Secondly, The other fenfe which they gather of these words, that where there are but two places for men to reft in, either his own native Country, or fome other where he can be: Cain shall tarry neither in his own Country, nor in any other, but shall shift and remove from place to place, and finde reft no where; therefore he went out of his own Country, and went and built a City in the land of Nod; and yet was not quiet there neither. And this is the cafe of an evill confcience, not to reft any where; for to a good confcience Angulus fufficit, but for him that hath a bad confcience, ipfe mundus angulus eft: Therefore we are to think of these things when we begin to commit any fias, namely, that thereby we deprive our felves both of living and dwelling, fo that if we finne a. gainst God by tranfgreffing his Precepts, we can neither look to have food fufficient, nor place convenient to dwell and rest in.

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The qualification of this Sentence or mercy with God fheweth herein, is, that albeit Cain be punished with want of food and dwelling, yet it is but fuper terram; therefore if he repent while he is on the earth, he may fet himself in a better ftate; for this restraint doth fhew that God gave to Cain space to repent, Apocalyps the second chapter and the twenty firft verfe; fo that there is hope for finners fo long as God fuffers them to continue upon earth: for if God would not have Cain repent, he fhould have been presently fwallowed up of the earth as Korah was, and have dyed fuddenly as Ananias did: Therefore this fuper terram is a mercy. It fheweth also that all Cains care was fet upon earth, and therefore God doth We are puni punish him with that which was his delight as he had no care at fhed with that all of heaven, as appeared by the manner of his Sacrifice which he which is our offered to God, without any choice at all, but fet his affection delight. on earth; fo God punisheth him with an earthly punishment, that he should finde no comfort or reft on earth: and this he doth both in justice and mercy, to draw him back to repentance, and to make him forry having a fenfe of his miferies, Hofes the second chapter and the feventh verfe, I will goe and return to my first husband, that the want of food on earth and of reft, might make him forry with the prodigall Son, in the fifteenth chapter of Luke, I will goe to my Father. God fuffers Cain to live in penury, that the sense thereof might inforce him to this refolution, Redibo ad Patrem: As the dove fent out of the Arke, finding no reft,had no place to goe to, but to the Ark, from whence the came, Genefis the eighth chapter; fo God doth punish Cain wich a reftleffe life on earth, that he might feek for reft in heaven. And as the Angell called Agar, when the wandred from her Miftris, to return to her, and humble her self under her hands, Genefis the fixteenth chapter, and the ninth verfe; fo it was Gods will that Cain confidering his reftleffè life on earth, should return to God, from whom he had now ftrayed as a loft fheep, by means of his greivous finnes, and fubmit himself under his mighty hand, as it is in the first epistle of Peter,confeffing his finne, and craving forgiveneffe, That fo God

might have mercy on him,& recieve him into ever lafting Tabernacles,Luke the fixteenth chap:er, where is reft void of trouble, and fufficiency of all good things.

Tum Kajin dixit Fehova, Major eft pœna mea quam ut fustinere Gen. 4. 13.

poßim.

Septemb. 2.

HE word which fignifieth finne here, in other places of Scripture is ufed for the punishment of 1599. finne, as in the thirty fecond chapter of Numbers and the twenty third verfe, Tee have finned against the Lord, and be fure your finne fhall jinde you out: Which double fignification maketh that there is a double reading of this verfe: The one in the Text, My punishment is greater than I can bear. The other in the Margent, My fin u greater than can be pardoned: So in the Text the word is tranflated the punishment of finne, in the Margent the finne itself, which is the primarie fignification of the word. And they that turn it punishment for finne, doe thereby expreffe Cain's murmuring against God. They that turn it for finne doe fhew Cain's defparation. I rather follow that in the Margent, (viz.) that the sense is thus; My finne is greater than can be pardoned. First, becaufe punishment of fiane. Secondly, because the Hebrews expound it fo. Thirdly, for that all the old Fathers read it fo. Fourthly, for that there is no mention of the third perfon. Laftly, because the full fenfe is comprehended in the next verfe. So that we are to take it thus, That Cain being examined, and hearing the sentence pronounced by God upon him, breakes forth into this complaint, My finne is greater than can be forgiven.

In which words generally,wee fee a new Cain, for no man would imagine that Cain, who a little before answered God fo prefumptuoufly, would fubmit himself fo gently,that he which faid, I know not where my brother is, would now upon the fudden confefs his fact that he that before was fo bold, fhould now become fo dejected, in the fight of his finne; he that had fhewed himfelfa gyant, fhould fo fuddenly become a Peafant, but it is not Cains cafe only, but the cafe of all his progenie; For Pharaoh that fo proudly and boldly faid, in the fifth chapter of Exodus, and the fecond verfe, Who is the Lord that I should hear his voice? I know not the Lord; after doth acknowledge the Lord, and fubmit himself to him, in the ninth chapter of Exodus, and the twenty feventh verfe, 1 have now finned, the Lord is righteous, but I and my people are wicked: Pray thou to the Lord that there be no more thunders.

