GthJy, Look upon sin in the dism<il ef- fects of it, and it will appear the most hor- rid prodigious evil, Rom. vi. 23., " The wages of sin is death," that is, " the second death," Rev. xxi. 8. Sin hath shame for its companion, and death for its wages. A wicked man knows what sin is in the plea- sure of it, but doth not know what sin is in the punishment of it. Sin draws hell at the heels of it. This hellish torment con- sists of two parts ;
1. Poena damni, — the punishment of loss, Mat. vii. 23., " Depart from me." It was a great trouble to Absalom, that he might not see the king's face ; to lose God's smiles, to be banished from his presence, in whose presence is fulness of joy, how sad and tre- mendous ! this word, ' depart,' (saith Chry- sostom) is worse than the fire. Sure sin must be the greatest evil, which separates us from the greatest good.
2. Pvcna seyisus, — the punishment of sense. Mat. xxv. 41., " Depart from me, ye ye cursed, into everlasting fire, ])repared for the devil and his angels." — " Why," might sinners plead, " Lord, if we must depart from thee, let us have thy blessing :" " No ! Go ye cursed." — " But if we must depart from thee, let it be into some place of ease and rest." " No ! Go into fire." — " But, if we must into fire, let it be for a little time ; let the fire be quickly put out." " No ! Go into everlasting fire." — " But if it be
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BO, that we must be tlicro, let us be with good company." — " No ! with the devil and Ills angels." O what an evil is sin ! all the torments of this life are but ludibriiun ct risus, a kind of sport to hell-tornients. What is a burning fever to the burnini^ in hell ! it is called, " the wrath of Al- mitjhty God," Rev. xix. 15. The Almifrhty God inflicts the punishment, therefore it will be hcavv. A child cannot strike very hard, but if a pliant strike, he kills with a blow : to have the Almig^hty God to lay on the stroke, it will be intolerable. Hell is the EMPHASIS of misery. The body and soul, which have sinned t<»j^ether, shall suf- fer tofjethcr ; and those torments shall have no period put to them. Rev. ix. G., " They sliall seek deatli and sliall not find it." Rev. xiv. 11., "and the smoke of their torments ascendeth for ever and ever ;" here the wicked thoug^ht a ])raycr long, a sabl)ath long, but how long will it be to lie upon ])eds of flames for ever ! This word, ever, breaks the heart. Thus you see sin is the most deadly arid execrable evil ; look upon it in its original, in* its nature, in the judg- ment and estimate of the wise ; look upon it comj)aratively, it is worse than affliction, death, hell ; look upon it in the manner of cure, and in the dismal effV'ct, it brings e- ternal damnation ; is there not then a great deal of reason that we should make this prayer, " deliver us from evil?"
Use \s{. Branch 1. Is sin such a deadly, pernicious evil, the evil of evils? See then what it is we are to pray most to be deliver- ed from, and that is from sin, our Saviour hath taught us to pray, " deliver us from evil." Hypocrites pray more against tem- poral evils than spiritual. Pharaoh prayed more to have the plague of hail and thun- der to be removed, than his hard heart should be removed, Exod. ix. 28. The Is- raelites prayed, tolle serpoites, — take away the serpents from us, — more than to have their sin taken away, Numb. \xi. 8. The hypocrite's prayer is carnal, — he prays more to be cured of his deafness and lameness, than of his unbelief, — more that God would take away his pain, than take away his sin. But our prayer should be, " deliver us from evil." Spiritual prayers are best. Hast thou a diseased body ? pray more '
that the disease of thy soul may be removed, than thy body, Ps. xli. 4., " Heal my soul, for I have sinned." The plague of tho heart is worse than a cancer in the breast. Hast thou a child that is crooked ? pray more to have its unholiness removed than its crookedness. Spiritual prayers are more pleasing to God, and are as music in his ears. Christ hath here taught us to pray agjiinst sin, " deliver us from evil."