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SUBJECT: 08 GEN 19:20 Little Sins
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Little Sins
April 17th, 1859
by
C. H. SPURGEON
1834-1892
"Is it not a little one?"-- Gen_19:20.
These words we shall take for a motto, rather than a text in the ordinary
acceptation of that term. I shall not this morning attempt to explain the
connection. It was the utterance of Lot, when he pleaded for the
salvation of Zoar; but I shall take it altogether away from the
connection in which it stands, and make use of it in another fashion.
The great Father of Lies hath multitudes of devices by which he seeks
to ruin the souls of men. He uses false weights and false balances in
order to deceive them. Sometimes he uses false times, declaring at one
hour that it is too early to seek the Lord, and at another that it is now
too late. And he uses false quantities, for he will declare that great sins
are but little, and as for what he confesses to be little sins, he makes
them afterwards to be nothing at all--mere peccadilloes, almost worthy
of forgiveness in themselves. Many souls, I doubt not, have been
caught in this trap, and being snared thereby, have been destroyed.
They have ventured into sin where they thought the stream was
shallow, and, fatally deceived by its depth, they have been swept away
by the strength of the current to that cataract which is the ruin of such
vast multitudes of the souls of men.
It shall be my business this morning to answer this temptation, and try
to put a sword in your hands wherewith to resist the enemy when he
shall come upon you with this cry;-- "Is it not a little one?" and tempt
you into sin because he leads you to imagine that there is but very little
harm in it. "Is it not a little one?"
With regard then to this temptation of Satan concerning the littleness of
sin, I would make this first answer, the best of men have always been
afraid of little sins. The holy martyrs of God have been ready to endure
the most terrible torments rather than step so much as one inch aside
from the road of truth and righteousness. Witness Daniel: when the
king's decree went forth that no man should worship God for such and
such a time, nevertheless he prayed three times a day as aforetime, with
his window open towards Jerusalem, not fearing the king's commandment. Why
could he not have retired into an inner chamber?
Why might he not have ceased from vocal prayer, and have kept his
petitions in his thought and in his heart? Would he not have been as
well accepted as when he kneeled as usual, with the window open, so
that all the world might see him? Ah! but Daniel judged that little as the
offence might seem, he would rather suffer death at the jaws of the lion,
than he would by that little offence provoke the anger of his God, or
lead men to blaspheme his holy name, because his servant had been
afraid to obey. Mark, too, the three holy children. They are asked by
king Nebuchadnezzar simply to bend the knee and worship the golden
image which he had set up. How slight the homage! One bend of the
knee, and all is done. One prostration, and they may go their way
safely. Not so. They will not worship the golden image which the king
has set up. They can burn for God, but they cannot turn from God.
They can suffer, but they will not sin; and though all the world might
have excused them with the plea of expediency, if they had performed
that one little act of idol worship, yet they will not do it, but would
rather be exposed to the fury of a furnace, seven times heated, than
commit an offence against the Most High. So also among the early
Christians. You may have read of that noble warrior for Christ, Martin
Arethusa, the bishop. He had led the people to pull down the idol
temple in the city over which he presided; and when the apostate
emperor Julian came to power, he commanded the people to rebuild the
temple. They were bound to obey on pain of death. But Arethusa all the
while lifted up his voice against the evil they were doing, until the
wrath of the king fell upon him of a sudden. He was, however, offered
his life on condition that he would subscribe so much as a single half
penny towards the building of the temple; nay, less than that, if he
would cast one grain of incense into the censer of the false god he
might escape. But he would not do it. He feared God, and he would not
do the most tiny little sin to save his life. They therefore exposed his
body, and gave him up to the children to prick him with knives; then
they smeared him with honey, and he was exposed to wasps and stung
to death. But all the while the grain of incense he would not give. He
could give his body to wasps, and die in the most terrible pains, but he
could not, he would not, he dared not sin against God. A noble
example!
Now, brethren, if men have been able to perceive so much of sin in
little transgressions, that they would bear inconceivable tortures rather
than commit them, must there not be something dreadful after all in the
thing of which Satan says, "Is it not a little one?" Men, with their eyes
well opened by divine grace, have seen a whole hell slumbering in the
most minute sin. Gifted with a microscopic power, their eyes have seen
a world of iniquity hidden in a single act, or thought, or imagination of
sin; and hence they have avoided it with horror,-- have passed by and
would have nought to do with it. But if the straight road to heaven be
through flames, through floods, through death itself, they had sooner go
through all these torments than turn one inch aside to tread an easy and
an erroneous path. I say this should help us when Satan tempts us to
commit little sins,--this should help us to the answer, "No, Satan, if
God's people think it great, they know better than thou dost. Thou art a
deceiver; they are true. I must shun all sin, even though thou sayest it is
but little." It may be further answered, in reply to this temptation of
Satan with regard to little sins, thus:-- "Little sins lead to great ones.
