The Works of Jeremiah Burroughs 8, Part · Chapter 48 – Chapter 49
CHAP. XLVIII.
The Fifth Corollary.] It is worſe to be given up to one ſin, than to be actually poſſeſſed by the Devil.
FIfthly, Shall I ſay further (and this will make it pla…ly appear what abundance of … …ere …s i… Sin, more than in Affliction: for though …oken abundance of it, yet all this … draw the Point higher and higher, and …ve the nail deeper and deeper, that this Truth of God might ſettle upon your ſpirits; and therefore a Fifth is this, which follows from this reference ſin hath to the Devil) That it is worſe to be given up to any one Sin, than to be actually poſſeſſed by the Devil, than for the Devil to come and actually poſſeſs us as thoſe poor Creatures were in the Goſpel; and this is worſe than to be given up to Satan: There is a ſpiritual poſſeſſion of Satan, as in Judas, and that is a ſpiritual poſſeſſion of their hearts to rule them: but there is a temporal poſſeſſion ſpoken of in the Goſpel, and that is of their bodies, that the Devil poſſeſt them, and cauſed them to rage and foam at the mouth, and rend and tear: and the men we reade of in the Goſpel that lived among the graves and dead people, and cut themſelves with knives and ſtones; this was a grievous thing to ſee men thus poſſeſt. Many men have extraordinary fits of the Convulſion; and the like, and men think they be poſſeſſed; we ordinarily miſtake, and it is but a meer fit of the Convulſion; but if we did know they were really poſſeſſed, we ſhould be terrified: Oh ſuch a friend, ſuch a neighbor lived wickedly before, and now the Devil hath poſſeſſed him; we thought it a Diſeaſe till now, we thought it the Convulſion, but now we ſee it is from the Devils poſſeſſion of them. Would you not endure any affliction in the world rather than God ſhould ſay of you, the next oath you ſwear, when you open your mouthes to ſwear, the Devil ſhal come in and take poſſeſſion of your bodies; or the next evil language you ſpeak, the Devil ſhall come in and poſſeſs you; this were a fearful thing, and you would take heed of this. But this I am to make good, That when you go on in ſin, in any one ſin, it is a greater evil than if never ſo many Devils poſſeſt you, if there ſhould be Legions; as he ſaid to Chriſt when he aſked his name, he ſaid, Legion, becauſe we be many. It is not ſo great an evil if God ſhould give up your bodies to be poſſeſſed by Legions of Devils; you will ſay, ſurely that is a great evil, but not ſo great as to be under the power of one ſin. How will that appear you will ſay? Thus: Poſſeſſion makes you not hateful to God, and guilty before God, and loathſom to God; nor is it that which God hates, but it is an object of pitty; Chriſt pittied them when he ſaw them thus: but Sin makes a man odious and hateful to God. I remember an excellent Obſervation Gregory hath on the Book of Job, (ſaith he) What is the reaſon when God gave up Job to the Devil, and bid him do what he would, but ſpare his life? (ſaith he) What is the reaſon the Devil did not poſſeſs him when he was given up to his hands, for ſo the words are, He is in thy Hands, only ſpare his life? So that it appears, he was in his power to poſſeſs him, but yet he did not; and what is the reaſon? this is the Anſwer that Ancient gives, the reaſon is this, Becauſe if he had poſſeſt him, then though Job had fretted, and frowned, and torn himſelf, it had not been his Sin, his impatiency, ſo as it was when he was not poſſeſſed: Now becauſe the Devil envied Job, the Devil would bring that upon Job which he knew to be the greateſt evil as much as he could; for ſo all envy doth. One that envies another, labors to bring the greateſt evil on him that he can. So certainly the Devil envied Job, and therefore he labored to bring the greateſt evil on him that he could. Now it ſeems poſſeſſion was not the greateſt evil; but the Devil would go ſo to work, as if he could poſſibly he would get Job to