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death_n	darkness_n	light_n	shadow_n	7,372	5	9.4624	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61120	Kaina kai palaia Things new and old, or, A store-house of similies, sentences, allegories, apophthegms, adagies, apologues, divine, morall, politicall, &c. : with their severall applications / collected and observed from the writings and sayings of the learned in all ages to this present by John Spencer ...	Spencer, John, d. 1680.; Fuller, Thomas, (1608-1661)	1658 (1658)	Wing S4960; ESTC R16985	1,028,106	735

Hedghogs are all time-servers they do all things for the time but nothing for the truth they believe for a time as long as the warm Sun shines on them but as soon as any storm of persecution ariseth by and by they have a starting hole to hide themselves in they turn faces about and change their Religion with the Time God doth not onely deliver but also comfort his Children THe Eagle doth sometimes carry her young ones onely from a dangerous to a safer nest sometimes she rouseth them out of their floath and directs them where they may find their prey Even so dealeth God with his children he freeth them from danger and bringeth them to comfort He did not onely bear the Israelites on the Eagles wings of protection which shewed a deliverance from evill but he brought them to himself wh●ch shewed a bestowing of good How a man is said to pray continually THough in the old Law the Priest did not continually offer sacrifices unto the Lord yet fire was continually burning upon the Altar and never went out So though we do not continually offer to God the calves of our lips yet the fire of devotion and spirituall fervency must continually be burning in our hearts and never go out And this is the true meaning of the Apostles exhortation Pray continually not pray continually with the tongue as though that should never lie still but pray continually meaning with that part which doth indeed never lie still except we be still and that 's the Heart A bad reformation of a Church is the deformation of the Church IT was the complaint of the Emperour Adrian when he lay a dying Many Physitians have destroyed the Emperour meaning that their contrary conceits and different directions had hastned his death and cut him off before his time Just thus there are many censurers and correctors of our not sick but sound Religion approved by the sacred Scriptures and attended by the blood of many faithful Martyrs There are so many Reformers and Rectifiers of all ages sexes and degrees of all professions and trades that take upon them to order our Church according to the crooked line of their own severall imaginations that they have almost reduced all things in it into a Chaos and confusion and so spoyled and defaced one of the most compleat Churches for Doctrine and Discipline decency and order now extant in the Christian world Carnall pleasure to be changed into Spirituall pleasure IT is reported of one Leonides a Captain who perceiving his Souldiers left their Watch upon the City-walls and did nothing all the day-long but quaff and tipple in Ale-houses near adjoyning commanded that the Ale-houses should be removed from that place where they stood and be set up close by the Walls that seeing the souldiers would never keep out of them at the least they might watch as well as drink in them So because we itch after delight and pleasure we must needs have and we cannot be kept from it God hath appointed that we should take delight enough and yet serve him never a whit the lesse For it is no part of Gods meaning when we enter into his sweet service that we should be debarred of all delight but onely that we should change the cause of our delight delight of the service of sin into a delight in the service of God Isaac must not be sacrificed but the Ram all rammish and rank delight of the world not Isaac i. e. all spirituall laughter all ghostly joyes all heavenly delight and pleasure The manifestation of God in severall respects THe Sun doth manifest it self first by day-light and that is common to all which dwell in the same Horison unto which the Sun is risen some have more than day-light they have also the Sun-shining light which shining light of the Sun is not in all places where day-light of it is Finally the Sun is manifest in the Heavens in his full strength for the body is present there which none can endure but the Stars which become glorious bodies by that speciall pr●sence of the Sun amongst them In like manner God in whom all things live and move and have their being doth manifest himself unto some by the works of his generall providence of which St. Paul speaks God le●t not himself without witnesse c. This manifestation of God is like the day-light it is common to all it is an universall grace The eyes of all things look up unto thee c. There is a second manifestation and that is more particular but to some onely it is like the Sunshine it is that manifestation which God vouchsafeth to his Church of which Esay speaketh Arise shine for thy light is come c. for in comparison of the Church the rest of the World sitteth in darknesse and in the shadow of death The third and last manifestation is that which God maketh of himself in Heaven to the Angels and Saints the clearest and fullest whereof a creature is capable and those which partake this presence of God become thereby glorious Saints more glorious than the Stars which receive their resplendent lustre from the aspect which they have to the Sun's body so that it seemes there are those who are in better case than we are and there are those who are in worse and therefore we must thank God for our present