by Ralph Venning
If sin were not an ugly thing, would it wear a mask? If it did not have evil designs, would it walk in disguise and change its name? Truth is not ashamed of its name or nakedness; it can walk openly and boldly. Sin, on the contrary, is a cheat, a lie, and therefore lurks privily and puts on false names and colours; for if it were to appear like itself — as it sooner or later will do to all, either for conversion or confusion — it would frighten men into dying fits, as it did the Apostle, and when they come to themselves they would abhor and hate it, as Paul and the Prodigal did. Men would never be so hardy in sinning but that sin hardens them by deceiving them: so the Apostle says, “Take heed lest any be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin” (Hebrews 3. 13). Sin uses all manner of arts, methods and devices to attract us and inveigle us. It uses many tricks on us and has all the knacks of deceiving and cheating us. So I may with truth say that sin has not learnt but taught all the deceits, dissimulations, flatteries and false diplomacies that are found in courts; the stratagems of war; the sophisms and fallacies of the schools; the frauds of tradesmen, whether in city or country; the tricks of cheaters and jugglers, the ambushes of thieves, the pretensions of false friends, the various methods of false teachers — these and every other kind of cheat and deception in the world, sin teaches and practises upon us all to make us sin.
It is impossible to count up all the ways in which the deceitful hearts and sins of men abuse them. I will, however, give a few examples as a warning to sinners and a witness against sin.
(1) Sometimes sin persuades us that such and such a thing is not a sin, though it looks like a sin. Thus the Devil dealt with Eve in the beginning and so deceived her. She was a little suspicious and shy, that what the Devil urged her to do was evil, but he cunningly insinuated that however it seemed to her, yet it was not so. In this way the pride and wantonness of people is maintained — that though these things appear to be evil, they are not evil. But, alas, it is the next thing to being a sinner to look like a sinner; appearance in good is too little and in evil it is too much. It is a very hard thing to look like a sinner and talk and dress like a sinner and
not to be one. It is more than likely that what the Devil grants to be like a sin, is a sin. Those who are persuaded otherwise are deceived by him, as Eve was. If we like the picture, the odds are great against us not liking the thing. Though an idol is no God, nor even like him, yet God has utterly forbidden graven images, for they are of the Devil’s carving.
(2) Sin would persuade that what may be sin in another cannot be sin in you, all things considered, because you are necessitated. For example, a poor man is forced to steal. But no man is necessitated to sin, even though under necessity; sin is sin in any or in all. Though temptations may mitigate and excuse somewhat, yet they cannot excuse totally from its being a sin, and they cannot un-sin sin.
(3) It is one sin only, and this only once, says Sin. But if sin is good, why only once, and if evil, why once? One sin though committed but once is one and once too much. Besides when the Serpent’s head is in, it is hard to keep out the whole body; one makes way for the other. It is almost impossible to sin once and only once.
(4) It is only a little one, says Sin. But that which is against a great God and deserves so great a punishment as death cannot be a little sin; for the wages of sin and of every single sin is death (Romans 6. 23).
(5) It is in secret and no-one will see it, says Sin. But this is a cheat, for it is impossible to sin so secretly but there will be at least two witnesses. God and conscience know all the sins that man can commit.
(6) Yes, but you will hate it and dread it ever after, says Sin. Thus some go to Mass to show their distaste of it, and to plays to see the folly of them. But who would be a burnt child to learn to dread the fire? Such costly experiments may indeed cost us the loss of our souls. It is dangerous to meddle with that which is an appearance and may be an occasion of evil, and much more to parley and tamper with sin itself.
(7) But I promise you that you shall gain by it, says Sin. You will have so much profit, so much pleasure and so much honour. Sin’s gain is loss, however; for he who gains even the world by sin pays too dearly for it. It means the loss or at least the hazard of his soul. The pleasures of sin are grievous, and its honours are disgraces and shame. Did not our first parents find it so, and do not we (Romans 6. 21)? The precious substance promised by sin ends in a pernicious shadow, and the spoils we get by sin only spoil us. Sin promises like a God but pays like a Devil. Sin tells us that we shall not die but live like gods, but we find nothing but death and such a life as they have in Hell. Sin’s performance is altogether contrary to its promises; it promises gold and pays dross. If any man, then, has a mind to have true miseries, let him pay heed to sin’s false promises.
(8) But others do it, says Sin, and why may not you? It is not what others do, however, but what they ought to do that we are to follow. We must not follow any man or a multitude of men to do evil. If others will risk their damnation, what is that to us? It will be no comfort to have had companions in sin and to meet them again in Hell.
