that all the Wo's or Threatnings denounced in Scripture are therefore made known to the Inhabitants of the Earth in order that they may take warning and avoid that same Wo or Threatning Thus Saith the Lord Behold I Frame evil against you and devise a device against you Here is the Threatning but immediately the way is shewn how the same may be avoided Return ye now every one from his evil way and make your ways and your doings good Jer. 18. 11. I shall therefore again endeavour to shew from the Scriptures and from the truth of things how our Life and Conversation may be so ordered aright that the Salvation of God may be shewn unto us and then though our Life goeth away yet we shall avoid the Wo that it will not belong unto us Can any matter be more useful and comfortable than this last wherefore it is worthy of all acceptation and attention even from the people of the World as well as from Believers For it is not a going after vain things that cannot profit nor deliver â—or they are vain But Christ the Eternal word and the words of his truth do profit and deliver from the evil day and from the wrath to come As to the first thing proposed to be spoken unto As Baruch did say Wo is me now for the Lord hath added grief to my sorrow So here some people may be apt to think Wo unto us Mortal Creatures We do not care to hear much of this for this will be to add grief to our sorrow We are so sensible of it already that we would not have it yet made more sensible and afflicting by more doleful words concerning it There is no need to rub up an old sore which doth Pain and Ake already But here to pursue the same similitude it is good and sometimes necessary to launce a sore in order to the cure of it So likewise the very same stands in the Nature and connexion of things It is good to know the very worst of things if we would have them be remedied and made better As so is our case and subject in hand to which the thread of our following discourse may lead and shew It may be affirmed That all the Grief and Sorrow which we have in this World doth tend or relate unto this ground thereof how that our life goeth away Though it be deemed at first to proceed forth from some other outward cause yet it may be brought back to this original cause such or such People are therefore Melancholy Sorrowful or Troubled because the day of their life goeth away For as life is the first thing loved and desired because by it we are rendred capable to relish and enjoy all other things So it is proportionable Grief and Vexation in the Creature to think that at length it must part there withall This is the sting of Poverty which is esteemed the worst of outward evils for it is of longest duration and commonly extending throughout ones life for a thought of unbelief doth arise in the heart as if this vain fugitive life which is as a vapour and continueth not was our all And thereupon is unexpressible Grief and Vexation that here we should have our evil things and not our good things also as well as others Especially when the language of unbelief whispers farther that they are but once to be had for all But here again let the full assurance of Faith once come in concerning that future and endless life wherein it shall be said and fulfilled as to this than past life Son remember that thou in thy life time received'st thy good things and likewise Lazarus evil things but now he is Comforted and thou art Tormented This same consideration and knowledge before hand will make it both tolerable and easy to receive evil things here and also to be fearful of receiving good things for so it is esteemed and called by the people of the World the immoderate use of Corn and Wine Again To go unto other instances This same is the thing which makes sickly People or who are in declining or old Age so Fretful Waspish and Froward or Envious The same is likewise observed of deformed or crooked people as also of old Maidens who are not given to Marriage And so it is of Eunuchs or insufficient People For in these and alike cases The eyes of all look unto thee The thoughts of the hearts of these Creatures who find themselves miserable and defective in some one thing are towards their invisible Creator And a reasoning doth arise within them which doth terminate in secret indignation and vexation Why shouldst thou not make me as happy and compleat or do the same for me as for my fellow Creatures These thoughts should be silenced again with the consideration of God's absolute sovereignty Hath not the Potter power of the Clay to make one vessel to Honour and another to dishonour God is glorified in the several variety of his works He may do what he will with his own and who may say unto him what dost thou We should shew our selves contented and patient and thus glorify him however he hath formed us Neither let the Son of the stranger that hath joyned himself to the Lord speak saying The Lord hath utterly separated me from his people Neither let the Eunuch say Behold I am a dry Tree In both these sayings of theirs there is an inward repining because they are not made and placed in the same advantages and priviledges and capable to enjoy the same delights with their other fellow Creatures But what saith the answer of God their Creator unto them For thus saith the Lord unto the Eunuchs that keep my Sabbaths and choose the things that please me and take hold of my Covenant even unto them will I give in my house a place and a name better than of Sons and of Daughters I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off Also the Sons of the stranger that joyn themselves to the Lord to serve him and to love the name of the Lord to be his Servants Every one that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it and taketh hold of my Covenant Even them will I bring to my Holy Mountain and make them joyful in my House of prayer Their Burntofferings and their Sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine Altar Isa 56. 