AETERNALâ—â— OR A Treatise wherein by way of Exâ—â—â—cation Demonstration Confirmation and Application is shewed That the great Labour and pains of every Christian ought chiefly to be imployed not about perishing but Eternal good things from John 6.27 By FRANCIS CRAVEN M. A. and Minister of the Gospel at Acton in Suffolk Matth. 6.33 v. But seek ye first the Kingdome of God and his Righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you Col. 3.2 v. Set your affections on things above not on things on the Earth LONDON Printed by H. Brugis for R. Northcott adjoyning to St. Peters Alley in Cornhil and at the Marriner and Anchor upon Fishstreet Hill near London Bridge 1677. THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY To the truly Honourable Lady the Lady Cordell Not only a continuance of Temporal good things upon Earth but a full fruition of Eternal good things in Heaven MADAM THE goodness of Your Ladiships disposition hath procured you no little Love from those you live amongst and I never could observe any that I thought really Loved you but they Honoured you and were very ambitious upon all occasions to serve you I must write my self one of those though the meanest of many from whom you may justly expect Love Honour and Service and that for more reasons than as I judge you would be willing I should publish to the World however permit me to say Thankfulness makes my best service your debt That singular worth that all even your greatest Enemies will acknowledge to be in you makes me to Honour you and your no few inward endowments of Grace I have some reason to say I am not ignorant of enforce me to Love All which I cannot forbear to express unless I will brand my self with Ingratitude the which I have ever held to be a Monster in nature and a solecisme in manners a crime so odious that the more Ingenuous of the Heathens much decryed it saying The unthankful man is a compendium of all Evils Now that I might give a publick testimony of all the said particulars I most humbly crave leave that the following discourses which are not notional but practical and containing nothing of Fanaticisme but Orthodox Truths may to the view of the world go forth under your name and be transmitted unto the hands and use of your Neighbours of Acton for whose Instruction they were primarily prepared and in whose hands I desire to leave them having your Ladiships name prefixed in the Front as a testimony of that respect I have for more then twenty years had to that place Possibly they may in some degree serve the Interest of their souls when I am in my Grave It is true they may meet with many profitable treatises of the like argument yet I was desirous they should have somewhat thereof from my self Besides your Ladiship was pleased to hear almost all these discourses from the Pulpit and I would crave leave to promise my self that you will receive them from the Press as you retrained not the Church when they were Preached that you will not refuse them into your Closet now they may be read as you did not I believe grudge them your time in the Congregation that you will not deny them portion of your retirement but as they have already had your religious Eare so they shall also have your judicious Eye Let not I pray the homeliness of these impolit lines cause you to reject them they were I confess a tumultuary work for all the time they were modelling I had two works lying upon my hands Pulpit work and School work to labour for Elder persons against the Lord's day and to labour amongst and for Younger persons every day and but slender means of assistance That which makes me ventrous to beg your Ladiships acceptance is your unexpected Candour being confident you will receive them as I present them with the right hand More great and excellent things I know are expected to be presented to great and excellent ones but as under the Law he that was not able to bring a Lamb the sacrifice of the richer sort was commanded to bring two Turtle Doves Levit. 5. 7. v. yea a little Goats hair from those who had no better was required to be brought towards the building of the Tabernacle Exod. 35. And our blessed Saviour commends the poor Widdowes two mites then when the richer sort cast mâ—ch into the Treasury Mark 12. 42. v. Esteem my present little and so it is yet well it may become the Greatest upon earth to imitate a great God who weigheth the heart of the giver not the value of the gift and so doing your Ladiship will please to eye not the Present but the Presenter who hopeth the following lines will help you to mind that here upon earth upon which you must live for ever in Heaven as also provoke you to labour for those Eternal good things in them mentioned and the rather because your time is hastning towards an end and it may come to an end suddenly for none know how soon they may meet with the death of the body that are every day encompassed with the body of death but happy they who the nearer their bodies draw to the pit of corruption do find their Souls draw nearer to the place of perfection and the nearer they are to leave Temporal good things the nearer also they are to the enjoyment of Eternal good things On Earth it is your business to labour for Eternal good things in Heaven it will be your blessedness to enjoy Eternal good things Now that God would continue unto your Ladiship such a large portion of Temporal good things as you already enjoy here upon Earth and Crown you with all happiness in the full fruition of Eternal good things in Heaven as you are dayly I hope labouring for shall ever be the Prayer of him who promiseth to continue at the Throne of Grace Madam Your Ladiships Solicitour FRANCIS CRAVEN TO THE READER Christian Reader IT was not any arrogant stupidity of my own weakness but a confident presumption of their acceptance for whose sakes the following discourses were first Preached that caused me to appear so publickly in the world a thing very contrary to my natural disposition that hath ever delighted in privacy If they accept hereof and get good hereby if they by what they have so lately heard and now may read be perswaded whilst they are labouring for Temporal good things yet chiefly and before all other things to labour for Eternal good things I have obtained my end though I should not escape the Satyre unchristian invectives or unkind and unjust censures of some envious ones I assure thee Christian in what thou findest written it was not to gain any praise from thee that I sent these lines abroad but truly aiming at thine and all mens Eternal good Et veniam pro laude peto laudatus abunde Non fastiditus si tibi Lector ero Only this is all that
the heart of Man the things that God hath prepared for them that love him Though death spoyl such a one of all the good things of life yet like the believing Hebrews mentioned Heb. 10. 34. v. he takes joyfully the spoyling of his Goods knowing in himself that he hath in Heaven a better and more induring substance It is storied of the Duke of Bulloin and his company when they went to Jerusalem as soon as his company saw the high Turrets they gave a mighty shout that the Earth rang so when a Christian at death that all his life long hath been providing Eternal good things shall see the Turrets of the heavenly Jerusalem shall see that induring substance laid up for him in Heaven shall see those Rivers of Pleasure that are to be had at God's right hand for evermore shall see those things that now are invisible shall see such things as no mortall Eye ever saw shall see what no heart is able to conceive and shall see that all these things are his own and that they shall now be possessed and injoyed by him for ever unto all Eternity what joy what gladness what rejoycing of heart will there be in him In some places of the West Indies there is an opinion in gross that the soul is immortal and that there is a life after this life where beyond certain hills they know not where those that dye in the defence of their Countrey should remain after death in much blessedness which opinion made them very valiant in their fights and willing to dye in defence of their Countrey The bare opinion of the Druides who taught that the soul had a continuance after its seperation from the body made many of their followers hardy in great attempts and abated in most the fear of Death When a Christian hath labored for and by his labor obtained what will nourish his immortal Soul unto Eternal life and be provision for it in Eternal life none can express the willing thereof to leave the body A Christian now looks upon Death to be a valley of Achor a door of hope to gain entrance into Paradice to bring him Malorum omnium ademptionem bonorum omnium adeptionem a removal of all things that are evil and an enjoyment of all things that are good and that not good only for a season but for Eternity Old Hilarion could not but wonder his soul should be so loath to depart out of his body and therefore when he lay a dying it is said of him he bespake it in this manner Soul get thee out thou hast for seventy years served Christ and art thou loath to depart or afraid of Death When a Christian hath husbanded all the time of life for the good of his Soul and finds it stored with grace and assured of glory he is not afraid or unwilling that his soul should leave his body he hath hope in his death and that makes him to be be willing to submit to death Pro. 14. 32. v. The wicked is driven away in his wickedness but the righteous hath hope in his death I have done with two of the first perticulars I propounded to speak to upon this Point I have shewed by way of Explication when a man may be said to labor for Eternal good things and I have shewed by way of Demonstration That Eternal good things are to be labored for The third perticular propounded was to speak something by way of Confirmation and here I shall shew that labor is chiefly to be used for and about Eternal good things CHAP. VI. I come now to Confirm this Truth That the great labor and pains of every Christian ought chiefly to be imployed not about perishing but Eternal good things To which end I shall speak to these following Perticulars 1. OVr labor and pains ought chiefly to be imployed not about perishing but Eternal good things because God hath commanded it 2. Our labor and pains c. Because Eternal good things are the chiefest of good things 3. Our labor and pains c. Because Eternal good things are lasting good things other good things are perishing good things 4. Our labor and pains c. Because Eternal good things are good things always desirable good things that a man shall never be weary of 5. Our labor and pains c. Because Eternal good things are the only satisfying good things 6. Our labor and pains c. Because Eternal good things concern our Souls other good things concern only the body 7. Our labor and pains c. Because our labor about Eternal good things will not be in vain 8. Our labor and pains c. Because even to Eternity it self it will never repent us to have bestowed the greatest labor and pains about Eternal good things 1. I shall begin with the first of these eight and say something to that Good reason there is that Our labor and pains ought chiefly to be imployed not about perishing but Eternal good things Because God hath commanded it it is charged upon us as a duty and if we obey not we run our selves into a spiritual Praemunire that Almighty God who tells the number of the Starrs calling them by their names he charges us to do so and if we obey him not we offer an affront to his Soveraingty as if his will were not reason enough for his commands And to his wisdom as if he did not know what Laws were good for us And to his Justice as if the ways of God were not equal If any ask me Quis requisivit who hath required this at our hands who requires that our labor should chiefly be about Eternal good things I answer It is the great GOD of Heaven and Earth that by his word made all things to whom the Winds and Seas obey And it is well we have express commands from God in Scripture for this else the world is full of curious Heads and prophane Hearts to outface and out-wrangle such a Truth nay any truth indeed which men are laborâ—â—â— oath to yield unto so ready are carnal men to be the Devil's Proctors against God and haveing their wits and spirits whetted upon the Devil's whetstone to cavil against spiritual and flesh-crossing truths I wish all that do love God and do make it their daily work to labor chiefly for Eternal good things may be all of the mind of that reverend Baldassar as he expresses it in an Epistle unto Oecolampadius Veniat veniat verbum Domini submittemus illi sexcenta si nobis essent colla Let but the word of God be urged upon us and we shall not be unwilling to lay down our very lives in obedience thereunto were this but the resolve and holy temper of Mens hearts a few Scriptures would serve to confirm such truths that Ministers do preach upon I shall here commend only one unto you and I think it may be as good as many t is that in Matt. 6. 33. v. But seek ye
believer assured of such an house read 2 Cor. 5. 1. v. For we know that if our earthly house of this Tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God an house not made with hands Eternal in the Heavens The Soul now dwells in the body which is but as a dark mean decaying old Cottage which is compassed about with bad neighbors The Soul finds the body but a dark habitation dark in comparison of Heaven As that Dutch Divine Bugenhagius said of Luther after he had read his book De Captivitate Babylonica That Luther was in the light but all the world besides in darkness So only those souls by death removed out of the body and now in Heaven They only are in the light but the best of those that yet are in the body are in darkness The body is but a mean habitation for the soul which is of a spiritual and immortal substance to dwell in Eliphaz in Job calls it an house of clay St. Paul in the place last named calls it an Earthly house Solomon calls it nothing but Dust Eccles 12. 7. v it is but a vile body Phil. 3. 21. v. T is but as one says a clay wall encompassing a treasure or a course case of a rich Instrument And that which is yet worse a decaying and ruinous habitation that will shortly moulder to Dust those parcels of dust making up the body that were bound together by the bond of innocency are by sin shaken loose and subject to a continual flux and decay But yet worst of all the Soul finds its dwelling compassed about with bad Neighbors how oft is the Soul whilst living in the body like Lot living in Sodomie even vexed with the filthy conversations of the Sodomites 2 Pet. 2. 7 8. How oft are gracious souls forâ—ed to cry out with David Psal 120. 5. Wo is me â—hat I remain in Mesech and dwell in the Tents of Kedar As bad Neighbors are always wrangling and quarrelling and stirring up discord with those they â—ive near so are wickd men always contesting with â—hese That the soul may truly say as Lamenting Jeâ—emy of the Church of the Jews she dwelleth among the Heathen she findeth no rest all her perâ—ecutors overtake her Lam. 1. 3. v. Much might have been said of the Souls present haâ—itation to make the soul at death willing to remove â—ut of it but what shall I say of that house not made â—ith hands Eternal in the Heavens Is the body a dark house Heaven is a light som house hence it is set forth by the name of Light Col. 1. 12. Saints in Light that is in the glorious Kingdom of heaven And 1 Tim. 6. 16. God is there said to dwell in an unapproachable light there is a perpetual Day without Night there is no night there says St. John Rev. 21 25. v. Though some regions that lye immediately under the Pole have light for several Months together yet when the Sun withdraws from their Horizon they have as long a night and darkness as before they had a day but says St. John There shall be no night there no darkness there Is the body but a mean habitation for the Soul to dwell in Heaven is a most glorious habitation Lactantius beholding the magnificency of Rome said Quomodo caelestis Jerusalem si sic fulget terrestris Roma What an habitation hath God prepared for a Nation that love holyness and truth if he have such things as these for them that love Vanity What was the Temple built by Solomon for the Lord to this coelestial Paradise prepared by the Lord What are the Courts of the greatest Emperors to the Court of the great God what are the stateliest Fabricks in the world if compared with this Eternal house in Heaven Is the body a ruinous house that will shortly moulder into dust Heaven is an everlasting habitation It is called so Luk. 16. 