mans braine if it flow not from heaven it is odious to heaven The only way to bring comforts and to intaile a comfortable prosperity upon our Posterity is our conscionable inward obedience to God The services of our love to Gods Children are never thanklesse When wee are dead and rotten they shall live and procure blessings to those that never knew perhaps nor heard of their progenitors If we sow good workes succession shall reape them and wee shall be happy in making them so Doubtlesse that childe is happy whose progenitors are in heaven for he is left an inheritor of blessings together with estate whereas wicked Ancestors lose the thankes of a rich Patrimony by the curse that attends it A Good heart hath learned to frame it selfe unto all conditions and can change his estate without change of disposition rising and falling according to occasion whereas the worldly minde can rise easily but knowes not how to descend either with patience or safety OF all creatures Christians should have least interest in themselves but should live as given to benefit of others not caring much for what they have and nothing for what they have not seeing all worldly things though they require long labour in getting yet affoord but a short pleasure in enjoying them WIcked men that know the filthinesse of their soules dare not so much as view them but shift off all checks of their former iniquity with vaine excuses of good fellowship Whence it is that every small reprehension galls them because it calls the eyes of the soule home to it selfe making them see a glimpse of what they would not Like a foolish and timorous Patient who knowing his wound very deepe cannot endure the Surgeon should search it whereof what can ensue but a festering of the part and a danger of the whole body The old proverbe is true Oft and even reckonings make long friends Many prodigall wasters runne so far in bookes that they cannot abide to heare of a reckoning Happy is he that summes up his estate often with God he shall thereby know what he hath to expect and answer for neither shall his score run on so long that he shall not know his debts or feare an account or despaire of paiment FEw men feare to doe ill every man to suffer ill wherin if we consider right we shall finde that wee feare our best friends for Prosperity usually makes us forget our death Adversity on the other side makes us neglect our life Now if wee measure both of these by their effects forgetfulnesse of death makes us secure neglect of this life makes us carefull of a better So much therefore as neglect of life is better than forgetfulnes of death and watchfulnesse better than security so much more beneficiall should wee esteeme Adversity than Prosperity T Is a base thing to get goods only to keep them wee see that God who is only infinite rich holdeth nothing in his own hands but gives all to his Creatures But if wee wil needs lay up where should wee rather repose it than in Christs Treasury which is the poore mans hand There should all our superfluity bee hoarded up where doubtlesse it shall be safely kept and surely returned us If our money were anothers wee could but keepe it onely expending it shewes it our owne t is better to lay it out well than to keep it safely NO worldly pleasure hath any absolute delight in it but as a Bee having honey in the mouth hath a sting in the taile Why then should wee be so foolish to rest our hearts upon any of them and not rather labour to aspire to that one absolute Good in whom is nothing savouring of griefe nothing wanting to perfect happinesse EVery man acts his part upon this worlds Theatre The good man is a Comedian who however hee begins ever ends merrily but the wicked man acts a Tragedy and therefore alwaies ends in horrour Who sees an Oxe grazing in a fat and rank pasture and thinks not that hee is neere to the slaughter whereas the leane beast that toiles under the yoke is farre enough from the shambles The best wicked man cannot bee so glorious in his first shewes as hee is miserable in the conclusion THat affection which is grounded on the best and most Heavenly vertue must needs be the safest for as it unites man to God so inseparably that no temptations no torments no not all the gates of hell can sever him so it unites one Christian soule to another so firmely that no outward occurrents no imperfections in the party loved can dissolve them Hee that loves not the childe of God for his owne and his Fathers sake more than a friend for his commodity or a kinsman for bloud never received any sparke of true heavenly love IT happens to Christians in their pilgrimage to a better life as it doth to Travellers who meet with many hosts but few friends Good friends are a great happinesse and therefore should not easily bee lost nor must they bee used as suits of apparell which when wee have worne thred-bare wee cast off and call for new Nothing but death or villany should divorce