Saul having committed a very grievous tranfgreffion against God, doth notwithstanding very boldly fay to Samuel, in the firft of Samu

el, the fifteenth chapter and thirteenth verle, I have fulfilled the commandement of the Lord; but a litle after (verie the thirtieth) he submitteth himself, I have finned, but honour mee. And Fudas the perfect example of Cain, albeit he had purposed to deliver his Master into the hands of the Scribes and Pharifees, is as bold to deny that he had any such intent as any, as it is in the twenty fix h chapter of Matthew, and the twenty fifth verle; but after the deed done, we les he is touched with remorfe for it, and faid, in the twenty feventh chapter of Matthew, and the fourth verfe, I have finned, betraying the innocent blood: This is a ftrange metamorphofis, and it is expedient that we mark this new stile, That when a man fees Cain's offering, he may fay with the Prophet, in the fift chapter of Feremiah, and the thirty firft verfe, Quid fiet in novißimo? For if our cafe were as Cains was, that no man should stand in our way, but presently we might be revenged of him without danger, it were a thing to be liked, but wee fee Cain himself doth not escape unpunished. Who would not defire to be in their cafe, of whom Fob fpeakes, in the twenty first chapter of Fob, and the feventh verle? If their flourishing eftate would hold, which live and wax old and grow in wealth, their feed is established in his fight, and his generation before their eyes: But that which maketh their condition miferable, is that which followeth in the thirteenth verfe, They spend their dayes in wealth, and fuddenly they goe down to the grave. The Prophet confeffeth he was greatly difquieted at the profperity of the wicked, till he went to the Sanctuaric of God; for there he understood their end, that they are fet in flipperie places, Pfalm the feventy third. So albeit Cain had the dominion over his brother and flew him, thinking none would call him to account for it, yet wee fee at length he acknowledgeth his finne, and affirmeth it to be fo great as that it can have no pardon.

Wherefore if we will judge rightly of Cain, whom we have heard before what he was; we must not stay there, but read on forward, and fee what he is now :. For we muft judge of the wicked by their deed, & of them our Saviour Chrift faith,in the 12. chapter of Matthew,Their end is worse than their beginning: Before his fin lay still,and his condemnation flept: And thus it is with the wicked, that while they are afleep in finne, they will believe nothing, nor give credit to any word of God. Wherefore we see a plain example in Lor's fons in law, in the nienteenth chapter of Genefis, and the fourteenth verse, when he told them the Lord would deftroy the City, he seemed to them to be fom jefter: And when finne awaketh, and damnation fleepeth no longer, then it is a matter of earneft; it maketh Cain to cry out, My finne is greater than can be pardoned. And howsoever EJaw contemn his Birth-right, yet, when he secks, it cannot be had again, it maketh him weep bitterly, Genefis the twenty fifth chapter, and Hebrews the twelfth chapter: So that albeit at the firft, they fee not the inconvenience and danger of finne, yet in novißimo, Feremiah the thirtieth chapter, and the twenty fourth verfe, at the last day they fhall understand it plainly.

Touching,

Touching the words themselves, here is a confeffion, though it be faulty, for true confeffion hath prayer joyned with it, as the Prophet, having made confeffion of his finne, faith, For this caufe I pray. ed, Pfalm the thirty fecond; And Peter to Simon Magus, Pray if the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee, in the eighth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, and the twenty fecond verse, but this confeffion hath no prayer, and therefore is faulty.

But to speak fo much of it as is good in his confeffion,

Firft, he confeffeth his finne, not every finne, but his crooked and perverfe finne, fuch as Fob fpeaketh of, in his thirty third chapter, and the twenty feventh verse, I have finned and perverted righteousness.

Again, in that he faich, his finne is great, he fheweth that he felt the weight of it,and doth not extenuate it, and make it leffe than it is: This confeffion is well, but only for two exceptions that are easily taken against it.

First, that which Chryfoftome maketh, That it was too late, for it fhould have ftood in the eighth verfe; for as the Wife-man faith, in the eighteenth chapter of the Proverbs, and the seventeenth verfe, Fuftus in principio fermonis accufator fut. And as the fathers read,in the fourty third chapter of Ifaiah, and the twenty fixth verfe, Dic tu iniquitates prior, ut juftificeris; for we may not foreflow the time, but feek the Lord while he may he found, Ifaiah the fifty fift chapter.

