SERMON XXIX. THE BITTERNESS OF SIN. JEREMIAH Iv. 18. It is bitter, it reacheth to thine heart. THE prophet is here speaking of the sin of Israel; and the same may be said of sin in general, whensoever and by whomsoever it is committed: "It is bitter, it reacheth to the heart." This character belongs to it, as it is against God, a breach of his holy law, an affront to his majesty, a contempt of his authority, a contradiction to his truth, holiness, and justice, and an abuse of his goodness and mercy: or in consequence of the dreadful effects it produces on the soul, when awakened by the terrors of the law; "Mine iniquities," says David, "are gone over my head, as an heavy burden, too heavy for me to bear." Or, lastly, in reference to the more dreadful consequences of it on the impenitent sinner in the world to come. Thus Prov. v. 11, "And thou mourn at last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed; saying, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof!" To exhibit the twofold description of sin in my text, will be the subject of the following discourse. I. Sin is bitter, and it is so both comparatively and absolutely considered. 1. It is so, comparatively considered. We read of the bitterness of gall and wormwood, Deut. xxix. 18. Some bitters are palatable, but these are very nauseous. We also read of the bitterness of death, 1 Sam. xv. 23. The antecedents, concomitants, and consequences of it, make it bitter to a wicked man; and the two former have excited distressing fears of it even in good men, so that they could not be reconciled to it amidst the fullest assurances of being reconciled to God. But sin is more disgusting than gall, more loathsome than wormwood; and though death is the king of terrors, yet it is not so terrible as sin. Death, though an enemy to nature, yet is a friend to grace; but sin is an enemy to both. Death separates from intimate friends, dear relations, and earthly delights; but sin separates from heaven and God. Death brings the body down to the grave, but sin casts both body and soul into hell; so that man's greatest misery is not to die, but to die in his sins. Thus, when Solomon would express his abhorrence of a sin into which he had fallen, but now repented of, he speaks of it as "more bitter than death;" and it is probable he would rather have suffered the most painful death, nay, a thousand deaths, than again wound his conscience and provoke God. When Eudoxia, the empress, threatened Chrysostom with death, his bold answer was, "I fear nothing but sin." 2. It is so in itself, or absolutely considered. Thus Peter tells Simon Magus, that he was "in the gall of bitterness." Bitterness, in the abstract, was not sufficiently expressive, and therefore he adds the word gall, to give the greater force to the description, as if he had said, Thou art in the bitterness of bitterness. Thus, "it is an evil thing and bitter that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God." Now sin may be said to be bitter, (1.) Because it is exceedingly distateful to God. Hence, his soul is said to hate it; and, indeed, he hates no creature but for sin, and nothing in the creature but sin. It robs man of his image, and himself of his glory. It is particularly levelled against him, and therefore particularly hateful to him. "Against thee, thee only, have I sinned," says David, "and done this evil in thy sight." Though the saints are is poodness and Derry the treatn., efers to produces on the by the remors of the law: - Mne Le side over by bead, ss 1 for me to bear. Or. Lastly, in real consequences of it on the wild to come. aast when thy flesh and thy body are Thus Prov. v. 11, have I hated instruction, and my H T T exhibit the twofold descriptext, w: be the subject of the following tter, and it is so both comparatively and 1. It is se. comparatively considered. We read of the Some read of the bitterness of death, 1 Sam. xv. 23. The antecedents, concomitants, and consequences of it, make it bitter to a wicked man; and the two former have excited distressing fears of it even in good men, so that they could not be reconciled to it amidst the fullest assurances of being reconciled to God. But sin is more disgusting than gall, more loathsome than wormwood; and though death is the king of terrors, yet it is not so terrible as sin. Death, though an enemy to nature, yet is a friend to grace; but sin is an enemy to both. Death separates from intimate friends, dear relations, and earthly delights; but sin separates from heaven and God. Death brings the body down to the grave, but sin casts both body and soul into hell; so that man's greatest misery is not to die, but to die in his sins. Thus, when Solomon would express his abhorrence of a sin into which he had fallen, but now repented of, he speaks of it as "more bitter than death;" and it is probable he would rather have suffered the most painful death, nay, a thousand deaths, than again wound his conscience and provoke God. When Eudoxia, the empress, threatened Chrysostom with death, his bold answer was, "I fear nothing but sin." 2. It is so in itself, or absolutely considered. Thus Peter tells Simon Magus, that he was "in the gall of bitterness." Bitterness, in the abstract, was not sufficiently expressive, and therefore he adds the word gall, to give the greater force to the description, as if he had said, Thou art in the bitterness of bitterness. Thus, "it is an evil thing and bitter that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God." Now sin may be said to be bitter, (1.) Because it is exceedingly distateful to God. Hence, his soul is said to hate it; and, indeed, he hates no creature but for sin, and nothing in the creature but sin. It robs man of his image, and himself of his glory. It is particularly levelled against him, and therefore particularly hateful to him. "Against thee, thee only, have I sinned," says David, "and done this evil in thy sight." Though the saints are Hence he is said to send his Son into the world to condemn sin; that is, to show the evil of it, and his just indignation against it. In the sufferings of Christ, as in a mirror, we may see how hateful and offensive a thing sin is to God. (2.) Sin, whether in themselves or others, is very odious to God's people. It is so in themselves. The good man hates sin, and himself for sin. "I abhor myself," says Job; “I repent in dust and ashes." This made the apostle Paul cry out, "O wretched man that I am!" and that amidst all the blessings bestowed upon him as a Christian, and the honours conferred upon him as a minister; and it is so in others. It fills them with sorrow and distress. "Sigh, thou son of man," says God to the Prophet Ezekiel," with the breaking of thy loins, and with bitterness sigh before their eyes." It also excites their resentment and indigna"Do not I hate them that hate thee?" says David; "I hate them with perfect hatred;" that is, not their persons, but their practices, as it is expressed in another place: "I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me." tion. (3.) In the wicked themselves, it makes work for a bitter repentance, either in this world or in the next. If a man's iniquities take hold of him in this world, they will plunge him into such agonies of distress, as to make him cry out with Cain, "My punishment is greater than I can bear;" however, it may be said of it, as it is of the sword, that "it will be bitterness in the latter end." "Her end," says Solomon of a strange woman, "is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword." If sin does not bring us low in godly sorrow, it will bring us low in everlasting sorrow; after it has dragged us through all the evil of this present life, deceived, disappointed, and tormented us a thousand times, instead of releasing us in the next, it will bind us hand and foot, and throw us into utter darkness. "The end of those things is death." Death without death; an extinction of comfort without an extinction of being. The pleasure of sin is but for a moment, the punishment of it shall be for |