Hepieíkeia: or, a treatise of Christian equity and moderation. Delivered publicly in lecturesHepieíkeia: or, a treatise of Christian equitie and moderation. Deliuered publikely in lectures

Again the mercy and moderation of God towards his children appears thus. ⟨p. 80⟩There is not the best man, but he sinneth, & there is not a sin so little, but in Justice it deserveth a whole world of punishments, yea all those curses denounced in the law, even all those plagues threatened, Deut. 28. all which in Justice should overwhelm him, press him down, & crush him to nothing. But behold the merciful moderation of God, he is content to lay no more crosses on his children, then by his own grace, (which he also gives them) they shall be able to undergo, and in the end to overcome also. When his children sin, (as when do they not?) doth he punish them according to the proportion of their sin? no: for then all the curses of his law should be heaped on them for one sin; and if he did so, he did but Justice: nay he deals so with them, as it is not to be called a punishment at all, but rather a chastisement: for a punishment must be in some sort, proportionable to the offence, but that which he layeth on his children, is nothing at all to their sin: and therefore it is no punishment properly, but (as it were) the chastisement or correction of a ⟨p. 81⟩father, to teach his son his duty, and to reform him, and bring him home from his evil ways: and therefore not in the rigour of a Judge, but in the love and wisdom of a father, he first considereth, what we are able to bear: and then layeth no more on us, then we may well bear: and which is most wonderful of all, he gives us strength to bear them. To this end speaks the Apostle to the Corinthians, 1. Cor. 10. There hath no temptation taken you, but that which befalls the nature of man. Whereby he imports thus much, that there are temptations, and crosses in Gods Justice due for sin, and which he hath in store, ready at his pleasure, which are so great, so heavy, and so fearful, as the nature of man could not possibly bear them, but should sink under them, and perish, as did Cain and Judas, and such like. Amongst these an evil conscience is one, which is so intolerable, as the wise man saith, Prou. 14. 18. A wounded spirit, who can bear it? But the crosses he layeth on his children, are always such, as they bear with comfort for a time, and at last with joy do overcome them.