3 4 5 6 7 Here the Blessing and Promise is proportioned yea it is more than equivalent to what they complained of and murmured at But from hence we may learn that whatever our failure is of the common accomplishments and endowments of humane Nature and in whatsoever we come short of the rest of our Brethren which they have and we have not here let us be sure to serve God and be obedient unto him which is expressed in all those apt phrases of the Holy Ghost That keep my Sabbaths and choose the things that please me and take hold of my Covenant and
joyn themselves unto the Lord and love the name of the Lord to be his Servants If we are carefull and diligent and constant to do all this God will assuredly make up for our imperfection which we are apt to suppose our present misery in the time of the Restitution of all things Even what shall answer in kind to that same failure and imperfection as so is giving to the Eunuchs a place and a name better than of Sons and Daughters And to the Son of the stranger that had said the Lord hath utterly separated me from his people him will he bring to his Holy Mountain and make him joyful in his House of prayer Which is not separating him from his people for there it is that his people are gathered and assembled together It doth indeed seem disingenuous for it is not altogether so worthy as what proceeds from the principles of Love Prosperity and Thankfulness when people are as it were forced and driven to fear and serve God out of a sence of their Misery and Affliction But since there is a degree and tincture of that in the most healthful and prosperous person for he also is Subject unto Affliction and Misery through the fear and approach of Death And God doth accept of such a service though it is joyned with such thoughts of Heart as may be understood from Isa 56. Deut. 4. 30. 31. Therefore receive and follow this instruction All ye that shall hear or read these words O Man or Woman the more miserable thou art as to this world Do thou so much the more serve God and abound in well doing and than it will be better for thee at the end and distribution of all things then if thou hast been the most happy person that ever lived on this Earth When our Soul is vexed and disquieted within us Either because we have not good and comfortable things here or because whatever delights soon passeth away and we are gone there commonly at the very same time doth spring up a root of unbelief as if we were to be no more for ever And we being told and apprehensive that there is a good thing set out for the Sons of Men Hereupon indignation and anguish doth arise that our time here should pass away and yet that same good thing is not had by us Hence also is secret vexation when the Natural ends of our Creation are not answered And so pursue the reasoning part of all Trouble Melancholy Sorrow or such like and it will at length tend to this that therefore our Soul is full of troubles because our life draweth nigh unto the Grave Psal 88. 3. Thence doth arise more fretfulness of temper when the sting of Death doth put it self forth yet nearer towards us The reasonable Creature expected to have good in this life but the day goeth away and the good is not had The summer is ended and we are not saved And than again unbelief doth dictate and whisper that if the good thing be not had here we know not when it will be had When I thought to know this it was too painful for me Thus my heart was grieved and I was pricked in my reins So foolish was I and ignorant I was as a beast before thee Psal 73. 16 21 22. This last is just to be sensible of and groan under the present pain but not to apprehend any thing further And so is every one meerly as he is a Man But than as a Believer he is carried and advanced higher even to speak after that manner as he doth in the following verses Nevertheless I am continually by thee Thou hast holden me by my right â—and Here he comes to the knowledge of his Creator and Preserver and than afterwards he hints forth how that God will be the restorer of Mankind by giving â—hem a Resurrection and future state Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel and afterward receive me to glory This Faith and Knowledge of futurity is consolatory to all present Griefs Pain or Trouble As we are reasonable Creatures so we should use and exert forth this same reason when we are amidst and under affliction Why It is an Adverb of Interrogation and Reasoning art thou cast down O my Soul and why art thou disquieted within me Hope in God for I shall yet praise him who is the health of my countenance and my God Here the Psalmist doth endeavour to quiet his dissatisfied Spirit with this short thought and speech Hope in God But as it is elsewhere written I remembred God and was troubled Even so here the cure and remedy is to rise the same way as the Grief and Malady doth For as God is the Creator and orderer of all things and as himself speaks in his word Shall there be evil in a City and the Lord hath not done it And it is expresly said That the Lord doth cause grief So of all the griefs and evils which poor Mankind do endure in this vale of tears it is supposed that God hath an hand in it and that he is the Authour and Ordainer of them which indeed is true and thence it is because no chastening for the present seemeth joyous but grievous That hard thoughts do arise in the hearts of some against his Divine Majesty who either do not believe or not know throughly and consider further that the same chastening doth afterwards yield the Peaceable fruit of Righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby Heb. 12. 