us in modestie to submit to Him and thinke that our best which God thinkes so Seneca an heathen but a Philosopher could say hee was better borne than to be a slave to his body and they are no better that are continuall factors for it Every man layes up for a hard winter and a Rainie-day I will lay up for that day which I am sure will come and am not suer how soone it will come The bare desiring of earthly things is not unlawfull Hee who first taught us to pray allow'd us this in Give us this day our daily Bread 't is the excesse either in using or in caring for them makes them ill to us that are not so in them selves I will so desire these as I may bee the better for enjoying them and so imploy them as I may have little to account for them Why should I abound to my cost Teares are a second Bâ—â—â—â—sme of the soule 〈◊〉 it is rinced anew as the sinnes of the old worlde so of this little world neede a deluge There is but one sorrow never to be repented of the sorrow of repentance only these teares goe into Gods bottle and thus blessed are they that mourne Others eyes are Sermons unto mine when I see a Peter weeping for his denyall it puts mee in minde of mine why should I weepe for the losse of my friends 〈…〉 my health or of 〈◊〉 state and not of my soule There are two kindes of teares of joy and of griefe and two causes of these kindes Heaven and our Sinnes the one of affection the other of remorse the one for what we have done the other for what we would have these two shall vie teares in mine eyes to be forgiven and to be dissolved This World is a stage the play is a tragi-comedy of the life and death of man every man playes his part and exit and it may be he that hath liv'd a begger would not exchange with the KING when he comes to dye for then he is rewarded not according to what he hath beene but what hee hath done I wil not greatly care what part I play but to doe it well Home is home be it never so homely sayes the Proverbe Men goe forth to labour and come home to take their ease this world is our worke-house and Heaven is our home why am I loth to goe to my rest This world is the valley of teares and we may sooner want them than cause to shed them I will bee content to sow in teares that I may reape in joy I reade of Augustus when ever hee heard of any that dyed suddenly hee wish'd him and his friends the like happinesse he shall not choose for me Let him and his brother-heathens pray for their fooles paradise Our Church hath learn'd us a better Language From sudden Death good Lord deliver us I ever thought it not a little blessing to dye by degrees In this case the farthest way about is the nearest way home Mee thinkes it is but th' other day I came into the world and anon I am leaving it How time runs away and we meet with Death alway e're wee have time to thinke our selves alive One doth but breake-fast here another dine hee that lives longest doth but suppe We must all goe to bed in another World I will so live every day as if I should live no more 't is more than I know if I shall All goe to the same home but all goe not the same way one falls by the hand of a brother another by the fall of a house c. Againe all goe to the same home but all goe not the same pace one dyes in his cradle another on his crutches to some their life is a prey to others a burthen Iob and Ionah are weary of living and Lot and Hezekiah would live longer as for the way I shall ever pray God that I may take my last sleepe in a whole skinne but for the pace Come LORD IESVS come quickly Death was given for punishment of sinne but is the end of it when we lost Paradise we met with this and againe when we part with this wee meet our Paradise they that know whither they are going cannot but wish themselves gone and say with our Saviour but in another sense Arise let us goe hence Through how many dyings doe wee come to our Death And how many deaths may wee come to Infinite are our waies out of this life that have but one way into it Our life is compos'd of nothing but deaths for that wee may live other creatures die again our child-hood dyes and is forgotten when we are growne up Our youth dyes when wee are men Our man-hood dies when we are aged at last Our age dyes and all dyes and wee dye with it every day dyes at night now if my life consist of dayes what doe I else but dye daily Favour is a thing to esteeme but not to build on hee that stands upon others leggs knowes not how soone they may faile him Greatnesse is not eternall I will never leane so hard upon any man that if he breake he shall give me a fall The things of this world are in a manner but apparitions not so indeed all our Pompe is but like the strowing of Boughes before our Saviour taken up againe straite our provision here is like that of the Gibeonites apt to moulder open to the theefe and the moath to be corrupted and stole wee have waters but like those of Marah bitter we have riches but we have crosses sweete meate but sowre sauce they make a fair shew but they last not I may say of them what