(9) But you have only to repent, says Sin, and God will forgive you. To this we must say that he who promised forgiveness to them that repent has not promised repentance to them that sin. Besides, even if sin were to cost no more than repentance anyone in his right mind would be loth to buy repentance at so dear a rate; for repentance, though it may free them from greater, puts men to more grief and pain than ever sin could afford them pleasure.
(10) Yes, but you have escaped well enough hitherto, says Sin. No evil has befallen you. If this is so, however, it may be so much the worse for us. Not to be punished may be the worst punishment (Isaiah 1. 15; Hosea 4. 14, 17). What will it cost if God does awaken me, and if not, what will it cost when God shall damn me?
(11) It is only your infirmity, says Sin. You cannot help it. Tell sin that this is a thing that none but fools and children can accept. Besides, to plead for infirmities is more than an infirmity. That which is only an infirmity today may become a disease tomorrow, if not prevented. Once the will is engaged, it is past an infirmity and has become a sin.
Now if these and other arguments do not succeed, then Sin speaks more openly. It says, there is no such thing as sin. There is no difference between good and evil. As all things come alike to all, so all things are alike. And also, says Sin, evil is good in God’s sight, or he would judge it (Malachi 2. 17); his silence makes you think that he is such an one as yourself (Psalm 50. 21). But tell Sin that this defeats and refutes itself and proves nothing so clearly as that sin is exceedingly sinful. If there is no sin, and no difference between good and evil, to what purpose are these different words used by Sin to prove that there is no difference? To say that it is only in imagination and not real is to deny that there is any such thing as sense and conscience, which every man admits, and no-one can deny without denying himself and God. Between good and evil there is more difference than between light and darkness, life and death, ease and pain, food and poison, and these are real, and not differences made by our fancy only. That all things come alike to all is not always true; there are contrary examples. To say that all things are alike is never true but is a manifest contradiction. To say that evil is good in God’s sight and that he is such an one as a sinner is to deny God to be, for if he is not good and
just, he is not God. But this bespeaks man to be woefully ignorant, for the flood which drowned the old world, the fire which fell from Heaven on Sodom, the judgments which God executes in the earth continually, witness that God is displeased with and the avenger of sin, just as his giving us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons is witness that he is good and does good. The fact that his sun shines and his rain falls on the unjust as well as on the just is to persuade men of his goodness which calls for repentance and which also witnesses that sin is evil.
But if sin were not exceedingly sinful, what need would it have to use all these tricks and subterfuges? If it and its deeds were not evil, why does it seek to avoid the light? Why, like a maker of counterfeit money, does it put the King of Heaven’s stamp on its base metal? Why does Jacob call himself Esau and counterfeit his brother if sin were not abominable? Why did the Gideonites pretend to have come from afar if they did not wish to be unknown? If sin were not false and a robber, why does it creep in unseen, climb up a narrow way and avoid the door? Why does it flatter and deceive? Why does it never keep its promises, but break all it ever made? It is because it is sinful sin.
I shall briefly sum up the charge against sin. That which sin is accused of and proved to be guilty of is high treason against God. It attempts nothing less than the dethroning and un-god-ing of God himself. It has unmanned man, made him a fool, a beast, a devil, and subjected him to the wrath of God, and made him liable to eternal damnation. It has made men deny that God is, or affirm that he is like themselves. It has put the Lord of Life to death and shamefully crucified the Lord of Glory. It is always resisting the Holy Ghost. It is continually practising the defiling, the dishonour, the deceiving and the destruction of all men. What a prodigious, monstrous, devilish thing is sin!
It is impossible to speak worse of sin than it really is, or even as badly of it as it really deserves, for it is hyperbolically sinful. There are not enough words; we need more, and stronger ones to speak of its vileness. And if we were to say that it is worse than death and the Devil, the very Hell of Hell, this would not be to rail at it, but tell it only the truth about itself. Sin is the quintessence of evil; it has made all the evils that there are and is itself worse than all the evils it has made. It is so evil that it is impossible to make it good or lovely by all the arts than can be used. A poison may be corrected and made medicinal, even if it is not nourishing. But sin is sin, and can be nothing else; its nature cannot be changed, not even by a pardon. It is not only ugly but ugliness, not only filthy but filthiness, not only abominable but abomination. There is not a worse thing in Hell
itself; it has not its fellow there. All this and much more may be said of and against sin.
Boston’s Fourfold State
by Rev. Angus Mackay, Tarbert
The Eternal State
We now come to the chapter on Death. The believer knows that he must meet with Death, that his soul and body must needs part, that God who has set the time will certainly keep it. Though some men will not hear of death, yet every man must see death. Death is the champion all must grapple with. What are those distempers and diseases which we are liable to, but death’s harbingers, that come to prepare his way. And the godly must die too, that as death entered by sin, sin may go out by death. It was a mortifying lesson which Saladin, when dying, gave to his soldiers. He called for his standard bearer, and ordered him to take his winding sheet upon his pike, and go out to the camp with it, and tell them that of all his conquests, victories, and triumphs, he had nothing now left him but that piece of linen to wrap his body in for burial.
