Selected quad for the lemma: evil_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
evil_n	burden_v	sin_n	unavoidable_a	16	3	16.5173	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A81199	An exposition with practicall observations continued upon the twenty-second, twenty-third, twenty-fourth, twenty-fifth, and twenty-sixth chapters of the book of Job being the summe of thirty-seven lectures, delivered at Magnus near London Bridge. By Joseph Caryl, preacher of the Word, and pastour of the congregation there.	Caryl, Joseph, 1602-1673.	1655 (1655)	Wing C769A; ESTC R222627	762,181	881

Church Lest saith he such a one should be swallowed up with over-much sorrow Sorrow of any sort even sorrow for sinne may possibly have an excesse or an over-muchnes in it and when ever it hath so beyond the end for which it serves for sorrow is not of any worth in it selfe but as it serves to a spirituall end When I say sorrow hath such an excesse then not onely the comforts but the gifts and usefullnes of the person sorrowing are in danger to be swallowed up by it Secondly Water doth not onely swallow up but enter in while it covereth the body it fills the bowells Thus affliction like water fills within as well as covers without David complaines that his affl●ctions did so Psal 69.1 Save me O God for the waters are come in unto my soule Not onely have these waters sweld over mee but they are soakt into mee Inward or soule-afflictions as well as outward and bodyly afflictions are set forth by waters Psal 109.18 As he cloathed himselfe with cursing like as with his garment so let it come into his bowells or within him like water and like oyle into his bones Liquids penetrate so doe afflictions Thirdly As the water is not mans proper Element hee lives and breathe in the ayre not in the water So affliction is not our proper Element though it be due to our sinne yet it is not proper to our nature Man was not made to live in affliction as the fish was made to live in the water and therefore as it is said The Lord doth not willingly afflict nor grieve the Children of men Lam. 3.33 'T is as it were besides the nature of God when he afflicts the children of men So it is sayd Heb. 12.11 No chastning for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous Man is out of his Element when he is under chastnings Hee was made at first to live in the light of Gods countenance in the smiles and embraces of divine love As man is out of his way when he sins so he is off from his end when he suffers He was not designed for the overwhelming choaking waters of sorrow and judgement but for the sweete refreshing ayre of joy and mercy It often proves a mercy in the event to be covered with these waters To be covered with them that we may be washed by them is a mercy but onely to be covered with them especially as Eliphaz here saith Job was to be deeply covered with them is a deepe and soare affliction Abundance of waters cover thee Hence note That as God hath treasures of mercy and abounds in goodness so hee hath treasures of affliction and abundance of wrath As God hath abundance of waters sealed up in the Clouds as in a treasury and hee can unlocke his treasury and let them out whensoever he pleaseth eyther to refresh or overflow the Earth so hee hath abundance of afflictions and hee can let them forth as out of a treasury when he pleaseth And as wee read Ezek. 47. that the waters of the Sanctuary those holy waters were of several degrees first to the Ankles secondly to the knees then to the Loines and then a river that could not be passed over abundance of waters Thus also the bitter waters the waters of affliction are of severall degrees some waters of afflictions are but Ancle-deepe they onely make us a little wet-shod there are other waters up to the knees and others to the Loynes and others wee may rightly call abundance of waters a Sea of waters I am come into deepe waters saith David Psal 69.2 or into depth of waters where the floods overflow mee And having sayd Psal 42.6 O my God my soule is cast downe within mee He adds in the next words v. 7. Deepe calleth unto deepe at the noyse of thy water-spouts All thy waves and thy billowes are gone over me Where by deepe to deepe by waterspouts by waves and billowes he elegantly sets forth his distresse in allusion to a Ship at Sea in a vehement storme and stresse of weather when the same wave upon whose back the vessel rides out of one deep plungeth it downe into another Thus the afflicted are tossed and overwhelmed in a Sea of trouble till they are at their wits end if not at their faiths end Take two or three Deductions from all these words layd together Wee see by how many metaphors the sorrows of this life are set forth even by snares and feares and darknes and waters Hence note First That as God hath abundance of afflictions in his power so hee hath variety of wayes and meanes to afflict the sonnes of men eyther for the punishment of their sinne or for the tryall of their graces If one will not doe it another shall if the snare will not feare shall if feare will not darknes shall and if darknes will not the waters shall and if waters of one hight will not doe it hee will have waters deepe enough to doe it abundance of waters shall doe it hee hath variety of wayes to deale both with sinners and with Saints Secondly Consider the inference which Eliphaz makes Therefore snares c. are upon thee That Is because thou hast done wickedly in not releeving and in oppressing the poore therefore snares have entangled thee This though false in Jobs particular case yet is a truth in General And it teacheth us That There is an unavoydable sequell between sinne and sorrow Looke upon sinne in its owne nature and so the sequell is unavoydable sinne is bigge with sorrow as affliction burdens the sinner so sinne is burdend with affliction Sinne hath all sorts of affliction in its bowells and wee may say of all the evills that afflict us they are our sinnes Sinne is formally the transgression of the Law and sinne is virtually the punishment of transgressors Many I grant are afflicted for tryall of their graces as hath been shewed before but grace had never been thus tryed if man had not sinned Sinne is the remote cause of all afflictions and it is the next or immediate procuring cause of most afflictions Would any man avoyde the snare let him feare to sinne would he avoyd feare let him feare to doe evill would he keepe out of darkness and not be covered with abundance of waters let him take heed hee drinke not iniquity like water let him have no fellowship with the unfruitfull workes of darkness God tells the sinner plainely what portion he is to expect Say woe to the wicked it shall be ill with him for the reward of his hands shall be given him Isa 3.11 Wee may as well hope to avoyd burning when we run into the fire or dirtying when we run into the mire as to escape smarting when we run into sinne Yet more distinctly wee may consider all those evills comprehended under those words in the Text Snares darknes c. eyther in reference to wicked men or to the Saints Snares and darknes upon the wicked are the

