One foul sin spoyleth a great deal of grace. [ 805]
WOuld it not vex a Scrivener,* 1.1 after he had spent many daies, and taken much pains, upon a large Patent or Lease, to make such a blot at the last word, that he should be forced to write it all over again? Yet so it is, that one foul and enormous crime, dasheth and obliterateth the fairest copy of a vertuous life; it razeth all the golden characters of divine graces, printed in the soul. As one drop of ink coloureth a whole glasse of clear water, so one sinfull and shamefull action, staineth all the f••rmer good life. All our fastings and prayers, all our sufferings for righteousnesse, all the good thoughts we ever conceived, all the good words we ever uttered, all the good works we ever performed, are lost at the very instant of our recidivation.