396 'The great Evil and Danger of Little Sins. the Philiftines . One grofs fcandalc us Sin make~ Conf9ence recoil and go back, when yec we venture upon the numberle fs gmlt of fmaUer Sins that have lefs terror in their Name, · though united in the ir guilt chey bring' far forer Con- demnation on the Soul, than the Jingle Commiffion of ag reat Sin ? What great difference is there whether your Eternal burning be kindled by inany fparks or by one firebrand ? Whether you die by many finaller Wounds, or by on~ great one ? Many litt le Items may make a Debt defperate, and the payment im- poffible. And truly when God !hall reck on up again!t us at rhe great Day many choufand vain Thoughts, and as many fuperfluous idle Words with a; many petty Oaths and Lies that we have been guilty of, the accoudt will be as dreadful, and the Wrath that will follo w as infupporrable as if Mu rder Biaf. phemy, or the greaceft Ourrage that eve r was committed in the World, 'were fingly charged upon us. It's Jiffi· Thirdly, Confider it is very difficult to convince Men of the great Evil and Dan~ eult t ?Co 11 • gerchat there is in little Sins,at;t~ therefore it is ver)' difficult ~o bring them ro Re- 'Viru ' me~ pentance for them. Indeed dusts the great and defperate Evll that there is in [mall ·~~~ · ;v'1 S ins, that Men will noc be perfwaded that they are Evil. Flagiciou s wickedneffes ~in:u e are ufuaily felf-condemning ; they carry t hat brand upon them chat makes them · evident to every Man's Conkience that th ey come from HcU,and will certainly Rom. 1 • lead toH,, ; and therefore the Ap•JII• Rom.r. Jl · after he had reckoned up a black 33 · C ata log ue of Sins,lells them in the laftverfe,that though they w ere Hearhem,yttthey knew the J udgmentso{God, that they t hat committed jiuh things were ' vCirthy of Death . But now the gu ilLof little S ins is not fo apparent; the eye of a mee.r natur al Con- fci ence looks ufUally outward to the Life a nd Converfadon,and if that be plain and fmoorh, it fees not or difpen(i::rh with the IJI'er Sim of the B ean: Hence is it that we fO fel<l9m confefs or mourn for cho!e chat we call 14]tr Sins? When is . ._jc chat we are deeply humbled for the OJTiif fion of duties, or for the flight and perfunctory performance of them ~ Thefe we look not upon as deferving Damnation ,and t herefore we think they need no Repemance. Nay,arewe notfo far from judging and condemning our fe lves for them, chat we feek our pre• tences to excufe and leffen chem,calling th em Slips,Failings, and unavoiJ&~ bit Injir- Gen. J9 , mities: And as Lot faid of Z oar, is it not a li ttle one, and our Souh Jhall live. What, to. can I chin k there is fo muGh danger in a fooli{h Thought, in a v ain and inctinfide- rate /Vord ? Can I chink that the great God will torment h is poor creatures for ever, for a ThoJtght, for a Word, for a Glance? Yes, believe it, unl~fs thefe Sins be done away in the Blood of Chrifi, there is not che leaf t of them but hath an infinite Evil in it, and an infinite Wrath following of it : If you will not now be convinced of it, you /hal l be then when with dread and afto- ni/hmenc you fhall hear God calling your lit tle Sins by other Names than you now do; you call them Failings and Infirmities, but God will call them Prefump- t ions and RebtUiC~m: What you fay is but a v ain Thought , fhall be ·arraign'd as Treafon againft God, as A thei(m and Sont-Murder : Then every formal heartle{s Duty that here you performed, !hall be accufed of m"king and I<•Jfing of God; they are fo incerprecatively and in God 's efteem ; and unlefs the guilt of them be done away by the Blood of fprin kling, you will find them no lefs at the great and terrible Day of the Lord. Indeed the generality of Men have gorten a dangerous Method of doing away the guilt of their Sins; great Sins they make to be little, and littl~ Sins they make eo l>e none at all, and thus the y do away their Sins, and fo they Live in them cuftomarily, and Die in chem im- penicendy, and Perifh under them irrecov erably. ThtlM.ft Fourthly, Confider that the allowance and c ordial approbation but of the lea_ff Sin, iJ fin •liGw' J a certain Jign of a moft rotten and hypocritical Heart. Be thy Converfauon never irat gnof fo blamelefs, be_thy profeffion never fo g lorious, be thy Duties and Services ~~~~fpom- never fo pompous ; yet if there be the fecret refervadon and allowan ce but of Htart . the leaft Sin, all this JS no more than fo much vain Jhow and pag eantry: What ]am. r.16. fays the Apoftle, Jam. I . 26. If any Man among you{eem to be Religious, a nd bridleth not his Tongue, that Man deceiv eth himfe lf, hi1 Religion is vnin. Why, iS it not firange that after fo many prayers daily p ut up eo God, after an eminenc pro.. feffion, and a confiderable progre£5 made in the ways of God, that yet both the fincerity and fuccefs of all this lhould de pend upon fo fmall a thing as the tip of a Man's Tongue? If that be allowed to run at random inco impertinencies, not
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