Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	sin_n	soul_n	spiritual_a	8,699	5	7.0020	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A85674	An historical anatomy of Christian melancholy, sympathetically set forth, in a threefold state of the soul. 1 Endued with grace, 2 ensnared in sin, 3 troubled in conscience. With a concluding meditation on the fourth verse of the ninth chapter of Saint John. / By Edmund Gregory, sometimes Bachelour of Arts in Trin. Coll. Oxon.	Gregory, Edmund, b. 1615 or 16.; Marshall, William, fl. 1617-1650, engraver.	1646 (1646)	Wing G1885; Thomason E1145_1; ESTC R40271	96,908	160

by grace and to be more violently carried down the stream when once sin gets the upper hand As also our manner of life may adde great advantage unto temptation In Sodom for to live a righteous Lot 'T is like a Painter that 's without a spot By touching Pitch alas it is no news To be defil'd if that we cannot chuse He that is conversant where many occasions be offered shall hardly put by often inconveniences But we proceed with the secret sinful motions of our unhappie life When there is any thing of heedful concernment in our thoughts which we do endeavour to effect or have resolved upon to have it done if it chance any whit long to be delayed and not finisht forthwith according to our hope the greedy desire and expectation thereof is such a torture presently to our over hastie souls that in a while out of distrustfulnesse we either utterly despair of it or through impatiency of minde we strive if it be possible to bring it to passe against might or otherwise one way or other are ready to procure some indirect means whereby our eager intention may be fulfilld headlesly running on many times thus to multiply our sins without any reason not considering at all that if we had not tormented our selves with such over eagernesse of expectation and sinn'd against God with this unlawful hastinesse of minde and despairing thoughts doubtlesse our businesse would have never the worse but rather the better have took its effect in due time and this is that impatient hastinesse of minde and distrustful fear that maketh many of us to curse and swear so much in the passion of discontent to go to Witches for recovering again the goods that we lose or so soon as we be sick to post to the Physitian as our onely hope and the like It was this impatient hastinesse of minde that made Saul offend 1 Sam. 13. 8 whenas both he and our selves did we but use the counsel of David Psal 27. 9 to tarry the Lords leasure and be strong I say his leasure with patience and be strong in faith we might verily prevent many a sin nay perchance most sins for were it not this impatient hastinesse of ours what sin almost is there could prevail against us had we but that true patience and stayednesse of minde soberly to wait and weary out the temptation the devil might go away from us as he came The storm most fiercely for the time doth rage Stay but a little and it will asswage It is this too importunate hastinesse that causeth discontented murmur●ngs against God making us when things go not to our mindes and that we prosper not according to our account and expectation even making us I say half angry with the Almighty as though he were a debter to fulfil our desires It is this hastinesse which draweth us many times into the most dangerous impieties Sin in time brings the soul into such a senslesse dulnesse and stupidity that as if we had made a Covenant with d●ath and a League with hell we are little moved with any terrour thereof and we quietly yeeld up our selves as if there were an inevitable necessity for us to be thus wieked and ungodly we know not what to say or to do in the case we are so much plunged in this mire and clay where there is no ground no hope of coming out that it is beyond all that we can think and endeavour to do our selves any good and therefore we cannot conceive sin and this inward corruption of nature to be any otherwise in us then as a corruption in the body which when once it hath gotten a long continued vent and running issue in the leg there is no stopping thereof without present death to the party unlesse there be an issue made for it in another place And so we being thus filled as Saint Paul speaketh of the Heathen Rom. 1 with nothing but spiritual corruption in the soul unrighteousnesse fornication wickednesse covetousnesse maticiousnesse c. we cannot imagine how the vent thereof can be stopt but that it must needs have passage one way or other and indeed so for the most part when it is stopt of its ordinary course it findeth out a secret vent elsewhere And truely after this manner sometimes we seem to be reclaimed and reformed of our accustomed vices whenas in very deed we do but turn out of one sin into another for this is the devils policy now and then to imitate Repentance by altering and changing up and down our sins to the end they might not grow tedious unto us to make us loath and abho● them utterly or perchance to give our consciences some satisfaction with the shew of Repentance that we may the more securely continue in sin For the devil hath many shifts to invent wherewith to give us content and delight He will provide all variety and pleasure that is possible to indulge our appetite as being weary of this sin that we may go to another our affections being tired with ambition we might recreate our selves with lust and luxurious idlenesse our souls being stopt of their course in malice and covetousnesse we might take as it were a turn another while in Epicurism and indulging vanities sometimes perhaps a variety in the manner of our sins for novelties sake may give us a little change of satisfaction as sometimes it may be plain dealing gives the minde best liking in our sins sometimes equivocating and deluding excuses sometimes the matter is best of all to be qualified with a crafty involving of others helping in the act sometimes again a sole and absolute secresie of the whole businesse is more grateful to our conscience Every way and however it be effected we feel our selves in sin just as in the condition of sick men he that is much sick is not in so much ease as to lie always on one side though his bed be never so soft so sin like the sick mans bed hath not so much pleasure in it as to give us any long content he turns from side to side to finde rest and findes none so long as he is sick so we unhappie sinners wallow to and fro in our sinnes without rest we are unstable in all our ways There 's no delight no rest is to be found Whilst sin in us so strongly doth abound I say we can finde no pleasure no full satisfactory o● long content in pleasure as long as we thus turn out of sin into sin out of one bad course into another unlesse that we quite turn out of sin unto God But wo is us Hic labor hoc opus est here lies all the difficulty this is the main matter of all the flattering subtilty thereof hath as I said for long ago as Dalilah beguiled Samson so wholly robb'd and beguil'd our soul of all their strength and courage to true R●pentance that we were much too weak to break off from us those fettering bonds and

