2. The difordered A&t. The Punish fenfelefs, and of foolish defire, we must not hear them, but above The other branch is the difordered a& of Adam, which is a fecond degree of finne; for to have heard the voice of his Wife, and there to have stayed and not to have finned, had been worthy commendation: to have remembred the voice of God and not regarded the voice of Eve had been commendable: before he heareth the voice of God, but here he obeyeth the voice of Eve. Out of this act of finne the Fathers gather two Circumstances; the first is, that the voice of God might cafily have been obeyed; of all the trees in the Garden thou maist eat, de illâ arbore, of that one tree alone thou fhalt not eat in fuch plenty one might have been forborn : so that great was the disobedience when fo fmall a matter commanded by God was not obeyed by Man: according to that of St. Auftin upon this place, Magna eft iniquitas, ubi non magna obediendi difficultas; here is great ingratitude, not to forbear this one having all other in aboundance: The Second Circumstance in this act of fin is to doe it though charge were given before to the contrary with pain of death, in the 17. of the former Chapter, It was otherwife with Paul, 2 Cor. 15. he remembreth their obedience to be with fear and trembling: Not death fhall feparate Paul from his obedience, but Adam was disobedient, though death were denounced, difobedient to death, so that the aggravating the a&t is the contempt of Gods denouncing of death and punishment. So much may fuffice of the Fault. Now touching the Punishment. Curfed is the earth for thy fake: in mentor Penal- forrow shalt thou eat of it all the dayes of thy life, &c. tic. I confider this Punishment of Adam atter two forts, either as a Sentence or as a Law. Now we will fpeak of it only as a Sentence; hereafter, by Gods patience, we will handle the other as a Law. Herein we will confider the proportion of that Fault, with the Punishment, with the Fault, and with the Act it felf: In the Sentence are two Punishments: The firft, curfed be the earth for thy fake, &c. The fecond, in the fweat of labour fhalt thou eat thy bread till thou return to dust, for dust thou art and to it shalt thou return: The one one part of the Puuishment is a hard life, the other a corruption by death. As Eves, lo Adams punishment is in proportion: Firft his defire In Proportion, was unlawfull and the Act was fin, for according to 1.of St. James 15. When luft conceiveth, it bringeth forth finne; and finne, when it is finished bringeth forth death: Eves luft made her finne and the was punished Adams neglect to luffer an Inferiour to prevail against God, is punished with labour, for labour is pœna ignavia, and Mans ingratitude to God is punishment with the Earths ingratitude to Man, he was disobedient, the earth fhall be unfruitfull, he offended in meat, and he is punished in his meat; the earth that should feed him, is curfed for him; he offended in unkindness active, he is punished with unkindness paffive, he dealt unkindly with God, he fhall fuffer the earths unkindness: Eve her punishment was in bringing forth life, Mans is in bringing forth living to maintain and nourish life, which is a great difficulty; both have their pain, labour, and forrow Hers is in intenfion, great but for a few houres; his is great in extenfion, to indure all the dayes of his life. And fo much generally of the Punishment. Now in particular: the first part of mans Punishment is in his In his meat, meat Men must needs have whereof to cate,for life without living and maintenance will not be preferved: there is not only a bringing forth of Children, but there are also cura œconomica, houshould cares: meat and cloathing must of neceffity be had, according to that of the Wife man, Preacher 6.7. all the labour of man is for his mouth, and the 16. of the Proverbs and the 26. is to like purpose: he muft cat, and the hearb of the field must be his meat; fuell must maintain the fire, and meat must maintain life; Adam came of the earth and must live by the earth; the earth that was his Mother must be his Nurse, and from thence mankinde must be maintained, even all, the meanest and the Monarch, for as it is Preacher 5. 8. the aboundance of the earth is over all the King confifteth by the field that is tilled. The hearb of the field & bread was the only fuftenance of the Patriarchs before the Flood,but after the waters had taken away by over much moisture the ftrength that was in hearbs and bread, God gave them then other meats & drinks of ftrength, in the 9. Chapter of this Book 20. Noah planted Vineyards,and drunk the wine thereof But that Adam is here to ear, is the hearb of the field and the bread of his own labour: These two were able to ftrengthen mans hart, as it is faid of the one, Pfalm. 104 15. So long as Adam was obedient unto God the earth yeelded all aboundance without travell of it felf; for thorns there grew firre trees, for nettles the myrrbe tree, as it is Ifaiah 55.13. then was the earth a kinde and fruitfull Mother, but by this courfe of mans difobedience the earth is become a Step-mother, and without labour fhe yeeldeth no fufte nance; yet for all mans labour it may yeeld barrenness, according to Jeremie 12. 