that large volumne as in Folio is sweetly and harmoniously contracted in Decimo Sexto in the brief Text of man who includes all Planets have being not life Plants have life not sense Beasts have sense Man hath all and contains in him more generallity then the Angels viz. being with Planets life with Plants sense with Beasts reason with Angels but the Believer hath over and above GOD'S Spirit and Faith Nor does the rational so much excel the sensual as the spiritual man excels the rational Mat. 4.16 15.14 Eph. 4.18 5.8.1 Pet. 2.9 The Emperour Marcus Antonius being in Almany with his Army was inclosed in a dry Countrey by his Enemies who stopped all the passages that he and his Army were like to perish for want of water The Emperors Lieuetenant seeing him so distressed told him that he had heard that the Christians could obtain any thing of their God by their Prayers Whereupon the Emperour having a Legion of Christians in his Army desired them to pray to their God for his and the Armies delivery out of that danger Which they presently did and instantly a great thunder fell amongst the enemies and abundance of water upon the Romans whereby their thirst was quenched and the enemy overthrown without any fight The Sibarites defirous to know from Apollo how long their prosperity should last Were answered That so soon as they began to prefer men before God their state should be destroyed In their Library at Constantinople as Authours write is contained an hundred thousand Books In that at Pergamus two hundred thousand And in that at Alexandria seven hundred thousand Aristippus being derided by a fearless souldier for drooping in danger of shipwrack could answer Thou and I have not the like cause to be afraid for thou shalt only lose the life of an Ass but I the life of a Philosopher Antissthines as I take it though I may be mistaken told the Saylers that wondred why he was not as well as they afraid in a storm That the odds was much for they feared the torments due to a wicked life and he expected the reward of a good one Horace had not the gift of talking but he could write notably Moses was slow of speech St. Pauls bodily pretence was weak and his speech contemptible but for mental excellencies who ever went beyond them Origen of Alexandria had seven swift Notaries to write down in order that which so plentifully came into his mind and as many Scriveners to transcribe for him Busiris whom Hercules slew used to kill such as came to him for hospitality Magnus Episcopus Bishop of Ments burned an unnumerable company of poor people that cryed to him for help in a famine calling them Rats Theodosius the Prince fraudulently called together at Thessolonica seven thousand innocent persons as it were to see a Play and then sent in Souldiers who slew them SECT VIII THe manna of Spiritual influences does most usually fall in the dew of spiritual Ordinances and duly observing the Sabboth except in praying temptations never trouble a man so much as in hearing which shews that these three are the destroyers of the Destroyer The not hungering after meat and the not beating of the Pulse are two shrewd signes of a desperate soul Sacriledge is the greatest theft yet of it men make the least conscience But Ingratitude in this above all other cases is a parching Wind that drys up and kills the heart of both sorts of blessings which otherwise God would bestlow The Ark of God payes for its entertainment wheresoever it comes therefore that they who have the largest crops should send into Gods House the fewest Tithes argues both a blockish and base ingratitude Parhaps a Minister may be scandulous which is a great shame and blot yea not a few are like Barbers that trim or Taylors that measure all but themselves like Cooks that are Occupied in preparing dainty Cakes for others yet none less partake of them then they Like the penurious Farmer that sells good and wholsome Corn to others but feeds upon the refuse himself or that which is musty yet God may use an Egyptian Midwife to bring forth the child of an Israelite Bulaams tongue shall convince Moab and do good to Israel not better himself And Leaden Pipes may convey pleasant Waters And fools are we if we reject their wholsome instructions For simply considered the confesion of vertue is of no less consequence in his mouth that hateth the same for as much as truth by force doth wrest it from him And though he will not admit it in him at least to adorn himself he will sometimes put it on Light abides pure though the Air in which it dwells be corrupt yet it admits of no corruption Therefore of all Pastors none so bad as the Ignorant for how should the blind see when the seers are blind however it troubles not them as those wretches in Acts 19. rather then a few shrine-makers should lose their gains cared not though a whole City lost their souls It was for the love of Eloquence that St. Austine so often frequented St. Ambross his Sermons though the power and wholsomness of his doctrine made him become a Christian Though the sweetness of the sauce only yields us contentment and that it is the soundness of the meat which affords us nourishment yet pitty it is that Divinity and Oratory should be parted for sweet similitudes rare examples choice and elegant Expressions upon a good subject are no other then sweet baits to make an ill man become vertuons Plutarchs fulness and Senecas quickness or as another hath it Seneca in his short coat or Cicero in his long gown will never cloy an intellegent or ingenious Reader or Hearer and yet if Satan with one lye to our first Parents could make fruitless what God himself had preached to them immediately before Gen. 3.4 5. well may he find out a way to make fruitless and frustrate what any Minister can preach or