my Saviour did of Israel their goodnesse is but as a cloude c. I will use this world but I will bee in love with that better onely why should I delight to be miserable This world is a region of Ghosts or of dying men if not dead our life is but one continued sicknesse and we are ever in a comsumption wasting wee now accompany those to the grave whom shortly wee must keepe company with in the Grave Every man must have his turne and GOD knowes whose turne is next it may bee thine it may bee mine and mine before thine GOD knowes thou hast more yeares it may be and therefore as thou thinkest some strides before I am no lesse subject to diseases and therefore no whit behinde these threaten no lesse to mee than age doth to others Every ache every stitch tolles the bell in mine eares for some have dyed of these but every strong sicknesse digs the grave and sayes service over mee and cries Dust to dust c. Since there is a time to dye and I know not the time I will provide for it at all times Blessed is that servant whom when the Master comes he shall finde watching No man thinkes hee shall live ever yet most men thinke they shall not dye yet otherwise they would dye better
are going to hell and after forty or fifty yeares living know not what belongs to dying more than with Ezekiah to turne their face to the wall and weepe when it comes The way to dye willingly is to conne death before hand he that hath spent his life in providing for his death is not troubled at his death how to be provided of a better life My care shall be not how I may not dye but how I may live ever Prosperitie is a great enemy to goodnesse how hardly doe those which have riches enter into the Kingdome of Heaven I heare Israel praying in Aegypt quarreling in the wildernesse When they were at their bricke-kills they would be at their devotion and no sooner are they at ease but they are wrangling for their flesh-pots I think many a man had not been so bad if he had but been poore It is the saying of a wise Father that Salomons wealth did him more hurt than his wisdom did him good Trouble and want do that many times which faire meanes cannot wealth like knowledge puffes up when poverty as their infirmities did many in the Gospell make men flock to CHRIST I will never pray more heartily to God for His blessings than for grace to use them nor to lessen my miseries but to add to my strength Though my afflictions be many or often so my strength be equall I shall get by them the stronger my tryall the greater will be both my victorie and my reward The way to live ever is to live well there is no way to everlasting life but a good life it is not living at ease or at randome or at rack and manger in pompe and plentie mirth and jollity and with Saul think to drive away the divell with musike God cares not how rich or how powerful thou art but how good We should so live as wee may have joy of our life and bee made partaker of those joyes and that life which are for ever There are many dead men and manie deaths there is a death in sinne and a death for sinne and a death to sinne the two first we may thanke our selves for if wee had not knowne sinne we had not known death but the last we must thanke God for it is from Him that wee dye to sinne that have deserv'd to dye for it who Himselfe dyed for us and hath taken our sins upon Him and at once delivered us from the sting of death and the strength of sinne And thankes be to God who hath given us this victorie through our Lord IESVS CHRIST We are in this world as Israel in the wildernes and Christ is to us as Moses was to them if He leave us wee know not which way to turne us nature cannot carrie us to God Here all our sufficiencie is from Him and we say well in our praier for thine is the power and the glorie and it is by that power that wee come to that glorie our strength is but borrowed our standing but leaning upon His arme our going but leading in His hand It is with us as it was with S. Paul upon the way wee must be led we must be carried to God we must pray turne us O Lord unto thee and wee shall be turned Of our selves wee are unable to goe yet drawe us and wee shall runne after thee so shall wee come to thee with thee that are rather images that have feete and walke not without thee It is betweene some sinners and God as betweene some men their creditors all their care is how to be trusted not how to pay My first care shall be as little as I can to come in Gods debt and my next care how to come out of it Our goodnesse must be that part of the wallet that hangs behinde us seene of others not of our selves our sinnes must bee that part that hangs before us seene both of others and our selves To conceale sinne was never the way to be forgiven it or what art thou the safer that thou canst conceale it from men and not from God I had rather be censur'd for my sin than be damned for it As in Moralitie so in Divinitie not to goe forward is to goe backwards and not to thrive in goodnesse is not to be good When I compare what I am with what I