us from an old friend we should still follow him so farre as possibility or honesty can guide us which if he chance to leave we should yet leave him with sorrow THere is no man so pure in whom we may not mislike somewhat and who may not as justly mislike somewhat in us Our friends faults therefore if little should bee swallowed and digested if great they should be smothered at least winked at to others yet lovingly notified to him WHy should we vexe our selves because another hath vexed us Injuries hurt not more in the receiving than in the remembrance A small injury should goe as it comes great ones may dine or sup with us but if they lodge with us we shall finde them very irksome A Friends death as it may moderately grieve us so it may another way much benefit us in recompence of his want for it should make us think more often and seriously of earth and of heaven of earth for his body which is reposed in it of heaven for his soule wch possesseth it before us of earth to put us in minde of our like frailty and mortality of heaven to make us desire and after a sort emulate his happinesse and glory and it is a true saying he which hath himselfe hath lost nothing IT is better not know than by knowledge to bee made miserable he that never tasted the pleasures of sinne longs least after those deceitfull contentments 'T is easier to deny a guest at the first than to turn him out having stayed awhile The senselesse man knowes not what joy hee loseth when he fondly lasheth into new offences While the Conscience is unspotted it can make us smile even on the Rack and in Flames but that once wounded our joyes are buried at once and wee throw a jewell from
Christian is more delighted Thou laughest not at the sight of an heap of thy gold yet thy delight is more than in a jest that shaketh thy spleene As griefe so joy is not lesse when it is least expressed It must needs be a strong and nimble soule that can mount to heaven possessing abundance of earthly things If thou finde wealth too pressing abate of thy load either by having lesse or loving lesse or adde to the strength of thy activity that thou maist yet ascend It is more commendable by how much more hard to climbe up to heaven with a burthen THe meaner sort of men would be too much discontented if they saw how far more pleasant the life of others is and if those of higher ranke could looke downe to the infinite miseries of their inferiours it would make them either miserable in compassion or proud in conceit It is good sometimes for the delicate rich man to looke into the poore mans Cup-board and seeing God in mercy lets him not know their sorrows by experience yet to know it in speculation Which will teach him more thankes to God more mercy to men and more contentment in himselfe I never saw Christian lesse honoured for a wise neglect of himselfe If our dejection proceed from the conscience of our want it is possible wee should be as little esteemed of others as of our selves but if we have true Graces and prize them not at the highest others shall value both them in us and us for them and with usury give us that honour we withheld modestly from our selves I never read of Christian that repented him of too little worldly delight he that takes his full liberty in what he may shall repent him how much more in what hee should not The surest course in all earthly pleasures is to rise with an appetite and to be satisfied with a little That mans end is easie and happy whom death findes with a weake body and a strong soule HErein as much as in any thing the perversnesse of our nature appeares that wee wish death or love life upon wrong causes we would live for pleasure and die for paine Iob for his sores Elias for his persecution Ionas for his Gourd would presently die and outface God that it was better for him to die than to live Wherein we are like to garrison souldiers that while they live within safe walls and shew themselves once a day rather for ceremony and pompe than need and danger like warfare well enough but being once called forth to the field they hang the head and wish themselves at home THe shipwrack of a good Conscience is the casting away of all other excellencies It is no rare thing to note the soule of a wilfull sinner stripped of all her Graces and by degrees exposed to open shame for since he hath cast away the best it is just with God to take away the worst and to cast off them in lesser regards which have rejected him in greater THe tongue will hardly leave that to which the heart is inured if we would have good motions to visit us in sicknesse we must send for them familiarly in health for such as a mans delights and cares are in health such are both his thoughts and speeches commonly on his death-bed And no marvell though the worldling often escapes earthly punishments God corrects him not because hee loves him not he will not doe him the favour to whip him The world afflicts him