be impatient, and make Job curſe God, and ſin againſt God. If Job ſhould have curſed God in word by poſſeſſion of the Devil, the Devil curſed God in him, it had not been Jobs ſin ſo much as if he had got him to curſe God otherwiſe: Now the Devil would have him ſo curſe God, as to be a ſin to him; and therefore the Devil would not poſſeſs him becauſe that was the leſſer evil: So that to be given up to ſin is a greater evil than to be poſſeſt. Therefore all you that have friends and children, which you ſee wicked and licentious, and you ſee ſome cauſe to fear they be given up to the power of ſin for the preſent, it ſhould cauſe Fathers and Mothers to come to Chriſt, as earneſtly as ever thoſe poor Creatures did, that had Children poſſeſſed with the Devil, in the Goſpel; poor women had children poſſeſſed, and ſo men; Fathers that had Children poſſeſſed with the Devil, that did rent and tear him in the preſence of Chriſt, he cries out mightily to Chriſt, if he could, Oh that he would come and help him: and ſo the woman of Canaan for her daughter, cries after Chriſt to help her Daughter, for ſhe was miſerably vexed with an unclean Spirit. So you ſhould even go and cry to God, Lord, help if poſſible, and have mercy upon my Son, upon my Daughter, for they have unclean Spirits; yea, they are in a worſe condition than if poſſeſſed by the Devil: I have a Son, a ſwearing yong man; a Daughter, that is vain, and profane, and wicked, and licentious, and ſtubborn, and unruly, Oh if it be poſſible help me: if you could be as ſenſible of the ſins, and wickedneſs of your Children, as in the time of the Goſpel, Fathers and Mothers were of the poſſeſſion of their Children, much might then be done.
CHAP. XLIX.
The Sixt Corollary.] Sin brings to wicked men the ſame Portion the Devils have.
SIxtly, Hence it follows, if Sin hath ſuch reference to the Devil, then this muſt needs follow, That the ſame Portion that the Devils have, muſt needs be at laſt the portion of wicked men: The Scripture expreſſeth it, Mat. 25. Go you wicked into the Portion prepared for the Devil. And ſo in Timothy, the ſame portion that the Devil hath, ſhall be the portion of wicked and ungodly men. We reade in the Book of the Revelations, of fearful Judgments that ſhall befal ſuch as have the mark of Antichriſt upon them, Revel. 14. 9, 10. An Angel followed, ſaying with a loud voyce, If any man worſhip the Beaſt, and his Image, and receive his mark in their Foreheads, or in their Hands, the ſame ſhall drink of the Wine of the wrath of God poured out without mixture, and ſhall be tormented with fire and brimſtone in the Preſence of God, and his holy Angels, and of the Lamb. Mark the dreadful Judgments upon ſuch as have the mark of Antichriſt, either openly in their Foreheads, in profeſſion, or more privately in their Hands, he ſhall drink of the wrath of God, &c. Now if ſuch as have but the mark of Antichriſt upon them ſhall have ſuch dreadful puniſhment; pray what ſhall thoſe have that have ſuch a likeneſs unto the Devil himſelf? the mark of the Devil, that are even turned into the very Nature of the Devil, that are children of the Devil, what ſhall the end of ſuch wicked and ungodly men and women be?
And now Brethren, we have finiſhed all theſe Six Particulars, in opening the evil of Sin; and therein ſhewed that there is more evil in Sin, that there is in any Affliction. And now I had thought to have made ſome good entrance into the Application of this; for though all this while in the Explanation, I have mingled ſome Application, yet there remains very many excellent uſeful Conſiderations, which doth flow from all that hath been ſaid of the evil of Sin, that if poſſible it may be brought to your hearts, that all may not vaniſh and come to nothing in the Concluſion. Now this one Uſe I had verily thought to have gone through; I ſhall only name it, and ſhew what I intend in it, and I ſhal finiſh it in the following Diſcourſe.