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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A51245	Ho thésauros en ostrakinois skeuesin. A pearl in an oyster-shel: or, pretious treasure put in perishing vessels. The sum or substance of two sermons preached at Withall-Chappel in Worcestershire. Wherein is set forth the mightiness of the Gospel, the meanness of its ministration. Together with a character of Mr. Thomas Hall, his holy life and death. By Richard Moore, a willing, though a most unworthy servant of God in the Gospel of his Son Jesus Christ.	Moore, Richard, 1619-1683.	1675 (1675)	Wing M2583; ESTC R222046	51,229	137

Jesus Sacrae Scripturae tui sunt sanctae deliciae mei Augustin Christ made of the Scriptures As also our famous Orthodox Modern Divines Dr. Prideaux left these Verses behind him written upon his Bible This sacred Volume in whose precious leaves The Mysteries of Heaven in treasures lie The Object and the Subject of each Christian eye Who lives by this by death shall never die Here shines the Sun of grace diffusing wide His quickning rays on all from side to side Here God and Man do both embrace each other Met in one Person Heaven and Earth do kiss Here a pure Virgin doth become a Mother Who bore that Son who the worlds Father is Here true bliss cometh flying from on high To hawl Man out of Hells dark Empiry John a Wigord Take one taste of those few among the many famous verses written by Mr. Clark See his Divine Poem or Poetical Meditation p. 622. In his Mirror This Book these Sentences these Lines Each Word and Letter To me is better Than Chains of Pearl and golden Mines 'T is Heaven transcrib'd and glory pen'd Gods Truth no doubt Was copied out When he this Gift to man did send J. C. You see Sir with what a Cloud of Witnesses you are compassed about for your conduct incouragement in your way towards Canaan your heavenly Country that you may taste of the hidden Mannah and read and rumina●● upon this Bread of Life and Food 〈◊〉 your Faith And as by much porin● and pondering upon the Statute-Law● of the Land you may become a wise an● able Justiciary so hereby a true an● intelligent Christian and the better acquainted with your own heart For th● Scriptures are so penned as Athanasiu● saith that every man may think the● speak de se in re sua of him in hi● Affairs Indeed there is little good ●● be got by reading the Scriptures cursorily and carelesly but if you do it duel● and diligently with attention affectio● and supplication they will have such a● influence upon the Soul and such a● Erasmus in his Preface upon Luke efficacy as is to be received from no other Book that can be named hereb● how hath the proud heart been humbled the hard heart softned those boisterou● and predominant passions and affection subdued and every thought captivate● into the Obedience of Christ so tha● the Man hath become of a Lion a Lamb● of a Leopard a Lamb of a Swine ● Sheep Who sees not at this day that th● nauseating of this Bread of Life hath brought many men to spiritual leanness set them upon dangerous precipices of pride till they have fallen into the dead sea of practical Atheism whereas a serious searching out of the Will of God revealed in his Word is an effectual Dr. Stillingfleet in his Epist to Origin Sacrae means for the maintaining a powerful sense of Religion in the souls of men Be sure therefore to make a diligent search into the mind of God as it is here manifested For the dignity of the Scriptures and the Majesty of Christ who is the Author and the matter of them mutually look one upon another as the Sun doth on the Stars and the Stars on the Sun for as the excellency of the Sun appears by the glory of the Stars to which it giveth light so the Majesty of Christ is manifest in the Scriptures to which he giveth credit And as the Pearl by the often beating of the Sun-beams upon it becomes glorious so we by beholding as in this Glass the Glory of the Lord are changed into the same Image from Glory to Glory 2 Cor. 3. 18. It happily may be expected from some according to the Custom of such 2 Cor. 9. 10 11 13. Dedications that I should speak of your personal worth but I well know your modesty would by this means be 〈◊〉 ●o the blush and some disaffected persons might count me a parasite I shall therefore turn such Praises into Prayers that he who is able to make all grace abound in every good Work would multiply your Seed and increase the Fruits of your Righteousness that others may glorifie God for your professed subjection to the Gospel of Christ this is Sir and shall be the hearty Prayer of Your Servant in the same Saviour Richard Moore Wetherock-hill Novemb. 4th 1674. To the Candid Christian Reader WIse Solomon saith There is no end in making Books In Eccles 12. 