gress,' signifies to go beyond one's bounds ; the moral law is to keep us within the bounds of our duty, — sin is a going beyond our bounds.
2. The law of God ; it is not the law of an inferior prince that is broken, but of Jehovah, who gives laws as well to angels
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as men • it is a law that is just, and holy, and goof], Rom. vii. 12. It is just, there is nothing in it unequal ; holy, nothing in it impure ; good, nothing in it prejudical. So that tliere is no reason to break this law, no more than for a beast that is in a fat pas- ture, to break over tlie hedge, to leap into a barren heath or quagmire.
I shall shew what an heinous and exe- crable thing sin is. It is malorum culluvies, — the complication of all evil ; it is the spi- rits of mischief distilled ; the scripture calls it the ' accursed thing,' Josh. vii. 13., it is compared to the venom of serpents, the stench of sepulchres. The apostle useth this expression of sin. Out of measure sin- ful, Rom. vii. 13., or, as it is in the Greek, * Hyperbolically sinful.' The devil would paint over sin with the Vermillion colour of pleasure and profit, that he may make it look fair : but I shall pull off the paint from sin, that you may see the ugly face of it. We are apt to have slight thoughts of sin, and say to it, as Lot of Zoar, Gen. xix. 20., ' Is it not a little one?' But that you may see how gi'eat an evil sin is, con- sider these four things :
1st. The original of sin, from whence it comes : it fetcheth its pedigi'ee from hell. Sin is of the devil, 1 John iii. 8., " He that committeth sin is of the devil,"" Satan was the first actor of sin, and the first tempter to sin : Sin is the devil's first- born.
2(1. Sin is evil in the nature of it.
1. It is a defiling thing. Sin is not only a defection, but a pollution. It is to the soul as rust is to gold, as a stain is to beau- ty. It makes the soul red with guilt, and black with filth. Sin in scripture is com- pared to a ' menstruous cloth,' Is, xxx. 22., to a plague-sore, 1 Kings viii. 38. ; Joshua's filthy garments, in which he stood before the angel, Zecli. iii. 3., were nothing but a type and hieroglyphic of sin. Sin hath blotted God's image, and stained the orient brightness of the soul. Sin makes (iod loatiie a sinner, Zech. xi. 8., and when a sinner sees his sin, he h>athes himself, Ezek. XX. 42. Sin drops poison on our holy things, it infects our prayers. The high priest was to make atonement foi* sin on the altar, Exod. xxix. 36., to typify
that our holiest services need Christ to make an atonement for tliem. Duties of religion in themselves are good, but sin corrupt? them, as the purest water is pollutted run- ning through muddy ground. The leper, under the law, if he had touched the altar, the altar had not cleansed him, but he had defiled the altar. The apostle calls sin, " Filthincss of the flesh and spirit," 2 Cor. vii. 1. Sin stamps the devil's image on a man ; malice is the devil's eye, hypocrisy his cloven foot. It turns a man into a de- vil, John vi. 70., " Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil."
2. Sin is a grieving of God's Spirit, Eph. iv. 30., " Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God."
To grieve, is more than to
anger.
Quest. How can the Spirit he~said to be grieved ? For, seeing he is God, he cannot be subject to any passion.
Ans. This is spoken metaphorically : Sin is said to grieve the Spirit ; because it is an injury offered to the Spirit, and he takes it unkindly, and, as it were, lays it to heart. And, is it not much thus to grieve the Spi- rit? The Holy Ghost descended in the likeness of a dove ; sin makes this blessed dove mourn. Were it only an angel, we should not grieve him, much less the Spi- rit of God. Is it not sad to grieve our Comforter i
3. Sin is an act of contumacy against God ; a walking antipodes to heaven. Lev. xxvi. 27., " If ye will walk contrary to me." A sinner tramples npon God's law, — crosseth his will, — doth all he can to af- front, yea to spite God. The Hebrew word for sin, pashang, signifies ' rebellion ;' there is the heart of a rebel in every sin, Jer. xliv. 17., " We will certainly do whatso- ever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven." Sin strikes at the very Deity, Pcccatwn est Deicidium; Sin would not only unthrone God, but un-god him. If the sinner could help it, (lod would no longer be God.
4. Sin is an act of disingenuity and un- kindness. God feeds the sinner, keeps off evils from him, beniiracles him Avith mercy; but the sinner not only forgets God's mer- cies, but abuseth them ; he is the worse for
CONCERNING SIN.
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