9. v. They may receive you into everlasting habitations so is Heaven called in opposition to Earthly dwellings which though many of them are beautiful and glorious yet shall be laid in the dust Many houses here below may be lasting but not everlasting but this runs parallel with Eeternity The first seat of the first Adam in the first Paradise was without doubt very glorious but not permanent not Eternal this is far better more glorious and Eternal Does the Soul find its present dwelling compassed about with bad Neighbors In Heaven there is good very good neighborhood It is related of Cato an old Roman that he advised in the purchase of a Farme or House that a man should consider of the vicinity or neighborhood there Ne malum vicinum haberet And to that purpose is related the proclamation of Themistocles a famous Athonian Captain in the sale of his Lands that if any man would deal with him he should be sure of a good neighbor There is if I may have leave to say so good neighborhood in Heaven There is God our Father he that begot us again lives in Heaven There is Christ our Elder brother sitting at the right hand of God in Heaven All the Saints departed are now inhabitants of the new Jerusalem which is Heaven And now Christians will it not do a man good that hath a good title to this house not made with hands Eternal in the Heavens when he comes to dye and his soul must be removed out of his clay Cottage Death to him will be but a bridg from Wo to Glory a passage out of a Wilderness to Canaan the end of his misery and the beginning of his felicity the conclusion of his labor and the settling himself to rest though death may be a wicked man's fear yet it will be his wish though it be the others shipwrack yet it will be his entering into harbor though it be the others remove from Earth to Hell yet will it be his remove from Earth to Heaven To him death will be gain to the other death will be a loss Death to the wicked man will be a dark and dreadful passage unto the second death and utter Darkness but to him an entrance into Eternal life and an heavenly light Death to the wicked man will put an end to his short joys and begin his everlasting sorrows but to him it will put an end to all sorrows and begin â—his everlasting joys When Valentinian the Emperor was upon his dying bed among all his victories only one comforted him and did him good and that was victory over his worst enemy viz. his own naughty heart So this one thing is enough to comfort a believer and do him good upon his dying bed That having faithfully all his days labored for Eternal good things now that he must dye yet his eyes will be no sooner off these temporal things but they shall behold Eternal objects and the same minute that shuts his eyes shall again open them to behold God and as it determines his misery so it shall
in Judgment against many Christians That he would rather neglect his means thâ—n his mind his farm than his soul To be stored with Eternal good things will cause our souls afterwards to go out of our bodies upon the wings of joy calmness and serenity of spirit and with full sail for heaven This will make a Christian sweetly to sing with old Simeon Lord now let thy servant depart in peace And say as Hillary said to his soul Soul thou hast served Christ thâ—s Seventy years and art thou afraid of Death Go out soul go out But without this with what a dreadful Out-cry and Shrike will poor souls leave the body seeing themselves attended only with a black guard of Divels and no other place provided for them but the burning Lake and bottomless Pit with no other treasure inriched but the curse and wrath of the Almighty Not to have labored and taken pains for what will do the soul good will prove bitterness in the end It is storied of Caesar Borgias that being sick to death that he lamentingly cryed out When I lived I provided for every thing but Death now I must dye and am unprovided to dye this was a dart at his heart and believe it it will be at last a dagger at their hearts who now take care for their bodies but neglect their souls who labor and take pains to make provision for their ignoble part but make no provision for their more noble part When the body shall lye under its short breathings cold sweats dying groans and hastening to the Grave where worms and filthy Vermine must feed upon it and the soul hath nothing to comfort it now that it is passing into Eternity surely such a soul must needs be amazed at the â—nsuing change Oh that Christians were wise to consider these things that they would make it their work to provide for their souls to furnish them with that will prove Eternal that they would labor for spiritual and heavenly excellencies that they would acknowledg one soul to be more worth than many worlds God hath given to each of us a soul and to each of us but one soul It was a wretched and most foolish speech of a prophane Noble Man of Naples who said that he had two souls in his body one for God and another for whosoever would buy it Omnia Deus dedit duplicia saith one speaking of bodily members God hath given men double members two eyes if one be lost the other supplies the want of it two hands two ears two feet that the failing of one may be supplyed by the help of the other Animan vero unam but one soul if that perish there is not another to supply its loss And it is no other than madness and folly to look after the body and neglect the soul to gratify the body but to lose the soul With what hopes can such look to receive mercy and comfort from God in a dying hour It is reported of Alphonsus King of Arragon when a Knight of his had consumed a great patrimony by lust and luxury and besides ran into debt and being to be laid into prison by his Creditors his friends petitioned for him to the King the King answered Si tantam pecuniam vel in sui Regis obsequium vel patriae commodis vel sublevandis propinquis impedisset audirem nunc quoniam tant as opes impendit corpori parâ— est ut luat corpore If he had spent so much money in the service of his Prince or for the good of his Countrey or in relieving his Kindred I would have harkned but seeing he hath spent so much upon his body it is fit his body should smart for it So when those who now labor for the world and the things thereof that only concern the body and profit the body but neglect what concerns the soul and would profit the soul I say when these come and look up to God for comfort and mercy when all comfort from the world is gone God may justly answer If they had labored not for the meat which perisheth but for that meat which indureth unto everlasting life If they had labored as much for what would have done their souls good as for what they saw would do their bodies good I would have heard them but as they have neglected their souls in their life I will not care for their souls at death 7. Our labor and pains ought cheifly to be imployed not about perishing but Eternal good things Because our labor about Eternal good things will not be in vain In Malachy his time some did not stick to say It was in vain to serve God Mal. 3. 14. v. they did as others now think their pains in vain hypocrites they were such as would needs persuade themselves that they served God and that truly And being â—uft up with this conceit they thought God should â—hereupon serve them as they would have him and â—hey expected but when he at any time punished them â—or their sins and exercised them with afflictions â—hey presently would cry out It is in vain and to â—o purpose to serve God and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinances and that we have walked â—ournfully before the Lord of hosts Indeed there is many a man that pursues the world with a fruitless and â—ain attempt they rise early go to bed late eat the â—read of sorrows yet all will not do they labor and â—hat hard for what they are not sure to obtain in the world and for that very often which they never do obtain they have but their labor for their pains Quid emolumenti what profit or gain have most afâ—er many a hard days labor utterly disappointed of â—hat they labored for like many such who seek after â—he Philosophers stone Not so a Christian laboring for Eternal good things â—hey are sure to obtain what they labor for their laâ—or will not be in vain That will never befall them which is written of Dioclesian and Maximian Herâ—ulius who suddenly gave over their Empires and cast â—ff their honors and betook themselves to a private â—fe out of rage and madness when they saw themâ—elves labor so much in vain for the rooting out of â—he Christians See that place 1 Cor. 15. 58. v. Thereâ—re my beloved Brethren be ye stedfast unmovable â—ways abounding in the work of the Lord forasmuch â— you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. Christians labor herein will not be like those labors that were by way of punishment inflicted upon the Daughters of Danaeus whom the old Poets feigned to be condemned in Hell to fill a bottomless tub with Water and to increase their labor this water they were to carry in Sieves and never to leave work till the tub were full here was a great deal of unfruitful labor here was labor in vain indeed A Christian hath better incouragement to labor his labor is not in vain in the Lord.
Wilderness and that they had been put to fight with the Sons of Anak and other enemies No more did it ever repent any believer when he was once in Heaven that he had taken paâ—ns for heaven Heaven hath made amends for all his pains taken But it will hereafter repent thousands that now labor and toil only after the things of the world but neglect the things of heaven We have Solomon recognizing and reviewing all his works and all his labor that he had labored to do and what finds he vanâ—y and vexation of Spirit no contenâ—aâ—ion no satisfaction but endless vexation enough to convince him to how little purpose he had wearied himself enough to make him repent of all his labor and pains See that place Eccâ—es 2. 11. v. Then I looked on all the work that my hand had wrought and on the labor that I had labored to do and behold all was vanity and vexation of spirit and there was no profit under the Sun So it will be with many men in Hell that here take uncessant pains and as we say labor like an horse when they shall review and recognize all the labor and â—ains they have taken after Temporal good things and what little pains about and for Eternal good things What will be the issue but even endless vexaâ—ioâ— this will vex and torment their Souls throughout all Eternity this will make them say as Solomon in the 2 Eccles 18. v. I hate all the labor which I have taken under the Sun Solomon had got no good no pay that would equallize his pains In 〈◊〉 they will haue the remembrance of all their labor having in their life gained nothing that would equaâ—lize their labor or their loss even tâ—e loss now of heaven and all the Eternal good things of heaven As they say of the Bird that â—â—tâ—eth upon the Serpents Eggs that by breaking and hatching of them she brings forth a perillous brood to her own destruction So do these that sit brooding on the worlds Vanisies the end of all their pains will be but Eternal Destruction When I see some men priding themselves in what they possess in the world but careless of Heaven When I behold them delighting themselves in the many honors conferred upon them by the great bounâ—y of Princes but not minding God's honor When I observe them spending their whole time in voluptuous pleasures that are but for a moment and look no further I call to mind some pleasant rivers that fall into the Sea You know there are many sweet and Chrystal rivers that run pleasantly as it were sporting of themselves winding and turning their silver streams up and down many a pleasant and goodly Meadow a great while but at last they fall into the Salt Sea there they lose their sweetness and become brackish So these men for a while do turn and wind themselves up and down through the Meadows of pleasure and bath themselves in the transitory bliss of this world arising from their great possessions and many honors but for want of laboring for Eternal good things at last fall into the mouth of Hell and there lose all the sweetness of those things and find nothing but the bitter brackishness of Eternal pains How will it now repent them that they labored for Earth so much and for Heaven so little for Temporal good things so much and for Eternal good things so little that they looked more at things below than at things aboâ—e This hath made some bewail their folly at death that ever they set their hearts upon them and so sinfully labored to attain them I have read a sad story of a rich oppressor who had scraped up a great estate for his only Son when this rich oppâ—essor came to dye he called his Son to him and said Son do you indeed love me the Son answered That Nature besides his Paternal indulgence obliged him to that then said the Father express it by this hold thy finger in the Candle so long as I am saying a Pater noster the Son attempted but could not indure it upon that the Father broke out into these expressions Thou canst not indure the burning of thy finger for me but to get this wealth I have hazarded my Soul for thee and must burn body and soul in Hell for thy sake thy pain would have been but for a moment but mine will be unquenchable fire Thus he bewailed that he had wickedly labored after the good things of this life this at the time of his death filled his heart no doubt with no little sorrow and vexation But I do â—erily believe that there never was any laborious Christian but upon his death bed lamented that he took no more pains for these things Nay rather he hath then wished that he had been a thousand times more laborious for them Though a lazy generation of men have accused them for â—oo much preciseness have deâ—ided them for too much strickness and have judged them to be almost besides themselves when they have taken notice of their extraordinary diligence yet themselves could say as Erasmus did Accusant quod nimium fecerim verum Conscientia mea me accusat quod minus fecerim quodque lentior fuerim They accuse me for doing too much but my own Conscience accuseth me for doing too little And what shall I say more have we God's command to labor after Eternal good things are they the best of good things making those Good and doing those Good that injoy them that when others under terrors of conscience upon a dying bed in the grave at Judgment and under everlasting torments will find nothing which do them any good or stand them in any stead these under all their afflictions upon a death-bed and at judgment will not want what will support them under the first comfort them under the second and make them hold up their heads at the third being interested in that everlasting desirable satisfying provision they have made for their souls and shall see their labor for the same hath not been in vain as also that they shall not have cause ever to repent thereof Are not these considerations sufficient to make our hearts serious to improve every hour and minute of time both day and night in the use of all good means to the very end of our days for Eternal good things and not yield to be put off with any other good things whatsoever then such as are Eternal though God keep us low and mean in the world I shall answer one question and then come to apply what hath been said CHAP. VII Question VVHat Reasons may be assigned why men labor so much after Temporal good things that they do neglect Eternal and build their happyness upon so deceitful grounds as earthly possessions and transitory things they account themselves happy in these earthly injoyments whereas a painted face is as certain an argument of a good complexion as this of an happy condition When God