Satan! thou biddest me commit a small iniquity. I know thee whom
thou art, thou unholy one! Thou desirest me to put in the thin end of the
wedge. Thou knowest when that is once inserted thou canst drive it
home, and split my soul in twain. Nay, stand back! Little though the
temptation be, I dread thee, for thy little temptation leads to something
greater, and thy small sin makes way for something worse."
We all see in nature how easily we may prove this,--that little things
lead to greater things. If it be desired to bridge a gulf, it is often the
custom to shoot an arrow, and cross it with a line almost as thin as film.
That line passes over and a string is drawn after it, and after that some
small rope, and after that a cable, and after that the swinging suspension
bridge, that makes a way for thousands. So it is oft times with Satan. It
is but a thought that he would shoot across the mind. That thought shall
carry a desire; that desire a look; that look a touch; that touch a deed;
that deed a habit; and that habit something worse, until the man, from
little beginnings, shall be swamped and drowned in iniquity. Little
things, we say, lead on to something worse. And thus it has always
been. A spark is dropped by some unwary traveller amidst the dry grass
of the prairie. It is but a spark; "Is it not a little one?" A child's foot
may tread it out; one drop from the rain-cloud may quench it. But ah! what
sets the prairie in a blaze? what bids the rolling waves of flame drive
before them all the beasts of the field? what is it that consumes the
forest, locking it in its fiery arms? what is it that burns down the
habitation of man, or robs the reaper of his harvest? It is this solitary
spark,--the one spark--the breeder of the flames. So is it with little sins.
Keep them back Oh Satan! They be sparks, but the very fire of hell is
only a growth from them. The spark is the mother of conflagration, and
though it be a little one I can have nought to do with it. Satan always
begins with us as he did with Achan. He showed Achan, first of all, a
goodly Babylonish garment, and a wedge of gold. Achan looked at it:
was it not a little thing to do,--to look? Achan touched it: was not that a
little thing? How slight a sin--to touch the forbidden thing! He takes it,
and carries it away to his tent, and--here is worse,-- he hides it. And at
length he must die for the awful crime. Oh! take heed of those small
beginnings of sin. Beginnings of sin are like the letting out of water:
first, there is an ooze; then a drip; then a slender stream; then a vein of
water; and then, at last, a flood: and a rampart is swept before it, a
continent is drowned. Take heed of small beginnings, for they lead to
worse. There was never a man yet that came to the gallows but
confessed that he began with small thefts;--the stealing of a book at
school--the pilfering, afterwards, from his master's till leading to the
joining of the gang of robbers,--the joining of the gang of robbers
leading to worse crimes and, at last, the deed was done, the murder was
committed, which brought him to an ignominious death. Little sins
often act as burglars do;-- burglars sometimes take with them a little
child; they put the little child into a window that is too small for them
to enter, and then he goes and opens the door to let in the thieves. So do
little sins act. They are but little ones, but they creep in, and they open
the door for great ones. A traitor inside the camp may be but a dwarf,
and may go and open the gates of the city and let in a whole army.
Dread sin; though it be never so small, dread it. You cannot see all that
is in it. It is the mother of ten thousand mischiefs. The mother of
mischief, they say, is as small as a midge's egg; and certainly, the
smallest sin has ten thousand mischiefs sleeping within its bowels.
Augustine gives a picture of how far men will go when they once
begin to sin. There was a man who in argument declared that the devil
made flies; "Well," said the man with whom he was arguing, "If the
devil made flies, then it is but little more to say the devil made worms!"
"Well" said the other, "I believe it." " Well" said the man, " If the devil
made worms, how do you know but what he made small birds?"
"Well," said the other, " It is likely he did!" "Well," resumed the man
with whom he was arguing, "But if he made small birds, why may he
not have made big ones? And if he made big birds, why may he not
have made man? And if he made man, why may he have not made the
world?" "You see," says St. Augustine, "By one admission, by once
permitting the devil to be thought the creator of a fly, the man came to
believe that the devil was the Creator." Just get one small error into
your minds, get one small evil into your thoughts, commit one small act
of sin in your life, permit these things to be dandled, and fondled,
favoured, petted, and treated with respect, and you cannot tell
whereunto they may grow. They are small in their infancy: they will be
giants when they come to their full growth. Thou little knowest how
near thy soul may be to destruction, when thou wantonly indulgest in
the smallest act of sin!