Authour write be it never so excellent I have read a Book so considerable that I would not but have read it for an hundred pounds and yet the Authour so dispised by some that through prejudice they would have burnt it rather then read it though themselves are more to be pittied then the Authour Many men regard not so much what is writ or spoken as who writes or speaks they value not the mettle but the stamp which is upon it if the man like them not they will dislike the matter being of Maldonats mind who professed to dislike and avoid many fair interpretations not as false but as Calvins or Cardinal Mattheo Longi Arch bishop of Salsburge who told every one that the Reformation of the Masse was honest the liberty in meats convenient and the demand just and expedient to be disburthened of so many Commandments of men but that Luther a proor Monk should reform all was not to be endured There is another Book of
A Divine Miscellany Full of Delightful and Profitable VARIETY OR THE PIOUS MANS Recreation In a Garden of sweet Flowers and Fruits Divided into Four Parts By Richard Younge of Roxwel in Essex Licensed and Entred according to Order London Printed by Tho. Milbourn and are to be sold by D. Newman at the Kings Arms in the Poultry and by Peter Parker in Popes-head-Alley with many other pieces composed by the same Author 1665. A Divine Miscellany Full of Delightful and Profitable Variety SECT I. BOoks well chosen are the best recreation the best company the best cheer the best cheap This little Miscellany is a Feast wherein Wholsomeness strives with Pleasantness and Variety with both Each Section is a several Dish stuft full of Examples Sayings and Similitudes both pithy and weighty for that 's the meat served out for several Palates and he is a very Block that is affected with none of them A fine Wit and a Christian Will like the little Bee will not off the meanest Flower until she hath made somewhat of it Read Books as Bees to fill your Combs and not as Butterflyes to paint your Wings Resemble a good stomack that extracts all things fit for nourishment and casteth out the residue as excrement A good heart will glean from hence whatsoever may add to his knowledge or vertue Whereas the carnally minded will use it as some do artificial teeth which are more for shew then service more for ability of discourse then for activity of practice to talk of it rather then to walk by it A Reader or Auditor should not be like the Spunge that holds all liquids both good and bad nor like a Seive that holds no water neither good nor bad nor like the Boulter that keeps in the coarse bran and throws out the fine flower but like the Scry that keeps in the good seed and casteth out the dust and unprofitable darnel As O the different dispositions of Readers when one with the Bee will work that into Honey which another like the putrid Spider will convert into poyson For sensual Hearers are worse then beasts or indeed plants for the very plants have such a natural vertue that they draw unto themselves the good juyce and reject the bad and the beasts can take things which are properly good for them and reject the evil As appears by the poysoned Apple in the Indies Yet how usual is it with the common people when they hear a witty and rhetorical Preacher that flatters sin and flouts holiness for be they never so illiterate they love Wit and Oratory as well as they that have it to applaud his Sermon and be so tickled with his Notions and skill in sophistry as if they were at their wits end with admiration when the truth is they like not these Wasps so much for the Honey they have in their combs as for the sting which they bring in their tayls wherewith to gall the godly And this they will not fail to remember that it may stiffen their prejudice and enmity against the good and goodness For their memory is like the boulter which casteth out all the flower keeping onely the bran And themselves resemble the Egyptians who behold the Sun the Moon the Stars all the glories of nature without admiration yea without common regard until they espy a Crocodile an ugly serpent but then will they down on their knees to worship it In a word so mind what thou readest as if it were spoken onely to thy self and be not like a childe that looking himself in a Glass thinks he sees another childes face and not his own Want of Application makes all we read or hear utterly ineffectual As what would it have availed the Israelites that the Manna lay about their Tents if they had not gathered and eaten it Cloaths must be put on meat eaten a playster applyed or they will never warm nourish or heal Therefore a good heart will apply to himself whatsoever is written in the Word for aâ— the stomach sends the strength of the meat into every member of the body so we should send to the eye that which is spoken to the eye and to the ear that which is spoken to the ear and to the tongue that which is spoken to the tongue and to the hand that which is spoken to the hand and so to the heart and every faculty and member or soul and body if we hear comfort we should apply it to fear if we hear a promise we should apply that to our distruâ—t if we hear a threatning we should apply that to our presumption and so fill up the gap still where the Devil would enter This is the way to have our faith strengthned our patience increased our judgement rectified our wills reformed our love and zeal inflamed our life and practice bettered and our souls eternally saved But most blessed and happy is that eye which can see God in all and that hand which can serve God with all That when he suffers can cast one eye upon the hand that sent the blow and the other on the sin which occasioned it That upon all occasions will turn his eyes inward and read his sin