Chap.. How Godpinifhes thefins ofFathers &c. Coma 22.5 CHAP. IX. Of the Commination, wherein, i.The Cenfure of the Sin. z. The Punifhment. i. in the Cenfure. The Sin, viz. ofIdolatry, ía called, i. Hatredof God. HowGod can beba. led. 2. Iniquity. The Punifhment, Viftationupon the Children. The Cjrievoufnefs of this `'unifhment, by a. The ggreatnefr. 2. The Multiplicity. 3. The Continuance, OfGods yuHite inpunithing the Sinsof the Fathers upon the Children. That it is not unjuft, in refind- of the Father, nor, 2. ofthe Son. The ufeofall. He next thing is the Commination ; whichcontaineth in it two things. i. The Cenfureof theoffence. 2. And fecondly, the Punifhment for it. z. The Cenfure is intwo things. a. Firft, that he calls it Hatredof God. a. Secondly, that he calls it the Iniquity, Gravon, Perverfenefs. 1. If Lovebe a means to make us keep the Commandments, then it is Hatred that makesus break them, But is there any man that can hate God ? Certainly his Ef- fence is good , even Goodnefs it felf, which cannot be the objeEt of Hatred. A- gain, there are fundry effefìs of his Goodnefs and Love, and fuch as thewicked them. felves cannot but love them, and him for them ; as that he belloweth on all men, and fo on them, their being; moving andlife, fenfe, &c. But there are another fort of ef- feâs, whichproceed alto from his Love, by which he would have us preferved, which are his Commandments; yet becaufe they reftrain us ofour Liberty, and will not fuffer our inordinete affei tioni to bear the fway, therefore (preferring our own Wills before his) we hate him ; fo when a man is linkt to his own Will, and poflefl'ed with zeal of himfelf, he hates the Commandmentsof God, becaufe they are contra. Mal. t. a, ;. 7 ry to his Will and affef ions, and fo men come to hate God, by too much Love of themfelvea. 1 loved Jacob (faith Godbythe Prophet)and hated Efau, which the Apoftle Phew= eth tobenothing elfe, but that he chofe not him, but preferred 7acolo before him : Rom. 9. and in this refped we are Paid to hate God, when in a cafe between his Will andours, wechoole not his, but prefer our own : Hoc elf odiffe Deum non eligere, we hareGod when we choofe him not. For God loving us fo exceedingly, it is his will, that we fhould love him alone : which Love is vinculum conjugale, a Marriage- match. 6. 24.1 bond : and therefore our Love to God fhould be amor con jugalis , the love ofa than Deut. 21. 16. to his wife, which path nothird thing init,,aut anal, aut odit, he either lovesor hates; 24.3. there is nomedium in it. 2. The fecond thing in the Cenfure is. that God calls this fin 3iy, Çnavan, Iniquity or perverfnefs, and peevifhnefs. And this is to meet with the opinion ofmen, who think it perverfnefs, ifmen will not do as they would have them, by yielding to falle Dan. worfhip, as Nebuchadnezzar thought ofthe three Children , It is ofpurpofe, O Sha- drach, 0-c. they were called perverfe and difordered fellows, for not tranfgreflìng this Commandent ; and fo God, to meet with them, 'beseech, that the Breakers of this Commandment are, in truth, the difordered and perverfe perlons, therefore we Exod, 2, muft.not do evil, either rum magnis, ant multas, with thegreat ones,or the multitude, left we fall into this fin of perverfnefs. But the vote of the world is clean contrary, and the fathers referable it, to a pond full of Crabs (the Hieroglyphiqueoffrowardnefs) into which, ifyou put Fah ofano- ther kind, it will be charged to fwim out ofcourte , becaufe it fwimmeth not back- ward, as the Crabs do. But Jerom gives us a good leffon againft this, Nequaquam dd RuJtic. confideree quid alii malifaciunt, fedquid boni tit facie debeas ; confider not by any means, what evil others commit, but what good thou oughteft to do: nor be thou led to evil becaufe of the multitude oftranfgreffors. Of the Punifhment. Andvifit thefins, &ç. The paniflanent After the Cenfure ofthe fin, comes the Punifhinent. And though it be true, that 2, if there were no other punifhment to man , it were enough to be found among the haters of God, that were futficient, Yet God adds further, that he will have a vifi- Cation. What the meaningof this word is, we may gather out of the Book of Sa- muel , where it is laid of him, that he went yearly in circuit to fuch and fuch places, and judged Ifrael ; and it is like that which we call the Judges Circuit : as elfo out of i Sam. 1. 56,- Fl the
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