to receive and bless. The fishes in the sea do drink, swim and
drink. But for a further discourse of this, let that alone till
we come thither. But to come down again into the world, for now
we are talking of things aloft:

Reason Second, This love of Christ must needs be beyond our
knowledge, because we cannot possibly know the utmost of our sin.
Sin is that which sets out, and off, the knowledge of the love
of Christ. There are four things that must be spoken to for the
clearing of this. 1. The nature of sin. 2. The aggravations of sin.
3. The utmost tendencies of sin. 4. And the perfect knowledge of
all this.

1. Before we can know this love of Christ, as afore, we must
necessarily know the nature of sin, that is, what sin is, what sin
is in itself. But no man knows the nature of sin to the full; not
what sin in itself is to the full. The Apostle saith, "That sin,
[that is in itself] is exceeding sinful" (Rom 7:13). That is,
exceeding it as to its filthiness, goes beyond our knowledge: But
this is seen by the commandment. Now the reason why none can, to
the full, know the horrible nature of sin, is because none, to the
full, can know the blessed nature of the blessed God. For sin is
the opposite to God. There is nothing that seeketh absolutely,
and in its own nature to overcome, and to annihilate God, but sin,
and sin doth so. Sin is worse than the devil; he therefore that
is more afraid of the devil than of sin, knows not the badness
of sin as he ought; nor but little of the love of Jesus Christ.
He that knows not what sin would have done to the world, had not
Christ stepped betwixt those harms and it. How can he know so much
as the extent of the love of Christ in common? And he that knows