not because it loves him for each one is indulgent to his owne God uses not the rod where he meanes to use the sword the Pillory or scourge is for those Malefactors which shal escape execution LAughing is proper to Man alone amongst all living creatures though indeed he ought ever to be weeping because he ever sins and the beasts might rather laugh to see man so much abuse his most excellent part his reason Doubtlesse if man knew before he came into the world what should be his portion in the world he would feare his first day more than his last wherefore we ought to moderate our affections and in imitation of our great Lord and Saviour who was a man of sorrows we should not be altogether composed of mirth SEldome hath any man got either wealth or learning with ease and the greatest good is most difficult in obtaining he must not thinke to get Christ that takes no paines for him If men can endure such cutting such lancing and searing of their bodies only to protract a miserable life for a short time how much should we care what we doe or what we suffer so wee may win Christ No paine should bee refused for the gaining of Eternity MVch ostentation and much learning seldome meet together The Sun rising and declining makes long shadows but being at the highest makes none at all Skill when it is too much shewne loseth the grace as fresh coloured wares that are often opened lose their brightnesse and are soiled with much handling It is better to applaud our selves for having much of that we shew not than that others should applaud us for shewing more than we have The conscience of our owne worth should cheare us more in their contempt than their approbation comfort us against the secret check of our knowne unworthinesse Every man hath an heaven and a hell Earth is the wicked mans heaven his hell is to come contrarily the godly have their hell upon earth where usually they are vexed with many afflictions and temptations by Sathan and his complices their heaven is above in endlesse happinesse Though they sow in teares they shall reape in joy though their seed time be commonly waterish and lowring and their spring wet they shall bee sure of a cleare and joyfull harvest It is no marvell if the wicked have peace in themselves being as sure as temptation can make them Princes wage not warre with their owne subjects The The godly are still enemies and must therefore looke to be assaulted both by stratagems and violence Wherefore nothing should more joy us than our inward unquietnesse A just war is far more happy than an ill conditioned peace EVery good prayer knocketh at heaven for a blessing but an importunate prayer pierceth it though as hard as brasse and makes way for it selfe into the eares of the Almighty And as it ascends lightly up carried with the wings of faith so it ever comes laden downe againe upon our heads In prayer our thoughts should not be guided by our words but our words by our thoughts Good prayers never came weeping home and by fervent prayer we are sure to receive either what we aske or what we should aske VErtuous actions are a mans best monument Foolish is the hope of Immortality and future praise by the cost of sencelesse stone when the Passenger shall only say here lies a faire stone and a filthy Carkasse That only can report us rich but for other praises our selves must build
untold are yet undone Than to say nothing there is not a lesse labour The Fig-tree whose fruit is most sweet bloomes not at all whereas the Sallow that hath glorious Palmes is continually found barren We should first be so wise as to be our owne counsellors and next so secret as to be our owne counsell-keepers IT falls out oft in this world that Gods people are like Israel at the Red Sea invironed with dangers on all sides and are then like poore Hagar who when the bottle of water was spent fell a crying when there was a Fountaine close by but her teares hindred her from seeing it When things goe ill with us in our Trades and Callings and all is spent then our spirits droope and wee are at our wits end as if God were not where hee was God will never forsake them that are his his eyes are open to look upon their condition his eares are open to their prayers a Booke of Remembrance is written of all their good desires speeches and actions hee hath Bottles for all their teares their very sighes are not hid from him he hath written them upon the palmes of his hand and cannot but continually looke upon them TRue Religion consists in the outward dutie and the inward man joyned together What the heart doth not in Religion is not done an emptie title will bring an emptie comfort at the last it was cold comfort to the rich man in flames that Abraham called him Sonne or to Iudas that Christ called him Friend God cares for no retainers that will onely weare his Liverie but serve themselves THe price of the Pearle is not knowne till all else be sold and we see the necessarie