have beene I am not a little proud but when I compare what I should bee with what I am with Peter I begin to sinke only here 's my comfort I shall be receiv'd not according to what I am but what I am in Christ. Every good heart is accuser judge and executioner of its ownfaults Why should I be afraid of standing at the tribunall of my owne conscience and not of God at one I must and if I judge my selfe I shall not bee judged I will prevent Gods judgements with my owne and the feare of what I should suffer with the sorrow for what I have done to him only is the last judgement terrible that shunnes the first Wicked men as they make most shew of mirth so they have least their heart and their face do not agree they carrie that in their owne bosome that spoiles their laughing they are alwaies pursued by themselves and encountred with their own thoughts Their sleepe is dreaming and they dreame of those judgements in their sleepe which they have deserv'd waking every noyse is of thunder and everie thunder of the last day every shadow is a spirit and their sinnes are so many divels about them they have a double hell they dy a thousand deaths here and hereafter dye eternally There is no joy like the joy in the Holy Ghost Nay there is no joy but that and that is as farre above all earthly joy as our heavenly joy shall be above this Hallelujah above Hosanna Let mee but have this within and I care not how the square goe without Death to the wicked ever comes unwelcome because they see it in its worst shape ghastly Faine they would not goe and goe they must it is impossible they should live still but it is intolerable to be still dying which is the life they are to live a living death I will pray God to season this life to me as I may not bee in love with it and so to remember me of my death as I may not be afraid of it and in my life so to prepare me for my death that at my death I may not onely bee prepared but assured of a better life When I remember the sinnes I have already committed and some it may be not throughly repented of and those which I do hourely commit and some it may be not taken notice of so many of infirmitie stealing upon me and other stronger sinnes breaking in upon me I doe not will that good which I should or want power to that will or perseverance to that power I am at a stand with the Apostle and thinke miserable man that I am who shall deliver me
Ioseph had never beene a Courtier had hee not first beene a prisoner Gods children are ever the better for being miserable and end in that It is good for mee that I have been afflicted let God use me how Hee will on earth so I may have what Hee hath promised to those that love Him in heaven Who would not be a Lazarus for a day that hee might sit in Abraham's bosome for ever Gods Church must be a lillie among thorns and while I am a member of the Church I must not looke to fare better than the whole Body if they have call'd the master of the house Beelzebub well may it be endur'd to those of the household my comfort is if I am reviled for His sake I shall be blessed Prosperity is like Vinum merum all wine it makes drunke the soule and therefore God mingles it that He may keep us sober feeds His children with a bit and a knocke ever dishes His sweete meate with sowre sause if wee did alwaies abound wee would grow proud and forget our selves and if not sometimes wee would despaire and forget our God I will pray with Salomon give me neither wealth nor poverty but a meane or if wealth grace to imploy it if poverty patience to endure it Afflictions are the medicines of the minde if they are not toothsome let it suffice they are wholesome 't is not required in Physicke that it should please but heale unlesse we esteeme our pleasure above our health let me suffer so I may reigne be beaten so I may be a son Nothing can be ever too much to endure for those pleasures which endure for ever There was never good but was hard to get the prison and the hatchet sores and crums leade to Abraham's bosome and the way thither is by weeping-crosse if many tribulations will carry me to heaven on Gods name let me have them welcome the poverty which makes me heire to those riches that never shall have an end I will deale for my soule as for my body never refuse health because the Phisicke that should procure it is bitter let it distast me so it heale me There are in the world that thinke it too great sawcinesse to be our owne spokes-men to God and therefore goe to St. Some-body to preferre their petitions for them I shall ever hold it good manners to goe of my owne errants to God He that bids me Come will bid me welcome God hath said Come unto me c. It is no unmannerlinesse to come when I am call'd All consciences like all stomacks are not alike how many doe we see digest those sinnes with ease which others cannot get downe with struggling one straines at a gnat when another swallowes a camell hee that will keepe cleere of great sinnes must make conscience of all I will thinke no sinne little because the least