Egypt to be found so wise as Joseph why so Because fore-seeing the years of famine he filled their Store-houses against the time of want Neither is there a man to be found in all the world so wise as the Godly man who only is called the man of wisdom Miâ—ha 6. 9. v. Why so Because fore seeing the length of Eternity he labours to enrich himself with hidden and Heavenly treasures that will do most good then They only shew themselves wisemen that are careful to lay up a stock and store that will do them good throughout all Eternity when as the world's fools for want of the like care will then have no good thing for their Souls to feed upon Many foolish men are like the want on Grashopper that leaps and skips chirps and sings all the time of Summer and when the time of the Winter comes it perisheth for want of what might have been gathered in the Summer O such are too many they eat and drink they laugh and sing they spend their dayes in sinful delights all the dayes of their life and entering upon Eternity they Eternally perish for want of what might have been gotten in the time of life Whereas the wise-hearted Christian is like the Annt or Bee that toyl and labour in the Summer against winter So they who are Spiritually wise in the time of life are trading for Eternity whilst they live upon Earth they are seeking after Heaven and looking after things that are invisible they are laying up treasures in Heaven a good foundation against the time to come Before their Bodies be laid up in the dark and dismal Prison of the grave their care is that their never-dying Souls may be carryed into Abraham's bosom Before all opportunities for doing their Souls good are taken away their care is to turn to God to accept of Christ to get their sins pardoned their evidence for Heaven cleared that so they may be for death prepared and after death enjoy a future and glorious felicity Before the unavoidable dissolution and separation of their Souls and Bodies and the departing hour must come their care is that when they dye they may dye in the Lord Rev. 14. 13. v. that when they sleep the sleep of death they may sleep in Jesus 1 Thess 4. 14. that when their lives must end their ends may be in peace Psal 37. 37. v. In a word that they may dye the death of the righteous That already twice repeated Text Col. 3. 2. v. Set your affections on things above not on things on the earth speaks to this purpose The word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we must be wise for them and this is to manifest an high point of Heavenly wisdom when meâ— are wise for Heavenly things that though they do walk on the Earth yet they do daily converse in Heaven and have their eyes fixed upon invisible things there looking upon Earthly contents to be too mean grounds whereon to raise their joyes that which ravisheth their hearts and quickens them in their labours is their thinking upon beholding of and hoping for those beams of inaccessible glory Moses was a wise man and so esteemed and reported by the Spirit of God because he despised the pleasures of Pharaoh's Court having an eye to the recompence of reward Hebr. 11. 24 25 26. v. That is because he despised all the present arguments of delight and contentment and preferred those excellencies which he knew should be infinitely greater as well as he knew they should be all 2. Your not labouring for them will bespeak you Fools Here in the world if men be but deep Polititians have profound reaches and a deep insight into the things of the world they go for very wise men But suppose a man were not inferiour to Virgil of whom it is reported that if all sciences were lost they might be found in him Or to Aristotle who by some was called wisdom it self in the abstract Or that Jew Aben Ezra of whom it was said that if knowledge had put out her Candle at his brain she might light it again and that his head was a throne of wisdom Or to that Israelitish Achitophel whose words were held as Oracles Or to Solomon who was able to unravel Nature and to discourse of every thing from the Cedar to the Hysope or Pelitory on the wall Though we were as one sayes of St. Hierome that he knew all that was knowable Or lastly though a man were equal with Adam who knew the nature of all Creatures And yet not be wise to salvation not be like the wise Scribe who was taught from the Kingdom of Heaven not be seeking after those things that will endure beyond a season and that will satisfie an immortal Soul verily this man will at last prove himself but a fool Such a fool was that miserably mistaken rich man in the Gospel who though by himself or others judged wise in the account of the only wise God was a very fool why for he provided only for the time of this life for many years only to be spent in the world but provided nothing at all for death or for his Soul after death As Cicero said of some Mihi quidem nulli satis â—ruditi videntur quibus nostra sunt ignota I cannot take them for Schollars that partake not of our learning So may I say they are not to be accounted wise men but very fools who are not wise to that which is good wise in Christ wise to secure the chiefest good and which is of the greatest value to wit their precious Souls of more worth then any thing they can stand possessed of and Heavens happiness Such and such only deserve the name of wise men and prudent ones who choose those wayes and are diligent in those actions that make for Eternal happiness The Italians arrogate to themselves the monopoly of wisdom in that Proverb of theirs Italians say they both seem wise and are wise whereas Spaniards seem wise and are fools French men seem fools and are wise They of Portugal neither are wise nor so much as seem so So many in the world think themselves the only wise men but in Spiritual and Eternal matters neither are wise nor so much as seem wise therein Those who are not Heavenly wise wise to that which is good though the wisest Polititians upon Earth though they be the most ample and cunning Machiavilians that live though they be Doctors in that deep reaching Faculty yet are they like fools being sharp-eyed like the Eagle only in the things of the Earth but as blind as Beetles in the things of Heaven Wise it is true they are but it is with such a wisdom as like the Ostrich wings makes them out-run others upon Earth and in pursuit of Earthly things but helps them never a whit towards Heaven or to pursue Heavenly things Every one will cry him up for a fool who rather chose to stay in the Theatre and
post and that only and meerly Ex gratia Your Souls are not so immersed in your bodies as that they must be extinguished with your bodies but they are seperable from your bodies and are able through the benefit of their own subtilty and spiritual substance being of a simple and uncompounded nature to subsist by themselves and when they are once divested of these earthly cases and divorced from your bodies they shall be clothed with an Eternity either of joy or torment and run parallel with the life of God and longest line of Eternity The senses of seeing hearing and the rest of those Organs of the body cease and dye with the body because they are parts of the body and have their dependance upon the body but the Soul hath a nature distinct from the body and moves and operates of it self when the body is dead and iâ— sepâ—rated from the body for when the body dyes the Soul dyes not with it but subsists even in its sepâ—rated state hath a being is still living and active and is crowned with immortallity It being the end of the resurrection of the body to meet with its old partner the Soul Not a body here this day but must dye but Souls those inmates must live though all our bodies return to the Earth whence they came yet our Spirits shall return to God that gave them and be sempiternal Eccles 12. 7. v. though our bodies must be made a prey to rottenness and worms and become captives to death and corruption yet our intellective Souls being spiritual substances independent and self-subsisting agents shall be incorruptible and for ever exist being endowed with an undying condition though our bodies was old yet Anima non senesâ—it the Soul doth not waâ— old nor ever lose its strength and vigor as bodies compounded of elements do Death its true may tyrannize over our earthly parts and may drive our Souls out of these clay lodgings but it is that they may at the very instant of departure have livery and seisin of everlasting Mansions in Heaven be alwayes themselves be for ever permanent and not subject to any extinguishment or destruction Hence it was a custom among the ancient Romans that when their great men dyed they caused an Eagle to fly aloft in the Air signifying hereby that the Soul was immortal and did not dye as the body The serious consideration of the Souls immortality should make us labour for that which will makes the immortal Soul for ever blessed and happy when it shall be unsheathed from the body unclothed from corruption and let loose from this cage of clay 5. Help Study the shortness of time and your present life And believe it Christians the less time you have the more need have you to make hast to labour for these Eternal good things Aeternitati comparatum omne tempus est breve All time if compared to Eternity is but short But time as it is short so it passeth away fast The ancients emblemed time with wings to shew the volubility and swiftness of it as if it were not running but flying whither towards Eternity for time is but a space borrowed and set a part from Eternity which must at last return to Eternity again I have read of certain Hereticks called Eternales because they held the world to be Eternal We have many such Eternallists who fancy to themselves a kind of Eternity here upon Earth Such an Eternallist was that rich fool in the Gospel we have spoken of before who fancied that he had a long time that yet he should remain upon the earth but was suddenly to be taken away Thou fool this night shall thy soul be taken away In a moment his life endeth We read of a beast called from the continuance of its life Ephemeris which though it live according to his appellative name but one day yet it falls presently to provide for sustenance as though it might live years Man's life is frequently in Scripture called a Day and yet most like this beast labour and toyl build and purchase thirst after honours and preferment in the world as if they were here to live for ever but in the mean time improve not a short life for Eternal advantages Let me tell the most healthful person here present that he is not assured of one day more wherein death may not assault him and push him into an Eternal Abâ—â—s after a few hours more and then you may expect your departing hour and throw the last cast foâ— Eternity Thou knowest not yet what may be in the womb of this very day Prov. 27. 1. v. Boast not thâ— self of to morrow for thou knowest not what a day mâ— bring forth Whilst a woman is with child none câ— tell what kind of birth it will be so as little doth anâ— man know what is yet in the womb of this very day until God have signified his will by the event Therâ— was a fellow that brought to Domitian the names those in a paper that would murther him but he put it in his pocket saying nova cras to morrow is a new day but he was killed or ever night He was a Wise man that being invited to a Feast on the next morrow answered Ex multis annis crastinum non habui For these many years I have not had a morrow to promise for any business No more do any here present know whether they shall have a morrow to labour for what will make them Eternally happy Death may surprize them before the Sun rise again The Apostle Peter saith 2 Pet. 1. 13. v. I will put you in remembrance knowing I must shortly put off this Tabernacle O so let us say to our selves We will now be thinking of death we will now have Eternity in our thoughts we will now be labouring for Eternal good things we will be storing our Souls with Grace because we must shortly put off these Tabernacles we must shortly have an end put to this present life I have sometimes acquainted you with the speech of young King Charles of Sicily lying upon his death-bed I have scarce begun to live and now woe is me I am compelled to dye Art thou one that hast not yet begun to live the life of Grace that only hast a share of this Worlds goods but altogether without the good things of Heaven O make haste for thou mayest suddenly be called to dye and it will be a sore affliction to you to have an end put to time before you have provided for Eternity Oh that men in their sins would consider what space what distance how far off their Souls are from death from Hell from Eternity No more but a breath one breath and no more the next puff of breath may be their last It is said of Sparta that they used to choose their Kings every year and whilst they did raign they were to live pompously and have all the fulness their hearts could wish but when
a great fight of afflictions A Christian hath more then one Enemy to fight and contend with that labour to hinder his passage towards the Promised Land and is ever to look for warrs and bickerings with one or other that is an enemy to his souls everlasting happiness here is a Christians warfare only in Heaven is his Crown there is no place nor state but Heaven wherein a Christian is free from either outward or inward enemies there and no where but there is he triumphant here he is alwayes militant assaulted and fought against by many adversaries that disquiet hinder his content and that would fain for ever overcome bim As Israel passing through the Wilderness towards Canaan had many warrs and resistances to hinder them in their march thither so have all the Israelites of God designed for Heaven whilst they are in the Wilderness of this world they have the Devil and other both Church and soul Enemies without them and inbread corruptions and lusts within them that fight and make warr against their Souls That as it is said of Cato that he conflicted with manners as Scipio did with Enemies so does a Christian conflict and combate with Lusts and corruption as a Souldier does with his enemies in the field these warring against his Soul so sayes the Apostle Peter 1. Pet. 2. 11. Dearly beloved I beseech you as Pilgrims and strangers abstain from fleshly Lusts which warr against the soul And the Apostle Paul saies of himself Rom. 7. 23. I see another law in my members warring against the Law of my mind The Law of his members did warr and fight against the Law of his mind by provoking him to sin the Apostle speaks it of the regenerate estate Gal. 5. 17. For the flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and these are contrary the one to the other There is a contrariety in the flesh against the spirit there is an opposite disposition in the nature of it against the spirit and this not at one time of a Christians life but all the time of his life As fire and water being put together never cease striving and fighting until either the fire be extinguished or the water consumed so a Christian finds it in his spiritual fight and combat with sin there is no ceasing of the fight or combat until one of the combatants be killed and destroyed Now 't is no little labour to fight a battel with and against a potent enemy as indeed sin is an enemy that hath overcome the stoutest warriors Quos arma equi milites machinamenta capere non potuerunt hos peccatum vinctos reddidit such as armes and horses and souldiers and engines could not overcome sin hath overcome Victorious David felt the force of sin in this respect Abraham that subdued those Kings who did plunder Sodome and carryed away Lott is yet though the eminentest man alive in his age for faith foiled by unbelief such instances as these and many more but that I love not to lay open the Saints sores would shew how potent an enemy sin is and you know when men are fighting to get a victory over a potent enemy fightting to wrest a Kingdome or a Countrey out of the hands of a potent enemy they use all the care and all the labour possible to be used and the like care and labour hath a Christian need to manifest when he considers what he fights for not for his countrey not for greatpossessions not for liberty not for wife and children though the remembrance of such things animates souldiers but he fights for that peace of conscience which passeth all understanding he fights for God and Christ whose glory lies at stake every day and suffers as often as he is overcome by sin he fights for Eternal life and for the everlasting salvation of his immortal soul Are not these things worth fighting for laboring and contending for It is in the fighting of this battel as Caesar said it was in the battel he had once in Affrica with the children and partakers of Pompey that in other Battels he was wont to fight for glory but then and there he was fain to fight for his life O Christians here let us remember that our precious Souls lye at the stake in this fight Heaven and all the Eternal good things laid up in Heaven lye at the stake in this fight this will then call for the labor and pains we use in the managing thereof Hence we read of striving against sin Heb. 12. 