use of it and the worth of God in Christ is never discerned till we see our lost and undone condition without him till Conscience flyes in our faces and drags us to the brinke of Hell then if ever we taste how good the Lord is and will say Blessed are the people whose God is the Lord IF Christians regenerate truly knew the power they have in Heaven and Earth nothing would discourage them neither were any thing able to stand against them It is no wonder that Faith should overcome the world if it overcome Him that made the world God is content to be out-wrestled and over-power'd by a spirit of Faith as in Iacob and the woman of Canaan Where unbeleefe is it bindes up Gods power but where Faith is there it is betweene the soule and God as betwixt Iron and the Loadstone a present closing and drawing of one to the other IF we be carefull to preserve communion with God wee shall be sure to finde in him whatsoever wee denie for him Honour Riches Pleasures Friends all so much the sweeter by how much we have them more immediately from the Spring-head Wee shall never finde God to be our God more than when for making of Him to be so we suffer any thing for his sake IF God should bestow his mercies upon us unasked wee would forget them and his hand would not be acknowledged in them What blessings wee win by prayer wee weare with thankfulnesse and those wee get without prayer wee commonly spend and use without any lifting up of the heart to God in praysing him for the same All Gods Treasures are locked up to such as doe not call upon his Name Prayer opens the doore to them all and is effectuall to furnish us with those wee have occasion to use I Have seene some as happie as the world could make them but never any more discontented for at the best they were but as a good day betweene two Agues or a Sunne-shine betweene two tempests It is no great happinesse to have lost mirth and found wealth in which case all wee can boast of is at once to have ceast to be merry and poore When Satan tempts us to any evill with All these will I give thee wee should repulse him with Saint Peters answer Thy Silver and thy Gold perish with thee MAny had beene greater had they cared to be better It is just to be crost in what we would when we will not what we ought Those that honour me I will honour It is an high favour to have grace to honour God but because men honour God as a dutie that therefore God should honour men is to give because he hath given It is a favour of God that Man is honoured of Man like himselfe but that God allowes of our endeavours as honour to himselfe is a greater favour than that wherewith he requites it FLatterie and Trecherie is but one Vice though drest in two sundry Sutes of Evill Trecherie aimes at the bloud Flatterie at the vertues of Princes That takes them from others This bereaves them of themselves That in spight of the actors doth but change a Crowne This steales it from them forever So that it had beene better for some great ones not to have beene than to have beene in their owne conceits more than men GOds charges are oft times harsh in the beginnings and proceedings but in the conclusion alwayes comfortable True spirituall comforts are commonly late and sudden God deferres on purpose that our tryals may be perfect our deliverance welcome our recompence glorious Isaac had never beene so precious to his father had he not beene recovered from death Abraham had never beene so blessed in his Seed had hee not neglected Isaac for God The onely way to finde comfort in earthly things is to surrender them with a faithfull carefulnesse into the hands of God I would not doe that wilfully which Iacob did weakely on condition of a Blessing He that pardoned his infirmitie would curse my obstinatenesse I love his Blessing but I hate his Lye BLesse me also my Father saith Esau Every miscreant can wish himselfe well no man would be miserable if it were enough to desire happinesse He should have wept rather to his Brother for the Pottage than to Isaac for a Blessing if hee had not sold hee had not needed now to buy It is just with God to denie us those favours which we were carelesse in keeping and which we undervalued in enjoying IAcob wrestled and wrencht his thigh It is a favour to halt from God yet this favour is seconded with a greater hee is blessed because hee would rather halt than leave ere hee was blessed That man may goe away sound but miserable that loves a Limbe more than a Blessing Surely if Iacob had not wrestled with God he had beene foiled with Evils A Christian is a Man of another World and here from home which hee would forget if he were not exercised here and would take his passage for his Countrey But though all Christians agree and meet in this That through many afflictions wee must enter into Heaven yet according to the diversitie of place parts and grace there is a different Cup measured to every one SAtan is all for casting down hee