endangers my soule and it is all one whether I sell my SAVIOVR for thirty pence with Iudas or for halfe I am worth with Ananias whether I goe to hell for one sin or for many This life is but a journey unto death and every day we are some spannes neerer the grave how is it that wee which are so neere our death are so farre from thinking of it Security is a great enemy to prevention and a presumption that wee shall not dye yet makes men that they doe not prepare to dye at all it is good taking time while time is if it come suddenly and find thee unprepared miserable man that thou art who shall deliver thee from the body c Therefore hath Nature given us two eares and but one mouth that we should heare twice as much as wee should speake with all thy secrets trust neither thy wife nor thy friend hee that is thriftie of his owne tongue shall lesse feare anothers There are that affect not so much to have true friends as to have many and whisper to that friend what they heare from this and againe to this what from that and glory to have it knowne how much they are trusted whereas they were therefore trusted that it might not be knowne I have ever thought it a maxime in friendship that he which will bee intimate with many is entirely nones let me love and be lov'd of all I will bee inward onely with a few I had rather have one meane friend that I may call my owne than the most potent where I must share with others He that provides not for his owne is worse than an infidell 't is not the blame of charity that it begins at home it is that it ends not abroad I am not borne all to my selfe somewhat to my friend to my neighbour I will so care for my owne as I may relieve others and so doe for others as I wrong not my owne Much knowledge not much speech Emblem 's a wise man I shall ever hold it neither safe nor wise alwaies to speake what I know of my owne affaires nor what I thinke of others a man may speake too much truth Pleasures like the Rose are sweet but prickly the hony doth not countervaile the sting all this worlds delights are vanity and end in vexation like Iudas while they kisse they betray I would neither be a Stoick nor an Epicure allow of no pleasure nor give way to all they are good sause but naught to make a meale of and were given not to fill the belly but to relish the meate I may use them sometimes for digestion never for food In crosses these two things must be thought on first whence they come from God Hee strikes thee that made thee next wherefore they come for thy good either to try thee or to mend thee if they bee harsh yet they be gainfull I shall ever count it a good change to have the fire of persecution for the fire of hell who would not rather smart for a while then for ever let me rather have that fire which is rewarded with heaven than these pleasures which shall be rewarded with fire Salomon's Rejoyce oh young man in the dayes of thy youth were the finest thing in the world if it were not for that which follows for all this thou shall come to judgement to goe well lye soft sleepe hard if there were noe after-reckoning who would not say out of delight what the Apostles did out of amazement It is good for us to be here but when I have a stewardship to account for and God knowes how soone my master returning and my talent to seek the Bridegroome entering and my oyle to buy I have more reason to care how to redeeme my time past than to spend the present To grow heavy or lumpish with crosses argues not so much want of courage as grace nothing more soyles the reputation of a Christian than to have his minde droope with his Mammon what if health friends meanes have all forsooke thee wilt thou lose thy wittes together with thy goods all the
and he only shall receive mercy that shewes mercy all the wrongs thou receiv'st cannot equall one sinne thou committest and art forgiven now when God hath forgiven thee thy hundred Talents which thou owedst and could'st not pay do not with the evill servant take thy brother by the throat for two be not so cruell to others that hast God so mercifull to thee freely thou art forgiven freely forgive with what measure yee mete unto others with the same shall it bee measured to you againe and if you give you shall receive good measure not only shaken together and pressed down but running over God as He doth not let goodnesse go unrequited so doth He not requite it with a little or inch out His blessings He never hath done enough for those that love Him one good turne drawes on another and Hee is ever thinking What could I doe more for my Vineyard that I have not done There is no pains of ours which falls to the ground unaccepted unrewarded who would not serve that master whose service is perfect freedome and the wages eternall life I cannot bee more mine owne friend than by beeing GOD's servant and the Worlds enemie Our bodies waxe weaker as they waxe older our sinnes as they waxe older they waxe stronger I will labour to bee olde in goodnesse and I cannot complain of weaknesse let mee but bee too strong