Simile. | Parallel.
A Sluggard is a Person that makes Excuses: The slothful Man saith, 1There is a Lion without, I shall be slain in the Street. | SO the Sinner, or spiritual Sluggard, hath many Excuses; If I should arise, saith he, and follow Christ, I shall suffer in my Name, be reproached, suffer in my Estate; nay, it may come to pass, saith he, that such as are religious indeed may be put to Death. There are many Romish Lions without, persecuting and devouring Beasts of Prey, that I fear will fly upon me in the Street; and hence he resolves to keep himself in a whole Skin.
II. A Sluggard (Solomon saith) is like a Door that turneth upon its Hinges:2 As a Door turneth upon its Hinges; so doth the slothful Man upon his Bed. | II. So a Sinner, or spiritual Sluggard, seems to move this way, and that way: He reads God's Word, and hears Sermons, and perhaps prays too, but still is where he was; he is not renewed in his inward Man, no Change hath passed upon him; he is one that loveth his Lusts: this and the other Sin, and is not taken off of his old Hinges; he is still in the State of fallen Man, not taken off of the old Root, and transplanted into Christ.
III. The Sluggard is a Man of Desires, but not of Endeavours. The Sluggard desireth, 3and hath nothing; but the Soul of the Diligent shall be made fat; compared with Prov. 22.25. The Desire of the Sluggard killeth him, because his Hands refuse to work. | III. So the Wicked Man, or spiritual Sluggard, is full of Desires; he with Balaam desires to die the Death of the Righteous, he desires to be saved,4 and hath many faint Desires to be forgiven; he cries out sometimes (when Conscience flies in his Face, and rebukes him) God forgive me, the Lord help me, &c. but never strives with all his Might against his Sin, and the Temptations of the Devil: hence his Desires are said to slay him. Desires without Endeavours will deceive the Soul, nay, eternally ruin and damn the Soul. What avails it a Man that ⟨p. 208⟩is hungry, to wish for Bread, when he never labours for it?5 The Promise runs to the diligent and industrious Person; he shall be fed, but the Sluggard shall suffer Hunger, and pine away.
IV. The Sluggard neglects his Vineyard, and lets his Field run all over with Nettles and Weeds.
Simile. | Parallel.
A Sluggard is a Person that makes Excuses: The slothful Man saith, 1There is a Lion without, I shall be slain in the Street. | SO the Sinner, or spiritual Sluggard, hath many Excuses; If I should arise, saith he, and follow Christ, I shall suffer in my Name, be reproached, suffer in my Estate; nay, it may come to pass, saith he, that such as are religious indeed may be put to Death. There are many Romish Lions without, persecuting and devouring Beasts of Prey, that I fear will flie upon me in the Street; and hence he resolves to keep himself in a whole Skin.
II. A Sluggard (Solomon saith) is like a Door that turneth upon its Hinges:2 As a Door turneth upon its Hinges; so doth the slothful Man upon his Bed. | II. So a Sinner, or spiritual Sluggard, seems to move this way, and that way: He reads God's Word, and hears Sermons, and perhaps prays too, but still is where he was; he is not renewed in his inward Man, no Change hath passed upon him; he is one that loveth his Lusts: this and the other Sin, and is not taken off of his old Hinges; he is still in the State of fallen Man, not taken off of the old Root, and transplanted into Christ.
III. The Sluggard is a Man of Desires, but not of Endeavours. The Sluggard desireth, 3and hath nothing; but the Soul of the Diligent shall be made fat; compared with Prov. 22.25. The Desire of the Sluggard killeth him, because his Hands refuse to work. | III. So the Wicked Man, or spiritual Sluggard, is full of Desires; he with Balaam desires to die the Death of the Righteous, he desires to be saved,4 and hath many faint Desires to be forgiven; he cries out sometimes (when Conscience flies in his Face, and rebukes him) God forgive me, the Lord help me, &c. but never strives with all his Might against his Sin, and the Temptations of the Devll: hence his Desires are said to slay him. Desires without Endeavours will deceive the Soul, nay, eternally ruin and damn the Soul. What avails it a Man that ⟨p. 208⟩is hungry, to wish for Bread, when he never labours for it?5 The Promise runs to the diligent and industrious Person; he shall be fed, but the Sluggard shall suffer Hunger, and pine away.
IV. The Sluggard neglects his Vineyard, and lets his Field run all over with Nettles and Weeds.
- 1Prov. 22.13.
- 2Prov. 26.14.
- 3Prov. 13.4
- 4Numb. 23.10.
- 5Prov. 10.• 2 Pet. 1.5, 10.