advancement and remember that we make forward unto that nearnesse unto which God is reserved for us in the Heavens The seven Sacraments of the Papists not of divine Institution WHen Christ feasted that great multitude with five loaves and two fishes it is observed that the five loaves were of the Baker's making and the two fishes of God's making The Papists stiffly maintain seven Sacraments in their Church viz. Baptism the Eucharist Matrimony Orders Penance Confirmation and extream U●ction But most sure it is that the two first onely are of God's making in the other five appears the knavery of the Baker they are of the Pope's making and not of God's Christian Liberty abused by the Sectarian party CAmbyses demanding of his Counsellours Whether he might not marry his sister by the Law of the Land They answered That they found no Law that allowed a brother to marry his sister but one that permitted the King of the Persians to do as he list Thus our proud peevish sectarian Libertines impatient of Government a rebellious and obstinate people cannot in all the Scripture find any sound or seeming proof for their foul rebellions against lawfull Authority neither can their fals prophets their chief counsellours find out any such places for them but therefore they use in a wrong sense so to enlarge and amplifie the great benefit of our Christian liberty the which indeed is a freedom from all hellish slavish fear but not from a holy and son-like fear a freedom from

doing of it now and now and to morrow and to morrow Now these lit●le distances deceive us and delude us we think to do it i● a short ●im● and by reason of the neernesse and vicinity of the time we think we shall do it easily that we can take hold of that time But it is not so we are served just as Grashoppers and Butterflies deceive children when they think to lay their ●and upon them they hop a little further and a little further that at last they take them not at all And thus do we cozen our selves we lose our life we lose our op●ortu●ity of grace thinking that we may take it when we please Sathan's endeavour to hinder the hearing of God's Word MArk the Iaylors they often suffer their Prisoners to have their hands and feet free neither are they in any fear that they will make an escape so long as the prison-doors are sure lock'd and fast bar'd Thus dealeth Sathan with those men that he holdeth in his captivity he letteth them sometimes have their hands at liberty to reach out an almes to the poor and sometimes their feet at liberty to go to Church to hear the Word preached but he will be sure to keep their ears which are the gates and doors of their soul so fast made up that they shall hear nothing to their comfort and if they do it shall be to little purpose The Minister's Authority should be as much looked on as his sufficiency TWo things are considerable in a Minister his sufficiency and his authority the people listen much to his sufficiency but take little heed to his authority and therefore come they to Church rather to judge than to be judged forgetting that many may be as skilfull but none can be so powerfull in binding and loosing as is the Minister A Judge or a Justice of Peace may have lesse Law in him than a private man but he hath much more power and they that appear before him regard his acts according to h●s power So should it be in the Church But men fear the Magistrates that are under earthly Kings because the pains which they inflict are corporall our hands our feet ●eel their manacles and fetters And did but our souls as truly feel as indeed they should the Pastor's binding and loosing of them we would make more account of those offices than we do And it were good we did so for they so bind as that they can loose again but if we neglect them when our Lord and Master commeth he will command all contemners so to be bound hand and foot that they shall never be loosed again Self-praises condemned CAto the elder had that commendations given him by consent which none in his time was thought fit to deserve except it were one to be Optimus Orator optimus Senator optimus Imperator A most singular Orator a most singular Statesman and a most singular Generall And yet this so singular a man was so much given to boast himself that his veriest friends were ashamed of him And there was Tully too a man so excellently qualified that none but a Tully that is one admirably eloquent was sufficient to speak his worth and yet that is not unremembred by them who were willing to conceal a blemish in him that his speech which flowed from him as sweet as the hony he made to taste as bitter as wormwood many times by the interlacing of his own praises But these were such as saw God onely by the dim light of Nature therefore the more excusable What then shall become of them that know their Masters will such as by the Sun-shine of the Gospell cannot but discern that He who is the greatest ought to account himself as the least that It is not for the wiseman to glory in his wisdome nor the strong man to glory in his strength nor the rich man to glory in his riches but for him that gloryeth to glory in this that he understandeth and knoweth God who is the giver of all things yet do expiscari famam are never in the right kue till Mountebank-like they are exposing themselves in their own worth upon every stage Surely such a wise man will prove a ●ool such a strong man will turn his back such a rich man will scratch a beggar by the head when God shall call for an account of their stewardship and to reckon with them for what they have received Complaint of the want of Faith is an argument of true Faith THere is mention made of a melancholly person who was so