13. they have fowed wheat and reaped thorns; they have no profit of their labour because of Gods anger. Sf 3 Upon Three ching: Firft the earth in the Curfe. curfed: Caufe: : Upon the Malediction of the earth followeth a neceffary confequence of mans labour; for if the earth that was bleffed before,the 12. ofthe 1. Chapter, is here curfed for mans fiane, the fruitfulnefs must be recovered by mans labour; fo that labour is a confequence of the earths Curfe: And in this Curfe we obferve thefe three things: Firft the earth it felf is curfed: In the 1. Chapter God faid that the earth fhould yeeld hearbs with feed, and trees with fruit of it felf, it was fo there was fertility and fecundity by Gods breathing that in the Scriptures is called a blessed field, wherein is plen. ty: If man had stood upright there fhould have been plenty without pain taking; yet man fhould not have been idle, there'fhould have been labour with pleasure, but finne hath made it with pain. The staffe of bread fhould have indured; but God will break the staffe of their bread, Leviticus 26. 26. There fhall be no more plenty but penurie; and of it felf germinabit fpinas & tribulos, it shall bring Secondly the forth weeds, thorns, and thistles, and in aboundance. The fecond thing is the Caufe of the Curfe, for thy fake. In the 3. of Habakkuk 8. The queftion is, whether God were angrie against the Rivers, the Floods, and the Sea? as much to fay they have not offended. Here the earth hath done no offence: it was not cursed for it self, non in fe, fed propter te in quantum maledicta fuit propter te: It is all one to the earth in regard of it felf, whether it be barren or fruitfull, for when it doth fructific it is not for it felf it is infenfible of punishment, but it is all for mans fake. Man is as the great Sphear, the primum mobile to the other Creatures; his obedience to God drawes the obedience of Plants, Trees, Beafts, and all the Elements unto him: during his obedience all Creatures are ferviceable unto him; but afterwards the earth was unkinde, and as he moves all Creatures move with him if he move against God all move against him. The originall world of mans integrity was a Mirrour, for the ancient Fathers are of minde that the Sun was more clear, the waters more pleasant, the earth more fruitfull, all things more perfect, then all the trees of the field did clap their hands, as it is the fifty fifth of Efay the twefth verle: But man, changing, all was turned upfide downe, all things were changed; the Sunne was dimmed, the waters overflowed, the ayre with cold pierced, the earth was barren. and herbs poyfonfome, and the one and thirtith of Fob verse the fourtith,requireth that of the fifty fifth of Efay afore mentioned:Thifles grew instead of wheat, and cockle in ftead of barley, and as it is in the hundred and feventh Pfalme and the thirty fourth verse, God hath turned a fruitfull land into barrennesse, the caufe is given, because of the wickedneffe of the Inhabitants. In the twenty fixth of Leviticus, the eighteenth, twenty fourth and twenty eighth verfes, God faith, If they will not obey for love nor for feare, hee will punish them feven times more according to their finnes, and yet feven times more then that, and if for all this they will not obey him, but walke stubbornly, God will chafize them from feven to feven times more, and still increase their punishment feven times. The caufes muft bee diftinguished, the earth, of it felfe, before before was fruitfull, now of it felfit is infertile, because the Creature Man is fubject to vanity, in the eighth of the Romans and the twentieth verfe, and as it is in the twenty fouth of the Prov. and the thirtieth verfe: the field of the Sluggard is grown over with thorns and with nettles: It man be fluggish the earth must be fruitless; so that the earth must be laboured, and that labour must be qualified; the labour must be great, else it brings forth the cockle for corn; this is the perfection of punishment; for according to the fixth of the Hebrews and the eighth verse, The field that beareth thorns and thistles is neer unto curfing, whofe end is to be burned and this labour muft Thirdly, Labe continued, which is the third ching ; the continuance of it, which bor continued. is of three forts. First, It is not fimple labour for a day or two, but cunctis diebus vita, in youth and in age even to death, as it is in the nineteenth verse, In the fweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread till thou return to earth. St. Auftin faith there is perpetua corruptio and perpetuus Labor, floth is punished with continuance of labour in the second of Samuell the eleventh chapter and second verfe, thy idleneness fell to luft, and as it is in the first to Timothie the fifth and the thirteenth, idleness leadeth to all finnes. Secondly, It is continued, with patience; what if thou labour and it bringeth forth fpinas & tribulos, rhorns and thistles, yet must thou bear it, and labour ftill in the fweat of thy