4. v. ye have not resisted unto blood striving against sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Theame is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 propriè in certamine me alij oppono It is here fitly translated Striving against and is a soldier-like word which signifies opposing or fighting as an enemy to whom a man will not yield and by whom be is loath to be overcome And the opposed enemy we see here is Sin against which a Christian is to strive with all might and main as Combatants and Wrestlers were wont to do Sin being such a malitious enemy that aims at the damnation of the soul After that sin hath brought Diseases upon the body Poverty upon the estate and a Curse upon posterity it proceeds further laboring to rob and ransake the Soul of all spiritual graces a privation of mortal life contents not the malice of sin sin aims at the loss of Eternal life at the loss of our Souls of our God and Christ and the blessedness of Eternity It was observed of Julius Caesar that in his ingaging the Swisses who thought to obtain Gallia out of his hands he would alight and send away his Horses and cause all the rest to do the like To shew them that they must overcome or dye leaving them no other hopes of their safety but only in the sharpness of their Swords So in this fight a Christian must either overcome or dye the wages of Sin is Death Rom. 7. 5. Rom. 6. 21. The end of these things is death Death is but a modest word for Damnation the first and second death not only that which is temporal but that which is Eternal I have read of a people who when their armies were preparing to fight in the time of War used only this expression to put spirits into their soldiers Estote viri libertas agitur Be Men your liberty is in question Christians Heaven and Eternal glory are in question betwixt you and sin Estote viri shew your selves therefore to be Men nay to be Christians 4. It is compared to one being in an Agony Luk. 13. 24. Strive to enter in at the straight-gate The word in the Greek is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 strive till you are in an Agony as Christ was Christ was in an Agony in the Garden when he sweat drops of Blood so saith St. Luke chap. 22. 44. v. And being in an agony he prayed more carnestly and his sweat was as it
4. From the Examples of those who have been well acquainted with the worth of Eternal good things their â—abor and pains taken about them should excite and stirr up others should animate and encourage others to use â—he like pains It is most true indeed that the Word of God should â—e the Standard of all our actions For as in matters of Faith we properly produce a divine act when we believe Quia ipse dixit because God hath commanded it so So then we act by a good warrant in all doings when we do what we do not because others so do but Quia â—pse voluit because God commands us so to do Deâ—osthenes was wont to say In civill matters we live and â—ule by Laws not by Examples so say I in divine â—nd spiritual matters Precepts must be our guides and â—ot Patterns except the pattern of our most dear Saâ—iour We are tide to Scriptures as the Jews are tyed â—o their Cabala The Turks to their Alcaron Logiciâ—ns to the Axiomes of their Aristotle and Physicians to â—he Aphorismes of their Hypocrates and Galen But not â—o the examples of the best Men further then they have â—ollowed this rule 1 Cor. 4. 16 17. v. Wherefore I beâ—eech you be followers of me For this cause have I sent â—nto you Timotheus who is my beloved Son and faithâ—ull in the Lord who shall bring you into remembrance of â—y ways which be in Christ as I teach every where in eâ—ery Church And in this case the Apostle propounds â—he doings of many of the Saints and people of God for â—ur examples and encouragement Heb. 12. 1. Wherefore seeing we also are compassed â—bout with so great a cloud of Witnesses let us lay aside â—very weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us and let us run with patience the race that is set before us By the particle Wherefore the Apostle shews the reason why he had recited the examples of the Saints in the former chapter viz. that we should take encouragement from them in running the race that is before us seeing so many have run the same race and broken the Ice for us we should not be discouraged from imitating though the path be rough yet it is beaten There were in Greece certain Fields called Palestae where young men exercised themselves in wrestling running c. in these were set up Statues of sundry Champions that the sight of theâ— might encourage others to imitate their doings such a field is the foregoing Chapter where we have several worthies set up to our view as presidents viz. Abel Enoch Noah Abraham and all the rest of the holy Fathers who are a cloud of witnesses to us See Iames 5. 10. v. Take my brethren the Prophets for example of suffering the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is noted by some sometimes to signifie a Type or Figure of something as Heb. 8. 5. Heb. 9. 23. and sometimes it signifies the setting before the eye or subjecting of something to a man's view or sight not only for caution and warning as in 2 Pet. 2. 6. but for imitation also as John 13. 15. For I have given you an example that ye should do as I have done and so in this place of St. James named before it noteth such an example as is propounded for imitation and to be as a copy for us to write after How many inherit in Heaven what they laboured for whilst they were in the world Now the Apostle propounds such for our example Heb. 6. 12. v. Be followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promise We should all of us honour the Saints departed but how Non adoratione sed imitatione not by making gods of them but by imitating those vertues that were in them As Melancthon proposeth George Prince of Anhalt for an example of unparalleld piety worthy of all mens imitation And Machiavel sets forth a far worse man as the only pattern for a Prince to express And St. Hierom having read the life and death of old Hilarion folding up the book said Well Hilarion shall be the Champion whom I will imitate so the Apostle St. Paul propounds men eminent for piety and holiness by us to be imitated And how have these preferred Eternal good things before temporal good things nothing that was only for a season could satisfy them they have ever looked for and at things that are beyond a season To give some instances Moses if he would have been satisfied with any thing that abideth for a season he might have had satisfaction enough but his heart was set upon Eternity and therefore could have no satisfaction in things that were but for a season how happy might he have been in Pharoahs Court what Honour Dignity and Riches might have been heaped upon him there he rejects all choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God then to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches then the Treasures of Egypt for he had respect unto the recompence of reward Heb. 11. 25. 26. v. Egypt was a rich countrey and full of treasures it was and still is famous for its fruitfulness it is called by many Horreum caeterarum regionum the Granary of other countries hence Abraham when famine was in Canaan went into Egypt and Jacob in time of Famine sent his sons into Egypt and afterwards went himself It is said of it that they sow almost every moneth and yet Moses upon mature deliberation esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches then the treasures of Egypt Those in Heb. 10. 34. preferred their better and more enduring substance in Heaven before all whatsoever they enjoyed in the world these were such as walked in the view of that glory above and maintained a conversation in Heaven and therefore were not at all taken with these temporal things below to them an enduring substance did vail the tempting splendour of sublunary things and dulled their affections unto them And saith St. Paul 2 Cor. 4. 18. v. We look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal St. Basil was for money that would last for ever and glory that would eternally flourish for being offered money and preferment to tempt him he refusing both returned this answer Pecuniam da quae permaneat ac continuo duret gloriam quae semper floreat give me money that will last for ever and glory that may Eternally flourish St. Origen chose rather to be a poor Catechist in Alexandria then denying the faith to be with his fellow Pupil Plotinus in great authority and favour the knowledge he had of the things of another world caused him to make a greater account of them then of things fadeing and transitory undervaluing these for the esteem he had of those When some bid stop Luther's mouth with preferment
viz. Eternal life There is no creature hath a more noble end then Man there is neither Seraphim Angel nor Arch-Angel that surpasses Man in his end How should the thoughts hereof cause every Christian's end and design to take a nobler flight then to stay within the narrow bounds of a visible Sphear things of another world should raise the hearts of such noble creatures as Men are and not be contented with such things as they dayly see with their eyes and touch with their hands The things that we dayly see being but small inconstant and of short continuance the other great firm and in fine Eternal and answer the end wherefore God gave us life The excellency of any thing lies herein when it answers the end whereunto it was assigned what is a thing good for that does not answer the end whereunto it was assigned The end wherefore Men will get a Clock into their houses is to strike what is a clock good for that will not strike it does not answer its end The end wherefore Merchants are at great charges to build or buy Ships is to sail in them upon the Waters What is a Ship good for that will not sail it does not answer its end The end wherefore a Man hires a Servant is to do his work what is a Servant good for that will not do the work he is set about he does not answer his end The excellency of any thing lyes herein when it answers the end unto which it was assigned so herein lyes the excellency of a Christian viz. To attain unto the end wherefore God gave him a being Hence it is that the Apostle goeth about to breed in us an holy Ambition telling us we are born for higher matters then any earthly things are therefore not to be so base minded as to dote on these transitory things but to seek after things above Col. 3. 1 2. v. though we may have Temporalia in usu yet should we have aeterna in desiderio Temporal things may be by us used but Eternal things should be by us desired It is said of Isidore that being at a great Feast and there beholding a great sign of God's bounty towards the sons of Men suddenly breaks forth into abundance of tears being demanded the cause for and said he I here feed on earthly creatures that am created to live with Angels 8. From that willingness to dye and to have an end put to this tâ—mporal life that the injoyment of Eternal good things will work in us That Man will never be unwilling to dye that can say as St. Paul does Phil. 1. 21. v. Mors mihi lucrum to dye is gain Death will no ways indamage me but rather turn to my advantage hereby I shall gain heaven though I lose the earth and an happy Eternal life though I have an end put to this miserable and mortal life Not every one is thus a gainer by Death they that have labored only to gain the world the more they have gained whilst they did live the greater is their loss when they dye It was a good saying of one to a great Lord upon his shewing him his stately House and pleasant Gardens Sir you had need make sure of Heaven or else when you dye you will be a very great loser When men are sure to lose by death t is no wonder if they be loath to submit unto death How many tell us they have been utterly undone by great Losses some have lost all by Fire others by Water some have lost all by Theeves and others at Land some again have lost all by Pyrates and Shipwrecks at Sea but the greatest number of men are undone by death Death robbs them of all death spoyles them of all their great Estates in the world and takes away from them what they were unwilling to part with When the Duke of Venice had shewn unto Charles the Fifth the glory of his Princely Pallace and earthly Paradice the Emperour instead of admiring it or him for it only returned him this grave and serious memento Haec sunt quae faciunt in vitos mori These are the things which make us unwilling to dye Some of the Turks have said they did not think Christians believed there was an heaven because they saw them so loath to dye and to go to it such an aspersion have some of those Infidels cast upon our Religion but none are loath to go out of this world but such as have not made sure of Eternal good things laid up in Heaven When the people of Israel were come to the very entrance of Canaan the children of Reuben and the children of Gad regarding not that good Land desired Moses that they might stay on this side Jordan because it was a place meet for their droves of Cattel which they more respected then their passage into Canaan Numb 32. 2. and following verses they were loath to go over Jordan the land on this side Jordan pleased them so well not far unlike these children of Reuben and Gad are they who be of that Cardinals mind unwilling to quit their parts in Paris for any hopes whatsoevr of Paradice loath to quit the pleasures and profits of this life in hope of those incomprehensible joys of Eternal life and esteem more of one Bird in the hand then two in the bush Certain it is a Man will never yield to part with this life untill he have gotten good hopes of a better life t is that will help a Christian to out-face Death He that hath gotten treasures laid up in Heaven will not be loath to part with the greatest treasures upon Earth Nay such will rather rejoyce at the sight of those things they have so longed to see and now must possess to all Eternity Contemnuâ—t presentia ad futura festinant little regarding things present and hastening toward things to come such a one can say when death approaches Mâ—riar ut videam I am willing to dye that I may see God and Christ and all the Eternal good things of Heaven And with St. Paul I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ which is farr better Phil. 1. 23. And with Babylas slain by Decius in the words of the Psalmist Return unto thy rest O my Soul for the Lord hath been beneficial unto thee and now my soul be glad for now cometh thy rest thy sure rest thy sweet and never fading rest and can truly say he is willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. 2 Cor. 5. 8. v. This was it made the Martyrs go to their death with cheerfulness and songs and run to the Stake as to a Garland It was the sight of these things that made them not loath to dye any kind of death as some of them being asked what made them so to suffer they have named that Text 1 Cor. 2. 9. Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard neither hath it entred into