12. this Case Covetousness and Ambition like the two Daughters of the Horseleech never say it is enough and in Polemical Discourses Men are endless in their Answers and Arguments so that the Reader after a curious inspection will find many things impertinent acted in passion and utterly to fail his expectation like the hungry Dog gnawing upon a Flint-stone wherewith he may assoon as we say in the Proverb break his Neck as his Fast Which made Erasmus so ironically to pass his Censure of such Multi mei similes saith he hoc Morbo laborant ut cum scribere nesciunt a scribendo tamen temperare non possunt And lest any man should say unto me Physician heal thy self Know good Reader that the Subject-matter of this small Piece is not Controversial but truly Christian you have here an Impartial Narrative of a Man of God a Godly Divine who was illustrious in his generation one that thundred in his Doctrine and lightened in his life who was a holy President to his Flock and left many wholsome Precepts behind him when he died He was conscious that Examples do more affect or infect than Rule that Practice doth obviate Precept and that our life is a continual imitation and that we are one anothers pattorns and temptations that most men go the way that is gone not the way that must be gone and are carried by the gale of Custom rather than by the guide of Conscience he chose therefore to go before his Charge in all manner of Conversation and Godliness He was one that was high in Parts holy and lowly in Heart the more he knew the As Nazianzen of Athanasius more he perceived his own ignorance as Boughs loaded with Fruit and full Ears with Corn and bow down the head and bend towards the Earth As for such who have the highest natural Endowments without grace they are but glittering Glow-worms in the dark or as Toads which they say have a Pearl in the head and poyson in their whole body The Devil desires to be adorned with these counterfeit Pearls and Bristoll-stones But this renowned Worthy had a good inside and outside clean hands a learned head and a loyal heart to Jesus Christ It were to be wished that such who are Justin Martyr non in verbis sed in factis res Religionis dependet Hesiod so ready to strive about words would strive to imitate him in good works to imitate Vertue is a Vertue to be imitated and herein that is truly excellent wherein we strive

these men where they might buy a cheap Piece of Ground or where Gold and Silver and precious Jewels lay hid in the Earth though it were a great way off and hard to get Would they not hearken to me Oh how would they run or ride dig and delve in the bowels of the Earth to get them Bu● I acquaint you with a more precious Purchase with a far more enduring Substance and tell you it is nigh unto you where it is hid and how easie Rom. 10. 8 it is to be had yet I cannot prevail with you for my life to take a little pains to get it or to part with a little of that which you cannot long keep though it were to gain that you can never lose Well your Treasure you are for and your Treasure without true repentance you will have such Psal 140. 10. as it is such as you have laid in and laid up for your selves even Treasures of Wrath against the day of Wrath and the Revelation of the righteous Judgment of Rom. 2. 5. God Vse 2. Which that you may avoid let me prevail with you to make the Gospel your Choice count it your chief Good below God and Christ It is a Legacy left you by your dearest Lord sealed with his precious blood herein you have a promise of the Pardon of Sins of Adoption of Sons whereby if you are not wanting to your selves you may become Heirs of God and Joint-heirs with Christ and Partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints And will you not read it Will you not heed it at least with as much care as a Child would his Fathers Will to know what he hath left him to see whether some one or other have not a Title before him to the chief Treasure Alas beloved Do we see it and is it not our shame that those Terrae-Filii Sons of the Earth can even sweat for Silver forbear Pleasures that they may get Profit dig deep in Mines for Precious Mettle and choice Jewels storm dangers and difficulties by Land Omnis cupiditas in illum tendatur and Sea The Merchant the Mariner the Mathematician the Mechanick the Souldier and he that studies the Philosophers-stone And will you not take as much care be at as much cost use as much courage in Christianity at least in searching into those golden Mines of the Gospel wherein are discovered Joh. 5.39 those hidden Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledg in Christ St. Chrysostom saith to this purpose In his Homil Super Orat. Annae Such as dig Treasures out of the Earth though they get infinite Wealth yet give not over till they have drawn the Mine dry for this is their chief care not to get out much but to leave none behind How much more should we endeavour to know the Read the Lady Jane Grays Letter written to her Sister whole mind of Christ contained in the Gospel lay out our selves about it and labour in it day and night The Gospel is a pure Treasure very pure purity it self free from all dross Such as dig in Mines for Gold and other Psal 119. 