I sinned without a cause, to please a base lust, to
gratify the devil: here is the sting. Again, I preferred sin before
holiness, death before life, hell before heaven, the devil before
God, and damnation before a Saviour: here is the sting. Again, I
preferred moments before everlastings, temporals before eternals, to
be racked and always slaying before the life that is blessed and
endless: here is the sting. Also, this I did against light, against
convictions, against conscience, against persuasions of friends and
ministers, and the godly lives which I beheld in others: here is the
sting. Also, this I did against warnings; yea, though I saw others
fall before my face by the mighty hand of God for committing the
same: here is the sting.
Sinners, would I could persuade you to hear me out: a man cannot
commit a sin, but by the commission of it he doth by some
circumstance or other sharpen the sting of hell, and that to pierce
himself through and through and through with many sorrows.
Also, the sting of hell to some will be, that the damnation of
others stands upon their score; for that by imitating them, by being
deluded by them, persuaded by them, drawn in by them, others perish
in hell for ever.
Ah, this will be the sting of those that are principal, chief, and
as I may call them, the captain and ringleading sinners.
Pages:
600
601
602
603
604
605
606
607
608
609
610
611
612
613
614
615
616
617
618
619
620
621
622
623
624