for my sinnes and I have strength enough Some men doe not revenge injuries because they cannot they want power others because they want opportunitie and doe but waite with Esau the dayes of the mourning for my father are at hand and then I will slay my brother It is no god-a-mercie to passe over injuries when we can do no other he is not innocent that is so perforce then is our goodnesse commendable when we may hurt and will not It is the fault of the world yet it is the fashion of it to put off God to the last the fall of the leafe will serve his turne and thinke one sigh at their death enough for all their lives before but true repentance as it is not for a spurt so it is not done in an instant He that goes about thorowly to make riddance of his sinnes shall finde it a long businesse sinnes are not like servants to be gone at a quarters warning In many things we offend all is the voice of an Apostle the best have their faults he is happie that hath least and fewest I can never be so holy as to have no sinnes my care shall bee to repent me of those I have if my repentance be daily my score shall never be long Youth and holinesse doe not meet often to see a young man dead to sin and ready for death is admirable but rare it is a good thing to be good betimes sinnes as they growe old they growe lusty and if they once get head they know no master it is a harder matter to restore to godlinesse than to make godly for there must be a dedocebo te c. an unteaching of that evill which they before learned before there can be an insertion of that good which they must after practise Custome will alter nature and an use of sinning make them in love with sinne it is rarely seene that a young divell proves an old Saint I will so begin as I would hold out with GOD otherwise it is ill that I have begun but worse that I hold not out GOD desires not the death of a sinner but that is not all He doth not onely not delight in our ruine but He desires our recoverie If we repent He spares us if we returne Hee receives us for the first mercy to forgive for the second an Abrahams bosome to receive if we wander He recalls us if we be obstinate he intreats us if we come but slowly He will stay for us in all His workes He is wonderfull but in His workes of mercy He exceeds I will never despaire of that goodnesse that hath no bounds my sinnes are infinite but not unpardonable Hee was once a persecutor who was after an Apostle and not behind the best of the Apostles that was once before the worst of the Iewes for cruelty God is able to make of a cast-away a convert of a theefe a disciple of stones children of dead men living Saints if the disease be desperate the cure is the glorie of the Physician the recoverie is more remarkeable of a dead man to life than of a sicke man if the danger were not great there were lesse praise of our redemption but when our sinnes are gone over our heads when the beame of the timber and the stone in the wall crie us guiltie when thou art possest and not as Mary Magdalen with a few divels but with Legions not one sinne or small sinnes or a few sinnes seven divels as it is said of her but past number like the starres or the sands and of the worst sort of divells too that cannot easily be cast out but with fasting and praier and hast not onely committed them but lived in them and art now dead in them when we have thus lost our selves and Him to bee found of Him and brought to our selves pusles us for thankes His armes are ever open onely our hearts are shut wee receive not because wee aske not wee are not received because wee returne not or returne to our vomit It is but just when wee turne to our sinnes that GOD turne to His judgements either wee must bee cut off in our sinnes or from them Salvation is the gift of God it is given and yet it is got with a great deale of struggling thou must fast and watch and fight as Saint Paul saies and as Saint Paul did too not onely with beasts after the manner of men though wicked men are beasts in a manner but with principalities and powers not the Aegyptians but the Anakims Gyant sinnes growne temptations My glory shall be not to have no sinnes but to have the mastery not that I am not set upon but not beaten That we shall all dye we all know when wee shall dye God knowes but how any man should be dead while he is alive is strange wil some think and would bee glad to know yet so it is sin is a death and every obstinate sinner is dead for the time Some with Iairus daughter are not dead but sleepe others with Lazarus are not onely dead but stinke and it is with sinne as with sicknesse it weakens by degrees first it distempers the palate of the soule or spoiles the stomake so that either it refuseth meat or distastes it or puts it up againe and next it takes away the sense that they feele not their sinnes and then are remedilesse and as our Saviour told the Iewes they wil dye in their sins and this is a death men care not to be acquainted with til they be past cure and then onely thinke of Heaven when they