Saints memorials, or, Words fitly spoken, like apples of gold in pictures of silver being a collection of divine sentences / written and delivered by those late reverend and eminent ministers of the gospel, Mr. Edmund Calamy, Mr. Joseph Caryl, Mr. Ralph Venning, Mr. James Janeway.

THE SINNER'S Character, Arraignment and Punishment: BY Mr. RALPH VENNING, IN Divers Sentential and Experimental DIVINE SAYINGS.

SIn is contrary to God.

Sinners are called enemies to God.

And sin is called enmity it self, as being contrary to God.

It makes men walk contrary to God, revelling, rising up against, and contending with God.

Hence men hate God, resist God, sight and blasphame God,

And Atheistically say there is no God. Sin would ungod God.

Sin is by some of the Antients called, God-murther, or God-kil∣ling.

All these are in the nature of e∣very sin more or less, but are all of

them in the heart of all sinners (in their Seed and Root.) &c.

Hence sin is not onely High-Treason against the Majesty of God, but it scorns to confess its Crime.

God is glorious in Holiness•• Sin on the contrary is all sinful, only sinful, altogether sinful.

As in God there is no evil, so in sin there is no good.

God is the chiefest of goods, and sin is the chiefest of evils.

As no good can be compared with God for goodness, so no evil can be compared with sin for evil.

Sin opposes all Gods Names and Attributes.

It deposeth God's Soveraignty; it will not that the King of Kings should be in the Throne.

Pharaoh spake the Language of sin: I know no Lord above me.

Sin denies God's all-sufficiencie as if there were more in sinful plea∣sures than in him.

Sin dares God's justice, and chal∣lenges God to do his worst: it pro∣vokes the Lord to jealousie, and tempts him to wrath.

Sin disowns God's omniscience: Tush, say sinners, God sees not.

Sin despises the Riches of God's goodness.

Sin turns all God's Grace into wantonness: sin is the dare of God's Justice, the rape of his Mercie, the jear of his Patience, the slight of his Power, and the contempt of his Love.

Sin is the upbraid of his Provi∣dence, the scoff of his Promise, and the reproach of his Wisdom.

Sin is contrary to God's works, and is called the Devil's work.

God's works were good, and ex∣ceedingly beautiful:

But the works of sin are defor∣med and monstrous ugly.

Sin may be impleaded for all the mischiefs and villanies that have been done in the world.

'Tis the Master of Mis-Rule, the Author of Sedition, the Builder of Babel, the Troubler of Israel and all mankind.

Sin is contrary to God's Law and Will, to all the Rules and Orders of his appointment.

Sin is not only a transgression of, but a contradiction also of the Will of God.

Sin is an Anti-Will to God's Will.

David in fulfilling of God's Will, was said to be a man after God's own heart; and they that obey the will of sin, are said to wall•• after the heart of sin.

Sin is contrary to God's Image wherein man was made; sin is as unlike God's Image, as Darkness is to Light, as Hell to heaven, yea, and more too; sin is the Devil's I∣mage.

Such as the Devil and his Angels are, who once knew good, but now know evil, both by doing it, and suffering the sad effects of it.

Thus he that runs may read the Picture, Image and likeness of the Devil in sin: sinners are as like the Devil as any thing.

Sin is contrary to the Children of God: they are near and dear to God; God's heart is set upon them for good, and sin sets its heart against them for evil.

Sin is always warring against the Seed of God in them.

By sins ill will, God's people should neither enjoy nor do any good in the world.

Sin, like the Devil, hath not such an evil eye, or aking tooth at all the sinners of the world, as it hath at the Saints in the world.

The Devil is a Man-hater, but more a Saint-hater.

Sin is contrary to, and set against the Glory of God.

Faith would give Glory to God: now that men may not believe, sin imploys the Devil to blinde their eyes.

Good men would do all they do (sin will let them do nothing at all) to the Glory of God.