Boston comforts the believer by showing him the brevity of time and the certainty of death. He says ‘Though a man’s provision for his journey be nearly spent, he is not disquieted if he thinks he is near home.’ We are exhorted to make our minds familiar with death. Now, brooding over death is not profitable at all, but it is profitable to be graciously making our minds familiar with death, and many divines along with Boston advise us on this point. Crosses and trials will not last long, because what is before us of our journey through the wilderness is not long. The world’s smiles and frowns will quickly be buried together in everlasting forgetfulness. Its smiles go away like foam on water, and its frowns are as a passing stitch in a man’s side. If you are in Christ, you may well bear your cross, death will put an end to all your troubles. If a man on a journey be not well accommodated, where he lodges for a night, he will not trouble himself much about the matter because he is not to stay there, it is not his home. O! be not anxious for what can only serve your bodies, since, ere long, the clods of the cold earth will serve for back and belly too. The finest clothes are but badges of our sin and shame, and in a little time will be exchanged for a winding sheet, when the body will become a feast to the worms. Our life in the world is but a short preface to a long eternity, and much of the tale is told.
The Fourfold State brings us to the difference between the Righteous and the Wicked in their death. “The wicked is driven away in his
wickedness, but the righteous hath hope in his death” (Proverbs 14:32). Here we read from the pen of the Lord’s eminent servant that ‘foolish virgins may, and often do, hope to the last breath’ but as for the elusive hope they entertain themselves with, death will root them up, and they shall forever be irretrievably miserable. The godly have hope in their death, and though the stream of the believer’s hope may run shallow, yet he has still so much of it as makes him venture his eternal interests upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Many are driven to darkness sleeping; they go off like lambs, who would roar like lions, did they but know what place they are going to, though the chariot in which they are drives furiously to the depths of hell, yet, they fear not, because they are fast asleep. Death strips them of the splendid robes of a fair profession, with which some of them are adorned; and turns them off the stage, in the rags of a wicked heart and life. The word ‘hypocrite’ properly signifies a stage-player, who appears to be what indeed he is not. Death comes to them with the sting in it, the sting of unpardoned guilt. Death overturns the house built on the sand, it leaves no man under the power of delusion. How the hopes of many are cut off, when they seem to themselves to be on the very threshold of heaven! It is otherwise with the godly. They have a trusty good Friend before them in the other world, Jesus Christ, their best Friend is Lord of the land to which death carries them. The Lord of the land is their husband, and their husband is the judge. When friends, in mournful mood, stand by the saint’s bedside, waiting to see him draw his last breath, his soul is waited for by the angels, to be carried into Abraham’s bosom. Death cannot even hurt their bodies, even death is to them but sleep in Jesus. Their dying is but as dying, or somewhat like dying. Death is not to them what it was to Christ Jesus their Head. It is not the venomed ruinous thing, wrapt up in the sanction of the first covenant, the thorn of guilt is pulled out of the man’s conscience. A dying day is a good day to a godly man. Yea, it is his best day, it is better to him than the most joyous day which he ever had on earth. Then comes a note of solemn warning to a believer who may have the guilt of some particular sin, unrepented of, lying on his conscience. The man who lies in a ruinous house, and awakes not till the timbers begin to crack, and the stones to drop down about his ears, may indeed get out of it safely, but not without fears of being crushed by its fall. Boston says that it is a pity that saints are so fond of life as they often are, when they ought to be always on good terms with death. ‘Surely you will live as long as you have work cut out for you by the great Master, to be done for Him in this world, and when that is at an end, it is high time to be gone’. Boston has much more to say in this
chapter of his most precious book, but time will not allow us to say more. Should there be any professing Christian who has not read the ‘Fourfold State’ let him make up his mind to read it all, and to study it prayerfully, and those of us who have read it, let us read it again, and be at it from time to time.
Then we come to the chapter on the Resurrection, based on John 5:28,29, ‘Marvel not at this, for the hour is coming in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth, they that have done good unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation.’ They are not all buried in graves, properly so called, some are burnt to ashes, some drowned and buried in the bellies of fishes, but wherever the matter or substance of which the body was composed is to be found, thence they shall come forth. We are not told when that hour will be, but that it is coming, for this, among other reasons, that we may always be ready.
