Chap. 22. An Expoftion upon the Book of J i a. Verf, 5. 43 therefore every mans fins are to him, in number infinite. Fourthly, Iniquities may be called infinite in reference to the will, or the fpirit of him that commit tech there iniquities : tbofe finnes are without bounds, to which man would never fet a bound. The natural) man would never end finning, there- fore his fins arewithòut end, or infinite. The Prophet ( a7.) fpeakes reprovingly to that people in the name of the Lords 1have Peen thineadulteries, and thy neighing', the lewd- nej a ofthy whoredorne, and thine abominations on the hills in the fields ; woe unto thee, O 7erufalem, wilt thounot be made cleane, when fhall it once be ? As if he had laid ; O ferufalens, thou haft no will tobe made clean, or thou wouldft never be clean; if thou mighteft have thy will; when "hall it once be ? The time is yet to come when thou wouldeft have it to be fo ; thou haft a minde to pollute thy felfe Rill, but no minde to wafh thy felfe from thy pollution. The fins ofa perfon or people are then infinite, or without end, when they difcover that they have no minde to leave finning. A godlymans defires to doe good are infinite, and to are thedefires of a wicked roan to doe evil] This pro- phet had fpoken to 7erujalem in the fame language ( Chap. 4. r4.) How long(hallvain thoughts lodge in thee ? when wilt thou be weary ofthefe lodgers, when wilt thou bid there guefts be gone, whom thouhaft thus long bid welcome ? The Church of God doth fometimes Puffer evil) to lodge very long in her, even in the middeft of her, as it were, at her veryheart ; but the world lodgeth or Nth ( continually ) ira evill (a Joh.5 i9.) and there (as it is the world) it will lye for ever, foakt and !kept in evil). Some give this as one reafon to uftifie the in- finireneffe or everlaflingneffe ofthe punifhtnnt that is laid up- on impenitent (inners in hell. The damned are under endleffe Volley tine fine fuff rings, becaufe they would have finned without end ; A v:vereut poffct wicked man would live long, yea he would have no end of his ñnefine yeua- lifehere, he would live ever, that he might inne ever ; there- re Greg forethe Lord giveth him a life, not loch a one as he would have, but fuch a oneas he deferves to have which is indeed a death for ever, They dye eternally for fin, who would have livedeternally in U. Take a Scripture or two more to illu- Rrate this way ofthe infinityofmans finne, (7er. 8. 5 ) why . i this people of7erufalemHidden back,b, a perpetual backfliding; G 2 they
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