A discourse concerning earthquakes. Occasioned by the earthquakes which were in New-England, in the…

4. Sin is worse than the Devil. This Evil thing is worse than the Evil One. For it is Sin that has made the Devil to be so Evil as he is. He was once among the Morning Stars, the Sons of God shouting for joy: But Sin has made him that was once a glorious Angel, to become the most accursed Creature in the whole Universe. Sin has done more mischief than ever the Devil did. It has been by the hand of Sin that he has done all the mischief that ever he did to any. Sin has ruined the World. Sin has brought a Curse on this Visible Creation under which it has been sighing and groaning for almost these six thousand years. And sin has turned millions of glorious Angels into damned Devils; it is then more Evil than the Devil himself. A man had better have his Body possessed with a Legion of Devils, than that his Soul should be under the dominion of one sin.

We proceed to the Second Enquiry, viz. What Sin is it that is so Great an Evil?

For Answer. In the First place let me say, That Original Sin is the Greatest Sin. Sin is the Greatest Evil, and Original Sin is the worst of Sins. This is often in the Scripture by way of Emphasis, called Sin. It is the most Sinful Sin. It is impossible to call it by a worse Name than it self. Therefore the Apostle speaks, as in Rom. 7. 13. That Sin might appear Sin, working Death in me by that which is Good, that Sin by the Commandment might become exceeding Sinful. If men see another fall into some grievous Actual Sin, they esteem him a very Guilty person, and so he is. But their own Original Sin makes them more Guilty before God, than any Actual Sin. For there is in this Sin the most prodigious and astonishing Enmity against the Blessed God. It is an universal Contrariety to the Will of God in every thing. This Sin is always opposing what God would have to be done. The Flesh is Lusting against the Spirit, and those two are