we should commit our cause to the God of vengeance not meddle with his prerogative he will revenge better than we can and more perhaps than we desire The wronged side is the safer side If in stead of meditating revenge we can so overcome our selves as to pray for our enemies and deserve wel of them we shal both sweeten our owne spirits and prevent a sharp temptation which wee are prone unto and have an undoubted argument that we are sons of that Father that doth good to his enemies and Members of that Saviour that prayed for his persecutors and withall by heaping coles upon our Enemies heads wee shall melt them either to conversion or confusion WEe are not disquieted when wee put off our clothes and go to bed because we trust Gods ordinary Providence to raise us up again And why should wee be disquieted when we put off our bodies and sleep our last sleep considering we are more sure to rise out of our graves than out of our beds Nay we are raised up already in Christ our Head who is the Resurrection and the life in whom we may triumph over death that triumpheth over the greatest Monarchs as a disarmed and conquered Enemy THat which belongs to us in our calling is care of discarging our duty that which God takes upon him is assistance and good successe in it Let us do our work and leave God to do his owne Diligence and trust in him is onely ours the rest of the burthen is his He stands upon his credit so much that it shall appeare wee have not trusted him in vaine even when we see no apparance of doing any good Peter fished all night catcht nothing yet upon Christs word casting in his net again he caught so many Fish as brake it COvetousnesse when men wil be richer than God wil have them troubles all it troubles the house the whole family and the house within us our pretious soule which should be a quiet house for Gods Spirit to dwell in whose Seat is a quiet Spirit If men would follow Christs method and seeke first the Kingdome of Heaven doubtlesse all other things should be cast upon them GOd is neerest to us in troubles when our enemies on earth conclude our utter overthrow God is in Heaven concluding our glorious deliverance Vsually after the lowest Ebbe followes the highest Spring-tide Christ stands upon Mount Sion and will worke our raising by that very meanes by which our enemies seeke to ruine us There is no condition so ill but there is Balme in Gilead Comfort in the God of Israel The depths of miserie are never beyond the depths of mercy Naturall men from the common light of Nature discovering there is a God will in extremities run unto him and God as the Author of Nature will sometimes heare them as he doth the young Ravens that cry unto him But comfortably and with assurance those onely have a familiar recourse unto him that have a sanctified sutable disposition unto God as being well acquainted with Him It is an excellent ground of sincerity to desire the favour of God not so much out of self-aimes as that God may have the more free and full praise from us considering the soul is never more fit for that blessed duty than when it is in a cheerfull plight IF we seriously think of what is our Duty God will surely thinke of what shall bee for our Comfort we shall feel God answering what we look for from Him in doing what he expects from us Can we have so meane thoughts of Him that wee should intend his glory and he not much more intend our good Yet many doe grossely mistake in taking Gods curse for a blessing To thrive in an ill way is a spirituall iudgement extremely hardening the heart There can neither be grace nor wisdome in setling upon a course wherein we can neither pray to God for successe in nor blesse God when he gives it WHen we are at the lowest yet it is a mercy that we are not consumed wee are never so ill but it might be worse with us whatsoever is lesse than Hell is undeserved and it is a matter praise worthy to God that we yet have time and opportunitie to get into a blessed Condition THe Apostle thought it the first duty in affliction to pray Is any afflicted let him pray Is any joyfull let him sing Psalmes Praising of God is then most comely though never out of season when God seems to call for it by renewing the sence of his mercies in some fresh favours toward us If a Bird will sing in Winter much more in the Spring If the heart be prepared in the winter time of Adversitie to praise God how ready will it be when it is warmed with the glorious sun-shine of his Favour OVr life is nothing but as it were a Webbe woven with interminglings of wants and favours crosses and blessings standings and failings combat and victory therefore there should be a perpetuall intercourse course of praying and praising in our hearts We should often apply these generalls of Holy-writ to our selves to stir up our hearts to praise God He will never leave nor forsake us he will be with us in fire and water the issue of all things shall be for our