9. Sin is a disturbing thing; whatever defiles, disturbs. Sin breaks the peace of the soul, Isa. I vii. 21., " No peace to the wicked." When a man sins presumptu- ously, he stuffs his pillow with thorns, and his head will lie very uneasy when he comes to die. Sin causeth a trembling at the heart. When Spira had sinned, he had a hell in his conscience ; he was in that hor- ror, that he professed he envied Cain and Judas. Charles IX. who was guilty of the massacre in Paris, was afterwards a terror to himself; he was frighted at every noise, and could not endure to be awakened out of his sleep without music. Sin breaks the peace of the soul. Cain in killing Abel, stabbed half the world at a blow, but could not kill the worm of his own conscience. Thus you see what an evil sin is in the na- ture of it ; and had we not need pray, " Deliver us from evil."
3dly, Look upon sin in the judgment and opinion of the godly, and it will appear to be the most prodigious evil.
1. Sin is so great an evil, that the godly will rather do any thing than sin, Ilcb. xi. 24, 25., " Moses chose rather to suffer with the people of God, than to enjoy the plea- sures of sin." The primitive Christians said, ad leonuin putiiis quam lenonem, — they chose rather to be devoured by lions without than lusts within. Irenreus was carried to a place where w<is a cross on one side and an idol on the other, and he was put to his
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choice, either to bow to the idol, or suffer on the cross, and lie chose the latter. A wise man will choose rather to liave a rent in liis coat than in his llesh ; the godly will rather endure outward sufferings than a rent in their conscience. So great an evil is in sin, that the godly will not sin for the greatest gain ; they will not sin though they might purchase an estate by it, nay though they were sure to promote God's glory by it.
2. The godly testify sin is a great evil, in that they desire to die upon no account more than this, that they may be rid of sin : they are desirous to put off the clothing of the flesh, that they may be unclothed of sin ; it is their greatest grief that they are trou- bled with such inmates, they have the stir- rings of pride, lust, envy. It was a cruel torment Mezentius used, he tied a dead man to a living: thus a child of God hath corruption joined with grace, — here is a dead man tied to the living. So hateful is this, that a believer desires to die for no o- ther reason more than this, that death shall free him from sin. Sin brought death into the world, and death shall carry sin out of the world. Thus you see, in the opinion of the godly, sin is the most hyperbolical and execrable evil.
4thly, Look upon sin in the comparative, and it will appear to be the most deadly e- vil. Compare what you will with it: I. Afflictions. 2. Death. 3. Hell, and still sin is worse.
1. Compare sin with affliction : there is more evil in a drop of sin, than in a sea of affliction.
(1.) Sin is the cause of affliction, the cause is more than the effect. Sin brings all mis- chief; sin hath sickness, sword, famine, and all judgments in the womb of it. Sin rots the name, consumes the estate, wastes the radical moisture. As the poets feigned of Pandora's box, when it wjis opened, it filled the world fu!l of diseases : so when Adam broke the box of original righteousness, it caused all the penal evils in the world. Sin is the Phaeton that sets the world on fire. Sin turned the angels out of heaven, and Adam out of jjaradise. Sin causeth mutinies, divisions, massacres, Jer. xlvii. fi., '' ■' O thou sword of the Lord, how long will
it be ere thou be quiet !" The sword of (i()d's justice lies quietly in the scabl)ard, till sin draws it out and whets it against a nation. So that sin is worse than affliction, it being the cause of it : the cause is more than the effect.
(2.) (jod is the author of affliction, Amos iii. ()., " Shall there be evil in a city, and the Lord hi^th not done it ?" It is meant of the evil of affliction. (Jod hath an hand in affliction, but no hand in sin ; (jod is the cause of every action, so far as it is na- tural, but not as it is sinful. He who makes an instrument of iron, is not the cause of the rust and canker which cor rupts the iron, so God made the instrumen of our souls, but the rust and canker of sin, which corrupts our souls God never made. Peccatiun Deus non fecit, Austin. (Jod can no more act evil, than the sun can darken. In this sense sin is worse than affliction. God hath an hand in affliction, but disclaims having any hand in sin.