Sin Stigmatized, Part 1 · Section 130
§ 130.
SEventhly, 7. He not onelyonly commits foule crimes, but drawes others into the ſame ſinnes.this will above meaſure aggravate thy doome, and adde to thy torment, that thou ſeducest, yea, enforceſt others to ſinne, and draweſt them to perdition with thee; for the infection of ſinne, is much worſe than the act; and miſleades into evill ſinne more, and ſhall ſuffer more, then the actors; and although to commit ſuch things as thou doeſt, ſingle, and alone, were enough, yea, too much to condemn thee; yet becauſe thou draweſt others with thee to the ſame ſins, thy damnation ſhall be farre greater.
For they whom thou haſt taught to doe ill; increaſe thy ſinne, as faſt as they increaſe their owne. Now if their reward in heaven be ſo great, that ſave one ſoule from death, Dan. 12.3. how great ſhall their torment bee in Hell, that pervert many ſoules to deſtruſtion? Matth. 5.19. they ſhall bee maximi in inferno, greateſt in the kingdome of hell: he that can damn many ſoules, beſides his owne, ſupererogates of Sathan, and hee ſhall give him a double fee, a double portion of hell fire for his paines. Who then, without a ſhower of teares, can think on thy deplorable ſtate; or without mourning meditate thy fad condition?
Yea, if Ely was puniſhed with ſuch fearefull temporall judgements, onelyonly for not admoniſhing, and not correcting others which ſinned; what mayeſt thou expect, that doeſt intiſe others, yea, enforce them? though to intiſe others were wicked enough. Let me ſay, to the horror of their conſciences that make merchandize of ſoules, that it is a queſtion, when ſuch an one comes to hel, whether Iudas himſelf would change torments with him.
How fearefully think you, do the ſeducer and ſeduced greet one another in hell? me thinks I heare the Dialogue between them, wher the beſt ſpeaks firſt, and ſaith; Thou haſt beene the occaſion of my ſinne; and the other, thou art the occaſion of my more grievous torment, &c. Evill men delights to make others ſo; one ſinner maketh another, as Eve did Adam: but little doe they thinke how they advance their owne damnations, when the blood of ſo many ſoules as they have ſeduced, will be required at their hands: and little doe ſinners know their wickedneſſe, when their evill deeds, infect by their example, and their evill words infect by their perwaſion; and their looks, infect by their allure ments; when they breath nothing but infection; much leſſe do they know their wretchedneſſe, till they receive the wages of their unrighteouſneſſe, which ſhall not be paid, till their work be done; and that will not be done, in many yeares after their death.
For let them dye, they ſinne ſtill. For, as if we ſowe good works, ſucceſſion ſhal reape them, and we ſhall be happy in making them ſo: ſo, on the contrary, wicked men leave their inventions and evill practiſes to poſterity, and, though dead, are ſtill tempting unto ſinne, and ſtill they ſin in that temptation; they ſinne as long as they cauſe ſinne. This was Ieroboam's caſe, in making Iſrael to ſinne; for let him bee dead, yet ſo long as any worſhip his Calves, Ieroboam ſinned; neither was his ſinne ſoone forgotten; Nadab his ſonne, and Baſha his ſucceſſor, Zimry, and Omry, and Ahab, and Ahaziah, and Iehoram all theſe walked in the wayes of Ieroboam which made Iſrael to ſinne; and not they alone, but the people with them. It is eaſie for a mans ſinne to live; when himſelfe is dead; and to leade that exemplary way to hell, which, by the number of his followers, ſhall continually aggravate his torments. The imitaters of evill, deſerve puniſhment; the abetters, more; but there is no hell deepe enough, for the leaders of publike wickedneſſe: he that invents a new way of ſerving the divell, hath purchaſed for himſelfe a large patrimony of unquenchable fire.
Though few men will confeſſe their ſinnes; yet many mens ſins will confeſſe their maſter. To beget a preſident of vice, is like the ſetting a mans own houſe on fire, it burnes many of his neighbours, and he ſhal anſwer for al the ruines. Alas! while I live, I ſinne too much; let me not continue longer in wickedneſſe; then life.
Sin hath an ubiquity; one ſinners example infects others, and they ſpread it abroad to more; like a man that dyes of the Plague, and leaves the infection to a whole City; ſo that hee muſt give an account even for the ſinnes of a thouſand; yea, they have ſo much to anſwer for, that have thus occaſioned ſo much ill, that it had beene happy for them, if they had never beene at all, then being, to be laden with the ſinnes of ſo many.
O what infinite torments doth Mahomet endure, when every Turke that periſheth by his jugling, doth daily adde to the pile of his unſpeakable horrors! And ſo each ſinner, according to his proportion, and the number of ſoules, which miſcarry through the contagion of his evill example; for they ſhall ſpeed at laſt, like him that betrayed a City to a Tyrant; who when he had conquered it, firſt hanged up the party that help'd him to it.
Yea, perhaps God will even in this life make them an example of his juſt vengeance, and provoked indignation; as he did Pharaoh and Iulian: as their ſinne hath perverted many, ſo their fall and ruine may perchance convert many: the life of Iulian, made many Infidels; the death of Iulian, made many Chriſtians: God will teach men to feare him, even by their ruine, that taught them not to feare him. Yea, the D…vell, who now is their good maſter, will in the end reward theſe his ſubjects, as that Emperor, which Plutarch ſpeakes of, did by one that kild a great man, who firſt crowned him, for his valour; and then cauſed him to bee executed, for the murther: or as the Wolf does by the Ewe, who ſucks her, while ſhe is a little one; and devours her, when ſhe is growne a great one: Nutritus per me, ſed tandem ſaeviet in me. So that it were happy for all ſeducing drunkards, whors, &c. if they were prevented of doing this great miſchiefe, and in their non-age throwne alive into the Sea, as the Citizens of Rome threw Heleogabalus into the river of Tiber, with his mother Semea, to bear him company, for that ſhe bear and brought forth ſuch a gulfe of miſchiefes, as Lampridius reports: yea, the whole State ſhould fare the better for ſuch riddance, for ſo they ſhould become (though not profitable) yet infinitely leſſe hurtfull, to ſuch as ſhould remaine.