11. For the Lord will not cast off for ever But though he cause grief yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve thâ— Children of Men Lam. 3. 31 32 33 To such people who have Faith and Spiritual knowledge all the griefs and miseries of this present life do but lightly affecâ— them Because all things here are so very little fugitive and vain and nothing here is so evil but what may and can be endured and the Spirit of Man will bear uâ— against it as to outward temporal things But thâ— great thought and searching of heart is concerning whaâ— is said in this same Lamentations That the Lord wâ—â—â— not cast off for ever And so how God will shew anâ— approve himself unto us throughout eternity Hencâ— doth arise all the fear and doubt But here again this same word speaks peace to the Soul Hope iâ— God for I shall yet praise him for he is the health of mâ— countenance and my God The object of hope is gooâ— things or an expectation of good things and here is speech of assurance I shall yet praise him Indeed â— will be the business and employment in Heaven of sucâ— Souls as shall be saved to praise God for that exceeding and eternal Blessedness which he will give unâ—â— and invest them withall and make it so sure unâ—â— them that it shall never be taken from them noâ— they from it There it is and there only
Jeremiah VI. 4. Wo unto us for the Day goeth away for the shadows of the Evening are stretched out THE word Wo is often mentioned in Scripture especially in the Old Testament and is a relative Term significant of Evil and Misery to come For â—â—at same Wo which is now denounced against such or â—â—ch People will after this Life is ended fall down upon â—â—em in Punishment and Misery Hence doth arise that â—â—et Thought and Searching of Heart in the Creature toâ—ards the Creatour who is the Lord our God A doubt â—â—d fear doth naturally spring up in our minds as if God â—ould inflict pain and make us miserable in the future State â—â—d thereupon from this thing of Death which is the Inlet â—â—d Entrance thereinto we expect no Good but Evil. Here aâ—â—in our Spirits may be quiet and satisfied for it is evident â—â—â—re are several things which we are greatly afraid of at 〈◊〉 first apprehension and thoughts concerning them But â—â—â—â—er we have experienced the very same thing it self we â—â—d no dreadfulness or Evil at all in it but rather good â—â—d conveniency So that according to the common sayâ—â—â— herein We are more frightened then hurt and such may â—ath be Yea certainly so it is to the Children of God â—â—o are Heirs of Salvation which includes in it self both 〈◊〉 and Immortality There is a visible reason of that natural fear of Death â—â—cause it is altogether evil and to be abhorred what is seen to befall the Body as Pain Languishing Weakness distortion of countenance and then lying in the Grave and seeing Corruption and such like And yet all these Evil 〈◊〉 Terrible things do no more touch nor yet affect the man himself that is his Soul than when the Angel of the Lord smote Peter on the side and raised him up and his Chains felâ— off from his hands As all this was no great hurt to thâ— Soul nor yet to the Body of Peter Even so it wilâ— be when the Angel of Death shall knock off these Chain of Flesh wherein and wherewith at present we aâ—â— holden and fettered then also the Soul is Raised up oâ— of its earthly Habitation see Zech. 2. 13. and returns anâ— ascends up to God that gave it Nevertheless still there being a Wo pronounced in thâ— Text indefinitely against us which signifies as if it diâ— pertain to all Mankind both good and bad Saint anâ— Sinner and every one whither Godly or Ungodlâ— finding within himself some grief and vexation feâ—â— and anguish at this consideration of his present liâ—â— going away and at last it will come quite to an enâ— We must not flatter nor delude our selves as if theâ—â— was nothing at all to be feared in it for this Wo prâ—nounced by the Spirit of God doth seem to presuppose aâ—â— relate unto some future Evil. Again whatever is Nature General and Universal in every one as the fear of Deaâ—â— is This same thing can never be in vain but there â—â— some reality to which it hath Respect The Apostle saith As touching Brotherly love ye nâ—â—â— not that I write unto you for ye your selves are taught â—â— God to love one another So here it may be reasonâ—â— There is no need to be taught out of the Scriptures Hâ— that our present life and time goeth away For by tâ—â— common knowledge and experience that God hath givâ—â— to every Man they are sensible already Nay