us good then when other good things will do us no good Eternal good things will stand us in stead when other good things will stand us in no stead To injoy an interest in such things as have been named and to be assured of what is afterwards to be injoyed in Heaven will stand a Christian in stead in what ever condition a good man can be cast into when as all that the world affords will not do the wicked man any good in such conditions as God will cast them into 1. They will do him no good nor stand him in any stead when his Conscience is distressed with the sight of his sins and the apprehension of God's wrath due for sin 2. They will do him no good nor stand him in any stead in the day of death 3. They will do him no good nor stand him in any stead in the Grave 4. They will do him no good nor stand him in any stead at the day of Judgment 5. They will do him no good nor stand him in any stead in Hell when he there shall lye under Eternal Torments I begin with the first of these five 1. Temporal good things will do those who injoy them no good when their Consciences are distressed with the sight of their sins and the apprehension of God's wrath due for sin A time of all other times wherein a Christian needs consolation and refreshment but these things are not able to afford any refreshment When a man is terrified with the threatnings of the Law vexed with the inward accusations of his own Conscience and affrighted with the apprehension of God's deserved wrath what will it avail to live flourishingly in Prosperity to sit in the feat of Honor to be advanced to the greatest Preferments to have multiplyed treasure as the sand of the Sea to have full Barns and rich Chests and to be as great in Dominions as Cyrus and as wealthy as Solomon All these things as they cannot give ease in the midst of a Fever or tortures of the Gout oâ— Stone so neither can they comfort a man when God opens the mouth of conscience and amazes him with the sight of his sins calling to his mind the history of his life and makes him to have some glimpses and pre-occupations of Hell when he lies under the phrensy of Cain the despair of Judas the madness of Achitophel the tremblings of Felix then the whole Earth though changed into a Globe of Gold or Center of Diamond will do no good will stand in no stead Then all the Riches of Craesus all the Empires of Alexander nor the Hundred twenty and seven Provinces of Ahasuerus will procure no ease no peace in the conscience Had a man all the Kingdoms of the world and the Glory of them yet could they not purchase the least dram of Spiritual Comfort the lifting up of God's countenance or an assurance of God's favor t is Faith not Wealth t is somwhat inward and spiritual not any thing external and accidental that will then give ease Then inward peace is more esteemed tâ—an outward plenty As when David said to Ziba 2 Sam. 16. 4. v. Behold thine are all that pertained unto Mephibosheth And Ziba said I humbly beseech thee that I may find grace in thy sight my Lord O King as who should say I had â—ather have the King's favor then the Lands The King's favor will do me more good then all Mephibosheth's Lands or goods Inward consolation and assurance of Salvation at this season will do more good and stand in more stead then the whole world and all the things of the world that will indure but for a season 2. Temporal good things will do those who injoy them no good in the day of death They will do them no good nor stand them in any stead in those last Dreadful pangs when they lye gasping for breath upon a dying Bed and must now pass tâ—rough the valley and shadow of Death they will do them no good nor stand them in any stead when they must shooâ— the vast Gulf and lanch out into the Infinite Ocean of Eternity Solomon tells us That Riches yea whole Treasures do not profit in the day of death Pro. 11. 4. and chap. 10. 2. v. A speech worth our consideration for we have it repeated by two Prophets after him Ezekiel 7. 19. Zeph. 1. 18. They say there stands a Globe of the World at one of the Libraries in Dublin and a Skeleton of a Man at the other we need not says my Author study long in this Library to learn a good lesson though a man were Lord of all that he sees in the Map of the World yet he must dye and become himself a map of Mortality and when he dyes the whole world though he injoyed it would do him no good in that last and sorest conflict They will not keep off death nor bribe that grim Sergeant no not for one day not for one hour Henry Beauford that rich and wretched Cardinal Bishop of Winchester and Chancellor of England in the reign of Henry the 6th when he perceived that he must dye and that there was no remedy murmured at Death that his Riches could not reprieve him till a further time for he asked wherefore should I dye being so rich If the whole Realm would save my life I am able by policy to get it or by riches to buy it Fye quoth he wiâ—l not death be hired will Money do nothing No Christians here money will do nothing here money can do nothing when the poor sinner shall be left to wrestle with the accusations of his Conscience terrors of Death and fierce oppositions of Hell and the Divel Then all Temporal good things will serve the most greedy ingrossers thereof as the friends and subjects of our Edward the 3d. served him at his Death At the time of his death all of all sorts forsook him only one Priest is said to stay with him when he gave up the Ghost Or as Absolom's Mule served him which went away when his head was fast in the great Oak and so left him in his greatest extremity In like manner will Wealth and all worldly felicities deal with men upon their Dying-beds leave them in their greatest extremity to the fury of a guilty conscience which like the Priest with Edward the 3d. stayed when every one left him for their cursed laboring more for that meat which perisheth then for that meat which indureth to Eternal life As I have read of one who when he lay upon his sick-bed called for his baggs and laid a bagg of Gold to his heart and then bad them take it away saying it will not do it will not do Baggs of Gold will then afford no comfort to dying ones It is reported of Phillip the 3d. of Spain although it is said of him that his life was free from gross Evils yea so as he professed he would rather lose all his Kingdoms then offend
God knowingly But being in the Agony of Death and considering more throughly of his account he was to give to God fear struck into him and these words brake from him Oh would to God I had never reigned Oh that those years I have spent in my Kingdom I had lived a private life in the Wildreness Oh that I had lived a solitary life with God how more securely should I now have dyed how much more confidently should I have gone to the Throne of God What does all my glory profit me but that I have so much the more torment in my Death Christians experience the truth of what I am saying when you please When you hear of some such lying upon their Death-beds Go to such a one whilst he is gasping out his last breath and ask him What does the world do you good now do Riches profit you now do your great Possessions stand you in stead now does that which your cheifest labor and pains was laid forth upon do you good now Then you may expect to hear the words of a great Courtier who when he came to dye did most lamentable cry out Plus temporis operaeque se palatio quam Templo impendisse That he has spent more time in the Palace then in the Temple so they that they did all their life long spend more time and take more pains and labor for Temporal good things then for Eternal good things for Earth then Heaven but what they labored for so much does them but little nay no good now and makes them as he said have the more torment in their death O the Testimony of a Man's Conscience upon good grounds that he hath lived graciously been afraid of Sin walked according to the rule of Gods word labored cheifly not for perishing but Eternal good things will afford more joy and comfort in a dying hour then all the world can And I cannot think but that in cool blood not one amongst many that hunt after these things below so much but he will subscribe to the saying of the wise Man Pro. 10. 2. Treasures of wickedness profit nothing but righteounsness delivereth from death from Death Eternal to be sure 3. Temporal good things will do those who injoy them no good in the Grave though they possessed whilst living all the Riches of the Indies yet when they dye they can carry nothing thereof with them Naked came I out of my Mothers Womb says Job and naked shall I return â—â—ither Job 1. 21. v. Job brought nothing with him when he came into the world and to be sure he should carry nothing with him out of the world Job's wealth and great substance could not descend into the Grave with him hereunto agrees that in Psal 49. 17. v. read the 16. v. Be not thou afraid when one is made rich when the glory of his House is increased 17. v. For when he dyeth he shall carry nothing away his glory shall not descend after him Though to gain these things here Men weary their bodies perplex their thoughts rack their consciences and indanger their Souls yet carry they nothing to the grave with them so saith the Apostle 1 Tim. 6. 7. v. For we brought nothing into this world and it is certain we carry nothing out There is no man that is rich in the Grave more then another The King is as poor there as the basest Peasant in his Kingdom his Crown and Scepter his great State and glory follow him not thither no all differences end in the grave if we do search Graves and Sepulchers those chambers of Death we shall discover no difference amongst those bones we find there betwixt the Rich and the Poor the Master and the Servant the greatest Lord and the lowest Subject Sculls wear no wreaths or marks of Honor there Vetera fraugantur sepulchra ossa divitum agnoscas non opes Open the graves of rich men and see what is there you may find the Misers bones but not his riches Salandine that great Conquerour carryed nothing with him thither but his Winding sheet Alexander that would have been the greatest and richest Man in the world in the grave is lesser and poorer then the poorest man in the world It is remarkable what one reâ—ates concerning a Stone that was presented to Alexander the nature of it is said to be thus that being put into the one part of the ballance it weighed down whatever was put into the other part of it but if a little Dust were cast uâ—on the Sâ—â—â—e then eâ—ery thing weighed down the stone and he that brought the stone being asked what he meant by it he answered O Alexander thou art this Stone thou whilst thou livest doest weigh down all that are against thee and treadest down all before thee but when thou comest to dye and there is a little Dust thrown upon thee then every man will outweigh thee and then thou wilt be less then any man in the world Then his conquered Kingdoms then his large Dominions and great Treasures would not do him any good It was but a foolish action of one that I have read of and bespoke him to have an heart wholly taken up with the things of this world that being near death clapt a twenty shillings piece of Gold into his mouth saying Some wiser then some I 'll take this with me however 4. Temporal good things will do those who injoy them no good at the day of Judgment Where Luk. 21. 27. v. They shall see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory having Math. 25. 31. v. all his Angels with him Being ordained of God to be the Judg of quick and dead Act. 10. 42. v. For he hath appointed a day in the which he will judg the world in righteousness by that Man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him from the Dead Act. 17. 31. v. And can I name the day of Judgment without putting all that hereof into a shaking fit of an Ague without causing their thoughts to be troubled the joynts of their Loyns to be loosed and their knees to smite one against another as Belshazzar's did at the sight of the hand writing upon the wall Dan. 5. 6. v. and without causing them to tremble as Felix did when he heard of the Judgment to come Act. 24. 25. v. Or as the people of Israel did at the giving of the Law with thundring in the Mount Exod. 9. Then those men that here could never be contented with their condition but would be higher and higher richer and richer greater and greater laboring only for Temporal good things but neglecting Eternal good things will wish they might be turned into beasts or birds or stones or trees or air or any other thing yea Nothing rather then be brought before the Judg at that great Assize held not for a particular County or Kingdom but for the whole World to hear
desiderant sine anxitate desiderant sine fastidio satiantur â—n heaven they always behold God's presence and â—till they desire to behold it and yet without anxiety they are satisfied with God's presence and without saâ—iety We read of some Kings that have been weary of their Crowns and Kingdoms and have therefore laid aside their Crowns and yielded up their Kingdoms unto others 5. Our labor and pains ought cheifly to be imployed not about perishing but Eternal good things Because Eternal good things are the only satisfying good things Verily when a man can pull the Sun Moon and Stars from the Heavens and fix them in his house when he can sow Grace in the furrows of his field when he can fill his barns with glory when he can get baggs full of Salvation when he can plow up heaven out of the earth and extract God out of the creatures then he may be able to find that in Temporal things which shall satisfy his desires A covetous man may have his house full of Money but he can never have his heart full of money An ambitious man may have Titles enough to overcharge â—his memory but never to fill his pride A voluptuous man may spend whole weeks nay years in carnal pleasures and delights and yet never be satisfied therewith but is ever thirsting after new invented delights and pleasures like Nero that wicked Emperor who had an Officer about him that was called Arbiter Neroâ—nianâ— libidiniâ— The Inventer and Contriver of new ways of uncleaness Sooner will Stygian darkness blend with light the Frost with Fire or Day with Night then these things below satisfy the hearts of men As all the rivers run into the Sea yet the Sea is not full nor does it for all that flow its banks Eccles 1. 7. v. So though all the golden streams of the world should run into the hearts of men yet would they not be filled which was long since observed by Solomon Eccles 5. 10. v. He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver nor he that loveth abundance with increase Agur mentions four unsatiable things in Pro. 30. 15 16. v. There are three things that are never satisfied yea four things say not It is enough The Grave and the barren Womb the Earth that is not filled with Water and the fire that saith not It is enough Such an unsatiable thing also is the heart of Man this also saith not It is enough So inordinate are the appetites and desires of men after these things Non plus satiatur cor auro quam corpus aura As Aiâ— fills not the body so neither doth money the mind A Man may as soon fill a Chest with grace as satisfy an heart with wealth Wherefore saith the Prophet Isaiah 55. 2. v. Do you spend money for that which is not bread and your labor for that which satisfieth not This very consideration should take off our immoderate love and labor from the things of the world because there is not any sweet juice of satisfaction in them As it is reported of a great School-man Quod a studijs Scholasticae theologiae averteretur ferè nause abundus quoniam succo carebant liquidae pietatis He turned with loathing from the study of School-divinity because it wanted the sweet juice of Piety The sweet juice of what we labor for it is satisfaction and content but this we see is altogether wanting in Temporal good things But Eternal good things are satisfying good things here all the earth would not satisfy one man hereafter one Heaven will be enough for all men Herein lies one of the excellencies of the heavenly Inheritance Non augustior multitudine haeredum the portions of those that possess it are not scanted by reason of the number and multitude of co-heirs In the 23 of St. Luke you have a Theif condemned crucifyed and hanging upon a cross an â—ngine and rack of most grievous torture for spinning out of pain and slowing of death and what desires he To be remembred of Christ He beggs not life nor pleasure nor riches nor honor or any other Temporal good things no there was one thing more necessary one thing more satisfactory Give him Heaven he cares for nothing more give him but an Eternal inheritance in Paradise and his desires are satisfied Let the Executioners now rack him tear him break all his bones and pull him into atomes if Christ will do so much for him as to remember him in his Kingdom he is satisfied Let him but hear of being with Christ in Paradise he desires no other news he is satisfied he hath enough And Christ answers his expectation for at vers 43. he tells him To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Paradise was however now defaced the sweetest and goodliest place upon earth a Demesne sutable for the greatest Prince then on earth renowned for many things for all sorts of trees such as were both pleasant to the sight and good for food there growed the tree of Life and the â—ree of knowledg of Good and Evil and for that famous four-brancht River that watered the place In a word nothing was wanting which might be either for Ornament use or delight or which might make Man as happy as he would be for God loves to see his creatures happy And as Man was the Image of God so was this earthly Paradise an image of heaven but both the images are defaced the image of God in Man and the image of Heaven in Paradise yet the first patterns they are both Eternal and in Heaven are such things that Eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither hath entered into the heart of man 1. Cor. 2. 9. v. There that chosen Vessel was in the Spirit and heard and saw so much that could noâ— be expressed 2 Cor. 12. 2. v. for indeed it is as easy to compass the Heavens with a span or contain the Sea in a Nut-shell as to relate what things are in the heavenly Paradise St. John adds the name of God to it and calls it the Paradise of God Rev. 2. 7. v. To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of the Paradise of God The adding of the name of God here doth not only pâ—â— a difference between the heavenly Paradise and Adam's earthly Paradise but also sheweth it to be a great and most excellent place and enough there is iâ— it to satisfy all those who possess it There is enough in God to satisfy all that have aâ— interest in him It is a notable speech to this purpose that of Jacob when his brother Esau met him ye find Gen. 33. 8. v. That Esau he refused Jacob's present and told Jacob he had enough What meanest thou by all this drove which I met and he Jacob said these are to find grace in the sight of my Lord In the next verse says Esau I have enough At the 11. v. Jacob urges it