strongly possessed that he complained he had no head nor could be otherwise perswaded than by that course which Philotimus a learned Physitian took with him when he caused to be made a cap of lead very weighty and heavy and the same to be put upon his head that feeling the weight thereof upon his head he might be perswaded he had a head Thus it is with weak Christians their complaint of the want of Faith is an argument of the being of their faith wherein like this Melancholic● they think they want that which indeed they have And the same cure would do well with them that was fitted for him lay upon them no other burthen but the weight of their own burthen the burthen of holy sorrow and griefe and doubtfull despair for their wanting of faith as themselves do deem which is so weighty as they are like to sink under it yet that being laid upon the head of their faith they may be asked whether they feel any such weight and are pressed under the heavy burden of the same which if they be let them never doubt more but that they have faith and their faith hath both head and heart too that hath life in it which moveth the sense and causeth that feeling and worketh that holy griefe and sorrow so to complain the whole soul being quickned thereby throughout and all the graces of God's Spirit that are therein Conversion of Heathens to be endeavoured THere lies a great guilt upon Christian states and this amongst the rest that they have not been carefull to bring them that sit in darknesse and in the shadow of death to the knowledge of Iesus Christ. Much travailing there is to the Indias East and West but wherefore Some go to possesse themselves of the lands of the Infidells but most for commerce and by commerce to grow richer by their goods But where is the Prince or State that pittieth their souls and without any worldly respect endeavours the gaining of them unto God Some shew there is that way but a very poor one it is but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an accessory to our worldly desire 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is not it is not our primary intention whereas Christ's method is primùm quaerite c. If the Apostles and Apostolick men had affected our salvation no more we might

he re●●ored all the gains of his injustice made the poor partakers of his riches abandoned all worldlinesse and vvas recovered both in soul and body to the Lord. As this man hath many follovvers in his base avarice so it vvere to be vvished of God that he had some in his gracious repentance Little do gripulous fathers think that vvhat vvas forty years a gathering should be spent in a few daies revelling And so it comes to passe as by daily experience may be seen that vvhen men are over carefull to provide for their ovvn by taking avvay another mans vix gaudet tertius haeres He that buies a Patrimony for his child vvith the losse of his own soul hath but a dear purchase a very hard bargain To be zealous in the cause of God MEmorable is that christian resolution of Martin Luther that he vvould enter into the City of Worms in the Name of the Lord Iesus though there vvere as many devills as tiles to cover the houses And that of Calvin Ne decem quidem maria c. That it vvould not grieve him to sail over ten seas about an uniform draught for Religion And the blessed Apostle vvas not onely ready to be bound but to die also for the Name of the Lord Iesus And thus must ever good Christian do be zealous in the cause of God contend for the truth of his Word spare no cost leave no stone unmoved Ubi de Religione ibi quoque de vita agitur holding even their very lives to hold upon Religion serving God vvith all their might and as is commanded ready to run through fire and vvater for their holy profession Christ to be received into our hearts by Faith IN the Gospels history we find that Christ had a four-fold entertainment amongst the sons of men some received him into house not into heart as Simon the Pharisee who gave him no kisse nor water to his feet some into heart but not into house as the gracelesse swinish Gergesites some both into house and heart as Lazarus Mary Martha And thus let every good Christian do endeavour that Christ may dwell in their hearts by faith that their bodies may be fit Temples of his holy Spirit that now in this life whilst Christ stands at the door of their hearts knocking for admission they would lift up the latch of their souls and let him in For if ever they expect to enter into the gates of the City of God hereafter they must open their hearts the gates of their own City to him here in this world Sermon not done till practised IT is reported of a good man that comming from a publick Lecture and being asked by one whether the Sermon were ended made this answer fetching a deep sigh Ah! it is said but not done And to speak truth the Sermon cannot be said to be done till it be practised But herein the Lord be mercifull to most of us we are apt to think that when a Sacrament day is over all the Sacrament duties are over too when the discourse from the Pulpit is finished the Sermon is finished as if when the Ordinance were at an end there were an end of the Ordinance and of us with the Ordinance also Christ the poor mans Object as well as the rich mans A Low man if his eye be clear may look as high though not so far as the tallest the least Pigmee may from the lowest valley see the Sun or Stars as fully as a Gyant upon the highest Mountain He that stands by may see as far into the milstone as he that picks it Christ is now in Heaven it is not the smalnesse of our person nor the meannesse of our condition can let us from beholding him the soul hath no stature neither is Heaven to