Tbe great Evil and 'Danger if Little Sins. 395 Firft, Confider little Sins rljually ar~ the damning tmd dejlroying Sins. There _are ;x;:~s~;; more beyond comparifon that penfh and go down .eo ~"lell by the Comrtuffi- thedmrmon of little Sins., than by chafe that are more Not?nous and ln_famous ; here ing Sins. perifherh che HJpocri.tt, and here ~he forn:al Profeffo~ ; h_ere penfh~th your honelt civil neighbourly Man, that JS fO fa1r and up:1ght 111 hts deahng that you can fee nothing that is grofs and fcandalous by lum :. 0~ ! but yec the blood of cheir Precious and lmmonal Souls runs out and ts fp1lt for ever thorough ~hofe infenfible wounds that ljttle Sins_ do. make: Yea, hereby c~mmonly perilheth the Prophane Sinner alfo, for 1C ts ufual_Iy b~t t~~ Commiffton of one fmall Sin more that fills up the meafure of thetr Imqumes, and makes them fully ripe for Damnation; fomecimes indeed, God cloth .by feme fign~l Stroke of his Vengeance {l:rike .che Sinner through and c~rough m the Commdii~:m of fome bold and daring Sm ; but ufuapy the lafi Sm of the wodl of Men ts but of che leffer fize; and though God had formerlv bprn many great Impieties from fuch Perfons, yet is he at lafi fo provoked by fome little Sin, that he will wait no longer, but fnatcheth the Sinner away in his Wrath, and throws him down into Hell. This is an Argument how dreadfully provoking {mall Sins are that ufually upon the Commiffion of one of them God puts an end to his'patience and forbearance: It is not all the great and crying Sins of a Man's Life chat brings fo much mifery upon him, as a little Sin that links him down into Eternal Tormems cloth. Ufually the lafi Sin that a Sinner enters into Hell by is but a little Sin : Take it therefore as a warning from God,henceforth nev~r more defpifc any Sin as flight hecaufe it is fmall. \Ve have a known Prwerb among us, that when a Beaft hath his full load, one {haw mor~ will break his ~ack. Believe it, Sirs, it is mofi cerrainly true in the prefent Cafe; . many Chrifiians have been a longtimefinnersagainfi God and their own Souls, adding iniquity tO iniquity, and fome,ofyoumayalready have your full load, 0 beware how you ever venture upon the Commiffion of another Sin ; tho' it be but a little and a flight Sin, yet this flight and [mall Sin added to the reft may break and fink you for ever into Hell ; this little Sin may fill up the Ephab of your iniquities, and after this [mall Sin you may neither have time to Sin again, ner to Repent of your Sin. Secondly, Confider this: SmaN Sins what they want in weight ufually they Litt/, Sf11; do more than make up in number, and therefore are as pernicious to the wkat ~hq ~oul as che greaceftSins can be. HenceDavidprays, Pfal. 19. n. Who can un- ::~~~;~hry Jerjland hiJ errors, clean{e thou me from focrct Sins. Secret Sins mufi needs be the d• mm leafi and[maUefl Sins, feeing they are fo fmall that he that commits them can- tba? makt not difcern them; but yet as they are fmall, fo are they numerous, who knows zp m"""''" ho'v often he thus tranfgreffith, 1vho can ttnderpand his errors? Therefore clean{e thot~ ff~t. 19 . me, 0 Lord, from th~Je {ecret Sins. A Ship may have a heavy burthei1 of Sands 1 ~. as well as of Milftones, and may be as foon funk with them. And truly {mall Sins though they Ihould be as fmall as Sands, yet commonly they are as numerous as the Sands too; and what odds then is there between them and the greacefi Sins ? Every thought thou thinkefi, and every word thou fpeakeft in an unregenerate Scace :ind Condition, there is Sin in it ; and though moft of them poflibly are but little Sins, yet a multitude of them alone are able to fink you down into the lowefi He/J. Your Confciences flare back and are a:ffrighted, as indeed they ought, at a Temptation to Murder, Inceff, Bla{phemy,· or any of chofe more horrid Sins, that are the prodigies of corrupt Nature ; thefe Sins you dare not {0 much as commit once : And yet thoufands Of thoufands of lejjCr Sins, fuch as ftnful Thoughts, idle Words, petty Oaths, commodious Lies~ thefe proceed from you without either firiving againft them, or mourning fo; them. Why now, Sirs, do you more fear intolerable and everlafiing Wrath, for the fingle Commiffion of a great Sin, than you do for the frequenc and repeated Commiffion of le{s Sin1? Truly I cannot precifely tell you, whether you had not as good Dlafpheme God once, as take his Name in vain ofcen ; Whet!'ler it be not as good to Murder once, as to hate always: The frequency of liule Sim makes their guilt fo great, and their punifhment fo intolerable that the vi left Sins you can imagine, fuall have ·nothing to exceed them in, u;lefs it be the horror of the Name of that Sin. And yet it fares with us as it did with the I{rt~elitu, we tremble more at one Goliah than we do at the whole .Army of Eeee z the
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