Caryl - Houston-Packer Collection BS1415 .C37 v7

Chap. z. tip.n the Bdok of JO l. Verf. 6 713 and the fon ofman, is no bettcr,a worme or vermin, As it fbew. eth theexcellency ofGod, that nothing is fo good, lo great, fo perfeel, that is worthy to be compared with him /fa 40. 180 whomwillyeti liken gm' ? or what likrnefs wit ye compare unto him ? Looke over ail the Excellencies that are in the Creature, is there any thing that looker like God? that hath not any excel- lency or beauty comparatively to him?And again(I1a.46.5.)To wh.m via le liken atr, and make meequal, andcompare me, we ro.a" belike ? that is, there is nothing that you can compare, or make me like unto, lam above all comparifon -- Nov (I lay) as it (hews the excellency of God,that there is no- thing worthy to be compared to him, fo it thews the meannefs ofman, that there is nothing fo unworthy but that he may be compared to it, and chat without wrong or difparagement. The Scripture doth ás it were ftrive for Comparifons, to let forth the weaknefs, the poornefs, the worthlefnefs of man; he is compared to, yea called dint (Gen. 3. 19.) Daft thou art, and to daft those !halt returne. He is compared to the graffe of the field that growth- to day, but withered) or i$ cut down to morrow ( 40 6.) He is compar'd unto a (hadow that bath nothing ofEn- tity or iobLince, and therefore eontinueth not but vaniffietb a- way ( 7ek 14. 2. ) He is compar'd to that which is lc& then a fh4clow, even to that which is, as I may fay, the nothingnefs ofall things ,v4nity ; and thus he is called when at his belt or in his belt daze (pf,gl. 39.5.) Further, man is not onely nothing and leffe then nothing,but that which is worfe then nothing a ly, he is naturallyunder fuch ditrece,that he is the verywore) cf¿if. grace, a lye. Surely (faith David, Pal, 62 9.) men oflow degree ara vanity, andmenof high degreeare a lye. Nor doth the Lord fpeake thus of tingle perfons only, brat o fNations, and not only of this or that Nation,but ofall Nations;take mankind in a clufter or as bundled up together ; nor onely is this or that man,this or that Nation,but all men and all Nations before hint are at nothing, and are counted to him leffe then nothing and vanity (Ifa. 4o. 17.) They are not onely duft, but (which is the lighteft and molt in- confiderablc dull) eke duff of the ha/lance, and that the fmalleft dolt of the ballance (1/a. 4o, 15.) they are not onely a drop, but the drop cf a bfeckft,which is but the drop of a drop,The fimi- litude in the Text layeth man lowenough, He id a wervre.When Y Y Y the

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