Chap. 36. eAo exparition open the Beek( J g, 227 grow (Iron; upon them, leafi if let alone, they might be foyled by thee, and fo fall intoopen fcandal, or behardly with-drawn from them. It is no eafie thing CO mafler and mortice a luft,when once it bath got head , and therefore it is a very gracious work of God, to chewa man his fin convincingly, and humble him for ir, when heperceives it riling in ((rength. This is a pious fenfe and profitable. We read it in the pall time, when they have exceeded, That is, when there righteous perlons have exceeded much in their tranfgrefl'ions. Mmuch as to fay, when they have finned ex- ceedingly, or when their fins are many andgreat, when(according to the Hebrew) they are waxen mighty, then the Lord feesit high time to deal with them. Theword which we render exceeded, comes from a root that t`nàß l' f gni±ieth afirong, or mighty man, and in the Verb, to aît f rong- ly and mightily as if Elihn had fail, He iheweth them that they have finned like Giants and mighty men, they have finned greatly, gtievoufly. And 'cis potlìble for thole that a :e righteous in their flare to fin greatly ; not only to tranlgre{fe, but to exceed in their tranfgre{ïions, that theyhave exceeded. Hence Note, Firít, There is an excefvenejs, or an'exceedingnefs in fomefins, All men fin, but the fins of all men, at letfl all the fins of all good men, do not exceed ; they are not all of a high fìature, they are not all (}rang, andmightyfins, as the Lord by his Prophet called thofe of Ifrael (Amos 5. t a.) We nfáally diflinguifh of fins ; fome are fins in the exceffe, and tome in the defer ; Pro digality isa fin in the excels, and Parcimony isa fin in the defeEt; Superflition is a fn in the excefs, when men will worfhip God morethanhe requires, or in what he requires not ; Prophanenefe, or negleE of Worship, as all() negligence in Worfhip, are fins in defe6k. Thus fome fins are in the excels, others in the defe&, yet every tranfgreflionhath a kind of excels in it, and lome are exceedingly exceffive. And becaufe wizen any exceecin;ly ex- ceed in finning, . their fins may be laid ro reign ; t'-,oce'ore ( fuppole) Mr. Brartghton tranflates this Text fo , Ind that their trefpail'es reigned, For, though as to a courle of fin, it is incon- G g fifient
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