Secondly, because albeit it be faid of repentance, si vera nunquam fera; yet fi ferararò vera, if it be late it is feldom true.

And this confeffion of Cain, as it is no true confeffion, for that it was long deferred; lo chiefly for that it was a confeffion without any petition or prayer for pardon, and he made no prayer, be cause he had no hope; and no hope, for that he wanted faith. We muft therefore beware that we deferre not our confeffion and repentance, but fpeedily return to God, for that is the cause that he bears with us, he might presently confume us after we have finned, but he fpareth us for repentance, as the Prophet fpeaketh, in the thirtieth chapter of Isaiah, Expectat Deus ut miferiatur, and his mercy is extended to all finners, upon condition of repentance. Albeit Nebuchadnezzar were a grievous finner, yet the Prophet telleth him, in the fourth chapter of Daniel, if he break off his finnes by righteous dealing, and his iniquities by mercy to the poor, Erit fanatio erroris. And the Prophet to them that had given themselves to Idolatrie, faith, If you turn, your iniquisie fhall not be to your deftruction, Ezekiel the eighteenth chapter, and the thirtieth verfe: Therefore the Godly man faith, Wee have trefpaffed against God, wee have taken firange wayes, yet now there is hope in Israel for this, Exodus the tenth chapter, and fea cond verfe; Which is a point very materiall, for if hope of mercy and forgivenesse be cut off, finners will fall into their cafe that faid defperatly, in the eighteenth chapter of Feremiah, and the twelfth verse, We will walk in the stubborneffe of our hearts; or elfe as the Apoftle fpeaketh, They will be swallowed up of too much heavinesse, in the first epiftle to the Corinthians, the fecond chapter; that is, without hope

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of mercy,men tall into defperate hardnc is of heart,or into deiperate fear & forrow, fo as they cannot be comforted: And this is it which the Devill defires,to the end he may bring this to pals, As in the beginning he took exception against one tree, & charged God with niggardlinefs & envy,albeit he could not charge God for all the trees of the Garden, in the third chapter of Genefis, and the fift verfe; so albeit it be impoffible for the Devill to periwade Cain hat God will not forgive finnes, because in as much as if God be extream to mark what is done amiffe, and enter into judgement, no man can be justified in his fight, Pfalm the one hundered and thirtieth, and Pfalm the one hundred fourty third, therefore he muft needs forgive finnes, unleffe he will fhew that he hath made all men for nought, Pfalm the eighty ninth ; yet he tels him that howloever finnes may be forgiven, yet Cain's finne cannot be pardoned, He tels Cain that a murtherer of his Brother, and fuch a one as deayeth the deed with fuch prefumptuous and proud answers, cannot have pardon. But the error of Cain ftands herein,not that he is perfwaded that his fin is great, for murther no doubt is a great finne, but that he thinketh it fo great, as it could not be pardoned; as if Gods mercy were not great enough for his finne were it never fo great; Cain's error then as we fee, is Major iniquitas quàm propitiatio.

Which error God doth most of all deteft:

First, for that it doth prejudice his Power, as if he that is Almighty, were not able to pardon the finnes of wicked men.

Secondly, It doth prejudice his truth, for God affirmeth of himfelt, That he forgivethiniquity, tranfgreßion and finne, Exodus the thirty fourth chapter, and the feventh verfe, which is the finne that Cain fpeaketh of here. The Prophet faith of God, in the one hundred and thirtieth Pfalme, He shall deliver Ifrael from all his finnes 5 He hath Shut up all under finne, that he may have mercy over all, Romans the cle venth chapter: And as he came into the world to fave finners, lo primos peccatorum, in the first epiftleto Timothie, the first chapter, and the fixteenth verfe: This Cain could not be ignorant of, having heard of the promise which God made, That the feed of the woman fhould break the Serpents head, that is,(as we have fhewed, the head and chief finne that the Devill can infe&t the foul of man withall.

Thirdly, This error doth derogate from his goodneffe, which makes it more odious to God; for Gods mercy hath a preeminence above his juftice; Pfalme the one hundred fourty fifth, his mercy Is above all his workes; And as the Apoftle faith, in the fecond chapter of Fames, Mercy triumpheth over Fustice: Therefore the fin against Gods Mercy is more grievous.

Again, It is the more odious in Gods eyes, because it takes from him the Glory of his Mercy, which is effentiall and naturall in God; for his Juftice groweth out of man; and he is faid to be juft, not fo much in regard of himself, as in refpe&t of his dealing towards men, in that he rewardeth the good, and punisheth the bad; But as for Mercy, it is naturally in him, and a part of his Effence, But his Ju