244 Verfe /t. expounded, Heb.r a .?. dee red. The decel fErineffe of mans heart. rhemfeives with the buyingof farms ,oxcn, &c. But this is meere deceit : i he true cad; indeede, why they would not come, was becanfe their farms and oxen had bought them. Their affe &ions had en- thralled and fold themfelves to the world. And therefore our Saviour, prefently after the Parable ended,addeth thefe words,He that hateth not hisfa- ther,mother,wife,ehildren,yea and his own life, much more his farme, his oxen cannot bee my Dif iple, It was not then the farme,che oxen,but the inordinate af£e &ion to chofe things,that they loved them more than they did Chrift,that detained them. This was the true impediment which Chrift in thefe words toucheth.The things of this life are buidens indeed prelling our foules downe, but not in themfelves; All the weight they have in this kind, they receive it from our owne corruption. Which the Apoftle fheweth, joyning thefe two things together,Cafting away everything that prefetbdown, that is,the things of this life,and fnne,that fo ea /y incompaffeth ass.It is this latter that makes the former burdenfome to us. Therefore they in fteadoffaying,, I have bought a arme, i h,ve marrieda wife; fhould rather have Paid, 1 have fold my felfe to the inordinate love of my forme, and I h» ve married my f lfe to the fisol Jh and carnall love of my wife, as wellas to my rt ife. Some cafes in- deed there are,wherin that rule of our Saviour hath place, I will havemercy and not sacrifice: And then the occafion hindring the duty, is of greater con. fecr ence than the duty omitted : And the neglea ofthat occafion would have left a deeper ti amid in our cod-deuces than ofthe duty. As in. Hannah, gr
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=