VeR. 13.] SERMONS UPON PSALM XIX. 13. 361
the Lord said unto Moses, ' The man shall surely be put to death : all tlie congregation shall stone him without the camp,' Num. xv. 35. You will say, Was that such a great matter, to gather a few sticks ? Or, he being the first instance, might have been spared. No ; it was against God's express law ; it was a presumption, therefore capital. Among the four sorts of death inflicted by the Israelites, stoning was the chief. There was stoning, burning, slaying with the sword, and strangling. Maimonides saith, stoning was counted heavier than burn- ing, and burning than slaying with the sword, and that than strangling. Now God said. The congregation shall stone him with stones. Go now and plead that thy sins are but small sins ; with Jonathan, ' I did but touch a little honey with the top of my rod, and for this I must die,' 1 Sam. xiv. 43. The matter may be small, but the sin great, as it hath more or less of wilfulness in it. Do but consider God's infinite majesty, and supreme right to the creature's obedience, and see if this plea will stand, It is but a small matter, and let me be allowed in this. God will be punctually and exactly observed, so as there may be no allowed failings. The matter may be small, and yet not the nature of the sin small. The least sins are committed against an infinite majesty, and are breaches of his eternal law.
[2.] Small sins neglected may breed great danger to us. As a small leak neglected may sink the ship, as well as the greatest wave ; so do small sins destroy the soul for ever if they be neglected ; if a man allow him- self in them, and deliberately multiply them, they will damn us as well as great and heinous sins that make more noise, and are more hateful in the world. What matter is it to the loss of the ship whether it be swallowed up by one great wave, or sunk by degrees ? We read of some that have been slain by the sword, of others that have been killed by bodkins and penknives ; some that have been devoured by lions, others eaten out with vermin, destroyed with mice and lice. Pope Adrian was choked with a gnat : Mat. v. 19, ' Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven ; ' a man of no place or room in the kingdom of grace and glory : ver, 20, ' He shall in no case enter into heaven.'
[3.] When men give themselves liberty in lesser sins, they presently fall into greater : Ps. i. 1, 'Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in tlie seat of the scornful.' Mark, here is walking, standing, and sit- ting ; ungodly, sinners, and scornful ; counsel, way, and seat ; hearken to their counsel, walk in their way, sit in their seat. The little sticks set the great ones on fire, and a little wisp is often used to enkindle a great block of wood. A man that keepeth his heart so carelessly that he suffereth breaches to be made upon his soul, he doth thereby fit himself for greater. Every sin bringeth not only a guilt upon the soul, but a blot, a stronger inclination to sin again ; as a stick that hath been in the fire is the more apt to fire the second time. Corruption is strengthened as well as wrath increased; as a lesser degree of heat disposc'th to a greater, as water heated to such a degree will soon be heated to further degrees ; as many acts of sin bring on a customary necessity and inclination ; it removeth the fear of God. They that make
362 SERMONS UPON PSALM XIX. 13. [SeR. III.
bold with Iiim in little thino^s will venture upon greater. We grow bolder, and so doth Satan too. When we have lost our reverence of God, he is encouraged to come on with stronger temptations. God is provoked to withdraw his grace, that awe, bond, or bridle by which we are withheld from sin. God suifereth them to fall into greater, because they made nothing of lesser; yea, small sins engage a man to do more, to excuse, conceal, or maintain what we have done already. Peter's fear drew on his denial with oaths and execrations ; and so there is no stopping when we run down-hill. The wimble pierceth the wood, and maketh way for the auger ; so these make the first breach in the conscience, which still groweth wider and wider for temptations to enter upon us. Small sins may harden the heart more than greater, because there is more neglect of God ; they are committed without regret, and digested without remorse. Great sins are more apparent and more hateful. Natural conscience blusheth at them ; but small sins are let alone till a custom groweth upon us. A violent distemper maketh us run to the physician, but when a disease groweth upon us by degrees, we carry death in our bosoms before we are aware. All this is spoken to teach us to make conscience of lesser sins and failings, and not willingly to allow them. The lesser commandments are an hedge to the greater ; as cruelty to the beasts is forbidden that it may be a rail about the life of man. Jerome saith of Paula, Ita levia pcccata defiehat, tU gravissi- morum scelerum diceres ream — She so bewailed small sins as if she had been guilty of great ones.