Sin is contrary to, and opposite against the being and existence of God. It makes the sinner wish and endeavour that there might be no God: for sinners are haters of God.

And as he that hates his Brother is a murtherer, so (as much as in him lies) he that hates God is a murtherer of God.

What's said of sin, (is to be con∣sidered by the sinner, and) is meant of thine and my sin.

Poor Soul! canst thou finde in thine heart to hug and imbrace such a Monster as this is?

Wilt thou love that which hates God, and which God hates?

Wilt thou joyn thy self to that which is nothing but contrariety to God and all that's good?

Oh, say to this Idol, yea to this Devil, Get hence, what have I to do with thee, thou Childe, yea Fa∣ther of the Devil?

Thou that art the founder of Hell, an enemy to all Righteous∣ness, that ceasest not to pervert the right ways of the Lord.

Sin is contrary to the good of man; it is a separation betwixt God and man.

The Commandment of which sin is a transgression was given not onely for God's sake, that he might have glory from man's Obedience; but for man's sake, that man might enjoy the good and benefit of his Obedience.

These two were twisted together, and no sooner is the Law transgrest, but God and Man are joynt-suffer∣ers; God in his Glory, and Man in his Good.

Man's suffering follows at the heels of sin; yea, as he suffers by, so in sinning: suffering and sinning involve each other.

No sooner did sin enter into the world, but Death (which is a pri∣vation of good) did enter by it, with it, and in it.

For 'tis the sting of Death: so that sin saith, Here is Death; and death faith, Here is Sin.

No sooner did Angels sin, but they fell from their first State and Habitation which they had with God in Glory; not a moment be∣tween their sin and misery.

And as soon as man had sinned, his Conscience told him that he was naked, and destitute of Righteous∣ness and Protection.

Sin crosseth Glory, and is cross to man's Happiness.

Sin is against the good of man's body; it hath corrupted his blood,

and made his body mortal, and thereby rendered it a vile body.

Our bodies, though made of dust, were yet more pretious than fine Gold; but when we sinned, they became vile bodies.

Before sin, our bodies were im∣mortal. (For death and mortality came in by sin.)

But now alas they must return to dust, and it's appointed to all men once to dye; (and 'tis well but once, and the second death have no power over them:) they must see corruption or a change.

Sin is against the good of man's Soul: 'Tis not very ill with a man, if it be well with his Soul; but it can never be well with a man, if it be ill with his Soul.

So that we can more easily and cheaply dye than be damned; and may better venture our bodies to suffering, than our souls to sin∣ning.

Nothing but sin doth wrong a man's Soul, and there is no sin but doth it.

Sin is against man's well-being in

this life. Well-being is the life of life; and sin bears us so much ill will, that it deprives us of our live∣lyhood.

Man came into the world as into an house ready furnished; he had all things ready and prepared to his hands.

All the Creatures came to wait on him, and payd him Homage; but when man sinned, God turn'd him out of house and home, like a Pilgrim, a Begger.

Ever since it hath been every man's lot to come into and go out of this world naked.

When Christ came into the world for the recovery of man, and stood as in the sinner's stead, he had not where to lay his head.

Though Christ were Lord of all, yet if he will come in the likeness of sinful flesh, he must speed not like the Son of God, but Son of man.

Sin is against that good which God left us, and fills it with vanity and vexation, with bitterness and a curse.

God left Adam many Acres of land to till and husband, but he hath it with a curse; sweat and sor∣row, many a grieving Bryer and pricking Thorn stick fast to him.

God left him ground enough, but 'tis curst ground: sin is so en∣vious, it would leave man nothing.

And if God be so good as to leave man any thing, sins eye is e∣vil because God is good, and puts a sting in it.

Sin is against man's rest; 'tis a sore Travel which the Sons of men have under the Sun.

Man's ground is overgrown with Thorns, that he hath many an aking head and heart,

Many a sore hand and foot (be∣fore the year come about) to get a little livelyhood out of this sin∣cursed ground.