be had with reaching If God be but pleased to clear the eyes of our faith we shall be high enough to behold him Ministers to be encouraged and protected against the plots of wicked men and why so PHilip of Macedon besieging Athens sent Legates to the City conditioning with them that if they would deliver into his hands ten of their Oratours such as he should choose whom he pretended to be the disturbers of the Common weal he would raise his siege and be at peace with them But Demosthenes smelt out his plot and with the consent of the Athenians returned him this apologeticall answer The Woolvs came to treat of a league with the Shepheards and told them thus All the feud and discord betwixt you and us ariseth from a certain generation of Doggs which you maintain against us deliver up those dogs and we will be good friends with you The dogs were delivered up the Peace was concluded the shepheards as they thought secure But oh the wofull massacre that was presently made amongst the poor Lambs they were all devoured the shepheards undone and all by parting with their dogs Thus if the Popish or the Peevish party could but once get the Ministers of the Gospell to hold their peace or procure them to be muzzled by Authority or to be delivered over to their woolvish cruelty vvo vvere it to the souls of the poor people errour vvould then play Rex darknesse triumph hell make play-day truth vvould languish and all goodnesse fall flat to the earth As little as they are novv regarded men vvould then misse them and wish for them and be glad to protect them if they had them Meditations of Death the benefit thereof PEter Waldo a rich Merchant of Lyons in France being invited to a great supper where one of the company fell suddainly dead at the table he was so taken with the sight that he forsook his Calling and fell to study the Scripture trading for the Pearl of the Gospell whereby he became an excellent Preacher and the first founder of those antient Christians called Waldenses Such is the benefit that commeth by the meditation of death Let but a man behold the bones of the dead and make a Christian use thereof he must needs fall into a patheticall meditation within himself as thus Behold these legs that have made so many journeys this head which is the receptacle of wisdom and remembereth many things must shortly be as this bare skull and drie bones are I will therefore betimes bid worldly things adieu betake my self to repentance and newnesse of life and spend the rest of my daies in the service of my God and thoughts of my dissolution Away then with that sad and too too usuall expression I thought as a little of it as of my dying day Let Otho think them cowards that think on death but let all good men think and meditate on death what it is unto all men by nature what unto good men what unto bad and great will be the comfort arising thereupon Men to be helpfull one to

Patient it may be impatient of anguish and pain cryes out to have it removed No sayes the Surgeon it must stay there till it have eaten to the quick and effected that throughly for which it is applyed commanding those that are about him to see that nothing be stirred till he come again to him In the mean time the Patient being much pained counts every minute an hour till the Surgeon come back again and if he stay long thinketh that he hath forgotten him or that he is taken up with other Patients and will not return in any reasonable time When as it may be he is all the while but in the next room to him attending the hour-glasse purposely set up till the Plais●er have had its full operation Thus in the self-fame manner doth God deal oft-times with his dearest Children as David and S. Paul The one was instant more then once or twice to be rid of that evil and the other cryes out as fast Take away the plague from me for I am even consumed c. but God makes both of them to stay his time He saw in them as in all others much dead flesh much corrupt matter behind that was as yet to be eaten out of their Souls he will have the Crosse to have its full work upon us not to come out of the fire as we went in not to come off the fire as foul and as full of scum as we were first set on Resurrection of the Just asserted TRees and other Vegetables in the Winter time appear to the eyes and view of all men as if they were withered and quite dead yet when the Spring time comes they become alive again and as before do bring forth their buds blos●oms leaves and fruit the Reason is because the body grain and arms of the Tree are all joyned and fastned to the root where the sap and moisture lies all the Winter time and from thence by reason of so ●ear conjunction it is derived in the Spring-time to all the parts of the Tree Even so the bodies of Men have their Winter also and that is in Death in which time they are turned into dust and so remain for a time dead and rotten yet in the Spring-time that is in the last day at the Resurrection of all Flesh then by means of the mysticall Union with Christ his divine and quickning Virtue shall stream and flow from thence to all the bodies of his Elect and chosen Members and cause them to live again and that to life eternall The inestimable valew of Christ Jesus CHarles Duke of Burgundy being slain in battell by the Swissers at Nantz Anno 1476. had a Iewel of very great valew which being found about him was sold by a Souldier to a Priest for a Crown in money the Priest sold it for two Crowns Afterwards it was sold for seven hundred Florens then for Twelve thousand Duckets and last of all for twenty thousand Duckets and set into the Popes triple Crown where it is to be seen at this day But Christ Iesus is a commodity of far more