Another argument may be used to respond to this temptation of the
devil. He says, "Is it not a little one?" "Yes," we reply, "But little sins
multiply very fast." Like all other little things, there is a marvellous
power of multiplication in little sins. As for murder, it is a masterly sin;
but we do not often hear of it compared with the multitude of minor
sins. The smaller the guilt, the more frequent it becomes. The elephant
hath but a small progeny and multiplieth slowly. But the aphis hath
thousands springing from it within an hour. It is even so with little sins:
they multiply rapidly, beyond all thought--one becomes the mother of
multitudes. And, mark this, little sins are as mighty for mischief in their
multitude, as if they were greater sins. Have you ever read the story of
the locusts when they sweep through a land? I was reading but
yesterday of a missionary who called all the people together when he
heard that the locusts where coming up the valley; and kindling huge
fires, they hoped to drive off the living stream. The locusts were but
small; but it seemed as if the whole of the blazing fires were quenched--
they marched over the dead and burning bodies of their comrades, and
on they went, one living stream. Before them everything was green,
like the garden of Eden; behind them everything was dry and desert.
The vines were barked, the trees had lost every leaf, and stretched their
naked arms to the sky, as if winter had rent away their foliage. There
was not then so much as a single blade of grass, or sprig upon the tree,
that even a goat might have eaten. The locusts had done all this, and left
utter devastation in their track. Why this? The locust is but a little
thing! Ay, but in their number how mighty they become! Dread then a
little sin, for it will be sure to multiply. It is not one, it is many of
these little sins. The plague of lice, or the plague of flies in Egypt, was
perhaps the most terrible that the Egyptians ever felt. Take care of those
little insect sins which may be your destruction. Surely if you are led to
feel them, and to groan under them, and to pray to God for deliverance
from them, it may be said that in your preservation is the finger of God.
But let these sins alone, let them increase and multiply, and your misery
is near at hand. Listen not then to the evil voice of Satan when he cries,
"Is it not a little one?"
Years ago there was not a single thistle in the whole of Australia. Some
Scotchman who very much admired thistles--rather more than I do--
thought it was a pity that a great island like Australia should be without
that marvellous and glorious symbol of his great nation. He, therefore,
collected a packet of thistle-seeds, and sent it over to one of his friends
in Australia. Well, when it was landed, the officers might have said,
"Oh, let it in; 'is it not a little one?' Here is but a handful of thistle-
down, oh, let it come in; it will be but sown in a garden--the Scotch will
grow it in their gardens; they think it a fine flower, no doubt,--let them
have it, it is but meant for their amusement." Ah, yes, it was but a little
one; but now whole districts of country are covered with it, and it has
become the farmer's pest and plague. It was a little one; but, all the
worse for that, it multiplied and grew. If it had been a great evil, all men
would have set to work to crush it. This little evil is not to be
eradicated, and of that country it may be said till doomsday,-- "Thorns
and thistles shall it bring forth." Happy would it have been if the ship
that brought that seed had been wrecked. No boon is it to those of our
countrymen there on the other side of the earth, but a vast curse. Take
heed of the thistle-seed; little sins are like it. Take care they are not
admitted into your heart. Endeavour to shun them as soon as Satan
presents them. Go, seek by the grace of God and his Holy Spirit to keep
them away; for if not, these little sins will multiply so fast, that they
will be your ruin and destruction.
Once again; little sins, after all, if you look at them in another aspect,
are great. A little sin involves a great principle. Suppose that to-morrow
the Austrians should send a body of men into Sardinia. If they only
send a dozen it would be equal to a declaration of war. It may be said,
"Is it not a little one?--a very small band of soldiers that we have sent?"
"Yes," it would be replied, "but it is the principle of the thing. You
cannot be allowed with impunity to send your soldiers across the
border. War must be proclaimed, because you have violated the
frontier, and invaded the land." It is not necessary to send a hundred
thousand troops into a country to break a treaty. It is true the breach of
the treaty may appear to be small; but if the slightest breach be allowed,
the principle is gone. There is very much more in principle than men
imagine. In a sin against God, it is not so much the thing itself as the
principle of the thing at which God looks; and the principle of
obedience is as much broken, as much dishonoured by a little sin as by
a great sin. O man! the Creator hath made thee to obey him. Thou
breakest his law; thou sayst it is but a little breach. Still it is a breach.