140. precious Mettals are willing to work hard though the Oar hath much dross and dirt that cleaves to it till it be refined but this is a pure and proved Word pure as Silver tried in a Furnace of Earth fined seven-fold Psal 12.6 2. It is a perfect Treasure in all parts without mixture of any other alloy nothing must be put to it or ought be taken from it Those precious things that are taken out of the Deut. 12. 32. Earth even all Mettals have their mixture which doth somewhat debase them but the Word of Christ is perfect Psal 19.7 of it self and compleat without the additions or traditions of men He that addeth to or diminisheth any thing Rev. 22. 18 19. from it shall have no part in the Book o● life but shall partake of the plagues that are written it Oh how inexcusable are the Papists who count it imperfect and pollute it with the mud and Mine of their vain inventions and carnal-Gospellers who profane it who take not pains to read it who heed it not neither hoard it in their hearts 3. It is a precious Treasure Gold Silver and Jewels are precious things and yet they are but as the Offal and Excrements of the Earth a man may have much of them and yet be miserable and say with Caesar Omnia fui nihil profuit I have been all things and never the better but the price of Job 28. Psal 119. 72 127. this is above rubies to be esteemed as gold nay above fine gold even above thousands of gold and silver Had the Lord thought these things a fit portion for his people he would not have given them to his enemies the barbarous Indians have much more of these than you 4. It is a profitable Treasure to teach to convince profitable for all 2 Tim. 3. 16. things to correct and to instruct in righteousness Gregory calls it the heart and soul of God Athanasius the food of the Soul St. Augustine the Fortress 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 against Errors Irenaeus the invariable Rule of Truth In a few words it teacheth true godliness which is profitable for all things 1 Tim. 4. 8. for all persons whether in a publick or private capacity 2 Tim. 3. 17. It is profitable for men in all Duties in all Estates and Conditions which respect their active or passive obedience It teacheth men what they ought and what they ought not do how to live and how to die and how to suffer and how to carry themselves in prosperity and adversity The Apostle had never taken out that Lesson had he not learnt it here viz. to be content in every estate to know how Phil. 4. 11. to want and how to abound and as one that had nothing yet possessing all 2 Cor. 6. 10. things A strange hyperbolical Speech a Riddle to the world 5. It is a pleasant Treasure sweeter than Honey yea than the droppings Psal 19. 10 Psal 119. 103. Hos 13.15 of the Honey-combs Ephraim who was a pleasant Child in Gods account Jer. 31. 20. yet he had the Treasure of all his pleasant things spoiled but here is a sweetness wherewith as the Soul of man shall never be satiated so neither shall it ever be satisfied till it come to Heaven It is a lasting Treasure an everlasting Sweetness I might add what I before said The Gospel is a heaped a hoarded a hidden and a heavenly Treasure Vse 3. And now you Sons of Pleasure and Daughters of the Horsleach who are so ready to cry Give and are never satisfied Tell me what you would have And where you are like to mend your selves You are for Profit here is Gold for you you are for Pleasure and here 's Honey for you Oh how well might you be without these Earthly-sweets Would you

supposed he had our Saviour his Precept and his Apostles Practice Acts 5.29 in such a case to obey God rather than Man And what Erasmus said of Luther Acts 4. 19. was true of him Non leve prejudicium est tantam esse Morum integritatem ut ne hostes reperiant quod calumnientur His life was so unblameable that his greatest Enemies could not blemish him 5. He was of an humble deportment and carriage easie of access and easie to be intreated he had not respect to the rich because of their riches nor despised the poor because of his poverty but his doors and ears were open to them and he would be an Advocate for them and plead their cause with such as were mightier than they and the meanest Inhabitant of the Parish should assoon have his request granted if lawful and in his power as the greatest He sought not after great things for himself but was content with mean fare and coarse cloathing and would often use that saying of Mr. Greenham brown Bread and the Gospel is good fare and if his Landlady had provided any Dish that he thought superfluous he could hardly be perswaded to taste of it but would blame her for it And it seemed to import his deep humility he gave order after his decease That his Body should neither be laid in the Church nor Chappel but in the Church-yard among the meanest of his neighbours 6. He was a great lover of peace and for peace sake hath often parted with his own right never looking exactly after Decimations but leaving it to the people many times to do as they pleased made compositions