Imatges de pàgina
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goods. First, Suum cuique, to every one his own; then Tuum, thy own; so Zachaus, He beganne at reddo, I restore: and from thence went to do, I give.

2. Punishment. And haft finned against thy foul.

The meaning as I take it, is, that all this evil fhall one day Doftr. fmart upon the foul of the Chaldeans. The doctrine is;

All Gins committed against the law of God, are done against the fouls of them that commit them,

The committers of fin are of two forts.

1. The Elect: 2. The Reprobate.

The Elect fin against their fouls

1. Culpa, In the fault.

2. Pana, In the punishment: 1. Propter culpam, In regard of the fault.

1. Becaufe every fin that a man committeth doth defile the foul, and pollutech the temple where the holy Ghost should dwel; fo that Chrift faith to every foul, except I wash thee thou haft no part with me.

2. Because every fin that a man committeth, doth hinder the influence of grace, and maketh the foul the more uncapable of light and heat from the Son of righteoufneffe. For every fin is an eclipse of that Sun: which is thus proved.

1. In our hearing of the word; if we be either like the high Mat. 13.3way where the feed is loft quite, or like the ftony ground where the feed cannot take root, or like the thorny ground, where ie may take root and fpring up, but is choaked in the growth, the good feed never cometh to an harvest.

Our fins must be removed, to make the foil good and fruitful. 2. In our prayer; If I regard wickedneffe in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.

Pfa, 66,18

3. In our receiving the Sacrament; If I eat and drink unWor-Cor.ii.29 thily, I eat and drink damnation.

4. In almes; If I do it to be feen of men, I lose my reward, Mat. 6. 18 For I have it here.

Sin is leaven, it corrupteth the whole foul of man; and maketh it a trefpaffer in all that it doth: fo that the elect man in refpect of his fault, doth finne against his own foul, and de fleth it.

Job. 7.20.

2. Propter pœnam, In refpect of the punishment. 1. Because it bringeth forth guilt of conicience, which maketh us confounded and ashamed in our felves, fo that we dare not lift up our eyes to heaven, nor look our God in the face, whofe mercy we have abufed, whofe anger we have provoked, whofe goodneffe we have offended.

2. Because fin maketh matter of forrow in the foul of the offendor; and a godly forrow, troubleth and difquieteth the foul within us.

In that cafe was fob, Peccavi, quid faciam tibi? quòd feci? I have finned, what fhall I do unto thee?

3. Because the foul hath no peace till it hath wrought a revenge upon it felf, and upon the body too in which it commit ted fin.

Davids Humiliavi animam meam, and St. Pauls Caftigo corPf. 35.13. pus meum,

iCor.9.27 Ifa.38.17

Ifa. 5745

There must be afflictio and amaritudo anime; we carry rods about us for the nonce; even our own hearts will fmite us as Davids did; this brings God home to us again; For I dwell with the humble and contrite, and then falvation is come home to our house once again.

2. Impii autem non fic. Not fo with the wicked.

They fin against their fouls, because all the evils of their whole life are written in the book of Gods remembrance, and foulded up in the rowle of their own confcience, which fhall be opened against them in the laft day, and they fhall be judged according to all that is writen in those books; and there fhall be Jam. 2.13.judgment without mercy to them that fhewed no mercy.

This doth not exclude temporall punishments: for fo fhall they fmart allo; they fhall have no peace in this life for ever and anon, as fob faith their candle shall be put out, and God shall distribute his forrows amongst them.

They fhall have many great flames, many great fears, many fad affronts of care and difcontent, though commedled with fome faire weather, good chear, eafe, delights, and fuch fweetnings as the flattery of the world and the favour of the times fhall yeeld them:

Yet in the end, all the evil that they have studyed and inten

ded

ded against others, fhall fall upon their own heads.

But ftill the worst is behind;their fouls and bodyes shall smart for it in the last day, and the hand of God shall then pay home.

For them I take no care; be it unto them as they have deferved, and the Lord require it at their hands, and requite it upon

them.

But for fo many as follow righteonfneffe and fear God, and would walk in his ways;let us ftirre up one another in the fear of God, to feek the Lord whilst he may be found, and to tender our fouls.

The fins that we commit with fuch delight, will cost us many an heart-breaking figh, many floods of falt water, tears of bitterneffe, which are fanguis anima, the blood of the foul, hanging down of the head, beating of the breft, fafting from our full fare, and stripping our bodies out of their foft raiment into fackcloth, and changing our fweet powders into ashes.

There is no fuch difeafe incident to man as this Tremor cor dis, the, trembling of the heart for finne; this Anima dolet, the learning of the Phyfitian, the art of the Apothecary have no receipt for it.