value better then Rubies saith Solomon and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to him He is that Pearl of price which the Merchant purchased with all that ever he had No Man can buy such gold too dear Ioseph then a pretious Iewell of the World was far more pretious had the Ishmaelitish Merchants known so much then all the Balms and Myrrhes that they transported and so is Christ as all will yield that know him To depend upon Gods bare Word THe Earth that we tread on though it be a massie dull heavy body yet it hangeth in the midst of the ayr inviron'd by the Heavens and keepeth its place steady and never stirreth an inch from it having no props or shores to uphold it no beams or barrs to fasten it nothing to stay or establish it but the Word of God In like manner must we learn to depend upon the bare Word of God And when all other ayds and comforts have taken their leaves of us then to rest and relye upon God himself and his infallible unfailable Word of promise not on the outward pledges and pawns of his Providence nor on the ordinary effects and fruits of his favour so shall we see light even in the midst of darknesse and be able to discern the sweet Sun-shine of his blessed countenance through the thickest clouds of his fiercest Wrath and displeasure The day of Death better then the day of life PLato maketh mention of Agamedes and Trophonius who after they had builded the Temple of Apollo Delphicus they begged of God that he would grant to them that which would be most beneficiall for them who after this suit made went to bed and there slept their last being both found dead the next Morning Whereupon it was concluded That it was better to die then to live Whilest I call things past to mind said that incomparable Q. Elizabeth I behold things present and whilest I expect things to come I hold them happiest that go hence soonest And most true it is that Death being aeterni Natalis the birth-day of Eternity as Seneca at unawares calls it And if Death like unto the gathering Hoast of Dan come last into the Field to gather the lost and forlorn hope of this World that they may be found in a better needs must then be the day of Death better then the day of life Therefore as a witty Man closed up a paper of Verses concerning Worldly calamities and naturall vexation● What then remains but that we still should cry Not to be born or being born to dye Men to be prepared for Crosses Afflictions Troubles c. IN or about the year 1626 A book formerly printed and entituled A prepara●●on to the Crosse of Christ composed by Iohn Frith Martyr was brought to the M●rket in Cambridge in the belly of a Fish and that a little before the Commencement time when by reason of the confluence of much People notice might be given to all places of the Land which as a late Reverend Divine observed could in his apprehension be construed for no lesse then an Heavenly warning and to have this voice with it England prepare for the Crosse A great work of God it was to be sure and a fair warning to us of this Nation before the sad dayes of trouble came had but Men made good use of it but surdo narratur No Man prepar'd for the Crosse since which time here hath been enough of the Crosse Crosse-doing and Crosse-dealing one with another and much ado hath been about pulling down and defacing material Crosses such as in themselves were but Civill not Religious marks as that Princely Iob defin'd them when they should rather have been busied in pulling down the old Man out of their hearts and so made way for

body by course of Nature but still unborn by strength of Love The Father saith Son thou art ever with me but the Mother saith Son thou art ever within me such and so great is the power of Motherly love and affection To have a perfect Knowledg of God impossible WE read in the Prophet Esay of the S●raphins standing about the Throne of the Lord and that each of them had six wings that with twain the Cherub covered the face of God with twain his feet and with twain he did fly intimating as one well noteth on the p●ace that with twayn they covered his face the face of God not their own face with two wings they covered his feet not their own feet They covered his face his beginning being unknown they covered his feet his end being incomprehensible onely the middle are to be seen the things which are whereby there may be some glimmering knowledg made out What God is Thus as the Wiseman hath it That which is a●ar off and exceeding deep Who can find it out Who can find out What God is The knowledg of him à priori is so far off that he whose arm is able to break even a bow of steel is not able to reach it so far off that he who is able to make his nest with the Eagle is not able to fly unto it And so exceeding deep that he who could follow the Leviathan could not faddom it that he who could set out the center of the Earth is not able to find it out And who then is able to reach it In a word so far of● and so deep too that the depth saith It is not in me And the Sea saith It is not with me deep to Men and Angels as exceeding the capacity of both Insomuch that S. Augustine saith making out the question What God is gives this answer Certè hic est de quo et quum dicitur non potest dici c. Surely such a one is he who when he is spoken of cannot be spoken of who when he is considered cannot be considered of who when he is compared to any thing cannot be compared and when he is defined groweth greater by defining of him Parents to be carefull in the Instruction of their Children THough Solomon was dear and tender in the eyes of his Parents yet they did not cocker him up but taught him what he should do and what he should not do God knew