TheePower ofthe 9c)ffiell. 01.Wwwwwwww them, becaufe they have contemned it. Fourthly, the power ofthe Word towards wicked men is feene in this,thatit doth ripen theirfins and make them fo much the more finfull, and Co much the fooner fill up their meafure. IfIhadnot come, faithChat, and ffroksis unto them, they had&duoflione, but now theyhave na cloke fortheir linne. k tree which is fafined unto a wall, in which the heatofthe Sunne is more permanent and united, will bring forth ripe fruit before theordina- ryfeafon fo apeople uponwhom the light ofthe Go- fix 11 hath conflantly fhined, and which doth often drinke in the mire which falleth upon it, muff needs bring forth Summer-fruit, finnes fpecdily ripe, and therefore be Co much the neerer unto curling. There is but a yeare betweene fuch a tree and the fire : we (hall never finde that the finnes of Ifrael, and of juda ( for which they wereat any time plagued with captivitie ) were fo long in ripening as the finnes of the Canaa- nites, upon whom there did no light fhint The Land hadrea fometimes fortie yeeres, and fometimes foure- fcoreyeeres, but we never finde that they were fuffered to provoke theLord to his face foure hundred yeeres together : We finde when toNinive he fent a Prophet to revealeunto them the guilt and meritof their finnes, he then fet them avery fhort time, inwhich they fhould eitherforfake or ripen them, ietfortiedayes and Ninive fball bedeflroyed. Fifthly,the power ofthe Word towardswicked men is feene even in the rageand swamp which it excites in them. It is a figne that a man hath todoe with a firong enemie whenhe buckleth on all his harnefl'e,and calleth together all his flrength for oppofition. When I fee a river without any fenfible noife or motion, I am ready to efieeme it a banding poole, but when I bake further and there obferve what huge engines it carrieth about, and what weightybodies it rouleth beforeit, I then be- leeve 15'3 VERSE 2. Ida 15.22,j Heb.6.8. Amos8.r. Luke 13 8,9.
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