As Saint Paul faith of the law, that is the strength of finne : fo I may fay, that at first in the beginning of the cure, the very remedy is the ftrength of the disease, and makes the disease double the diftreffe thereof, as in David.

1. The Pophet came to heal him, and he faith,

I said in my baste all men are lyars, Prophets and all, if they Speak of any comfort to me.

2. God himself prefented himself to his thought, and that would not do; I thought upon God and I was troubled, my fear came and ceafed not, my foul refused comfort.

Yea there is fucha fweetneffe in revenge, that a penitent. man doth take upon himself, that he hath a kind of delight in his own felf-punishment, as in feremiahs example,

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Look away from me, I will weepe bitterly, labour not to com. Ifa, 22.4. fort me.

There is nothing that makes us finne with fo much appetite and fo little feare as this; we have banished Confeffion which bring

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eth fhame upon us, and penance which bringeth fmart; we have taken the matter into our own hands,and no man hateth his own fefh.

Repentance is rather matter of difcourfe and contemplation, then of practice and paffion, and fo we fin and our fouls are not much troubled at it.

But whofoever is toucht in confcience throughly with the remorfe of fin, will fay, there is no difeafe to a wounded Spirit, and the costlieft facrifice that a man can offer to God, is a contrice spirit and a broken heart.

3. Punishment, labour in vain.

Is it not of the Lord of Hofts, that this People shall labour in the very fire, and weary themselves with very vanity?

S

Mat. 11.

28.

Ma.28.12.

Wisdom, 5

1. Here is labour, it is labor improbus, that ufeth to carry all before it; it is amplified, For here is labour in the fire; Multa tulit fecitque puer, fudavit && alfit ; labour even to wearines, 2. Here is much ado about nothing: For all this is for vanity, very vanity.

3. Who croffes them? Is it not of the Lord of Hosts?

Annon ecce à Jehova exercituum? Calv. Nonne ecce à cum Domino? Interlin.

From the firft,here is labour. This finne is very painful. Covetoufneffe to gather wealth together, and cruelty to de Atroy fo many to ftrip them,and ambition to purchase high place hereby; we may truly fay, Hic labor,boc opus eft.

Is it not strange? the way to hell is all down the hill, yet it is very uneafie and very weary travelling thither.

Chrift calleth to him all that are weary and heavy laden, and promifeth to refresh them

And God fheweth his People a reft, faying,

This is the reft wherewith you may cause the weary to rest, and this is the refreshing.

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But this reft is not promifed to them that weary themselves, and work in the fire, rifing early, and going late to bed to work fhame for their own boules, and to fin against their own fouls; fuch fhall one day complain,

We have wearied our felves in the ways of wickedneffe and defruction, yea we have gone through deferts where there was no way,

but as for the way of the Lord we have not known it.

ILovepos which fignifieth a wicked man, cometh of wives which fignifieth labour, for it is a great deal of labour that they take that live in purfuit of honour, in the oppreffion and moleftation of their brethren,in the racking vexation of covetous congeftions of wealth.Cain vexeth himself, Nimrod must be a mighty hunter before the Lord, Lamech must kill a man, the earth must be full of cruelty, to have their own will, this is labour in the very fire to do mischief.

The head of wickedneffe must be always plotting and projecting they imagine wickedneffe upon their bed; it will nor fuffer them to fleep.

The hand of wickednefle must be always working.

The foot of Pride must be always climbing.

The eye of envy is ever waking.

Deut. 28

Shall I give you a full defcription of the labour of the unrigh- 65. teous, drawn to the life?

The Lord shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and forrow of mind.

And thy life hall hang in doubt before thee, and thou shalt feare day and night, and thou shalt have none affurance of thy life.

In the morning thon fbalt fay would God it were even, and at even thou shalt fay would God it were morning: for the fear of thine heart which thon fhalt fear, and for the fight of thine eyes which thou fhalt fee.

Here is unquietneffe even upon the bed of reft; the reafon is given: For the bed is fhorter then a man can stretch himself 1la.28.20 on it, and the Covering narrower then he can wrap himself in it. For there is no Peace to the wicked man.

It is one of Satans fuggeftions that the way of righteoufnelle is painful, and denieth a man the content of his heart,

And from hence arife these flattering temptations, Shall I la bour and travel all my days to fuftain my life with mine own pains, when a little violence will ftrip my neighbour out of all that he hath gotten together, and make it mine own? I Shall I make confcience of an oath of a lye, when it may get me more wealth in an houre, then my labour (hall earne in a year?

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