[ 1697] Sin in its original easie to be found.
THere is in Italy,* 1.1 or some part of the Apennine Hills, not far from the hole Avernus, an herb called Aconitum, one of the mortallest poysons in the World, and withall so deadly, that the Poets held it too bad to be naturall, and would have it to come from some supernatural cause or curse, which not being within their compasse to apprehend,* 1.2 they therefore feigned, That when Her∣cules drew Cerberus out of Hell, look where the filthy froth and foam fell out of the ugly jawes of his troubled mouth, there grew that deadly herb, the poy∣sonous Aconite; Thus do they, poor Heathens, make a great deal of do to devise a beginning for the most earthly poyson; But for Sin, the spiritual poyson of Man's Soul, we need not go to fancies and fables to find the original matter of it; For the Holy Ghost tells us directly, That Whosoever committeth Sin, is of the Devil, 1 Ioh. 3. 8.