poison of Sin which the Devil has infused into them, makes them like him. If a man is bitten with a Serpent, he will presently be like that Serpent; his Body will be of the colour of the Serpent that has bitten him. Thus the Old Serpent having poisoned the Souls of men, they are in quality very like unto him. The Devil is the vilest and most accursed Creature in the whole world. What an Evil is Sin then, which has made the Souls of men so like unto him? Moreover, Sin ⟨p. 50⟩wounds the Soul. It makes the Soul sick, and to need healing. Hence is that Prayer, Psal. 41 4. Heal my Soul, for I have Sinned. So then sin is the Souls sickness. Bless the Lord, O my Soul, (faith David) who heals all thy Diseases. Every sinful Lust is a Disease of the Soul. Sin is the Souls mortal Enemy; and therefore is said to War against it; 1 Pet. 2. 11. Abstain from Fleshly Lusts which War against the Soul. It strikes and wounds the precious Soul. It makes a sad wound in the Conscience. What is Conscience, but the Soul reflecting on it self? It leaveth a sting behind it: So that in Laughter the Heart is Sorrowful, the end of that Mirth is Heaviness, Prov. 14. •3. Sinners in the midst of their mirth, have inward wounds and bleeding of Conscience; and afterwards they are in heaviness. When their pleasure is over their pain begins. Indeed, this wound is not always felt when it is first made, but it is not less dangerous to the Soul for that. But in the latter end, sin will be sharper than a two edged Sword.