face? like him that planted a Vineyard with much pain and great coft, and he looked it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wilde grapes, and as it is in Pfalm 127. the labour is in vain unless God bleffe it: Plenty commeth not by mans labour but by Gods mercy: Vain therefore were they, the first of Habakkuk the fifteenth, That took fish with the angle and the net, and gathered it in their yarn; and when they had done, did facrifice to their net and burned incenfe to their yarn, because by them they thought their portion was fat and their meat plentious: Their labour is even nothing withOut Gods bleffing, left as in that place of Habakkuk, they should deifie their own labour: though the earth be unkinde labour thou ftill, and boast not of thy labour left it be vain. Thirdly, as it is in the 10. of the Preacher the 10. If the Iron be blant it must be whet to have an edge, and if need be of a better edge, then it must be whet with more Strength And here if great labour will not ferve greater must be added, harder labour must be used, it must be labor fudoris; if thou wilt have hearbs for thy meat only fmaler labour will serve, but if thou wilt feed upon bread, thou muft ufe much labor, thou must labour and fweat; thy nutriment must be by an excrement, bread is the intereft of thy continual labour: this is the yoke of the fins of Adam. God in punishing the Ifraelites will remember the land which he gave them, Leviticus 26.42. and they must suffer the punishment of their iniquitie; yea, when you shall remember your own wickedness, yee fhall judge your felves worthy deftruction for your iniquitie,in the thirty fixth of Ezekiel and the thirty firft: Paul, in the first of the Corinthians the ninth and the fifteenth, faith it were better for him so die than not to doe his duty. : . Now .A The ufe of the Scripture. Sentence are five. I. 2. 3. Now this fentence upon Adam hath this ule for us, fpina & tribuli, the thorns and thiftles when we walk in the field ipeak to us as Gods book doth, and make us a Sermon, telling they should not have grown there but for us, the earth fhould not have been curfed with barreness but for our wickedness if the thorn prick, or the nettle fting thee, it will fay hoc propter te; I was first brought and ftill I grow to make thee remember thy obedience; so that the very nettle that is good for nothing fhall put thee in mind of thy fault Be not angrie with the earth if it be barren, for it will fay it was fo non propter fe, fed propter te. To conclude this point well faith a Father, we mult have not only fenfum pana in corpore, the feeling of punishment in our body, but fenfum ira divina in mente, the feeling of Gods wrath in our foul. But now not to leave you plunged in despair with confideration of grievous punifl.ment, in a word I will touch the alay of this punishment: be comforted, though God be just yet he is mercifull, non eft Crux fine Chrifto, haft thou a Crofs then haft thou Chrift to Mercies in this comfort thee. God hath left five fignes of his mercie in this sentence, which the ancient Fathers term veftigia miferantis gratia, impreffions of Gods mercifull favour. The first is, non dixit maleditus tu, curfed be thou, as he faid to the Serpent, but terra malediéta, curled be the earth the nature that finned is not curfed, nor is it like Cains curfe in the fourth Chapter and eleventh verfe, for there is he curfed from the earth, but here the earth of which Adam was made, not Adam himfelf was curfed. Secondly, he is punished but with a little labour to his great finne, with a watry drops of fweat, and the sweat is but an cafie fweat of the face, not like Chrifts fweat in his prayer, the twenty fecond of Luke the fourty fourth verfe, which was like drops of blood trickling down to the ground. Thirdly, God might have fuffered the earth to have been fruitless let man have laboured never fo much, but that man for all his finne, yet with his labour fhall make the earth fruitful, in my opinion is a great mercy, which I ground out of the one hundred twenty eighth Pfalme when thou eateft the labour of thy hands, faith David, thou shalt be blessed, It is a bleffing when the Wife is fruitfull as the Vine upon the house fide, when thy Children are as the Olive-plants about thy Table and it is a bleffing that yer with labour the earth fhall bring forth fruit: It is a comfort that your labour shall not be in vain, as St. Paul (peaketh, the first to the Corinthians the fifteenth and the fifty eighth. God in mercy fendeth rain to water the earth, what to doc? Ifaiah telleth you in his 55.chapter and 10.verfe,to give not only bread to the eater but even feed to the fower: It is a comfort when we fowe that we shall reap; he that foweth, eareth, reapeth, thresbeth, doth it in hope, the first to the Corinthians the ninth chapter and tenth verfe. God giveth bread to the hungry and the feed to further increase by labour, dat acquifitum, that thou haft gained through thy labor. Fourthly, it is a great mercie to call it panis tass, thy bread, thou shalt cat of thy own bread; this is mercy, I fay, to terme that : mans |