3. The third sort of arguments are from the aggravations of sin, that may enhance it, and show the greatness of it to your thoughts.
[1.] It is natural to us. It is necessary to reflect npon this circum- stance, because it is the hardest matter in our humiliation to be suffi- ciently affected with our birth-sin. Evils that come by accident are objects of pity, but evils of nature are objects of hatred. We pity a dog that is poisoned, but we hate a toad that is poisonous by nature. Oh ! how may the Lord hate us that have evil in our nature ! It is not accidental to us. It is the great fondness of men to make that an excuse which is in itself the greatest aggravation. Some will say when they are reproved for sin, I cannot do otherwise ; it is my nature. This will be the cause of thy ruin without an interest in Christ. The waters that come out of a pure fountain may be soiled and dirtied, but they will be clear again ; but a puddle that runneth out of a dung- hill will be always nasty and filthy. Our sins are not by accident, but by nature ; they are not like the muddying of a clear foun- tain, but like the unsavoury liquor that comes out of a dunghill. Original sin (however you think of it) is the sin of sins ; we are born with such a sin, and it is worse than any other sin. Actual sins are but as a transient act, whereby there is a violence offered to one of God's commandments, but this is a constant, rooted, abiding contra- riety to God's own nature. Actual sins are a blow and away, but this is a remaining enmity. Actual sins are like a fit of anger and dis- ])leasure, soon up and soon down, but this is a rooted hatred. This is the cause of all other sins, the bitter root that diffusetli a poison into all the branches. All other sins that a man commits are but original sin acted and exercised. Look, as in the art of numbering, the greatest number that can be numbered is but one multiplied, so the whole frv
SEUMONS UPON GEN'ESIS XXIV. 63. 327
of actual transgressions is but original sin multiplied, this spawn dif- fused and spread abroad ; all those traitorous actions that we are guilty of in the course of our lives are all summed up in this sinning sin.
[2.] Our sins are many. We sin in praying, in eating, in ploughing, in trading ; and any one of these is enough to undo a world. The angels became devils for one sin, for one sin of thought, a proud thought against God's empire and greatness, and for this they were thrown into places of darkness. What ruin then will a great many sins procure to thy soul ! If single sins seem light in themselves, yet what are they all together ? There is nothing lighter than one sand, and yet nothing heavier than sand in a great quantity. A gnat, a fly, a locust are poor inconsiderable creatures, yet when they come in multitudes they are called God's great army, and destroy whole ■countries: Joel ii. 11, 'The Lord shall utter his voice before his army, for his camp is very great.' If every pore in the body were but pricked with a pin, the veins would soon be emptied of blood. One sin was <.leadly, but what are they altogether, when from top to toe there is nothing but sores and putrefaction ? Herod was eaten up with lice, a .small inconsiderable kind of vermin, yet the abundance of them destroyed him ; so though sins seem small in themselves, yet when they come in <;lusters, how soon will they devour and eat out the life and comfort of the soul ! Ps. xl. 12, ' Innumerable evils have encompassed 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 mine head ; therefore my heart faileth me.' And if David may say so, may not we much more ? Nothing can be little that is committed against the great God. But suppose them small, yet they are a company. Oh ! this will make your hearts fail. The little finger of sin is weighty, but when all the loins of it -are laid upon the soul, how great will the burden be ! Look upon all the troubles of the servants of God, and you will find they were first occasioned by a small sin, as Mr Peacock's by eating too freely at a meal ; but when innumerable evils shall compass you about, that wherever you look there is sin — if you look on duty there is sin, if you look on your calling there is sin, if you look on your recreations there is sin, if you look on the hours of your repast there is sin — oh ! this will make your hearts fail indeed.
[3.] If they have been such as have been committed against know- ledge. There is more of the nature of sin in such acts, for the nature of sin is dvo/xia, a transgression of the law. Now the more we know the law the greater is the transgression ; according to the sense we have of the law so the offence is elevated and raised. He that hath knowledge is magis paiiiceps legis, the law is a piece of himself ; it is impressed upon his conscience, and he offereth violence to the prin- ciples of his own bosom. This is the reason why the children of God use this aggravation ; as David : Ps. li. 6, ' In the liidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.' God had taught David wisdom and some spiritual skill, and yet he sinned against him. So Christ : John XV. 22, ' If I had not come and spoken to them, they had not had sin ; ' that is, none in comparison. According to the proportion of light, so the rate of sin riseth ; the more you know of the law, the more you sin against the law. It is sad to put the finger in nature's eye, but it is