to be possessed arise and work and lose not all that you have heard of for want of labour As David said to Solomon 1 Chron 22. 16. v. Arise therefore and be doing and the Lord be with you Christians you are labouring every day for meat that perisheth you are engaged over head and ears in the pursuit of the things of the World Iâ— is a speech I have read of one Demades when the Emperour sent to his Countrey-men of Athens to give him Divine honour and they were loath to yield to it but consulted about it sayes he Take heed you be not so busie about Heavenly matters as to lose your Earthly possessions So say I Take heed you be not busie about Temporal matters as to lose Eternal possession Follow therefore the Apostle's direction Col. 3. 1. v. Seek those things that are above Os homini sublime dedit God hath given to men countenances erected towards Heaven that they should not cast their eyes on tâ—ings below but lift them up to better even things that are above Christian thy affections were made for those things that are above thee not for those things that are below thee A Christian should Superna anhelare pant after glory and things Eternal his affections should be carried above all Earthly Objects he should not be content until he get up into Heaven This Bird of Paradise though he may with God's good leave sometimes touch upon the Earth and upon Earthly things yet should he be mostly upon the wing and what ever he enjoyes here on the Earth should be to him but Scalae alae Wings and wind in his wings to carry him upwards To conclude this first Part and come to the second I shall use the words of Saint Austine Volemus sursum Let us flye upwards so he somewhere reports that his Mother Monica said in a kind of trance when she was near her death CHAP. XI 2. I Come to the second Branch of this use of Exhortation and that is to labour for Eternal good things chiefly and before all other good things labour for these in the first place Labour indeed we may and must for Temporal good things Though Temporal good things are not so high as to be primarily desired yet they are not so low as to be peremptorily neglected They are a good Viaticum to a better Inheritance they are great enablements to do service to God and good to others Not a Christian though a Believer but hath relation to two Worlds whilst he lives here he is a member of this World but he is Heir of a better Now so long as he is in this World he stands in need of what may help him in his way towards Heaven or that may be useful for his better and more easie leading of this short and mortal life Verily were but the World kept in its own room it would prove no enemy to Grace to the Soul or Heaven for no question but there is a way of enjoying God even in Worldly enjoyments and labouring after the good things of this life The whole World says one and all things contained therein were made for man and are so disposed in that â—ort as they may best serve to the benefit and profiâ— of man It seemeth nothing else then a vast house furnished with all things necessary whose inâ—abitant possessor or Fructuarius is man Supposing says â—y Author man were not in the World there were no â—â—se of the World The World was never intended to â—e a desart serving only for a den of wild Beasts and for a Wood of thorns but for man to dwell in and inhabit there to glorifie his Creator in a right using of â—he Creatures as well as any other way A Believer may questionless with God's good leave labour for the good things of this life he haâ—h God's allowance to endeavour to get an estate in the World and to haâ—e a share in the fatness of the Earth as well as in the dew of Heaven as Isaac divides that bleâ—â—ing of his Gen. 2. 28 v. to Jacob God give tâ—ee saith he of the dâ—w of heaven and the fatness of the earth and plenty of corn and wine Though Mâ—rie's better part in the unum necessarium of the Soâ—l â—houâ—d â—e â—ooked after in the first place yet Martha's many tâ—ings of the body should not be neglected Your heavenly Father said Jesus Christ our Saviour knoweth ye have need of these things Matth. â— 32. v. And God hath promised to his People Temporal blessings needful for this Natural life In the Covenant of Grace God promiseth not only to write his Law in our hearts and to forgive our sins but also to confer even Temporal good things as they shall be serviceable to us in our journey towards Heaven or for our more comfortable living in the World Adam when he fell did not only lose his title to Heaven and all Eternal good things but even to the Earth too and all Temporal good things thereof but when God makes a Covenant with any of the Sons and Daughters of Adam it shall give them a title not only to Heaven but also to the Earth they shall be as Heirs of Salvation Heb. 1. 14. v. so inheriters of the Earth Matth. 5. 5. v. Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth Psal 37. 9. v. Those that wait upon the Lord they shall inherit the earth 22. v. Such as be blessed of him shall inherit the earth 29. v. The righteous shall inherit the Land and dwell therein for ever 34. v. Wait on the Lord and keep his way and he shall exalt thee to inherit the Land And therefore in old time the best men were likewise the richest men as Abraham Isaac Jacob Job and David Abraham's Servant saith Genes 24. 35. v. The Lord hath blessed my master greatly and he is become great and he hath given him flocks and heards and silver and gold and men-servants and maid-servants and Camels and Asses Jacob speaking of his two bands or great heards of Sheep and Camels that went before him saith Gen. 32. 10. v. With my staff I passed over this Jordan and now I am become two bands Job 1. 1. v. Job was a perfect man and a just one that feared God and eshewed evil Now one of the next things mentioned of Job is his substance 3. v. which was very great Seven thousand Sheep three thousand Camels five hundred yoak of Oxen five hundred she-Asses and a very great houshold so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the East As Job was eminently rich so he was eminently good as by Providence he was made eminently rich so by Graâ—e he was also eminently godly none like him in all the earth And moreover Temporal good things are God's blessings that came with a promise God hath promised his own People such a share and portion of them as shall be needful for their more comfortable being and living in this World
Imaginary Heaven is not sufficient for to entertain the Lambs wife to refresh the suffering Martyrs to reward God's People God hath provided for those who are as the Apple of his eye who are the Signet on his right hand his Portion his pleasant Portion his Inheritance his Jewels his Royal Diadem other manner of things then these another manner of felicity then the world affords which is but Bracteata saelicitas a felicity but tin'd over which when it is at death worn off the greatest admirers thereof will find that all their life they have been as it were but in a dream they have dreamed of an happy condition they thought themselves to be in but no such-matter The enemies of the Church that had in their hopes and expectations devoured Zion in Isay 29. 1. v. are compared to an Hungry man that dreameth he eateth but when he is awakened his soul is empty or as when a thirsty man dreameth and behold he drinketh but he awaketh and behold he is faint and his soul hath appetite And saith that Text So shall the multitude of all Nations be that fight against Mount Zion In a dream a man being hungry and thirsty he dreameth perhaps that he eateth and drinketh and while he sleepeth he hath some imaginary refreshing and satisfaction but â—hen the man awaketh all his eating and drinking proves nothing and his refreshing and satisfaction proves to be a meer delusion and just nothing Thus it is with many men in these Temporal enjoyments their life is but a dream all the while they live they are as men in a dream and are never awaked till they come within the borders of Eternity And what do they dream of what are the thoughts of these dreamers heart They dream that they are some great Ones as Simon Magus thought of himself They dream that therefore God loves them because he hath enriched them They dream that they are happy because they are wealthy Though not all interested in Eternal good things yet they dream of future happiness in Heaven but have no thoughts of future torments in Hell like Joseph who dreamed once and again of his preferment but never of his imprisonment They dream as to their Eternal estate that they are rich and encreased in goods and lack nothing as did the Laodicean Church lying in a deluding dream upon mistake of her Spiritual estate but they are wretched and miserable poor and blind and naked Rev. 3. 17. v. And by these deluding dreams they are taken off looking after the real and Eternal happiness of Heaven As those filthy dreamers Jud. 8 â— despise dominion and speak evil of dignities so these foolish dreamers because they enjoy an Imaginary happiness here in this World set light by the happiness of Heaven These dreams make them to pursue Earthly good things hotly the which without Eternal good things will leave them in Hell certainly And it is to be admired how much these men hugg these shadows and empty shews bow down to these Images and Fictions embrace these Imaginations please themselves with these sigments and fond conceits delight themselves with these vain thinkings and phantasmes It is real truth that the Scriptures those Oracles of truth call the splendid braveries of this world but lucid phantasies the pomp and state of the great ones but a vain shew their glâ—ttering glory but a vanishing appearance Agrippa after a Princely manner and in great state comes to have the hearing of Saint Paul Act. 25. 23. v. but Saint Luke calls all his pompe but a fancy he came 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with great fantasie or vain-shew And it is as certain a truth that those men who because they possess no small store of Temporal good things apprehend themselves happy will find their apprehensions meer apprehensions their felicity but an Imaginary fancy they will hereafter see that they have been deceived like men in a dream who when they do awake miss of those great things they dreamed of and their raised expectations do sink with disappointment It will be with them as it was with certain Witches I have read of to whom in the night time the Devil did bring to their thinking good pieces of Gold but in the day time when they were awake and they went to make use thereof all proved but withered leaves So now these men please their thoughts with golden matters but at death when they shall pass away as men in a dream and shall not be found Job 20. 8. v. then they will not find that made good and realâ—zed when they awake in the morning of the resurrection which they dreamed concerning Temporal good things in this life then their dreamâ— of happiness will be dashed then they will know what they laboured so much for in the world was but an Imaginary no real good and that Eternal good things were the only good things This very consideration should make all men to set an high rate and price upon Eternal good things this should attract their hearts and draw them to labour after them chiefly and above all things whatsoever and to overlook all the greatest and best things of this life as empty and void of what men expect to be in them and that should make the soul Eternally happy O how should the thoughts hereof make Christians labor and take pains for Heaven and the things of Heaven which are really what the Scripture reports them to be 5. Motive Because Eternal good things only are they that will be for a Christians life How glad are many men when they are got into such a way of liveing as will serve them for their whole life if they have gotten but a Service an Office any preferment or what else they know will be for their life Or if they have but made a good Bargain about a Farm or the like that will help them to live comfortably all the time of the life this much contents them and sets their hearts at rest Christians we are all of us made to abide for ever to live in Eternity What are a few years here unto Eternity What are fourty fifty threescore or an hundred years here if compared to Eternity Old Parr lived an hundred and fifty years but what is that to Eternity The old man of Bengala in the East Indies was three hundred thirty and five years old when he came to the Portugals from whom for his miraculous Age he received a yearly stipend but what is that to Eternity Johannes de temporibus lived three hundred sixty and one years but what is that to Eternity Adam lived nine hundred and thirty years Noah lived nine hundred and fifty years Methusalah lived longest of any even nine hundred sixty and nine years he wanted but thirty one years of a thousand but what is the longest life to Eternity what are a thousand years to spend here we must abide for forever our life hereafter will be Eternal Eternal how long is that nay that
