[b]It is better to be preserved in
brine--than to rot in honey!
(William Secker, "The Consistent Christian" 1660)
Above every evil, we should consider sin as the greatest evil--as it is the fountain and origin of all evils. Sin is the only target--at which all the arrows of divine vengeance are shot! Sinners are those spiders which weave their own webs--and are afterwards entangled in them! Our own destruction--is but the fruit of our own transgression. There is more real evil in a particle of corruption--than in an ocean of tribulation!
The evil of suffering is transient--but the evil of sin is permanent. The consistent Christian will always choose the worst of sorrows--before he will commit the least of sins!
The wicked entirely reverse this--for they prefer the greatest sin--to the least sufferings! This is to leap out of the hot pan--into the consuming fire! By seeking to shun an external calamity--they rush into eternal misery! This is as if a man should lose his head--to preserve his hat!
As the works of sin are dishonorable; so the wages of sin are deadly! "The wages of sin--is death." The corruption of nature is the cause of the dissolution of nature. The candle of our lives--is blown out by the wind of our lusts! Were it not for sin--death would never have had a beginning! Were it not for death--sin would never have an ending!
What is so sweet a good as Christ? And what is so great an evil as lust? Sin has brought many a believer into suffering--and suffering has instrumentally kept many a believer out of sin! It is better to be preserved in brine--than to rot in honey! The bitterest medicine is to be preferred--before the sweetest poison! The consistent Christian will always choose the worst of sorrows--before he will commit the least of sins!