Sin, curse, and toil, keep com∣pany.

Sin is against man's comfort and joy: In sorrow shalt thou eat all the days of they life: not one whole merry day.

The woman hath a peculiar sort

and share of sorrow: for the time of conception, breeding, bearing and birth, are tedious.

Sin is against man's health: hence come all diseases and sicknesses: till sin there were no such things.

Let a man take the best Air he can, and eat the best food he can; let him eat and drink by rule, let him take never so many Antidotes, Preservatives and Cordials, yet man is but a crazie sickly thing for all this.

Sin is against the quiet of a man's natural Conscience: for it wounds the spirit, and makes it intole∣rable.

A merry heart doth good like a Medicine; (no Cordial like it:) but a broken spirit drieth the bones, and sucks away the marrow.

A good Conscience is a continual Feast, but sin mars all the Mirth.

Sin is against the Beauty of man, it takes away the loveliness of mens very Complexions.

Sin is against the loving cohabi∣tation of Soul and Body; it hath sowed discord betwixt them.

Many a falling out is there be∣tween Soul & body, between Sense & Reason; they draw several ways.

Sin is against man's relative good in this world.

That which was made for a help, proves but too often an hindrance. Sin hath spoil'd Society.

One man is a Wolf, yea a Devil to another.

Sin will not let Husband and Wife, Parents and Children to live quietly.

Sin breeds Divisions, Factions in Church and State; that there is little of Union or Order.

Sin is against the very being of man: How many doth it strangle in the Womb? How many doth it send from the Cradle to the Grave?

And after a few days, which are but as a span, sin lays all in the dust.

Sin hath reduc'd man's Age from almost a thousand to seventy.

He that's born to day, is not sure to live a day.

Sin is against all the good of man in this life.

Sin hath degraded man by defi∣ling him, and almost unman'd him.

Man was a very noble thing, made a little lower than the Angels; but alas, by sin he's made almost as low as Devils.

Sin hath rob'd man of his pri∣mitive Excellence; of a Lord, he is become a servant, yea a slave to Creatures, to Devils, and Lusts of all sorts.

Sin defiles his Body: The Flesh is filthy, the Body is a Body of sin, the Members are servants to un∣cleanness.

Take man from head to foot, from the crown of that to the sole of this, there's no whole (because not holy) part in him.

Their Mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; with their Tongues they use deceit; the Poyson of Asps is under their Lips; their Throat is an open Sepulchre; Eyes full of Adultery; Eye-lids haughty; Ears dull of hearing, yea deaf as the Adder; the Forehead impudent as a Brow of brass; both Hands are employ'd to work Iniquity; Belly

an Idol-God, the Feet swift to shed blood.

Look within, their inward part is wickedness; the Gall is a Gall of bitterness; the Spleen is affe∣cted, yea infected with Envy and Malice.

Sin defiles the Soul: God's I∣mage was more in and o•• the Soul than Body of man, and Sin's Ambi∣tion and Envy is to deprive the Soul of this Image.

Righteousness and Holiness were stamped upon man's Soul, but sin hath blotted this Image and Super∣scription, which once told from whence it came.

It must be new created or renew∣ed before God own it for his, be∣cause till then his Image is not legible.

The Flood which washt away so many sinners, could not wash away sin; the same heart remains after the Flood as before.

Sin hath deceived the Heart: hardned Obstinacie, vain Folly and Madness, vain Thoughts and Villanous, bubble and break forth

from this corrupt Fountain that sets the Tongue on fire from Hell.

The Conscience is become evil, and in many feared.

Sin hath almost put out man's eye, and even extinguished the Candle of the Lord.

Sin hath dimmed and benighted man's leading faculty, the Under∣standing, which should shew a man the difference between good and evil.

Sin blinds the sinner, and makes him grope as the blinded Sodomites to finde the door of Hope.