that Abraham would teach his Children Alexander's Father provides Aristotle to be his Tutor And Theodosius finds out Arsenius to be his Son's School-master Thus it is that good and careful Parents have from time to time been careful to have their Children well instructed ever whetting the Law upon their hearts and seasoning their tender years with Religious Principles O! but there is a love in too too many Parents a doating love which teacheth nothing and there is a government in Parents which looseneth all the reins and suffereth to riot and excesse And there is a pity in Parents a Foolish pity which pardoneth all and punisheth nothing till God come with the sword of his Judgment as he did to the Sons of Eli and kill where the Parents leave uncorrected A strange love to kill their Children with too much kindnesse But good carefull Parents truly love their Children and to prove that love they teach them as thinking them much bet●er unborn then untaught Fervency in Prayer the prevalency thereof IT is observed of S. Augustine That coming as a Visitant to the house of a sick Man he saw the room full of Friends and Kindred who were all silent yet all Weeping the Wife sobbing the Children sighing the Kinsfolks lamenting all mourning The good Father sodainly uttered this short ejaculatory Prayer Domine quas preces exaudis si non has Lord What Prayers dost thou hear if not these And certainly It is the fervent effectuall Prayer that availeth much It is Zeal that puts the heart into a good temper and apts it for motion which cannot be without an heat it feathers the wings of Prayer and makes it fly swift into Heaven Well may Prayer be the weapon with which we fight and struggle with God but Zeal is that which sets an edge upon devotion and makes it prevalent hence are those usual Phrases of crying wrestling and striving with God all which argue an holy importunity and sacred violence unto Heaven How Christ is said to be the end of the Ceremonial Law THe Earth bringeth forth fruit of it self but first the blade then the ear af●er that the full corn on the ear So did the blade or hearb spring out of the Law of Nature the ear or culm in the Law written but we have in the Gospell the pure grain or full corn which is Christ Iesus Therefore as the stalk or ear are of necessary use till the corn be ripe but the corn being ripe we no longer use the chaffe with it So till Christ was exhibited in the Flesh which lay hidden in the blade and spike of the Law the Ceremonies had their use but since that by his death and passion this pure wheat is threshed and wi●nowed and by his Ascension laid up in the garner of Heaven they are of no further use The Jews were taught by those shadows that the body should come and we know by the same shadows that the body is come The Arrow moveth whilst it flyes at the mark but having hit the mark resteth in it So the Law which did level and shoot at Christ with so many moveable signs and Sacraments doth as one may say cease from her motion of practising them any more having attained to her full end in Christ Jesus Carnal Unregenerate Men unserviceable both in Church and State IT is the fashion of some vain-glorious Braggadochia-Courtiers that when they go down into the Countrey they do nothing but talk of what Friends they have in Court what power they have with the Lord Protector the Council of State the Lords Commissioners c. filling their mouthes with the names of greatnesse and eminency whereas indeed they have neither command nor the least of power to do any good where they most pretend it Such are all Carnal unregenerate Men let their pretences be never so specious and their discourses never so Heavenly they have no interest with God no encouragement to appear before him no knowledg or acquaintance in the Court of Heaven and therefore no confidence to be helpfull or serviceable to the place or Common-weal wherein they live The Knowledg of God through Faith in Christ the way to true Happinesse THere is a dangerous Harbour in our Seas as Marriners say at whose mouth is the Goodwin out of which the Pilot cannot make forth but he must strike upon the sands unlesse he so steer his Ship that he bring two steepls which stand at a distance

as do but plunge them further and deeper into such a Labyrinth of evils out of which they seldome or never get out again The great benefit of timely accompting with God A Merchant or Tradesman that at leisure times casteth up and ballanceth his Accompts and brings all to one entire summe is at any time ready if on a sodain he be called to a Reckoning though he have not time or leisure then amidst many distractions otherwise to run over Accompts or to cast up the particulars yet to tell how things stand with him it requires no more then the bare reading he needs not stand to recount it being sure it was well and truly cast up before So he that hath before-time truly examined his own estate and made up the Accompt betwixt God and his own Soul may thereby know how it standeth with him in regard of God by calling to mind onely the issue of his former Examination when by reason of disturbance and distraction through the violence of Temptation he shall have small liberty and lesse lei●ure to take any exact tryall or proof of it at the present Ignorance especially in the wayes of God reproved SOcrates being asked What was the most beautiful Creature in the world He answered A Man deck'd and garnished with Learning And Diogenes being demanded What burthen the Earth did bear most heavy replyed An ignorant and illiterate Man Now if these Philosophers did thus judge of the excellency of Knowledge and vilenesse of Ignorance How should Christians blush for very