An exposition with practical observations upon the three first chapters of the book of…

Secondly, Taking the latter words of this verse, (There the weary be at rest,) for those wicked men who are wearied by troubling others, we may observe,

That wicked men by troubling others, do as much weary and tire out themselves; And though they find that in troubling others they weary themselves, yet they will not give it over, they will trouble still. Job saith thus of a wicked man, in the 15th. of this book, ver. 20. The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days, not only doth he put others to pain, but himself is in pain; and they are frequently expressed in Scripture as wearying themselves, sometimes as weary of themselves, so Jer. 9.5. They weary themselves to commit iniquity; And thou art wearied in ⟨p. 428⟩the multitude of thy counsels, Isa. 47.13. Thou art wearied in the greatness of thy way, Isa. 57.10. and that was but a way of troubling the Church; She wearieth her self with lies, Ezek. 24.12. The sins which wicked men commit only in and against themselves, weary them, but they are most wearied, when they are persecutors of others: It is observed of Antiochus Epiphanes, that famous troubler of the Church, (by him that hath written the Itinerary of the Saints) that he did undertake more troublesome journeys, and went upon more hazardous designs, merely to trouble, and vex, and oppose the Church of the Jews, then ever any of his predecessors did about any other conquest or noble enterprise; that he travailed more miles to do mischief, then (as the Author doth compare their journeys) any of the Saints did to do good; and therefore he concludes the story of him, with this general truth concerning persecutors, All such wicked men go with more trouble to eternal death, then the Saints do to eternal life; they toil themselves more, and suffer more to work out their own damnation, then the godly do in working out their salvation: To be wicked in the height, is the height of trouble. Solomon saith, that a good man is merciful to his beast, but a wicked man is unmerciful to himself, he will tire himself more then a good man will tire his beast. This is a certain truth, he that will follow sin and serve his own lusts, (especially the lust of pride and oppression, whosoever serveth those lusts) serveth a hard master, a master that will make him toil, and sweat, and weary himself while he lives, and at the last pay him with death. The work of sin is bad enough, but (as to the sinner) the wages of sin is worse.