The law is broken. Thou art disobedient. His wrath abideth on thee. The
principle of obedience is compromised in thy smallest transgression,
and, therefore, is it great. Besides, I don't know whether the things
Christian men call little sins are not, after all, greater than what they
call great sins, in some respects. If you have a friend, and he does you a
displeasure for the sake of ten thousand pounds, you say, "Well, he had
a very great temptation. It is true he has committed a great fault, but
still he has wronged me to some purpose." But suppose your friend
should vex and grieve your mind for the sake of a farthing; what would
you think of that? "This is wanton," you would say. "This man has done
it out of sheer malevolence toward me." Now, if Adam had been denied
by his Maker the whole of Paradise, and had been put into a stony
desert, I do not think that, had he taken all Paradise to himself, there
would have been more sin in that act, than when placed in the midst of
the garden, he simply stole one fruit from the forbidden tree. The
transgression involved a great principle, because he did it wantonly. He
had so little to gain, he had so much to lose when he dishonored God. It
has been said, that to sin without temptation is to sin like the devil, for
the devil was not tempted when he sinned; and to sin with but little
temptation is to sin like the devil. When there is great temptation
offered, I do not say there is any excuse, but when there is none, where
the deed is but little, bringing but little pleasure, and involving but a
small consequence, there is a wantonness about the sin which makes it
greater in moral obliquity, than many other iniquities that men commit.
Ay, you cry out against a great felon, when he is discovered; see of how
much he robbed men; see how he wronged the widow and robbed the
fatherless! I know it. God forbid that I should make any excuse for him;
but that man had a name to maintain. He had thousands of temptations
before him to get immensely rich. He thought he never should be
discovered. He had a family to keep. He had got involved in expensive
habits, and there are many things to be said for his extenuation. But
you, if you indulge in some slight sin which brings you no pleasure,
which involves no important interests, by which you have nothing to
get, I say you sin wantonly. You have committed an act which has in it
the very virus and bitterness of wilful obstinate, designing
disobedience, because there is not even the extenuation, or excuse, or
apology, that you should gain something thereby. Little sins are, after
all, tremendous sins, viewed in the light of God's law. Looked upon as
involving a breach of that inviolable standard of right, and considered
as having been committed wantonly, I say they are great, and I know
not that those sins men conceive to be gross and great, are greater and
grosser in reality than these.
Thus I have given you several arguments with which to answer that
temptation, "Is it not a little one?"
Now I am about to speak to the child of God only, and I say to him,
"Brother if Satan tempts thee to say, 'Is it not a little one?'" reply to
him, "Ah, Satan but little though it be, it may mar my fellowship with
Christ.
Sin cannot destroy but it will annoy; it cannot ruin my soul, but it will
soon ruin my peace. Thou sayest it is a little one, Satan, but my Saviour
had to die for it, or otherwise I should have been shut out from heaven.
'That little one' may be like a little thorn in my flesh, to prick my heart
and wound my soul. I cannot, I dare not indulge in this little sin, for I
have been greatly forgiven, and I must greatly love. A little sin in others
would be a great sin for me--' How can I do this great wickedness and
sin against God.'"
Is it a little one, Satan? But a little stone in the shoe will make a
traveller limp. A little thorn may breed a fester. A little cloud may hide
the sun. A cloud of the size of a man's hand may bring a deluge of rain.
Avaunt Satan! I can have nought to do with thee; for since I know that
Jesus bled for little sins, I cannot wound his heart by indulging in them
afresh. A little sin, Satan! Hath not my Master said, "Take us the foxes,
the little foxes that spoil the vines, for our vines have tender grapes."