At the resurrection, men shall not appear with other bodies, as to substance, than those which they now have, and which are down in the grave, but with the self-same bodies, endowed with other qualities. The trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised, and those who are alive, changed. Whether this shout, voice, and trumpet, denote some audible voice, or only the workings of Divine power, for the raising of the dead, and other awful purposes of that day, though the former seems probable, Boston will not positively determine. There is no question but this coming of the Judge of the world will be in greater majesty and terror than we can conceive. Boston supposes the soul and body of every saint, as in mutual embraces, to rejoice in each other, and triumph in their happy meeting again. And here we read of the soul sweetly and lovingly addressing the body, and the body in the same sweet manner addressing the soul.
The wicked shall be raised by the power of Christ as a just Judge, who is to render vengeance to His enemies. They shall come forth from their graves with unspeakable horror and consternation. They shall be dragged forth as so many malefactors out of a dungeon, to be led to execution, crying to the mountains and to the rocks to fall on them, and hide them from the face of the Lamb. How will they cry, roar, and tear themselves! How will the jovial companions weep and howl, and curse one another! Boston, then supposes the miserable body thus to accost the soul, and the soul to curse the body — an awful sight, as depicted here in the Fourfold State.
As to the qualities with which the bodies of the saints shall be endowed at the resurrection, the apostle tells us, they will be raised incorruptible, glorious, powerful, and spiritual (1 Cor. 15:42-44). They shall have an everlasting youth and vigour, being no more subject to the decays which age produced in this life. We here read of the beautiful and glorious faces of the saints, full of sweet agreeable majesty, and this beauty diffused through their whole bodies, fashioned like unto their Lord and Saviour’s glorious body. And we read of the marks of the Lord Jesus, and the scars of those who suffered for their Saviour; these will be badges of distinction, and add to their glory. They shall be strong without meat and drink, warm without clothes, even in perfect health without medicine, and ever fresh and vigorous though they shall never sleep, but serve Him day and night in His temple.
Boston then proceeds to the chapter on the General Judgement, based on Matthew 25:31-34, 41, 46, “When the Son of Man shall come in His glory and then He shall sit on the throne of His glory” He is also called a King, the judging of the world being an act of the royal Mediator’s kingly office. The Son of God in our nature will be the judge at that day. God, by raising Christ from the dead, has exhibited His credentials as Judge of the world. This is part of the Mediator’s exaltation, given Him in consequence of His voluntary humiliation Phil. 2:8-10. This, His coming will be a mighty surprise to the world, which will be found in deep security, foolish virgins sleeping, and the wise slumbering. There will be then much luxury and debauchery in the world, little sobriety and watchfulness, much business but a great scarcity of faith and holiness — very like our own times, 1979. The wedding day of some will be their own and the world’s judgment day. The Judge Jesus stood before a tribunal on earth, and was condemned as a malefactor, now He shall sit on his own tribunal, and judge the world. What this throne shall be, whether a bright cloud or what else, Boston says ‘I shall not inquire’ Our eyes will give an answer to that question at length. John saw a great white throne. Never had a Judge such a throne, and never had a throne such a Judge on it. The Man Christ being Judge, we shall see our Judge with our eyes. Then will many actions, commended and applauded by men, as good and just, be discovered to have been evil and abominable in the sight of God, and many works now condemned by the world, will be approved and commended by the great Judge, as good and just. The world now appears very vile in the eyes of those who are exercised to godliness, but it will then appear a thousand times more vile, when that which is done of man in secret comes to be discovered.
Boston tells us that there are four books, ‘opening the books’ Rev.
20:12, that will be opened on that day, the Judgement Day. (1) The book of remembrance, (2) the book of conscience, (3) the book of the law, and (4) the book of life. All wrongs must be righted at length, and everyone see his proper place. It was an aggravation of the misery of the Jews, when their city was destroyed, that they were ruined by one who was accounted the darling of the world. O, what an aggravation of the misery of the wicked will it be that Christ will pronounce this sentence also. To be damned by Him who came to save sinners, must be double damnation. And this sentence also, ‘Depart from me, ye, cursed,’ we suppose, will be pronounced with an audible voice, by the man Christ. We then read of the great conflagration (II Peter 3:10) not annihilation but purification. How will wretched worldings look, when the whole world will be all on fire! God has kept the day hid from us, that we may be every day ready for it. Sinner, that same Lord Christ, whom you now despise, whom you wound through the side of His messengers, and before whom you prefer your lusts, will be your Judge. The neglected Saviour will be a severe Judge. That rocky heart, which now holds out against Him, shall be blown up, that face which refuses to blush now, shall then gather blackness, arrows of wrath shall pierce where arrows of conviction cannot enter now. Will you say you were not warned. Live in a believing expectation of the coming of the Lord, so, when He comes whether in the last day of your life or in the last day of the world, ye shall be able to say with joy ‘Lo this is our God, and we have waited for Him.’
(To be continued)