Man hath lost his way, since he lost his eyes; poor man catcheth at every straw, grasps every tri∣fle.

Sinners are ever and most stum∣bling at Christ Jesus; they are of∣fended at him, but cannot tell for what.

Would a man be led by a Dog if he were not blinde?

Blinde Guides, dumb Dogs, false Prophets, lead sinners into theDitch of Sin, and the Dungeon of Hell.

Till a man fear God, he doth but

play the fool; he is as the Prodigal, beside himself: The representative of sinners and converts.

Man's folly, to think like a fool, unsteadily and rowling, indepen∣dantly and broken, at random and rovers.

Sin hath made man like a beast, yea not like to, but a beast; the Man of sin, the great Antichrist, is called a beast; and the great ones that Daniel saw in his Vision, are cal∣led beasts.

Sinners in Scripture are call'd ten or eleven times brutish.

Sinful man is like the beast in ignorance, Man, though he sit at the upper end of the world, as the Antichristian beast doth, is but a bruit that hath no understanding.

Sinful man is like the beast in sensuality; as if he were onely Belly-wise, and had no Soul to minde.

Sinful man is like the beast in his unsociableness, and unsuitableness for Society and Communion with God and men.

Good men are as shie of con∣versing

with such, as with beasts.

Sinners are likened to the worst of hurtful beasts, such as in Scripture are call'd hurtful beasts; to Lyons, Tygers, Boars, and Bears, the ill-qualited and ill-condition'd Crea∣tures.

Wicked men are likened to Goats for lustfulness and wantonness, so are sinners: the Lust of the Flesh, the Lust of the Eye, are the things they are taken with.

Wicked men are likened to Goats for stinking: a Goatish smell is a stinking smell.

Wicked men are likened to Goats for their bold and adventurousness; they climb Rocks and Precipices, to brouse and feed on what they can get with hazard: and in this, sinners are like them too in running ha∣zards.

Sinners are likened to Dogs, and 'tis a common name to sinners▪ With∣out are Dogs.

Sin separates the sinner from God, they are without God; sinners are said to be afar off, for they depart from God, and go into a far Country.

Sin separates the sinner from the sight of God.

Our happiness lies so much in the sight of God, that it hath the name of the beatifical Vision.

Sin hath separated the sinner from the life of God, such a life as God lives.

Sin hath separated the sinner from the love of God, and made him the object of his wrath.

Sin hath separated the sinner from Communion with God: God and man kept company, while man and holiness kept company.

Sin hath separated the sinner from Covenant-relation with God.

They are without God, Promise and Covenant.

Sin in robbing man of God, it hath robbed him of all things.

God hides his face from sinners whose loving kindness is better than life.

The sinner turns the back to God, and God turns the back to him.

God hears not the sinner's Pray∣ers. God is a God hearing Prayers

but sin shuts out their shouting and howling.

The sinner is without strength; man's great strength is in Union with God, separation weakens him. To be a sinner, is to be without strength.

Man was once a Sampson for strength; but having parted with his Locks, his strength is departed from him.

Man by Reason of sin is in death often in this life: but in the life to come, he's in death for ever.

God damns no man but for sin; death is but sin's wages.

Heaven and Salvation is not more surely promis'd to the one, than Hell and Damnation is threat∣ned to, and shall be executed on the other.

Oh, who knows the Power of God's Wrath? None but damned ones.

Damnation is a denial of good to, and inflicting of evil upon sin∣ners.

Woe unto you, says God, when I depart from you; but woe, woe,

woe will it be when sinners depart from God!

Sinner's company are the Devil and his Angels, tormented in ever∣lasting fire with a curse.

Neither shall the sinner nor the fire know an end.

When once a man is damned, he may bid adieu to all good.

Stately Houses, spread Tables, full Cups, soft Beds, pleasant Walks, delightful Gardens fill'd with fra∣grant and odoriferous Fruits and Flowers, none of these will descend with them.