thee whom my soul prizeth above 306 the earth and its comforts and above heaven and its glory for my portion Jesus Christ for my Saviour the blessed spirit of Grace for my sanctifier Grace to change me from what I am by nature and Glory with thee in Heaven hereafter that will continue throughout that life which will be 299 Eternal even after a Million of ages 301 and longer then a Million of worlds Inlighten my darkned understanding that I may attain to the true knowledge of Eternity 304 and Eternal good things before my glass be out 305 my Sun set my race run and the dark night of Eternity overtake me Work Lord upon my heart a serious consideration what it is to perish 306 Eternally in Hell and to enjoy a blessedness eternally in Heaven that my labour and care may be to escape the one and to obtain the other O that as I must live hereafter through all Eternity so whilst I live here I might alwayes have Eternity in my thoughts and ever be endeavouring to 307 get assurance of an happy Eternity As my soul trembles to remember the 307 Eternity of pains in the nethermost Hell that region of confusion 309 and storehouse of Eternal fire where poor damned ones must be drenched in Seas of fire and floods of wrath 309 overwhelm them So Lord make me to tremble at sin that will bring all this upon me and enable me to walk in the wayes of holiness which will 309 be followed with happiness and Eternal glory O God whilst I am in the wilderness of this world let me I pray thee have some tasts 310 of those fruits that grow and are to be had in the Land of promise whereby my Soul 312 may be entered into the first degrees of heavenly joyes and may learn what a great difference 311 there is between the bitter sweets of this world and those fruits which grow upon the tree of Life in the Paradise of God and may have my soul effectually drawn and inflamed made unquiet and 314 restless to long for more labour for more 312 and not think my self happy until I have my fill of them until I be 314 filled with the fulness of God and come to swimm 312 in that Sea of Eternal bliss in heaven and those infinite Oceans of pleasure 314 that are at thy right hand for evermore I am convinced that my Soul 315 by which I have my animation shall not be extinguished 416 with my body but that it is seperable from my body and will subâ—ist and have a being in its seperate state survive the grave live longer then time its continuance must be eviternal inexterminable and without end and be clothed with Eternity after it is devested of this earthly case O God help me so to work this consideration of my Souls immortality upon my heart as to make me Labour for that 317 which will make my immortal soul for ever blessed and happy when it shall be unsheathed from my body unclothed from corruption and let loose from this cage of clay About this very thing I confess O God that my former carelesness hath been very great and at the remembrance of which I blush I am ashamed and tremble Had death seperated my soul from my body whilst I was thus careless of my Soul as my body should have been a prey 316 to rottenness worms and corruption my Soul that is endowed with an undying condition might have been in Hell I have yet a little time before me and it may be but a very little for the whole time of all my life is but short 317 and I do perceive my dayes do pass away 322 like a Post glide away strangely every day every hour every minute added to the time of my life proves so much taken from my life and I confess I know not what a day may bring forth 318 or whether I shall 319 enjoy a morrow even this night may 318 death assault me and my Soul be taken from me and before the Sun rise again I may be taken hence Help me therefore to improve my short time about such things as will be 318 of an Eternal advantage O let me not see an end put to my time until I have provided for Eternity Whilst I am in the way 320 to salvation whilst I suck at the breasts of those Ordinances that can feed me to Eternal Life help O Lord to improve present opportunities 322 to get an interest in Jesus Christ to lay hold on Eternal Life and to make sure of a future and everlasting happiness As the Divel 323 delayes no time becausâ— his time is sâ—ort to get me to Hell enable me to delay no time because my time is far shorter to get to Heaven But oh how dull is my heart in labouring for that without which I can neither be happy here nor hereafter help me therefore O Lord by the eye of faith to get a sight of 323 Eternal good things that so my heart may 325 be quickned to labour and take pains for them and long until it be in possession of them Purge out of me I pray thee O God all insincerity and all hypocrisy and make me with all faithfâ—lness 331 and Christian 332 diligence chearfully 336 and with delight earnestly 343 and unwearâ—â—aly 348 to seek those things 347 that are above where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God and alwayes to abound 340 in the work of the Lord forasmuch as I know my labour is not in vain in the Lord and I shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house and thou shalt at last make me drink of the River of thy pleasures These things O Lord and whatsoever else thou knowest needful for the enabling of me thy poor servant to live to thine honour and glory and forwarding the Eternal happiness of my precious Soul I beg for the sake of thy dear Son Jesus Christ my only Mediator and Advocate to whom with thee and the Holy Ghost be honour and glory world without end Amen Mark 11. 24. What things soever ye desire when ye pray beleive that ye receive them and ye shall have them John 16. 23. v. Verily Verily I say unto you whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name he will give it you A TABLE By the Order of Letters Directing to some Chief Things found in the fore-going Treatise A. A Bounding in all things in this life is oft times followed with want in Hell pag. 282 Abundant must the labour for Heaven be p. 340 â—braham how said to see Christ ' s Day p. 327 â—chilles Choyce p. 257 â—dam in innocency set to labour p. 7 â—fflicted ones find that Eternal good things stand them in stead p. 14â— â—fflictions often befal the Saints p. 141 â—lexander sleeps sound Parmenio being on the war p. 311 â—lexander compared by one to a stone 92 Alexander poysoned p. 171 King Alfred how spent the natural Day p. 35 Aelians
Censure of a Chariot made by Myrmeeidas and Chalecrates p. 98 Alphonsus his Saying p. 8 Alphonsus refuseth to give any thing to a Knight that had spent his Estate p. 206 Ancients used means to keep Death in their thoughts p. 145 Andronicus his fall p. 169 Angola Inhabitants prefer a Dog before a Slave p. 223 Antimachus high esteem of his Schollar Plato p. 35 Antigenides a famous Musician his custom before he play'd a Lesson p. 311 Apelles how he came to fall in love with a Woman p. 224 Archimedes the Mathematician slain and why p. 16 Aristotle preferred conjecturall knowledge about Heavenly things before certain knowledge about Earthly things p. 270 Aristotle studied Philosophy in the morning but Eloquence in the afternoon Ibid. Artabazus Cup not so good Gold as Chrysantus Kiss p. 100 Athenians gave the Grashopper for their Badge p. 218 Athens what a kind of City p. 269 Attention required at hearing of the Word p. 21 Aetna ' s sad and ruining eruptions 1669 wasting the Habitations of 27000 Persons with 13 Towns p. 168 B. BAjazet carried in an Iron-cage p. 169 Babtism what it is p. 23 Baptism enters us into the Church p. 23 Baleassar his submission to the Word of God 24 Basil his answer to the threatnings of Modestus p. 23 Bassianus the Emperour strangely degenerated into effeminatness would be called Bassiana p. 223 Beatitudes the first of them belong to the Poor p. 92 Beauford Bishop of Winchester and Chancellor in the Reign of Henry VI. p. 128 â—ee what Men are like to it p. 273 â—eggars are all they who though they possess the greatest of Temporal good things are without Eternal good things p. 277 â—eggars lye under a great judgment p. 278 â—eggars are all they who have nothing laid up in Heaven p. 285 â—eleivers have the promise of two Worlds p. 290 â—elisarius his poor condition p. 169 â—engala where was an old Man of a great age p. 299 â—ernard ' s Esteem of Christ p. 108 â—ernard ' s words of the end of Christ ' s Comming at the last Day p. 155 â—ible presented to Queen Elizabeth p. 19 â—ody but a mean habitation for the Soul p. 149 â—ody made lovely by the Soul p. 202 â—ody of an excellent Structure p. 198 199 â—ooks cared for by Caesar p. 200 â—runo his change of Life and the cause thereof p. 135 â—udaeus high esteem of Plutarchâ— Works p. 18 â—urleigh his high esteem of Tully ' s Offices p. 20 C. Caesars Battle in Affrica with the followers of Pompey p. 53 Caesars Battle with the Swiffes that fought to obtain Gallia out of his hands p. 54 Caesar murthered p. 1â—1 Caesars Care of his Books p. 200 Caesar Borgia upon his Death-bed lamented because he had not taken care for Death before-hand p. 205 Caius Marius how he was wont to choose Souldiers p. 31 Camois relates what devout Personages used to writâ— upon their Chymney-pieces p. 308 Cardinal his choyce p. 257 Cato at evening meditated upon what he read in the day p. 21 Cats why Men compared unto them p. 232 Change is made by Grace p. 98 9â— Charles the Fifth Emperour his Challenge to Franciâ— the First King of France p. 10â— Christ the full of Mans Happiness p. 10â— Christ reckon'd amongst the chief of Eternal good thingâ— p. 10â— Christ makes them good who do enjoy him p. 11â— Christless Men are dead Men p. 111 11â— Christ loved by Saints above all things p. 107 10â— Christ will be a Righteous Judge in the day of Judgement p. 135 Christ hath a two fold Coming p. 15â— Christ will do those who have an Interest in him good anâ— stand them in stead at the day of Judgement p. 15â— Christianity compared to a Race p. 50 Christianity compared to Wrestling Ibid Christianity compared to a Fight p. 5â— Christianity compared to an Agony p. 5â— Christians have many Enemies p. 51 52 Christians find their condition in this Life very mutable p. 177 16â— Christians should be chearful in labouring for Eternal good things p. 337 338 Chrysostomes Censure of Antioch p. 68 Church why called the Congregation of the Poor p. 209 Cicero his Saying wherein we are taught not to be idle p. 246 Cleanthes great labour p. 47 Count Anhalt his Saying concerning the Scriptures p. 18 Colen Ground Where Saint Ursula ' s Virgins are buried retains no other dead Bodies in it p. 45 Commands of God dangerous to be neglected p. 82 Conscience that is good of a great benefit p. 117 Conscience an everlasting Companion p. 118 Conscience doth mind Men of sin in this Life that long after it hath been committed p. 119 â—onscience will bring to mind sins in another Life p. 120 â—onscience that is bad like a Mill Ibid. â—onscience that is good is in a good Man p. 121 â—onscience that is good a consequence of Grace p. 122 â—onscience that is good is a bridle against sin p. 122 â—onscience that is good is a spur unto duty p. 123 â—onscience that is good a comfort under affliction Ibid. â—onscience that is good lives in peace and dyes in pease p. 124 â—onscience when terrified for sin not comforted by Temporal good things p. 826 â—onstantinople had 7000 Houses in it burnt in the year 1633 p. 166 â—ourtier his Saying upon his Death-bed p. 130 â—reatures all of them do desire their center p. 107 â—ickets of the Night who p. 44 â—own worn in Heaven is Eternal p. 181 Crown in Heaven promised to five sorts p. 182 D. DAvid his great desire after God p. 31 Daughters of Danaeus are in Hell condemned to fill a bottomless tub p. 208 Day time is for labour p. 35 Days how Christ in Scripture is said to have many of them p. 326 327 Dazled are the minds and Distracted are the judgments of Men by Temporal things p. 224 Dead Men are all Men without Christ p. 111 112 Death cannot he kept off by Temporal good things p. 128 Death should always be in a Christians thoughts p. 145 Death terrible especially to those who have made no provision for Eternity p. 146 Death by Mundanus an Heathen looked upon to be but a change to a more happy Estate p. 147 Death not feared by Seneca p. 148 Death what it will be to a good Man and what it will be to a wicked Man p. 151 Death what thoughts Saint Basil had of it p. 152 Death makes all Men equal p. 284 Death-bed how terrible to Philip the Third King of Spain p. 129 Death-bed how terrible it was to a Courtier p. 130 Death-bed what thoughts Pelican a German Divine had thereupon p. 133 Death-bed made comfortable to those who have gotten Eternal good things p. 144 Death-bed how Valentinian the Emperour was comfortable thereon p. 152 Death-bed what will comfort any Christian thereon Ibid. Delightful is the labour for Heaven p. 335 Demades his Counsel to the Athenians p. 264 Diligence commanded p. 332 333 Diocletian leaves the Empire because
he could not rout out the Christians p. 207 Diogenes preferred his Cynical Life before Alexanders Royalty p. 223 Dionysius of Syracuse teaches a School at Corinth p. 170 Domitian ' s carelesness a cause of his death p. 318 Dreams how Temporal good things are compared thereunto p. 297 Dye willingly those will who are interessed in Eternal good things p. 75 Dying Men by wealth cannot be freed from the fury of a guilty conscience p. 129 E. EArthly things comprehended under Meat for three Reasons p. 6 Earthly things are but mean things in comparison of Eternal good things Ibid. Early some rise but why p. 248 Edward the Third at death forsaken of all but one Priest p. 128 End of a Christian ' s life what it is p. 72 Enemies there are many unto a Christian p. 51 52 Enemy to a Christian is Sin and that a sore one p. 53 Ephemeris a Beast and why so called p. 318 Ephorus his Saying of his Countrey-men the Cumaeans p. 249 Equal are all Men after death p. 284 Eternal good things comprehended under Meat for two Reasons p. 9 Eternal good things especially are to be laboured for p. 11 12 13 Eternal good things to be laboured for do best agree with our Natures p. 57 Eternal good things greatly laboured for by the Saints p. 63 64. Eternal good things will be possessed but by a few p. 64 65 66 67 68 Eternal good things must of necessity be gained p. 69 Eternal good things make Men willing to dye p. 75 Eternal good things are by God commanded chiefly to be laboured for p. 80 Eternal good things the best of Good things p. 84 Eternal good things the best of Good things proved by two Reasons p. 91 Eternal good things make the possessor of them good Ibid. Eternal God is p. 101 Eternal good things will do a Christian good under afflictions p. 140 Eternal good things will stand a Christian in stead and do him good when he lyes upon a sick or dying bed p. 144 Eternal good things will do a Christian good and stand him in stead at the day of Judgment p. 152 Eternal good things are always desirable p. 188 Eternal good things are satisfying good things p. 193 Eternal good things concern the Soul p. 198 Eternal good things neglected will cause vexation in hell p. 212 Eternal good things not to be gotten without labour p. 229 Eternal good things are not Fancies p. 235 Eternal good things make a Man a Rich man p. 286 Eternal good things are real good things p. 293 Eternal good things are for a Mans life p. 299 Eternity longer than the longest life p. 400 Eternity thought of should make Men provide for Eternity p. 301 Eternity with the very word Eternity a Gentlewoman was much moved p. 307 Eternales certain Hereticks so called p. 318 Evenings Returns to God p. 38 Examples of Saints to be imitated p. 59 60 61 Excellency of a Thing lieth in answering of the end p. 74 Exceter a Duke of that Place begg'd barefooted p. 170 Exhortations to get Eternal good things p. 265 Eye of Faith sees a beauty in Eternal good things p. 22â— F. FAith an enriching Grace p. 289 Faith like a Prospective-glass to the Soul p. 326 Faiths eye sees a beauty in Eternal good things p. 224 225 Fancy of some Men is that the only comfort of this Life doth consist in temporal good things p. 221 Fancy since the Fall what it is Ibid. Fancy often usurpeth upon the Vnderstanding p. 222 Favorinus his excellent Saying concerning the Soul p. 203 Few only have a share in Eternal good things p. 64 65 66 67 68 Fighting of a Battle a Comparison to set forth Christianity by p. 51 Fire hath caused great ruines p. 168 Five parts of the World onely are observed to know CHRIST p. 68 Fools are all they who labour not for Eternal good things Friendship amongst Men mutable p. 156 Fruitfulness in the heart is caused by the Holy Ghost p. 117 G. GErmany in it 26 Villages at once on fire p. 166 Gillimer the King of the Vandals his poor Estate p. 171 Glory the hopes thereof in Heaven is a cordial under sufferings p. 143 Glory in Heaven is Eternal p. 174 309 God onely desired by David p. 31 God Eternal p. 101 God hath in him all perfections Ibid. God in Covenant with any makes their condition happy God hath enough in him to satisfie a Christian p. 196 God to be a God to any is a great portion p. 291. 292 Good are all they who do enjoy Christ p. 110 Good men are men of good consciences p. 121 Good and bad not small and great will be the difference at the day of Judgement p. 133 Gospel giveth a true account of Heaven p. 235 Grace and glory better than gold and silver p. 12 Grace commended p. 96 Grace an Eternal good thing p. 97 Grace and glory how they differ p. 97 Grace cannot be lost p. 97 Grace makes a change p. 97 Grace the best riches p. 98 Grace cleanseth the heart p. 97 Grashoper was the Athenians badge p. 219 Grashoper who like it p. 218. 273 Grave in it no man is richer than another p. 131 Grave in it temporal good things yield no comfort p. 130. 131. Great gifts despised by Luther p. 31 Guise the Duke thereof said to be the richest man in France p. 292 H. HAbitation for the soul in the body but a meer habitation p. 149 Habitation in Heaven is Eternal p. 184 Hannibal disappointed in taking of Rome and why p. 320 Happy men who they are p. 292 Hearing of the word attention is required p. 21 Heart of man by nature is stony p. 115 Heart is made fruitful by the workings of the Holy Ghost p. 117 Heathens minding things of this life p. 10 Heaven a light some glorious and everlasting habitation p. 150 Heaven truly described in the Gospel p. 235 Heaven all that have a knowledge thereof do not labour for it p. 236 Heavenly happiness set forth in some Queries p. 88. 89. 90 Heavenly happiness cannot be conceived p. 90 Heavenly things are the only lasting the everlasting good things p. 264. 173 Heir of the promises one of the greatest titles that belong to a Christian p. 241 Hell full of many knowing heads p. 236 Henry the 4 Emperour in poverty p. 170 Henry the 4 King of France esteemed France equal to the Spaniards many Kingdomes p. 179 Hermet his esteem of a Cat p. 223 Holiness from the Holy Ghost p. 114 Hopes of wicked men for Heaven will be frustrated p. 66. 67. Hopes for Heaven should be grounded upon the word of God p. 240 Hopes for Heaven a Cordial under afflictions p. 143 Hopes for Heaven are but in vain built upon the promises by those who obey not the Commandements p. 242. 243 Hormisda his esteem of Christ p. 108 I. Idleness desired of most men p. 5 Idle persons unprofitable persons p. 5. 8 Idle persons