with them upon easie terms to their good liking and when he heard of Contentions in the Parish he would preach against them and perswade his Hearers to follow after the things that made for peace And when any litigious actions have been brought in their own Court he hath endeavoured to stop such procedures shewing the parties that contended how unchristian a Course it was for them who were brethren to fall out amongst themselves Esteeming it much better to buy Love than Law since Mr. Dod. they might buy much Love for a little but could not have a little Law for a great deal yea though he prized peace at so high a rate he would not part with purity to purchase it 7. His preaching was plain but profitable and powerful not in the inticing words of mans wisdom and he spake not Phalerata but fortia in the evidence 1 Cor. 2. 1. and demonstration of the Spirit never respecting the persons of men whether rich or poor but reproved sin in whomsoever he saw it 8. He was one that was much in Communion with God in publick and in private according to his duty and as the Churches necessity called for it observing many days of Humiliation and Prayer with his own Congregation and other private Christians Gen. 18.17 wherein he would reverently pour out his soul into the bosom of his Heavenly Father and had much of Gods Psal 25. 14. mind made known to him So that he did foretel what would befal this and our Neighbour Kingdoms for our hating to be reformed and in particular that desolation of London by Plague and Fire before God set up those Comers as Intelligencers to forewarn the Nation See what he writ in his Epistle Before his Samaria's Downfal to that famous City Sin saith he hath brought down greater Cities than yours as they had their time of rising so of ruining as of building so of bruning Witness Nineveh Noe Tyrus Babylon and Jerusalem Sin hath made them all a desolation I shall never expect saith he that City or State shall prosper or that your houses should continue when Gods House lies wast all our Buildings will be but Nods and Babels unsettlement and confusion till Gods House be settled and exalted 9. He was abundant in thanksgiving to God for calling him to the knowledg of his Will and for giving him ● heart to imbrace the Truth in the love of it who walked before as other Gentiles whom God hath passed by though greater in Wealth outward Worth Wisdom Learning c. and that he had called him to the work of the Ministry in a place according to his own heart and among such a people as bore good will to his person and acknowledging this to be the meer good pleasure of God he endeavoured to quicken himself and his Flock to a grateful Consideration of the love of God in this respect 10. He was very careful how he spent his time which he never did in idleness unnecessary journeys or complemental visits but whithersoever he went his intention was either to do or receive good that time that he could spare from his Pastoral Employment he spent mostly in visiting of Learned men and in writing Books Thirteen of which he printed in his life-time besides what he left for the Press after his Death Concerning that Commentary of his upon the Second of Timothy Mr. Ley a very Learned Godly Man writeth That it is the better half not in quantity only but in quality of the best Expository Treatises that he had seen upon that Scripture And doth believe for Congruity of the Truth with the holy Text pertinency and fulness of profitable matter deducted from it or consonant to it is the best that hitherto hath been Extant in the Church of Christ I am now arrived at the last Scene of his Life and the beginning of his Sickness no part of which he acted amiss admitting of common frailties which are incident to the best of Saints who should be denominated secundu n meliorem partem with some Grains of allowance As Dr. Fuller saith A Pomegranate without any Core must necessarily be planted in Paradise And as the Swan is said to sing most sweetly when he is dying and exchanging life Aristotle for death Of which Bird Martial hath this Epigram Dulcia defecta modulatur Carmina lingua Cantator Cygnus funeris ipse sui Sweet strains he chanteth out with 's dying tongue And is the Singer of his Funeral Song So this Saint and Servant of Jesus Christ as he was profitable in his life so he was peaceable and pleasant in his sickness singing and making melody in his heart unto the Lord. In the year 1664 about the beginning of September before his last sickness as he was going up the stairs to his Study he was smitten as if one had struck him with a Dagger on his back insomuch that he was not satisfied till they that were near him looked to see whether there were any visible here he was nigh fainting upon it and continued weak before this he had been visited with a Quartain Ague the Dregs of which Disease being not wrought out by Physick brought a lingring Scorbute and he felt an extream pain in his back and had a Flux of Blood issuing from him which brought him very