tâ—â—â— must know it whither they will or not that their lâ—â—â— and their Time goeth away But God willing more bundant to shew unto the heirs of promise the Immutabâ—â— of his counsel herein As also that the common and 〈◊〉 multitude of Mankind may be more without excâ—â—â— if they have not provided for their latter end Iâ— concerning this as here it too commonly happens that Man also knoweth not his time As the fishes that are taken in an evil net and as the Birds that are caught in the Snare so are the Sons of Men Snared in an evil time when it falleth suddenly upon them To give yet more repeated warning of all this God hath ordered it to be written also how that our Life and our Time goeth away For so it is expressed in the words of our Text Wo unto us for the Day goeth away for the shadows of the Evening are stretched out The words are Metaphorical and signifie the very same as what is aforementioned that our life goeth away But the Metaphor seems to be borrowed from the Sun that greater light which God Created and placed in the Firmament to Rule ouer the Day and to divide the Light from the Darkness For as long as that is above our Horison than it is Day but when it moves beneath the Horison then the shadows of the Evening are stretched out and the Night comes on Again it is not unknown to any one that is understanding in the Scriptures that the time of Mans present Life is often expressed by this manner of speech his Day If thou hadst known in this thy Day the things that belong to thy peace but now they are hid from thine eyes To Day if ye will hear his voice harden not your heart as in the Day of Provocation and as in the Day of temptation in the Wilderness I have spread out my hands all the Day unto a Rebellious people For he saith I have heard thee in an accepted time and in the Day of Salvation have I succoured thee Behold now is the accepted time Behold now is the Day of Salvation In all these and alike places the word Day signifies all the time of Mans present life here on Earth And so it doth in this place of Jer. 6. 4. I shall not confine my self to the primary intent or exact coherence of the words as they are in the Text but I shall treat of them in the large and common signification aforementioned How that our Life and Time here on Earth passeth away and because I am given to understand that several do impute it as a fault and defect in my preaching In that I go on altogether in one continued discourse But I do not so much make mention of the words First Secondly Thirdly as other Ministers and Preachers do which as they say is more for help of the memory and for the edification of the hearers Therefore I who have thought good to become all things to all Men that I might gain Some have thought good to handle this our present Text in the following method of these two propositions and afterwards I may draw from thence some Practical Inferences which is commonly called the use or Application From the words Wo unto us for the Day goeth away I shall endeavour to shew together with the Reason or Reasons thereof that it is a melancholy and sorrowful consideration in all people to consider throughly how that our present Life goeth away And this I gather from the first introductory word Wo unto us Secondly Because
that we wâ—â—â— rejoyce in thy Salvation and in the name of our God 〈◊〉 will set up our banners even when we have scaled anâ— are ascended up into the Kingdom of Heaveâ— Which from the days of John the Baptist Suffereth viâ—lence and the violent take it by force He that overcometh I will his God and he shall be my Son And yâ—â— ought in the mean while to praise our God for giviâ—â— unto us exceeding great and precious promises For aâ—fording us the means of grace and for the hope Glory and for putting us into a possibility of seekinâ— now and at last of obtaining those great and gloriâ—â—â— things that are spoken of thee O City of God Amidst all the castings down and disquietudes Soul Under all the thoughts which trouble us 〈◊〉 should go on still in the way of Duty with this Faith and assurance I shall yet praise God Though perhaps the affliction is so sore and the disappointment so vexatious that we are tempted in heart in like manner as Job's Wife did him curse God and die We may beat back and answer the temptation with a like saying of his Thou speakest as one of the foolish Women speaketh For this would be the utmost folly that can be if we should go the way and do those things to be miserable here and miserable hereafter also as that would be if we â—hould curse him whom we ought to praise What if we do now receive evil at the hand of God nothing â—s so sure as that we shall receive good at the latter and provided that like unto his Servant Job we do not sin in the mean while nor yet charge God foolishly I shall yet praise him who is the health of my countenance and my God This thing health of my countenance is a relative term and doth answer unto and presuppose some sickness of Body or Mind which the Psalmist in probability was than under As sickness of Body is a forerunner of dying and Death the Subsequent word My God contains in it life for evermore For the same Creator that gave life at first will again renew and restore it Who turneth Man to Destruction will say return ye Children of Men. Herein he doth take care of and provide against the evil of Mortality Corruption and