shame that having lived so long in the School of Christ trod so often upon the threshold of Gods Sanctuary and sate so many years under the droppings of Gospel-dispensations they should yet be found ignorant of Christ and of the wayes to everlasting happinesse All the Creatures subservient to the good Will and Pleasure of God IT is reported of the River Nilus that it makes the Land barren if in ordinary places it either flow under fifteen cubits or above seventeen And therefore that Prester-Iohn through whose Country it runneth and in which it ariseth from the Hills called The Mountains of the Moon can at his pleasure drown a gre●t part of Egypt by letting out into the River certain vast Ponds and Sluces the receptacles of the melted snow from the Mountains Which that he may not do The Turks who are now the Lords of Egypt pay a great tribute unto him as the Princes of that Land have done time out of mind which tribute when the great Turk denyed to pay till by experience he found this to be true he was afterwards forced with a greater summe of Money to renew his peace with that Governour of the Abussines and to continue his ancient pay The truth of this Relation may be questionable but this we are all bound to believe That the great Emperour of Heaven and Earth who sits above us can at his pleasure make our Land and all the Regions of the Earth fruitful or barren by restraining or letting loose the influences of his blessings from above At his Command the winds blow and again are husht the Ayr pours down rain or sends Mildews upon the Earth and it rests in his power to make our Land barren if we continue disobedient or to fructifie it more and more if we repent He hath dams and ponds yea an Ocean of Judgments in store which he can when it seems him good let down upon us to make both the Land fruitlesse and the Soul it self accursed that rebelleth Not onely Fire or hail or lightning or Thunder or Vapours or Snow or stormy winds blasting or Mildews but even whole Volleys or Volumes of Curses more then can be numbred are prest to do his Will to af●lict and vex them that grieve his holy Spirit by their sins and daily pr●vocations Heaven a place of Holinesse IT was a good Inscription which a bad Man set upon the door of his house Per me nihil intret malt Let no evil passe through me Whereupon said Diogenes Quomodo ingredietur Dominus How then shall the Master get into his own house A pertinent and ready answer How it agrees with our Mansions upon Earth let every Man look to that But most sure it is that no unclean thing can enter into Heaven whatsoever is there is holy the Angels holy the Saints holy the Patriarks holy the Confessors Martyrs all holy but the Lord himself most holy and blessed to whom all of them as it were in a divine Antheme sing and say Holy Holy Holy Lord God Almighty Heaven and Earth are full of the Majesty of the glory God a sure fast Friend IT is usuall with Men to make towards a Sun-dyall whilest onely the Sun shineth And with Women to make much of Flowers and to put them in their bosomes whil●st they are gr●en and flourishing but when once withered they cast them upon the dunghill But the Almighty deals not so with his Friends yea when their danger is greatest his help is nearest And though oft-times the case is so desperate that Friends society can onely afford pity not succour they may look on they cannot take off but the presence of God is ever active and powerfull And whereas most Faithful Friends part at death this Friend will not leave us David knew he would be with him in the shadow of death and S. Paul assureth us that neither death nor life shall separate his love not onely when we walk through the pleasant meadow of Prosperity but when we go through the salt-waters of A●●liction nay when we passe Mare mortuum the Sea of death he will be with us It is the deriding question which the Saints enemies put to them in the time of Affliction Ubi Deus Where is now their God but they may return a confident answer Hic Deus Our God is here nigh unto us round about us in the midst of us It was his promise to Ioshua then and is since repeated by S. Paul as belonging to all the Faithful I will never leave thee nor forsake thee To rely upon Gods blessing notwithstanding all opposition WHen an Alderman of London was given to understand by a Courtier that the King in his displeasure against the City threatned thence to divert both Term and Parliament to Oxford he asked Whether he would turn thither the channel of the Thames or no if not said he by the grace of God we shall do well enough Thus when either Envy of meaner Men repi●eth or the Anger of greater persons rageth against our lawful thriving we shall do well to remember That there is a River which shall make glad the City of God a current I mean of Gods blessings which whilest he vouchsafeth to our honest labours and legal Callings no malice of Man or Devill shall be able to stop or avert For whilest this blessed River of God keeps its

