SIN is the great block and bar to our happiness, the procurer of all
miseries to man, both here and hereafter; take away sin, and nothing can
hurt us; for death temporal, spiritual, and eternal, is the wages of it.
Sin, and man for sin, is the object of the wrath of God. How dreadful
therefore must his case be who continues in sin; for who can bear and
grapple with the wrath of God?
No sin against God can be little, because it is against the great God of
heaven and earth; but if the sinner can find out a _little_ God, it may
be easy to find out little sins.
Sin turns all God’s grace into wantonness: it is the _dare_ of his
justice; the _rape_ of his mercy; the _jeer_ of his patience; the
_slight_ of his power; and the _contempt_ of his love.
Take heed of giving thyself liberty of committing one sin, for that will
lead thee to another; till by an ill custom it become natural.
To begin sin is to lay a foundation for a continuance; this continuance
is the mother of custom, and impudence at last the issue.
The death of Christ giveth us the best discovery of ourselves; in what
condition we were, so that nothing could help us but that; and the most
clear discovery of the dreadful nature of our sins. For if sin be such a
dreadful thing as to wring the heart of the Son of God, how shall a poor
wretched sinner be able to bear it?