Periander makes a Law against p. 8 Idle no day was Seneca p. 48 Idle to be Nature never brought forth any p. 246. 247 Idly some Affricans do spend their time p. 8 Jehosaphats but few p. 94 Ignatius his esteem of Christ p. 107 Imaginary good things only are all temporal good things p. 293. 294 Imaginary Heaven was made by a King of Perâ—ia p. 296 Inheritance in heaven is an Eternal inheritance p. 179 Interest in Christ will stand a man in stead at the day of judement p. 152 Johannes de temporibus his age p. 300 Joy to be had in Heaven is Eternal joy p. 176 Judgement day will be terrible to those who never had more then Temporal good things p. 132 Judgement day will put no difference between small and great but between good bad p. 133. 135 Judgement day when it comes Eternal good things then do a Christian good and stand him in stead p. 152 Judgement day to whom it will be terrible p. 158 Judgement day thoughts thereof should keep men from sin p. 161 Juno's Statue p. 118 K. KIngdome of Heaven an everlasting Kingdome p. 180 Kingdome of Israel compared to the Moon p. 181 Kings Raign is but a noble servitude p. 193 Knowledge of Heaven Eternal good things does not alwayes put on men to labour for them p. 236 Knowledge of Heaven the want thereof the cause why men labour not for it p. 237 Knowledge conjectural about heavenly things is to be preferred before certain knowledge aboâ—t earthly things p. 270 L. LAbour required of every Christian p. 4. 5. 7 Labour required of Adam in Paradise whilst innocent p. 7 Labour we must especially chiefly for Eternal good things p. 11. 12. 261. 265. 269 Labour we must for Eternal good things or else they will never be enjoyed p. 56 Labour for Temporal good things is with God's good granted p. 266 Labour for Heaven all will not that do desire Heaven p. 231. 232 Labouring for Eternal good things will bespeak a man to be a wise man p. 272 Lady Jane Grey her answer to Master Ascham p. 294 Lambert Martyr his high esteem of Christ p. 107 Learning a notable saying concerning it by Aeneas-Silvius p. 13 Lepidus an idle person p. 5 Life in Heaven is an Eternal life p. 175 Life of that man is provided for who hath gotten Eternal good things p. 299 Load-stone what man are like unto it p. 219 London about 13000 houses there burnt in the year 1666 p. 166 Longest life nothing to Eternity p. 300 Life Eternal may be said four wayes to be enjoyed in this present life p. 160 Lords Prayer but one Petition in it for Temporal good things and why p. 11 Loyterers a penalty against them p. 5 Luther despiseth great gifts p. 31 Luthers morning piety p. 37 Lyoness her property p. 311 Dysimachus Ioseth his Kingdome for a draught of water p. 72 M. MAn why he was created p. 37 Mandanus an Heathen looked upon death to be a change to a more happy estate p. 147 Manna was food miraculous but not lasting p. 7 Martyrs dyed cheerfully and what comforted them at death p. 75. 152 Mauritius thankful when he heard he should be punished in this world and spared in another though he were to lose Empire Life and all p. 71 Maximian Herculeus leaves his Empire in a rage because he could not root out Christians p. 207 Maevius a noble Centurion of Augustus his resolute answer to Antonius p. 34 Mean men have been highly advanced p. 104 Means used by the antients to keep death in their thoughts p. 145 Meats for the body are of a perishing nature p. 7 Meditation useful after reading or hearing the word p. 21 Melitho how she animated her son p. 349 Money that would never perish only pleased Saint Basil p. 62 Monk a story of such a one p. 331 Mornings to be spent in piety p. 36 Morning piety practised p. 37 Mountains three famous ones in Persia p. 182 Moses his great self denial p. 61 Mursius what he used to write â—pon all his books p. 307 Myrogenes his request p. 305 N. NArcissus fell in Love with himself p. 295 Naturally men do labour for Eternal good things p. 217 Neighbourhood in Heaven good p. 151 Nicostratus a cunning workman how much he admired a curious picture p. 255 Non-communicants reproved p. 26 Night piety required p. 39 Night spent in Prayer by St. Anthony p. 40 Night judgements on wicked men p. 41. 42. 43 Night mercies bestowed upon good men p. 42 Night guard God is to his people p. 43 Night piety practised p. 44. 47 Night how spent by some p. 248 O. OBedience entitles to blessedness p. 84 Opportunity painted with an hairy forehead but bald behind and why p. 321 Opportunity improved Examples of such p. 321. 322 Oracles how given by Proteus p. 27 Ordinances what they are p. 17 Origens choice p. 62 P. PAlestae fields in Greece so called what they were p. 60 Paradise was a most delightful place p. 195. 196. Pareus his opinion of Aristotles Arguments to prove the world to have had no beginning p. 294 Parr his age p. 29 Paul the Apostle especially beloved by the 〈◊〉 ans p. 13 Paulus Aemilius his sacrifices to the gods p. 29 Peace inwardly better then plenty outwardly p. 129 Periander his Law against idle persons p. â—8 Persecution should no way hinder a Christian in his laring for Heaven p. 32 Perseverance required p. 30 Philip the 3 of Spain his saying upon his death-bed p. 129 Philosophy was studied by Aristotle in the morning and Eloquence in the afternoon p. 270 Philpot Martyr how cheerful in the Colehouse p. 44 Pius Quintus saying of himself p. 95 Pleasures in the world compared to Rivers that fall into the Sea p. 213 Poor have the first of the beatitudes belonging to them but amongst the woes the first belongs to the rich p. 92 Poorer in the grave is Alexander then the poorest man in the world p. 131 Popes a ceremony used at the assumption of them p. 307 Prayer should be importunate p. 27. 28. 29 Promises are the surest Pillars to build hopes for Heaven upon p. 240 Promises are a Christians Magna Charta p. 208 Promises of God are all sure p. 208 Prosperous oft-times are the wicked p. 131 Proteus how he gave Oracles p. 27 Proverb one Jewish p. 51 Proverbs two very notable in the prejudice of rich men p. 92 Psalliam and Euchitae but Hereticks though they spent all their time in Prayer p. 27 Pythias piued to death p. 170 R. RAce thereunto Christianity compared p. 50 Real and not imaginary things are all Eternal good things p. 293 Repent none ever will that they laboured for Eternal good things p. 211 Reproof to thâ—se who preferr temporal good things before Eternal good things p. 255 Resolution required in a Christian p. 33. 34. 35 Rich to be what unlawful means some men do use p. 251 Rich that
man is who hath Eternal good things p. 286 Rich a Christian may be inwardly although he be poor inwardly p. 292. 293 Riches of tentimes proves an impediment to piety p. 92. 73. 94. 95. Riches at death will leave a man to the fury of a guilty Conscience p. 129 Righteous Judge will Christ be at the day of Judgement p. 135 Rise early why some so do p. 248 S. SAints departed how to be honoured p. 60 Saints are often afflicted p. 141 Saint Anthony spent the night in Prayer p. 40 Saint Marks treasury at Venice p. 107 Saladine carried nothing but his Winding sheet out of the world with him to the grave p. 131. 286 Satisfaction in God is to be found by any Christian p. p. 196. 197. Satisfie the Soul of man the whole world will not p. 289. 290. Scipio banished idle and unprofitable souldiers from his Camp p. 5. Scipio used every morning to go first to the Capital and then to the Senate p. 36 Scriptures excel all other writings p. 18 Scriptures should be the standard of all our actions p. 59 Seneca no day idle p. 48 Seneca not afraid of death p. 148 Seriousness to be exercised when at any time a Christian is labouring for Eternal good things p 16 Serpent Scycale p. 229 Sight of God and Christ in Heaven most ravishing p. 323. 324 Sin a sore Enemy p. 53 Sin aims at the souls damnation p. 54 Sin hath made man deformed p. 98 Sleep very beneficial p. 39 Sleep why by God it hath sometimes been with-held from men p. 39. 40. 41. Sleep being with-held hath proved well for some men p. 48. Slothfulness reproved p. 262. Sluggish spirits there are that would not willingly labour p. 4. 5. Solomons judgement of these Temporal good things p. 191 Soul of man hath but a mean habitation in the body p. 149 Soul of man concerned in Eternal good things p. 198. Soul of man especially to be provided for p. 199. 200. 201 Soul of man is immediately from God 202. Soul of man most excellent p. 202. 203 Soul of man makes the body lovely p. 202 Souldiers how chosen by Caius Marius p. 31. Spaniards what they say of Aquinas his writings p. 102 Spartan Kings that raigned but a year their practise p. 320. Spiritual sloth grown common p. 231 Starrs and other Caelestial bodies why they seem small to us p. 226 Striving Christianity compared to it p. 50 Store the best p. 58 Snarez what is reported of him p. 270 Supper of the Lord holds out Christ as well as the word p. 23 Supper of the Lord what food is received at it p. 25 Supper of the Lord to it men should come hungring and thirsting p. 25 Supper of the Lord neglects thereof reproved p. 26 Swan why it is dedicated to Apollo p. 303 Sweating sickness in England p. 39 T. TAsts of Heaven how operative p. 310. 311 Temporal and Eternal things deserve serious and holy meditations p. 1 Temporal good things but once petitioned for in the Lords Prayer p. 11 Temporal good things should be subserviant to Eternal good things proved out of the Lords Prayer p. 11 Temporal good things under terrours of Conscience do no good p. 126 Temporal good things at death yield no comfort p. 127 Temporal good things will not keep off death p. 128 Temporal good things yield no comfort in the grave p. 130 Temporal good things will yield no comfort in Hell p. 136 Temporal good things are but perishing good things p. 164 Temporal good things dazel the mind and distract the judgement p. 224 Temporal good things their worth p. 265 Temporal good things may with God's good leave be laboured for p. 266 Temporal good things promised so far as needful p. 267 268 Temporal good things without Eternal will leave a man a beggar p. 277 Temporal good things but imaginary good things p. 293 Thankfulness due to God for the least mercies p. 30. 31 Theodosius how he used to spend the night p. 247 Threatnings not in vain p. 84 â—ime is precious p. 44 â—ime not mispent will be comfortable at death p. 46 â—ime is but short p. 317. 318 â—ytius his punishment in Hell p. 118 â—orments in Hell are Eternal p. 308. 309 â—ully s Offices much esteemed by the Lord Burleigh p. 20 â—urks upbraid Christians p. 76 â—urkish Emperour by Mahomets Law is bound to Exercise some manual Trade or Calling p. 8 V. VAin will not be Labour of Eternal good things p. 206 Valentinian the Emperour what comforted him upon his death-bed p. 152 Verres Deputy of Sicily his much lying in bed p. 274 Vile bodies of the Saints at the day of judgement shall be glorious bodies p. 155 Vexation often accompanieth Temporal good things p. p. 190. 191 Vitellius Emperour both of the East and the West basely used and murthered p. 170 Ubiquitaries complained of by Zanchy p. 253 Undone will all those men be when they come to dye who have nothing layd up in Heaven p. 285 Unwilling are many to take pains for Heaven though they desire to Enjoy Heaven p. 231. 232. 233 Unwearied must a Christians labour be for Heaven p. 348 W. VVAnt feared by many in this world p. 276 Want will many in Hell who do abound in this world p. 282 Wealth will leave thousands at death to the fury of a guilty conscience p. 129 Weep we have reason over neglecters of Eternal good things p. 245. 253 Wicked prone to nourish hopes for Heaven p. 65. 66 Wicked men may enjoy prosperity p. 140 Wine to be Exported was hindred by the old Romans and why p. 314 Winds about Sancto Croix in Affrick by the Portugalâ— called Monzoones 348 Wisemen are they who labour for Eternal good things p. 272 Wisemen who they are that are so accounted in the world p. 276 Woman whose house was burned minds trifles and neglects her child p. 173 World compared to a Kings Court p. 102 World is the greatest price that the Divel hath to give for a Soul p. 227 World like a going fire p. 228 World were of no use if man were not in it p. 266 Worldly things satisfie not the possessor p. 193. 194 289. 290 Wrestling Christianity compared unto it p. 50 Y YOung mans question in Matt. 19. 13. verse answered p. 11 Z. ZAnchy his complaint of the Lutheran Vbiquitaries p. 253 The Printer to the Reader NOtwithstanding the great care to prevent faults in the Printing of the foregoing Treaâ—ise yet the Reader will meet with some though but few that are great yet too many will be found in Literal and Syllabical mistakes as also in Points either misplaced or left out some hereafter follow the which and all others the Candid Reader is desired as he meets them to mend else the sense in some places possibly may not be clear In the Epistle Dedicatory 2 Page 18 line after Love add you 4 p. 14 l. before portion add a. 5 p. 7 l. for unexpected read unsuspected In the Epistle to the Reader 2 p. 11 l. before those r. for In the body of the book 4 p. 19 l. for operami r. operamini 5 p. 27 l. â— sedore r sudore 5 p. 30 l. f. Epicureate r Epiâ—ureal 7 p. 2 l. before rudiments add of the 16 â— 20 l. f. aeternitatem r. aeternitati 18 p. 4 l. for sheave r. sheaf 26 p. 30. l. after need blot out the Comma and f therefore r thereof 28 p. 10 l. for use r. useth 36 p. 3 l. after every add day 56 p 4 l. after those add words 70 p 2 l. f. of storms r. by storms 78 p. 17 l. f. willing r. willingness 87 p. 25 l. before the add of 96 p. 17 l. before consequent add a 105 p. 4 l. af labour add for 105 p. 17 l. f. tenders r. tends 136 p. 26 l. af that r. is 176 p. 33 l. f. glean r. glean 177 p. 12 l. f. ones r. one after does add to 185 p 14 l. af over add other 191 p. 21 l. f. ignomius r. ignominious 192 p. 2 l. before small add no 193 p. 18 l. after in add in the roof 193 p. 2â— l. f. salvation r. salvations 193 p. last l. f. Neroniand r. Nerionianae and f. libidinus r. libidinis 195 p. 11 l. f. ingine r. engine 223 p. 25 l. f. and r. an 234 p. 13 l. before content add and 207 p. 17 l. before not add at 317. p. 5 l. f. cenessit r. senescit 317 p. 6 l. f. be r. bed 334 p. 25 l. before In add 3. 334 p. 33 l. for bandry r. husbandry 344 p. 9 l. f. straight read sleight FINIS