5o Chap. 4. An Expofiti'm uponshe Book of J OB. Vert. $. as a Leopard treadi.rgnpon his nets : And though um rinks it comes !lowly as an Oxe, yet al wayes it treads harden, when it comes ßoweft. A wicked ,mast may commit evil an hundred times, Eedefg. andhis dayes (ofpeace) beprolonged, for his Marvel of wrath¡lrke Ha:hakuks vtlon ofmercy) is for an appointed time, but in the cnd it will not lye,(though he would tarry for it)it will net tar- ry. The natural harveft belies (fc. fails ) fome mens hopes, but Speer menoitia this myflical harveft, thall not bely his fears (ifhe have any,) it fege:. #hall bely his prefumption, how muchfoever he hath. Sixthly, obfcrve; That the punishment offin fhalt be proportio- stableto thedegree offin. He #hall reap, the fame, faith the Text, the fame in degree. So the Scripture fpeaks, and fo experience teacheth concerning natural towing ; a mans harveft is gradually fuch, as is his feed-time; if hehave town much (in an ordinary course) he (hall reap much , The Apoftle alludes to this, where Cot 9 6 he fpeaks of the feedof charity, Ifyefowfparingly, ye fhall reap #paringly ; on the other fide, if ye fow plentifully, ye #hall reap plentifully. Sometimes through the judgment of God, (which can eafily break through the principles ofnature) it cometh to pats, as it is, Hag. a. 6. refit, much, and reap little ; God makes the harveft thin and lean,when the feed-time was thick and plen- tiful ; but in regard offinning (I #peakof fuch as go on impeni- tently in their fins, and have not Chrift to take off their fin from them; fuch perfons as lowmuch,fhall be Cure to reap much; they #hail be beaten with many ftripes, who impenitently multiply their tranfgreons. Seventhly obferve, Punifhntent fhall not exceed the defers of fin. , They reap thefame ; The fame, equal in degree or quan- tity, not beyond the degree offinning. In nature, the corn reap'e, is more then the corn fown; fometimes a hundred fold , fome- times fixty, fometimes thirty ; as Chrift fpeaks, in the Parable of the Cower, Matth, 13. But the punifhment of fin reaped, is not a grain more then the fin committed. All the punifhtnents ofthis life are lets then fin, as Ezra confeffes, After all that is come upon us for our evil deeds, andfor our great trefpafs, fee- ing that thou our Godhaft. punished its lefs then our iniquity , &c. Chap. 9. a 3. And in the life to come, the damned #hall not be punished more then fin deferveth;yea I may fay ( with reverence to his Almighty power) God cannotpunish a fin, beyond that proportion which it deferveth ; and the reafon is this, Infinite power,
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