The parable of the prodigal. Containing, The riotous prodigal, or The sinners aversion from…

2. That the Conjunction twixt Sin and the sinful soul is very ¹strong: For as much as very great straits and miseries effect nothing many times. You see here, that though the Prodigal had spent all, and a famine, yea, a great famine arose over the Land in which he was, yet he is so far from returning and giving over his sinful course, that he does not so much as think of it or mind it: assuredly, the Covenant of affection is very firm, which cannot be untied with the fairest promises, nor with the severest endurances. When the Lord shall come to a sinner, meet him in his course and way, and because of his contempts and rebellions, distrain his estate and goods, and then lay an Attachment of sickness on his body, and more then this, indict him for his life by the summons of death; And yet neither the loss of all the Mercies which once he had, nor the presence of all the Evils which now he feels; neither the poverty of his Table, nor the rags on his Back, nor shivering in his Bones, nor anguish in his Conscience, no, nor appearance of Death, nor yet the ro•r•sentations of Hell, do turn him from his sinful affections and courses; judge, whether the tree be not tough, which no Wedge can cleave; and the disease be not deep, which no Potion can remove; and sin doth not sit close and strong to the heart, which no not extreme miseries can occasionally and effectually discharge and quit. There are no penalties so grievously and unspeakably afflicting ⟨p. 28⟩and miserable as those in Hell, which cause weeping and gnashing of teeth; and yet these, though highest for intention, and endless for duration, never are able to turn the sinning soul: so madly and excessively is the person enthralled, that the greatest Calamities effectually avail not to bring him off from the least course of Iniquities.

2. That the Conjunction twixt Sin and the sinful soul is very ¹strong: For as much as very great straits and miseries effect nothing many times. You see here, that though the Prodigal had spent all, and a famine, yea, a great famine arose over the Land in which he was, yet he is so far from returning and giving over his sinful course, that he does not so much as think of it or mind it: assuredly, the Covenant of affection is very firm, which cannot be untied with the fairest promises, nor with the severest indurances. When the Lord shall come to a sinner, meet him in his course and way, and because of his contempts and rebellions, distrein his estate and goods, and then lay an Attachment of sickness on his body, and more then this, indite him for his life by the summons of death; And yet neither the loss of all the Mercies which once he had, nor the presence of all the Evils which now he feels; neither the poverty of his Table, nor the rags on his Back, nor shivering in his Bones, nor anguish in his Conscience, no, nor appearance of Death, nor yet the rorsentations of Hell, do turn him from his sinful affections and courses; judge, whether the tree be not tough, which no Wedge can cleave; and the disease be not deep, which no Potion can remove; and sin doth not sit close and strong to the heart, which no not extreme miseries can occasionally and effectually discharge and quit. There are no penalties so grievously and unspeakably afflicting