good we shall reap the quiet fruit of righteousnesse and no good thing will he withhold from them that live a godly life If wee had a spirit of Faith to apply such like generall promises wee should see much of Gods goodnesse in particular toward us God promiseth the forgivenesse of sin and yet thou findest the burthen thereof daily upon thee Neuerthelesse cheere up thy selfe when the Morning is darkest then comes day after a weary weeke comes a Sabbath and after a fight victory will appeare wee must endure the working of Gods Physicke when the sick humor is carried away and purged then we shall enioy desired health PRaising of God may well be called Incense because as it is sweet in it selfe and sweet to God so it sweetens all that comes from us Wee cannot love and joy in God but he wil delight in us when we neglect the praising of God wee lose both the comforts of his Love and our owne too Our praising God should not bee as sparkes out of a flint but as water out of a Spring natural ready free as Gods Love to us as Mercy pleaseth him so should praises please us For unthankfulnesse is a sin detestable both to God and man and the lesse punishment it receives from humane lawes the more it is punished inwardly by secret shame and outwardly by publicke hatred if once it prove notorious THe living God is a living Fountaine never drawne dry he hath never don so much for us but he can and will doe more If there be no end of our praises there shall be no end of his goodnes by this means we are sure never to bee very miserable how can he be dejected
that by a sweet communion with God sets himselfe in heaven nay maketh his heart a kind of heaven a Temple a Holy of Holies wherein Incense is offered unto God A thankfull heart to God for his Blessings is the greatest Blessing of all But were it not for a few gratious Soules what Honour should God have of the rest of the unthankfull world which should stir us up the more to be Trumpets of Gods Praises in the midst of his Enemies because this in some sort hath a Prerogative above our praising him in Heaven for there God hath no Enemies to dishonor him GOd is Salvation it self and nothing but Salvation and though our sins for a time may stop the current of His Mercy yet it being above all our sins will soone scatter that cloud remove that stop and then wee shall see and feele nothing but salvation from the Lord all his wayes are Mercy and Peace to a repentant Soule that casts it selfe upon him We should not therefore so much looke what destruction the Devill and his threaten as what salvation God promiseth Canot he that hath vouchsafed an issue in Christ from eternall death vouchsafe an issue from all temporall evills He that brought us into trouble can easily make a way out of it when he pleaseth this should be a ground of resolute and absolute obedience even in our greatest extremities considering God will either deliver us from death or by death and at length out of death CAinish hypocrites hang downe their heads when God lifts up the countenance of their brethren when the countenance of Gods children cleers up then their enemies hearts and looks are cloudy Ierusalems joy is Babylons sorrow It is with the Church and Her enemies as it is with a ballance the scales whereof when one is up the other is downe The reason why wicked men gnash their teeth at the sight of Gods gratious dealing is that they take the rise of Gods children to be a presage of their ruine Which lesson Hamans wife had learned SAlvation is Gods own work humbling and casting down is his strange Worke whereby he comes to his owne worke For when he intends to save he wil seem to destroy first whom he will revive he will kill first Grace and Goodnesse countenanced by God have a native in-bred majesty in them which maketh the face to shine and borroweth not his lustre from without which God at length will have to appeare in its own likenesse howsoever malice may cast a vaile thereon and disguise it for a time WHat comfort was it for Adam when hee was shut out of Paradise to looke upon it after he had lost it the more excellencies are in God the more our grief if we have not our part in them the very life-bloud of the Gospell lies in a speciall application of particular mercy to our selves without which we can neither entertain the Love of God nor returne Love againe whereby we lose all the comfort God intends us in his Word which of purpose was written for our solace and refreshment PRetend not thy unworthinesse and unabilitie to keep thee off from God for this is the way to keep thee so still God bids us draw neer to Him and Hee will draw neere to us Whilst we in Gods own wayes draw neere to Him and labour to entertaine good thoughts of Him He will delight to shew himselfe fauourable unto us whilest we are striving against an unbeleeving heart Hee will come in and helpe us and so fresh light will come in God alone must help us and if ever Hee