JLifcs ;Leafc. kinds ) before you pr~fumc to come .near that Ta?le of the Lord: Thirdly, it is necclfary m umes of dcfcrtwn, or VJfitatlon : yea , 1fthe Lord fhall plcafe to exercife you with any crolfe, or difgraoe, or difcountenance, lo!fe of goods, difeafe of body, terrour offoul,. or the like; you may ,be furc, as no m1fcry c?mes but for fin, fo then the enumeratiOn of your fins from a bleedmg broken heart, ·,s the prime and firll: m~ans to caufe that Sun of mercy to break through the clouds , and to beget a clear-day; alas! our dayes are evil, and furc we have as good reafon as ever Jacob had to confc!fe it : For my part, though I' keep my catalogue to my felf, yet m the general I cannot but confelfe to you all, My day" have been evil, evil, e'.lil : Few and evil, And now we have done with the work, it rcll:s that you fhould know your wages: there be dayes offin, and then dayes offorrow; as you have fpent yourdayes, fo mull: you have your rewards; firit we trefpalfe, and then we pay for it; firfl: we fin, and then we fuffcr evil. 2. The evils that we fuffer may be ranked in this order; firll:, evils original,fill up the fcene,and what a multitude of evils do enter with them?No fooner had.ridam finned,but a world ofmiferies fell on man, fo that as the infection, in like manner the punifhment di!lils from him. By om man (faith the Apofile) enttredJinnc into the world: what? fin alone? no, but death by fimu, and fo death went over all men, Rom. 5. 12. Infants themfelves bring their damnation with them from their wombs; or if that be omitted, how many are the miferies ofthis life, as the fore-runners of that judgement? Look anhe mmde, and what think ye of our ignorance , not oncly that of wilful difpofition, but (as the Schools diftinguifh) of pure negation? if it be not a finne, what is it but a punifhment for finne ? that our underll:anding !hould be obfcurcd and darkned , our knowledge in things natural wounded, in fupcrnatural utterly extinguifhed: 0 the miferable iffuc of that mon:(ler Sinne! But as evils come by heaps, fo of the fame parent here is another brood, Ignorance and Forgetfulneffc; and is not this a mifery, after all our time and fiudy to get a little knowledge, quickly to forget that we are fo long a learning? Man in his whole ll:ate, before the fall, could not forget things taught him; but now (as the hour-glalfe) we receive in at the one ear ; and it goes out at thec'other; or rather (like the fieve) we alwayes keejhhe bran, but let the flower go;. fo apt arC! we to retain the bad, but we very eafily forget the good. And is this all ? nay, yet more evils; fee but our affrEiiom , and to what a number of infinite forrows, griefs, anguifhes, fufpicions, fears, malices, jedoufies, is the foul of man fubject? So prone are we to thefe 'miferable paffions , that upon any occafion we fall into them ; or for want ofcaufe from any other, we b,egin to be paffionate with our felves: Why has1 t-hou , 0 Lord, Jet me agd,infl thee l I am become irkfome and burden[ome eve11unto m.~nt own[elf, Job 7. 20. Alas, poor man, how art thou befet with a world of mifcries? and yet, as if all thefe fumm~d up together, could not make enough, look at the body, and how many , are Its fufferm5s? In the jiveat of rhy face j1u.lt thoit cat thy bread, faid God, Gen. J. 19. The Spider fpins, and weaves, and wall:es her very bowels to make her net; and when all•s done , to what purpofe ferves it, f ut to catch a flic ! if this be vain work, how vain is man in his fond imitation? The birds and beall:s can feed themfelves without anr pains; onely man toils night and day, on fea and land, with body and mind; yet allJs tu no p~rpofc, but to catch a flie, to protract a life, or to procure fomevanity• And yet,.as 1f m1fery had no mean, befides our ind~tf/r)', how is this body fluffed with many an mftrmuy ? All the ll:rength of man is but a reed,at bell: flJaken,perhaps broken, howro~ver weakned by every wind that blowes upon it. The Phyficians dill:inCl:ion O~ Tempe~·amentum ad pondw., & jttjlitiam , give> us thus much to learn , that no con– fbtutwn IS ever fo happy, to have a jull: temper aGcording to its weight: fomc arc too hot, others too cold, all have fome defects, and fo are difpofed to a\\ kind of,in– firmtt;cs: . man cannot carry himfelf, but he mull: needs carry about with,him many forms of h1s own dell:ruction. The books of the Fhyficians tell us of many dif~afcs,and yet many are the d1feafes which their books cannot tell of: we feu in our ow.ndayes, moll: labour of new fickncffes, unknown to our fathers; or if any ofus be free from any of thcf<~_, yet ev~ry ones body nourifheth the caufes: and may be a receptablc of a tlioufand dtfeafes. How evil is Jinne, that mcurs fo many evils: of punijhment. ( But as if all were too little, ( becaufe our fins anrfo ma'ny) if'you W'iU number any , '• ., ' ' more, 375 2. Rom. ~· 12 G.fl l · 19 De ipfo cor• pore:: rot ex!flnnr morboqlm mala, ne nee lih1 is Medicorum cunda comprc:~ .hen a. Aug. de Civ. Dti. I. ,,, cnp. :ii
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