I have read of a grave and chaste matron, who being moved to com- mit folly with a lewd Russian, after some discourse, she called for a pan of burning coals, requesting him for her sake to hold his finger in them but one hour ; he answered, it is an unkind request ; to whom she replied, that seeing he would not do so much as to put one finger upon the coals for one hour, she could not yield to do that for which she should be tormented, both body and soul, in hell-fire for ever. The application is easy, &c.
Notion (4). Fourthly, If you would break with sin betimes, if you would arm against sin in the spring and morning of your days, then you should look upon sin under the notion of a thief.
And, indeed, sin is the greatest thief, the greatest robber in the world. It robbed the angels of all their glory, 2 Pet. ii. 4 ; it robbed Adam of his paradise and felicity, Gen. iii., and it hath robbed all the sons of Adam of five precious jewels, the least of which was more worth than heaven and earth.
(1.) It hath robbed them of the holy and glorious image of God, which would have been fairly engraven upon them, had Adam stood, &c.
(2.) It hath robbed them of their sonship ; and of sons hath made them slaves.
(3.) It hath robbed them of their friendship, and made them enemies.
(4.) It hath robbed them of their communion and feUowsldp with Father, Son, and Spirit, and made them strangers and aliens.
(5.) It hath robbed them of their glory, and made them vile and miserable. It hath robbed many a nation of the gospel, and many a parish of many a happy guide, and many a Christian of the favour of God, the joys of the Spirit, and the peace of conscience.2
Oh ! the health, the wealth, the. honour, the friends, the relations that sin hath robbed thousands of.
Nay, It hath robbed many of their gifts, their arts, their parts, their
1 2 Tet, ii. 5, 6 ; Prov vi. 32 ; Eccl. ix. 18 ; Prov. xiii. 13, xi. 3, xv. 25, xxi. 7. 8 Well did one of the fathers call pride and vain-glory, the sweet spoiler of spiritual excellencies, and a pleasant thief.
1 Kings XIV. IS.] apples of gold. 259
memory, their judgment, yea, their very reason, as you may see in Pha- raoh, Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, Ahithophel, Haman, Herod, and those Babylonish princes that accused Daniel.
And so in Menippus of Phoenicia, who, having lost his goods, strangled himself. And so Dinarcus Phidon, at a certain loss, cut his own throat to save the charge of a cord. And so Augustus Caesar, in whose time Christ was born, was so troubled and astonished at the relation of an overthrow from Varus, that for certain months together, he let the hair of his head and beard grow still, and wore it long ; yea, and other whiles would run his head against the doors, crying out, Quintilius Varus, deliver up my legions again ;l by all which it is most apparent that sin is the greatest thief in all the world.
Oh ! then, who would not break league and covenant with it, and be still in pressing of God to do justice upon it ! &c.
Notion (5). Fifthly, If you would break with sin, and arm and fence yourselves against sin betimes, then you must look upon sin under the notion of a burden betimes.2
And indeed, sin of all burdens is the heaviest burden in all the world : ' Innumerable evils have compassed me about ; mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up : they are more than the hairs of my head ; therefore my heart faileth me,' Ps. xl. 12.
And again, ' Mine iniquities are gone over my head,' saith the same person ; ' as an heavy burden, they are too heavy for me to bear/ Ps. xxxviii. 4. Sin is a ' weight that easily besets/ Heb. xii. 1, poor souls; it is a burden that so troubles them and puzzles them, that so curbs them and girds them, that so presses and oppresses them, as that it wrings many bitter tears from their eyes, and many sad and grievous sighs and groans from their hearts, Rom. vii. 13.
Again, as sin is a burden to Christians, so it is a burden to heaven. It made heaven weary to bear the angels that fell ; no sooner had they sinned but heaven groans to be eased of them, and it never left groan- ing till justice had turned them a-groaning to hell, Jude 6.
Again, as sin is a burden to heaven, so it is a burden to the earth. Witness her swallowing up Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, their wives, children, goods, servants, &c, Num. xvi. 26-35. Ah, sinners ! your sins makes the very earth to groan, they make the earth weary of bearing you. Oh, how doth the earth groan and long to swallow up those earthly wretches, whose hopes, whose hearts, are buried in the earth ! These shall have little of heaven, but enough of earth when they come to die.
Cornelius a Lapide tells a story, that he heard of a famous preacher, who, shewing the bondage of the creature, Rom. viii. 19-23, brings in the creature complaining thus : Oh, that we could serve such as are godly ; oh, that our substance and our flesh might be incorporated into godly people, that so we might rise into glory with them ; oh, that our flesh might not be incorporated into the flesh oC sinners, for if it be, we shall go to hell, and would any creatures go tjo hell?.qh, we are weary of bearing sinners ! we are weary of serving, of sinners ! Thus th« .crea- tures groan, thus the creatures complain, the sinner's sins forcing them to it, &c. '
1 Suetonius. 2 Nab. i. 1 ; Hab. i. 1 ; Mai. i. 1.
2G0 APPLES OF GOLD. [1 KlNGS XIV. 13.
Again, sin is a burden to God: ' Behold, I am pressed under you, as a cart is pressed that is full of sheaves,' Amos ii. 13. By this plain, pithy, country comparison, God shews how sadly he is pressed and oppressed, how sorely he is wearied and tired with those people's sins. Divine patience is even worn out. Justice hath lift up her hand, and will bear with them no longer. God seems to groan under the pressure of their sins, as a cart seems to do under a heavy load. Of this God complains by the prophet Isaiah : ' Thou hast made me to serve with thy sins, thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities/ Isa. xliii. 24. I am as weary of your sins as a travailing woman is weary of her pains, saith God. Sin was such a burden to God, that he sweeps it off with a sweeping flood, Gen. vii., &c.
Again, sin is a burden to Christ : It made him sweat as never man sweat ; it made him sweat great drops of clotted or congealed blood, Luke xxii. 44.1 Sin put Christ's whole body into a bloody sweat ; it made him groan piteously, when he bare our sins in his body on the tree. Sin made his soul heavy even to the death, and had he not been one that was mighty, yea, that was Almighty, he had fainted and failed under his burden, 1 Pet. ii. 24, Isa. ix. 6. And thus you see what a bur-den sin is to man, to the creatures, to heaven, to earth, to God, to Christ ; and therefore, as you would break with sin betimes, look always upon it as a burden, yea, as the greatest and heaviest burden in all the world, &c.