us very great though we should have it all as ours or in our possession How little a thing is all this world and how little a part hath any one of this little The whole world is but little what then is a little part of it which yet is all that falls to the share of the greatest men in this world Philosophers say that the whole body of the earth and Sea together is but as a poynt or pricke with a pen compared to the heavens and yet there are very few of the great men of the earth who possesse so much as a mathematicall poynt or pricke with a pen in the body of the earth Wee may say that the day of the greatest man in the world is but a day of small things The Prophet to encourage the meane beginnings of Sions deliverance Zech. 4.10 sayd Who hath despised the day of small things As if he had sayd I know many doe it some hoping and others fearing that these small beginnings will have smaller endings or end in nothing but in the joy of the enemies and in the sorrow and disappoyntment of the friends of Sion But I say unto you take heed of despising the day of small things that is the least appearances of deliverance and salvation to Sion Now as we are not to despise the workes of God because they are small so we have no reason to be proud of but even to despise the things of the world for they are small Men have great thoughts and make much adoe about small things when they have to doe with the greatest things on this side heaven The greatest things that continue onely for a little while are but tittle worth then how little worth are those things which besides that they continue but a little while are themselves but little Though wicked men are exalted yet no man hath cause to be troubled at it or envy them They are not blessed because exalted for they are exalted but a little and that onely for a little while It should not be much to us what any man is as to worldly enjoyments no nor what we our selves are as those enjoyments seeing whatsoever others are or whatsoever we are in that capacity is but for a little while The Apostle saith 2 Cor. 4.18 We looke not at the things which are seene but at the things which are not seene that is we make not the things of the world our scope but the things which lye beyond this world which are seene by faith onely And the reason why he looked not at these things which are seene was because the things that are seene are temporall those things which are seene will not be long seene they are but for a while and therefore not to be much looked after The Things which are not seene shall be seene for ever they are eternal and therefore most worthy to be looked after The world hath beauty and glory in it but this staines the beauty of all earthly glory that it may be so quickly stained The evills and troubles of this world should not much trouble us nor the afflictions of this world present much afflict us because they are but for a while suppose a godly man be cast downe and laid low in reference to the world he is laid low but for a while therefore no great matter to him he hath no great reason to be troubled at it as the Apostle argueth in the same Chapter ver 16. For this cause we faint not for our light afflictions which are but for a moment c. therefore he calls them light how great and how heavy soever in their owne nature though they were as heavy as a mountaine he calls them light because as to their duration they were but for a moment We say A light thing carryed a great way or a great while becometh heavy He that puts onely a pound-stone in his pocket will be very sencible of and much burdened with the weight of it before he comes to the end of a long journey whereas a great weight is not much burdensome if it be not much borne Now as worldly evills and troubles are light because but short so are worldly comforts and honours especially the worldly comforts honours of wicked men of whom it is expressely sayd not onely by way of assertion in which sense it may be sayd of all men but also by way of commination They are exalted for a little while Againe as the profession of hypocrites hath a kinde of appearing goodlinesse and beauty but it is little worth or it is of no worth because they endure but for a little while they are but Temporyes as the word is in the parable of the Sower Or as the Lord complaineth by his Prophet Hos 6.4 O Ephraim what shall I doe unto thee O Judah what shall I doe unto thee for your goodnesse is as a morning cloud and as the early dew it goeth away goodnesse it selfe is scarce good goodnesse is little worth if it be but as a morning cloud if it be but as the dew that goeth away when the heate of the Sunne commeth The worth and glory of true grace stands in this that it stands and endures for ever let the world turne which way it will true grace stands its ground and turnes not away Now if all the goodnesse and pretended holynes of hypocrites and formalists be nothing worth because it is like a cloud or a dew onely for a little while how little worth is the exaltation of wicked men which goeth away and is as quickly gone as a cloud is scattered and blowne away by the wind or a dew exhaled by the rising Sunne We may say of all the glory of the wicked as the same Prophet Hosea sayth of Ephraim Chap. 9.11 As for Ephraim their glory shall flee away like a bird from the birth and from the womb and from the conception that is it shall quickly depart by their glory some understand their children As if he had sayd Their children shall flee from the birth that is if borne alive they shall dye as soone as borne Their children shall flee from the wombe that is they shall not be borne alive they shall be abortives Their children shall flee from the conception that is they shall not be so much as conceived Wee may read the Prophet backward and beginning with the last first say Their glory that is their children or whatsoever else they glory in and make their glory shall flee from conception that is it shall not be conceaved or have any being at all and if conceived and so have a being yet it shall flee from the wombe that is it shall never come to a compleate being but shall be marr'd in the making or if it be borne and so have a perfect being yet it shall flee from the birth that is it shall dye as soone as borne and come to its grave in stead of or as soon as to a cradle Thus