When Devils fetch away their Souls, whose shall all these things be?

To have a Portion of this world may be a Mercie, but to have the world for a Portion is a Misery.

To have all good things in this life, and but for this life, is a Misery indeed.

The impenitent sinner goes from all his good to all evil; but the Saint goes from all his evil (and but from a little good) to all good.

Who would not part with Coun∣ters for Gold; with a World for Heaven?

This the Saint doth, and 'tis a good exchange I trow.

The wicked spend their days in mirth, and have a brave time on't, as they think; they sing Care away all the day long.

Heaven will not hold any of the wicked, nor shall Hell have any of the righteous to hold.

The wicked must be not onely without their hopes of Heaven, but without Heaven which they hoped for.

They gloried in their shame in this world; and they shall have shame enough, but no glory in the world to come.

They must suffer the loss of God himself, who is the Heaven of Hea∣ven.

All good things are but as a drop to the Ocean, in comparison of him.

The sinner's estate is unalterable when once damned; the door is shut, 'tis in vain to knock; the day,

offers and means of grace is at an end.

God's long-suffering will suffer no longer; though thou should'st weep out thine eyes in Hell, 'twill, stand thee in no stead.

What think you sinner now, is not sin exceeding sinful, that se∣parates from all good, past, present, and to come?

Who that hath not been in Hell, can tell what Hell is? Who would go thither to try what 'tis?

Take the dregs of all the Mise∣ries of this life, and it will fall infi∣nitely short of this misery, Damna∣tion.

A burning Feavour is nothing to burning in Hell.

Hell would be a kinde of Para∣dise, if 'twere no worse than the worst of this world.

The life that Saints obtain, sin∣ners go without; and the misery that Saints are delivered from, sin∣ners are deliver'd to.

As different as grief is from joy, as torment is from rest, as terrour from peace; so different is the

state of sinners from that of Saints in the world to come.

'Twill be punishment without pity, misery without mercie, sorrow without succour, crying without comfort, and torment without ease.

Conscience accuses, Devils tor∣ment, Hope is departed, and Time is for ever.

Hell is a place and state of Sor∣row;

A place and state of Pains and Pangs.

To be in Hell, is to be de∣stroy'd.

'Tis a place and state of fire.

Damnation is in it.

'Tis the place of torment.

Hell is all these, and much more.

Hell is call'd a Prison, and the worst.

Hell is call'd the bottomless Pit, into which sinners will be ever falling, for there's no bottom.

Hell is call'd a Furnace of fire; they that are sin-makers by Trade shall be cast into it.

It's call'd a Lake with fire and brimstone.

Hell is a place of darkness; those flames will administer heat of Wrath, but no light of Comfort.

Hell is a state of Damnation.

Hell is a place of Destructi∣on.

Hell is an accursed State.

Damnation is call'd the second Death, a living Death, a Death that never dyes.

Hell-Torments will be exceeding great.

None but damned Souls know the power of God's Wrath.

Hell is the Centre of all punish∣ments; Sorrow and Pain, Wrath and Vengeance, Fire and Darkness, all are there.

The damned will be universally tormented, not one or two parts, but all, and all over, both Soul and Body; the Eye with sight of De∣vils, the Ear with hideous Cries, the Smell with the sent of unsavoury Brimstone, the Tast with the Dregs of the Cup of God's Wrath, the Feeling with burning Flames.

The Soul and all its faculties will speed no better; the Under∣standing

will be tormented with Truth, the Conscience with a gnawing Worm, the Will that men think here a princely thing, there they'll finde it a devilish thing.

Hell-Torments will be without intermission, there's no sleeping there.

Needs there any more, sinner, to fright thee from sinning, which is the way to damnation?

For thy Soul's sake, hear, and fear, and do no more wickedly.

Oh, if thou should'st go from reading of Hell, into Hell, thou would'st say, there was a Prophet; I would not believe it, but now I feel it.