helpe us it must be by casting our selves upon him for then he will reach out himselfe unto us in the promise of mercy to pardon our sin and in the promise of Grace to sanctifie our Natures SPirituall Comforts in distresse such as the world can neither give nor take away shew that God lookes upon the soules of his with another eye than he beholdeth others He sends a secret Messenger that reports his peculiar Love to their hearts He knowes their soules and feeds them with his hidden Manna the inward peace they feele is not in freedome from trouble but in freenesse with God in the midst of trouble SEchem had not sinned if Dinah had not tempted him Immodestie of behaviour makes way to Lust and gives life unto wicked hopes Lust commonly ends in loathing But Sechem would salve up his sinne with an honest satisfaction but actions ill begun are hardly salved up with late satisfaction wheras good entrances give strength to the proceedings and successe to the end Dinahs brethren pretend Religion we cannot give our sister in mariage to an uncircumcised man here God is in the mouth and Satan in the heart A smiling malice is most deadly and hatred doth most ranckle the heart when it is kept in and dissembled Iacobs sonnes think of nothing but revenge and which is worst begin their crueltie with craft and end their craft with Religion Bloudiest projects have ever wont to be thus coloured for the worse any thing is the better shew it desires to make and contrarily the better colour is set upon vice the more odious it makes it for as every simulation addes to an evill so the best addes most evill Indeed filthinesse should not have bin wrought in Israel nor should murther have been wrought by Israel Cursed be their wrath for it was fierce and their rage for it was cruell To punish above the offence is no lesse injustice than to offend and to execute rigor upon a submisse offendor is more mercilesse than just The idle curiositie of Dinah bred all this mischief what great evills arise from small beginnings Ravishment followes her wandring upon her ravishment murther and upon the murtner spoile It is holy and safe to be jealous of the first occasions of evill either done or suffered IF Thamar had not put off her widowes apparell Iudah had not taken her for a whore Immodestie of outward fashion or gesture bewraies evill desires the heart that means well will never wish to seem ill for commonly we affect to shew better than we are and it is no trusting of those which wish not to appeare good Thamars belly swells and Iudahs heart swells with rage Let her be burnt How easie is it to detest those sinnes in others which wee flatter in our selves Even in the best men nature is partiall in it selfe it is good to sentence others frailties with the remembrance of our owne Iudah no sooner sees the signals but confesseth his shame She is more righteous than I. God will find a time to bring his children upon their knees and to wring from them penitent Confessions and rather than he will not make them soundly ashamed he will make them Trumpets of their owne reproach There is nothing more thankelesse or dangerous than to stand in the way of a resolute sinner that which doth correct and oblige the Penitent makes the wilfull mind furious and
troubles When therefore thy Conscience like a sterne Sergeant shall catch thee by the throat and arrest thee upon Gods debt let thy only plea bee that thou hast alreadie paid it Bring forth that bloudy acquittance sealed unto thee from Heaven by Faith in Christ and streight way thou shalt see the fierce and terrible looke of thy Conscience changed into friendly smiles and that rough and violent hand that was ready to drag thee to prison shall now lovingly embrace thee and fight for thee against all the wrongfull attempts of any Spirituall Adversarie But the time wil come when the carelesse sinner shall bee plunged in woes and shall therefore desperately sorrow because he sorrowed not sooner for sin He may feast away his Cares for a while and bury them with himself in wine and sleep but after all these frivolous evasions they will returne again nor will they be repelled but increased hereby Sin owes him a spight and perhaps will pay him when hee is in worse case to sustaine it Namely up his Death-bed which shall prove very grievous unto him for his many wilfull adjournings of Repentance HE said wel who when some skilfull Astrologer upon calculation of his Nativitie had foretold him some specialties concerning his future estate answered Such perhaps I was borne but since that time I have been born again and my second Nativitie hath crossed my first The Power of Nature is a good Plea for those that acknowledge nothing above Nature but for a Christian to excuse his intemperatenesse by his naturall inclination and to say I am borne cholericke sullen Amorous c. is an Apologie worse than the fault For wherefore serves Religion but to subdue or governe