in his punishment That wonders not so much at anothers wickedness or unthankfulness to him as at his own ingratitude and woful unworthiness towards God and his Redeemer That in stead of murmuring for the few things be wants desires to be thankful for the many things he enjoys That when he meets with one that is grievously deformed or wicked or that is lunatick or diseased with the Falling-Sickness Leprosie or the like can reflect upon himself and say in his heart O Lord this might have been my case how good and gratious art thou to me that hast freed me from so many miseries which my sins have justly deserved to have brought upon me Yea if it were not for thy distinguishing mercy I might at this present have been frying in Hell Flames never to be freed Thou mightest have made me a Toad or a Serpent but thou hast made me a man a new creature Thou hast opened my eyes to see the wonders of thy Law whereas I was born stark blind to all spiritual objects and might have 〈◊〉 remained as millions do under the conduct of the Princâ— of darkness to be ruled and governed by him That wheâ— he beholdeth the stately buildings the shady Groves thâ— Chrystal Brooks the Pleasant Meadows of wicked men caâ— think with himself If Sinners go away with such largâ— Messes what shall be the Benjamins Portion If the Sons 〈◊〉 the Concubines have so great gifts what shall be the inheritance of the children of promise If the Dogs fare so welâ— under the Table how are the Children seasted that sit at thâ— Table SECT II. THe first step to Grace is to feel the want of Grace and the next way to receive mercy is to see our selves miserable by reason of our Nature in regard of Original sin
less bulk small in quantity but great in excellency which is so undervalued for the Authors sake though such as are forestaled with prejudice against him do but pick straws to put out their own eyes withal that it hath occasioned me without leave from or once acquainting the Author to collect or gather out of his well set Garden many choice flowers to the end that detraction might not rob the World of so many pretious Pearls The Book deserves to be named though I should share with the Author in making their calumny reflect upon my self for no matter how close evils be nor how publick good is A good thing the more common it is the better it is Yea to conceal goodness is a vice but virtue is better by being imparted But I forbear as not doubting but some will read these lines who need not be told where I had them Onely something I will say to his Calumniators and not much as they will not much care what I say Little do you consider what mischief you do in so traducing and aspersing Preachers and Authors and in prejudicing others that they cannot discern the true vissage of things Besides how unworthy a thing is it in a man of worth to calumniate it being for the most part the badge of some defect for low merrit only raiseth it self on the ruines of anothers fame and an infallible testimony of malice and desire of mischief it is for he spares him not with his tongue because he can no otherwise harm him with his hands But what do they get by it they discredit themselves more then they do the party traduced if they be godly-wise that hear it wherein they resemble the Bee that will loose her sting to mischief another though she remains a Drone ever after Or the silly Fly which singeth her own Wings and torments her self in the flaming Light which she labours to extinguish and put out But envy is such a thing that when it sees anothers fame to eclipse their own should it not vent it self at the mouth their malice and envy would even burst them as Seneca thought and Sauls example touching David sufficiently proves yea were it not so how could they discredit themselves to discredit others as Thamor defiled her self to be revenged of her Father in Law Judah And yet the willing ear detracts as much if not worse then the slanderous Tongue as one observes this being the Tempter the other the Tempted and nothing sooner strikes detraction dumb then a condemning and disliking deafness As the North wind driveth away Rain so doth aâ— angry countenance a back-biting tongue Prov. 25.23 〈◊〉 that men would spit at this Asp so soon as it but beginâ— to hiss and that these detractors would pare off thosâ— envious Nails that are ever scratching those faces that arâ— fairer then their own For to the ingenuous Ear detrâ—ction of all noises is most harsh pleasing only or chiefly to the baser sort of people they know no better way oâ— commending themselves then by disparaging others It 〈◊〉 said of Golden mouthed Chrysostom That he never spake 〈◊〉 of any man find out such another and I'lie put his namâ— in the Chronicle with Letters of Gold O for an Antidote that would cure this Poyson of Asps it were worth a million of Treasure In the mean time take notice you proud and disdainful Momusses that he who reads a Book or hears a Sermon and when he finds a Solacism or perhaps a Latain Greek or Hebrew Cotation false spelled which may be the Pâ—inters fault and not the Authors shall take notice and tell of that passing over many other excellent things without speaking a word of them is aâ— full of envy pride and malice as the Egg of a Cockatricâ—â—is full of poyson and that it 's an Argument the Tree is morâ— fruitful for such an ones throwing at it Yet this is the case of almost who not though nothing more odious to 〈◊〉 generous and noble mind As you may observe by this A seeming Friend will refuse to tells us of our Faults but be very ready to tell others of them whereas a truâ— Friend will speak of our Faults to our Face of our Virtue behind our backs and he that loves not such a Friend hates himself Here ends the first Part The three other follows