welfare of the Soul to be preferred before any Worldly enjoyments whatsoeuer THere is a story of one Marinus a Souldier who having hopes of preferment to some place being a Christian it was suggested unto him that he must first forsake his Religion before he should be invested in his place It was so strong a temptation to him that he began to stagger betwixt his Preferment and his Christianity but by the good providence of God there cometh one Theodistus unto him brings him into the Temple and layeth by a him a Sword and the Gospel the Sword being the ensign of his place and preferment Now saith he whether had you rather have the Gospel or the Sword and dealt so seriously with him that it pleased God to overcome him so that he chose the Gospel and let the Sword go forsook all Worldly pomp that so he might save his Soul and preferred the welfare there of before any Earthly enjoyments whatsoever And it is heartily wished that there were many at this day to be found in the midst of us raised up to the pitch of such an Heroick resolution that whatsoever the competition be whether place preferment Office c. they would lay the Bible by it and seriously consider that if ever they mind the saving of their Souls they must let go their hopes and possessions and deny themselves in them rather then let go their share in the Gospel of Christ Iesus whereby they have a firm title for the eternal happinesse of their immortal Souls Silence when and how comendable IT is said of the Ambassadors of the King of Persia that coming to Athens the then Metropolis of learning in the time of the seaven Wisemen they desired that every one would deliver in his sentence that they might report unto their Master the wisedome of Greece which accordingly was done onely one of them was silent which the Ambassadors observing entreated him also to cast in his symbole with the rest Tell your Prince quoth he there are of the Graecians that can hold their peace and certainly there is a time though an evill one when a Prudent Man is to hold his peace that is when speaking will do no good nor can he be wise that speaks much nor he known for a Fool that says nothing It is a great misery to be a Fool but it is yet a greater that a Man cannot be a Fool but the must needs shew it Some there have been which have scorned the opinion of Folly in themselves yet for a speech wherein they have hoped to shew most wit have been censured of extream folly by one that hath thought himself wiser and another hearing his sentence again hath condemned him for want of wit in censuring Surely then he is not a Fool that hath unwise thoughts but he that utters them Even concealed Folly is wisedome and sometimes Wisedome uttered is Folly therefore while others care how to speak let every Mans care be how to hold his peace No pains to be thought too much for the getting of Heaven IT is almost incredible to believe how they that travell in long pilgrimages to the Holy Land What a number of weary paces they measure What a number of hard lodgings and known dangers they passe and at last when they come to the view of their journies end what a large tribute they pay at the Pisan Castle to the Turks And when they are come thither what see they but the bare Sepulchre wherein their Saviour lay and the Earth that he trod upon to the encrease of their carnall devotion O but then what labour should every Christian willingly undertake in his journey to the true Land of Promise the celestial Ierusalem where he shall both see and enjoy his Saviour himself What tribute of pain or death should he refuse to pay for his entrance not into his Sepulchre but his Palace of glory and that not barely to look upon it but really to possesse it Why it is that God affords some glimps of Heaven even in this life THe Iewish Rabbies report how truly is uncertain that when Ioseph in the times of plenty had gathered much corn in Egypt he threw the chaff into the River Nilus that so flowing to the neighbour Cities and Nations more remote they might know what abundance was laid up not for themselves alone but for others also So God in his abundant goodnesse to make us know what glory there is in Heaven hath thrown some husks to us here in this World that so tasting the sweetnesse thereof we might aspire to his bounty that is above and draw out this conclusion to the great comfort of our most pretious Souls that if a little earthly glory do so much amaze us What will the Heavenly do If there be such glory in Gods foot-stool what is there in his Throne If he give us so much in the land of our Pilgrimage What will he not give us in our own Country If so much to his Enemies What not to his Friends Comfort nearest when Afflictions are at the highest IT may seem a strange course in the eye of common reason which Christ took at the Marriage Feast in Cana of Galilee the guests wanted wine he bids them fetch Water cold comfort when Wine was expected to call for water yet for all that Wine was then nearest when the Water-pots were filled with water even to the brim So oftentimes comfort is then nearest us when our Afflictions are at the highest God works by contraries as light out of darknesse at the Creation life out of death glory out of shame as in the Redemption the blind Mans sight out of clay and spittle yea Heaven out of Hell for when he brings his children into Heaven he throws them first down into Hell first humbles them and then exalis them It is not then for any one to be discouraged though Christ pour never so much water on them for look what their water is that shall their wine be what their crosses such their comforts Psalm 90. 15. The comfortlesse Hypocrite AS a Man can have very small comfort to be thought by the World to be rich because he hath a shop full of wares and driveth a great trade when in the mean time he knows poor Man that he is worse then nothing and oweth much more then he is worth or because he maketh a counterfeit shew of rich wares when as he hath nothing but empty boxes with false Inscriptions or but pieces of wood and brickbars made up in paper instead of silks or other costly wares So is it with all those that seem to be Religious that make a goodly shew of Godlinesse yet in the mean time are very Bankrupts in Grace and like one of Solomons Fools that boast themselves of great Riches when they are indeed exceeding poor but cui bono Why do they so what get they