Nature We are so much Christians as wee can rule our selves the rest is but forme and speculation THere is no difference but continuance betwixt Anger and Madnesse for raging Anger is a short Madnesse else what argues the shaking of the hands and lips the palenesse rednesse or swelling of the face glaring of the eies stammering of the Tongue stamping with the Feet unsteadie motions of the whole Body wilde distracted Speeches and rash Actions which we remember not to have done Doubtlesse a milde Madnes is more tolerable than frequent and furious Anger OVr Cowardlinesse and unpreparednesse is Deaths chiefest advantage wheras true boldnesse in confronting him dismayes and weakens his forces Happy is the Soule that can send out the Scouts of his thoughts before-hand to discover the power of Death a far off then can resolutely incounter him at unawares upon advantage such a one lives securely and dies with Comfort Death argues not Gods displeasure Abel whom God loved best dies first when the Murtherer Cain is punished with living COntentation is a rare Blessing because it either arises from a fruition of all comforts or a not desiring of some wee have not We are never so bare as not to have some benefits never so ful as not to want somthing yea as not to bee full of wants God hath much adoe with us either we lacke health or quietnesse or Children or wealth or company or our selves in all these Nature is moderate in her desires but Conceit is insatiable Who cannot pray for his daily bread when hee hath it in his Cup-bourd but when our owne provision failes then not to distrust God is a noble triall of Faith All grudging is odious but most when our hands are full To whine in the midst of abundance is a shamefull unthankfulnesse it is a base cowardise so soon as ever we are called from the garrison to the field to think of running away then is Fortune worthy of Prayse when wee can endure to be miserable O God I have made an ill use of thy mercies if I have not learned to be content with thy corrections NO benefit can stop the mouth of impatience if our turne be not served for the present former favours are either forgotten or contemned No marvell wee deale so with men when God receives this measure from us One Moone of ill weather makes us over-looke all the blessings of God and more to mutine at our sence of evill than to praise him for our variety of good It is an unfound praise that is given a man for one good action Many distrust God in their necessity that are ready to follow his guidance in their welfare if wee follow God and murmure it is all one as if wee staid behinde We can think him absent in our wants yet cannot see him absent in our sinnes It is wickednesse not affliction that argues him gone for he is most present when he most chastises And the sorrow of repentance comes never out of season all times are alike unto that Eternity where to we make our spirituall moanes that which is past and that which is future are both present with him It is neither weake nor uncomely for an old man to weep for the sins of his youth Such teares can never bee shed either too soon or too late THere is scarse a vicious man who name is not rotten before his Carcasse Contrarily a good mans name is often heire to his life either borne after the death of the Parent Envy not suffering it to come forth before or perhaps so well growne up in his life time that the hope thereof is the staffe of his age and the joy of his death The name of the wicked may be feared a while but is soone forgotten or cursed The good mans either sleepes with his body in peace or wakes as his soule in glory Vertue is not propagated Children naturally possesse only as bodily diseases so the vices of their Parents The grain is sowne pure yet comes up with chaffe and huske Hast thou a good son he is Gods not thine Is he evill nothing but his sinne is thine Help by thy prayers and endeavours to take away that which thou hast given him and to obtaine of God that which perhaps thou hast and canst not give else maist thou name him a possession but finde him a losse SPirituall gifts are so chained together that who excels in one hath alwaies some eminency in more Faith is attended with a Bevy of Graces he that beleeves cannot but have hope if hope patience he that beleeves and hopes must needs have joy in God if joy love of God hee that loves God cannot but love his brother his love to God breeds piety and care to please sorrow for offending feare to offend Vertues goe ever in troopes and that so thicke that sometimes some are hid in the crowd which yet are but appeare not IT is a rare evill that hath not something to sweeten it either in sence or in hope otherwise men would grow desperate mutinous envious of others weary of themselves The better the thing is wherein we place our comfort the happier we live and the more we love good things the better they are to us The worldling laughs more but the