Lo! these little things do mischief to my tender heart. These little sins
burrow in my soul, and soon make it to become a very den and hole of
the wild beasts that Jesus hates, soon drive him away from my spirit so
that he will hold no comfortable fellowship and communion with me. A
great sin cannot destroy a Christian, but a little sin can make him
miserable. Jesus will not walk with his people unless they drive out
every known sin. He says, "If ye keep my commandments ye shall
abide in my love, even as I have kept my Father's commandments and
abide in his love." There are very many Christians in the world that do
not see their Saviour's face by the month together, and seem to be quite
content without his company. I understand you not, nor do I wish to
know how it is, that you can reconcile your souls to the absence of your
Lord. A loving wife, without her husband for months and years, seems
to me to be sorely tried. Surely it must be an affliction for a tender child
to be separated from his father. We know that in our childhood it was
always so, and we looked forward to our return home with joy. And art
thou a child of God, yet happy without seeing thy Father's face? What!
thou the spouse of Christ, and yet content without his company! Surely,
surely, surely, thou hast fallen into a sad state. Thou must have gone
astray, if such be thy experience, for the true chaste spouse of Christ
mourns like a dove without her mate, when he has left her. Ask, then,
the question, what has driven Christ from you? He hides his face behind
the wall of your sins. That wall may be built up of little pebbles, as
easily as of great stones. The sea is made of drops, the rocks are made
of grains; and ah! surely the sea which divides thee from Christ may be
filled with the drops of thy little sins; and the rock which is to wreck
thy barque, may have been made by daily working of the coral insects
of thy little sins. Therefore, take heed thereunto; for if thou wouldst live
with Christ, and walk with Christ, and see Christ, and have fellowship
with Christ, take heed, I pray thee, of the little foxes that spoil the vines,
for our vines have tender grapes.
And now, leaving the child of God thus awhile, I turn myself to address
others of you who have some thought with regard to your souls, but
who could not yet be ranked among those that fear God with a true
heart. To you, I know, Satan often offers this temptation-- "Is it not a
little one?" May God help you to answer him whenever he thus attacks
you. "Is it not a little one?" And so, young man, the devil has tempted
thee to commit the first petty theft. "Is it not a little one?" And so he has
bidden thee, young man, for the first time in thy life to spend the day of
rest in foolish pleasure. It was but a little one, he said, and thou hast
taken him at his word, and thou hast committed it. It was but a little
one, and so you have told a lie. It was but a little one, and you have
gone into the assembly of the frivolous and mixed in the society of
scorners. It was but a little one, there could not be much hurt in it, it
could not do much mischief to your soul. Ah! stop awhile. Dost thou
know that a little sin, if wantonly indulged, will prevent thy salvation?
"The foundation of God standeth sure having this seal, the Lord
knoweth them that are his, and let every one that nameth the name of
Christ depart from iniquity." Christ will reveal salvation from all his
sins to the man who hates all his sins; but if thou keepest one sin to
thyself, thou shalt never have mercy at his hands. If thou wilt forsake
all thy ways, and turn with full purpose of heart to Christ, the biggest
sin thou hast ever committed shall not destroy thy soul; but if a little sin
be harboured, thy prayers will be unheard, thy sighs disregarded, and
thy earnest cries shall return into thy bosom without a blessing. You
have been in prayer lately, you have been seeking Christ, you have
been praying with all your might that God would meet with you. Now
months have rolled over your head, you are not yet saved, not yet have
you received the comfortable assurance of your pardon. Young man, is
it not likely that some little known sin is still harboured in your heart?
Mark, then, God will never be at one with thee till thou and thy sins are
twain. Part with thy sins, or else part with all hope, though thou hide
but so much as a grain of sin back from God. He will not, he cannot
have any mercy on thee. Come to him just as thou art, but renounce thy
sins. Ask him to set thee free from every lust, from every false way,
from every evil thing, or else, mark thee, thou shalt never find grace
and favour at his hands. The greatest sin in the world, repented of, shall
be forgiven, but the least unrepented sin shall sink thy soul lower than
the lowest hell. Mark then, again, sinner, thou who indulgest in little
sins sometimes. These little sins show that thou art yet in the gall of
bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity. Rowland Hill tells a curious tale
of one of his hearers who sometimes visited the theatre. He was a
member of the church. So going to see him, he said, I understand Mr.
So-and-so, you are very fond of frequenting the theatre. No, sir, he said,
that's false. I go now and then just for a great treat, still I don't go
because I like it; it is not a habit of mine. Well, said Rowland Hill,
suppose some one should say to me, Mr. Hill, I understand you eat
carrion, and I should say, no, no, I don't eat carrion. It is true, I now
and then have a piece of stinking carrion for a great treat. Why, he would
say, you have convicted yourself, it shows that you like it better than
most people, because you save it up for a special treat. Other men only
take it as common daily food, but you keep it by way of a treat. It
shows the deceitfulness of your heart, and manifests that you still love
the ways and wages of sin.