Dissolution The same God who is a very present help in the time of trouble is also all things sutable and proportionable to the several needs and requirings of his Creatures For thou hast been a strength to the poor a strength to the needy in his distress a refuge from the storm and a shadow from the heat Now what is more proper and sutable under scorching neat than to get into the shade and so when a storm beats upon us to get somewhat for refuge from it As it is written And when all things shall be subdued unto him than shall also the Son himself be Subject to him that put all things under him that God may be all in all So in the future state God will be all in all towards the making up the persection and happiness of his Creatures That he shall not be ashamed to be called their God By Providing for and securing unto them things worthy of so great and good a God and as much as a Creature can receive Behold what a mighty word of consolation is here As also it is a most quickening Exhortation to enforce that of the Apostle What manner of persons ought ye to be in all Holy conversation and Godliness looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God that ye may get the favour and love of God whilst ye are yet in the way But if these things are so as most certainly they are then some may be apt to put me in mind of my Text and ask how it comes to pass that a wo is pronounced for the day goeth away Which going away of the day doth set us yet nearer to these happy things Might it not be more properly said instead of that Wo pronounced Blessed and Happy it is for us that the day goeth away And truly because of that vanity and vexation of Spirit which is in all things under the Sun Because of that Tediousness and Irksomeness of life because of that finall variety of all the things below and it is all but almost the same thing over and over again In my thinking it would be Wo unto us if the day did not go away For we should be even weary and not able to abide here for ever if we might abide so in this state and as things now are But the answer to the former part of this objection may be had by discoursing on our second Proposition viz. Because that all the Wo's and Threatnings denounced in Scripture are therefore made known unto the Inhabitants of Earth in order that they may take warning and avoid that same Wo or Threatning we are to learn from the Scriptures and from out of the truth oâ— things how our conversation may be so ordered aright that the Salvation of God may be shewn unto us And then though our life goeth away we shall avoid the Wo that it will not belong unto us This is most certain that a Wo doth belong unto us and will at last fall down upon our head to our endâ—ess confusion and misery if we do not finish that work which God our Creator sent us severally on this this Earth for to do Said Jesus the forerunner who is entred before us into the vail I must work the works of him that sent me while it is day the night cometh when no man can work I have glorified thee on the Earth I â—ave finished the work which thou gavest me to do Christ's work was laying the foundation for all to build on He finished the Work which God gave him to do And so every Soul should Work out that which he hath wrought and accomplished for us Which same Work is to be done in this life that being the accepted â—ime for the Night or darkness of Death draws on and there is No work nor devise nor knowledge nor wisdom in the grave whither thou goest And therefore if we neglect to finish that Work Wo unto us for the day goeth away for the shadows of the Evening are stretched out The Son of Man hath given to every Man his work and commanded the Porter to watch So that of necessary consequence there must be a Wo if that time should slip away and the same Work is not done for which that same time was originally set out and intended There is the same rule of contraries And seeing that the Scripture pronounces that Servant blessed whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing Then on the other hand that Servant or rather idle Person is cursed and a Wo is unto him if the Lord when he cometh shall not find him so doing but loytering or doing that which is sinful or evil There is a
Wo pronounced against or doth belong to every Sin Iniquity Transgression Disobedience or any manner of evil As appears both from the old Testament and the New In both which we find this word Wo spoken forth against them and where it is not spoken forth in express words Nevertheless it may be understood that it doth appertain thereunto For the word of God spoken or written is stedfast and every disobedience and transgression receiveth a just recompence of reward As aforesaid that all trouble grief or such like dotâ— hence arise because our life goeth away So likewisâ— our sorrow may be reduced and brought back to thiâ— original cause Because we have sinned Both thesâ— observations agree and meet together in one The matter truly is this We are sorrowful because we havâ— sinned and we are sorrowful because our Life goetâ— away For we are afraid that a Punishment which wiâ—â— make miserable will be inflicted on us for the samâ— sin after this present Life which is now going away shall be ended Now the Decree Justice and Will of God stands on thâ—â— wise Sin committed must have its Punishment to bâ— inflicted unless the same sin is pardoned Hence