Meditations on the holy sacrament of the Lords last Supper Written many years sinceMeditations on the holy sacrament of the Lords last Supper Written many yeares since

Now then I take it we may with conformity unto the Scriptures, and with the Analogy of Faith set down these Conclusions.

Now then I take it wee may with conformity unto the Scriptures, and with the Analogy of Faith set downe these Conclusions.

First, consider Punishments as they are dolours and pains, and as they are impressions contrary to the integrity of Nature, so the temporal evils of the godly are punishments, because they work the very same manner of natural effects in them which they do in other men. Secondly, take Punishments improperly for those evils of Nature which do occasionally follow sin, and unto which sin hath originally opened an entrance, which declare how God stands affected towards sin, with a mind purposing the rooting out and destroying of it; in this sense likewise may the afflictions of the godly be called Punishments, as God is said to have been^a exceeding angry with Aaron. But now these evils though inflicted on the godly because of their sins, as were, the death of the child to David, the tempest to Jonah, and the like, yet are they not evils inflicted for the Revenge of sin (which is yet the right Nature of a proper Punishment) (so saith the Lord, Vengeance is mine, I will repay it) but they are evils by the Wisdom of God, and love towards his Saints inflicted for the overthrow of sin, for weakening the violence, and ⟨p. 137⟩abating the outrageousness of our natural corruptions. As then in the godly sin may be said to be, and not to be in a diverse sense, (so saith Saint John in one place,^b If we say we have no sin we deceive our selves, and yet in another,^c He that is borne of God sinneth not) It is not in them in regard of its Condemnation, although it be in them in regard of its inhabitation, though even that also as daily dying and crucified, even so punishments or consequents of sin may be said to be in the godly, or not to be in them in a different sense. They are not in them in regard of their sting and curse as they are proper Revenges for sin, although they be in them in regard of their state, substance, and painfulness, until such time as they shall put on an eternal Triumph over Death, the last enemy that must be overcome.