Ah, my friends, those men that say little sins have no vice in them
whatever, they do but give indications of their own character; they
show which way the stream runs. A straw may let you know which way
the wind blows, or even a floating feather; and so may some little sin be
an indication of the prevailing tendency of the heart. My hearer, if thou
lovest sin, though it be but a little one, thy heart is not right in the
sight of God. Thou art still a stranger to divine grace. The wrath of God
abideth on thee. Thou art a lost soul unless God change thy heart.
And yet, another remark here. Sinner, thou sayest it is but a little one.
But dost thou know that God will damn thee for thy little sins? Look
angry now, and say the minister is harsh. But wilt thou look angry at
thy God in the day when he shalt condemn thee for ever? If there were a
good man in a prison to-day and you did not go to see him, would you
think that a great sin? Certainly not, you say, I should not think of
doing such a thing. If you saw a man hungry and you did not feed him,
would you think that a great sin? No, you say, I should not.
Nevertheless, these are the very things for which men are sent to hell.
What said the Judge? "I was hungry and ye gave me no meat, thirsty
and ye gave me no drink, I was sick and in prison and ye visited me
not. Forasmuch as ye have not done this unto the least of these, my
brethren, ye have not done it unto me." Now, if these things, which we
only consider to be little sins, actually send myriads to hell, ought we
not to stop and tremble ere we talk lightly of sin, since little sins may be
our eternal destroyers. Ah, man, the pit of hell is digged for little sins.
An eternity of woe is prepared for what men call little sins. It is not
alone the murderer, the drunkard, the whoremonger, that shall be sent
to hell. The wicked, it is true, shall be sent there, but the little sinner
with all the nations that forget God shall have his portion there also.
Tremble, therefore, on account of little sins.
When I was a little lad, I one day read at family prayer the chapter in
the Revelations concerning the "bottomless pit." Stopping in the midst
of it, I said to my grandfather, "Grandfather, what does this mean--'the
bottomless pit?'" He said, "Go on child, go on." So I read that chapter,
but I took great care to read it the next morning also. Stopping again I
said, "Bottomless pit, what does this mean?" "Go on," he said, "Go on."
Well it came the next morning, and so on for a fortnight; there was
nothing to be read by me of a morning but this same chapter, for
explained it should be if I read it a month. And I can remember the
horror of my mind when he told me what the idea was. There is a deep
pit, and the soul is falling down,--oh how fast it is falling! There! the
last ray of light at the top has disappeared, and it falls on--on--on, and
so it goes on falling--on--on--on--for a thousand years! "Is it not getting
near the bottom yet? won't it stop?" No, no--the cry is, on--on-- on, "I
have been falling a million years, is it not near the bottom yet?" No,
you are no nearer the bottom yet: it is the "bottomless pit;" it is on--on--
on, and so the soul goes on falling, perpetually, into a deeper depth still,
falling for ever into the "bottomless pit"--on --on--on, into the pit that
has no bottom! Woe without termination, without hope of it's coming
to a conclusion. The same dreadful idea is contained in those words,
"The wrath to come." Mark, hell is always "the wrath to come." If a
man has been in hell a thousand years, it is still "to come." As to what
you have suffered in the past it is as nothing, in the dread account, for
still the wrath is "to come." And when the world has grown grey with
age, and the fires of the sun are quenched in darkness, it is still "the
wrath to come." And when other worlds have sprung up, and have
turned into their palsied age, it is still "the wrath to come." And when
your soul, burnt through and through with anguish, sighs at last to be
annihilated, even then this awful thunder shall be heard, "the wrath to
come--to come--to come." Oh, what an idea! I know not how to utter it!
And yet for little sins, remember you incur "the wrath to come." Oh, if I
am to be damned, I would be damned for something; but to be
delivered up to the executioner and sent into "the wrath to come" for
little sins which do not even make me famous as a rebel, this is to be
damned indeed. Oh that ye would arise, that ye would flee from the
wrath to come, that ye would forsake the little sins, and fly to the great
cross of Christ to have little sins blotted out, and little offences washed
away. For oh,--again I warn you,--if ye die with little sins unforgiven,
with little sins unrepented of, there shall be no little hell; the great wrath
of the great king is ever to come, in a pit without a bottom, in a hell the
fire of which never shall be quenched, and the worm of which ne'er
shall die. Oh, "the wrath to come! the wrath to come!" It is enough to
make one's heart ache to think of it. God help you to flee from it. May
you escape from it now, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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