thâ— Soul is in continued fear and doubt until she hath thâ— Reconciliation of God Until she hath his Voice anâ— Spirit witnessing from within her self Son or Daughter be of good chear Thy sins are forgiven thee Again seeing that we have all sinned and are worthâ— of punishment after this life shall be ended here wâ— should cry mightily unto God and offer up strong cryinâ— with tears in these days of our flesh that we may be hearâ— in that we fear before him And like our Father Jacoâ— wrestle with God in effectual fervent and continueâ— Prayer until the breaking of the day of immortality And be yet more earnest and importunate with God by how much the nearer it is to the day breaking 〈◊〉 as the Soul is yet nearer breaking forth out of the shelâ— of the Body into the World to come the place of â—ternal and unchangeable light And we will not let Goâ— go except he Bless us with the Blessing which the Lorâ— hath commanded even life for evermore Immediatelâ— after this life which is as a vapour and continuet not shall be ended Saith Job to God I have sinned What shall I do to thâ—â— O thou preserver of Men Why hast thou set me as â— mark against thee so that I am a burden to my self Chaâ— 7. v. 20. This last confirms the truth of what waâ— just now spoken That sorrow is because of sin anâ— as a consequent thereunto for therefore it was because Job had sinned he was a burden to himself The verse immediately following doth shew and intimate that there is sorrow and fear in the Soul for want of forgiveness of sins as appears from this Pathetical and earnestly desired question or rather it is a kind of expostulation in Prayer And why dost thou not pardon my Transgression and take away mine Iniquity For now shall I sleep in the dust and thou shalt seek me in the morning and I shall not be If we were sure that God would do thus we could as contentedly and without fear lye down in the Grave as in a bed of Roses or Violets or as we take our common rest by Night which the Holy Ghost doth give us here to understand by this phrase I shall sleep in the dust Now there is nothing of dreadfulness or evil in sleep The Scripture is all along consonant and agreeable to it self in every thing especially in this truth how that the sting of Death is sin So that it would be neither dreadful nor evil if this same sting was plucked out or what is equivalenta and tantamount thereunto if this same sin was pardoned and taken away Comfort ye comfort ye my people saith your God Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem In the margent there it is speak to the heart And cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished that her iniquity is pardoned Isa 40. 1 2. In these words again the word of consolation is contained her iniquity is pardoned For I do hereby appeal to the conscience of all those who shall hear or read these words whither this is not speaking comfortably to ye or speaking to your heart that is what answers to your hearts desire and wish to have assurance that now thine and my warfare here on Earth doth draw so very nigh to be accomplished that here we have our iniquity pardoned If the Lord grant me this my request as the same is my daily Prayer I would I could truly say my constant endeavour was so likewise as is hereafter explained I know not what I could desire better on this side of Heaven For if my iniquity is pardoned then that thing is taken away which only hinders any ones entrance into Heaven As touching whither our iniquity be pardoned or not is the chiefest fear and trouble to knowing people and believers which they have when they do walk softly all the residue of their years in the bitterness of their Soul The Scripture token and evidence whereby we may know vvhither our past iniquity is pardoned or not is according as vve are cleansed from all unrighteouness for the time to come If he that giveth strength and power unto his people Psal 68. 35. Doth give Strength and Povver to abstain from the like for the future Thus much is gathered from that of the Apostle If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness 1 John 1. 9. This Scripture is not to be taken piece meal but all together So that according as any one is cleansed srom all unrighteousness That is cleansed from every thing vvhich is contrary unto or different from that great and compleat Rule of Righteousness This is a sure token that thy sins are forgiven thee And also when the Prophet Isaiah saith That the iniquity of Jerusalem is pardoned for she hath received of the Lord's hands double for all her sins Hence it may be reasoned and concluded in the like manner We are chastened of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the World 1 Cor. 11. 32. When we have afflictions and troubles hereby God doth punish us in this World for our sins that we may be spared in the World to come This also is some comfortable euidence that our iniquity is pardoned For as the Apostle saith Some Men's sins are open before hand going before to Judgment and some Men's sins follow after 1 Tin 5. 24. So the sins of some people are punished in this World that they may not be punished after the day of Judgment So the punishment of the sins of other people is respited and forborn in this Life but deferred until and to be executed after the day of Judgment If we endure more chastening and trouble than others who are greater sinners than