The truly blessed man, or, The way to be happy here, and forever being…

2. That which giveth being to this distress, is some evil either felt or feared The cause of it is always something that is really evil, or apprehended to be so. It either shuts up the Spirits, that they cannot get out, or it breaks them in pieces, that they ca• not be gathered up: and that must needs be some evil; that which is good, and so apprehended, dilates them, and makes the man ready cheerfully to entertain it. Man hath in him a natural a verseness to evil, which makes him afraid of it, when he sees it coming, and burdened with it when it is upon him: hence he would willingly fly from it, and if he cannot, it troubleth him; he counts it to be hurtful to him, and from the apprehension of this ariseth his distress: hence evil and bitter are put together, Jer. 2. 19.

2. That which giveth being to this distress, is some evil either felt or feared The cause of it is always something that is really evil, or apprehended to be so. It either shuts up the Spirits, that they cannot get out, or it breaks them in pieces, that they ca• not be gathered up: and that must needs be some evil; that which is good, and so apprehended, dilates them, and makes the man ready chearfully to entertain it. Man hath in him a natural a verseness to evil, which makes him afraid of it, when he sees it coming, and burdened with it when it is upon him: hence he would willingly fly from it, and if he cannot, it troubleth him; he counts it to be hurtful to him, and from the apprehension of this ariseth his distress: hence evil and bitter are put together, Jer. 2. 19.

3. That this distress is greater or less from the considerations of the evil that gives being to it. And this hath a respect either to the evil it self, or the apprehension that the man hath of it in his mind.