SERMOXS. 361 



ness. — Seque ipsiim inculcat, et offert, itt bene cog- 

 nosci possit ; and that both from the natural world 

 and from the political, whether Schola Regni, or 

 Schola EcclesicE. Or, if we return to the former 

 branch of the text, When thy Judgments are in the 

 Earth: This ivhen they are, supposeth another 

 time, when they are not in the earth, and * that 

 time is the time of love (as the Prophet speaks), 

 the season of mercy. So that, thirdly, here is 

 Schola Miser icordiarum, the school of God's tender 

 mercies inviting us, gently leading, and f drawing 

 us with the cords of a man, with the bands of 

 love. And lastly, when nothing else will serve, 

 here is Schola Judiciorum, the school of God's 

 severe Judgments, driving us to repentance, and 

 compelling us to come in and learn righteousness. 

 A provision (you see) every way sufficient, and 

 abundant for our learning, were not we wanting 

 to ourselves. 



But alas! we may run by the text, and easily 

 read in it these three things, as so many very na- 

 tural deductions and emanations from it. First, 

 our own ignorance and stupidity; :{:Born like a 

 wild ass's colt, as Zophar speaks; and then to 

 our natural, we add affected ignorance too : so 

 that we are much to seek, and to learn righteous- 

 ness it must be taught us. Secondly, God's infi- 

 nite and inexpressible grace and mercy to us; 

 that when we had blurred the original, defaced 

 the first traces of righteousness upon our souls, 



* Ezek. xvi. 8. f Hos. xi. 4. X J^^- >^'- 1- 