I say of being in a lesser degree of Condemnation we cannot grant unto our selves for we shall reason chiefly thus If God be most just as he must needs be he cannot but distribute equall right and Justice unto all men and so he may not spare any one person more then other for any favour or respect whatsoever but only for their good behaviour and as they have better husbanded their time and his gifts in them for will the righteous God of all the world judge partially No verily he is truth it selfe farre be it from the Lord as it is in the 34. of Iob and the 10 verse that he shou●d doe wickednesse and from the Almighty that he should commit iniqutty for the worke of a man shall he render unto him and cause every man to finde according to his wayes and though there be mercy to be found in Christ for the greatest sinners yet are we notwithstanding me thinks to make account that God certainly requires our good behaviour in amendment of life according to that of Saint Paul in the second to the Corinthians the 5. Chapter If any man be in Christ he is a new creature As the Father is Truth so is the Son and if we meane to be the better for him and come thorough him as the way into Heaven we must follow him as he is the way and the truth in newnesse of life and therefore how can we who be thus in the greatest state of sinne as we conceive our selves to be both in the former passage of our life as also especially now for these present thoughts and tormenting impieties of minde but needs expect and look for the greatest Condemnation of all men so true is that Heathen but wise speech Se judice nemo nocens absolvitur There is no advocate can plead our cause When Conscience once doth prosecute the Lawes For nay yet further me thinkes we doe so much hate what we are and applaud Truth and Justice that unlesse we might be free from sinne from this wretched and hellish condition of minde though God himselfe should now call us into Heaven we would surely stand without we could not nor would not come in unlesse he would shew the like mercy upon all unlesse all other men were bidd●n come in too whom we are of opinion to be farre more fit for it then our selves Well this thought and conceit as it hath some reason in it in that we cannot deject our selves as low as our sins deserve we knovv so much of our selves that vve cannot but think all others better then our selves vvho are so exceedingly bad in our selves I say againe as it hath reason in it duely considering the unhappy state of sin and this transcendent unhappinesse of the minde vvhich is novv so full of the Hell of tormenting distempers and dispaire that we cannot thinke our selves possibly capable of that most holy place and glorious condition vvhich is only fit for the purity of Saints and Angels yet is there no question a kind of close stubbornnesse usually joyned vvith it even in this our lovvest dejection thus I say there may be though vve doe not all perceive it too much stomack in us too much stomack as much as to say Since that God hath not delivered us from these sinnes and vvretched untovvardnesses vve are therefore as it vvere carelesse to be delivered from the punishment as if a Father for some discontent should shut his Child out of doores for an houre or tvvo though perchance the Father aftervvards vvould let him come in yet forsooth he vvill not but in a mogging humour lyes abroad all night So verily in this aforesaid passage and conclusion of minde as I conceive it is not much unlike vvith us as if God had fcarce dealt vvell enough vvith us to let us fall into these snares of sin and distraction therefore novv peradventure in this case vve doe not much care for mercy our Melancholly forsaken soule as David in the 77. Psalm refuseth comfort and as Iacob at the supposed nevves of ●osephs death in the 37. of Genesis vvould not take comfort of his friend so now either we cannot or will not take comfort from others it is hard to tell ●ruely vvhich is the cause for sin These motions have so deep a secresie The truth thereof there 's none can well discry As I say let the cause be vvhat it vvill be either reall or imaginary or deluding for note this that the excesse of Melancholly in many of us is altogether a strong distempered delusion of phansie however sure enough it is to our seeming that vve are not able to receive it because vvhatsoever is said to us by any of our friends or others in the vvay of comforting us novv in this our extream distresse of mind for the most part it is all in vaine and to no purpose as touching the sins vvhich lye upon our consciences like mountaines of Lead too heavy for us to beare If it be urged and applyed that St. Peter forsvvare Christ his deare Lord and Master after that he had a long time received so many gracious courtesies from him after that he had been an ancient Apostle full of heavenly vvisedom and understanding that David committed both Murder and Adultery in his elder age after he had familiarly vvalked vvith God many yeares together and yet both these so great offenders vvere easily forgiven Againe that our Saviour Christ came into this World for nothing else dyed for no other purpose but only to save sinners and that he delighted in mercy whilst he vvas here amongst us rejo●cing to doe his Fathers vvork that great vvork of mercy as appeareth by his generall Proclamation Come unto me all yee that are weary and heavy laden c. and as it eminently appeareth by his manner of conversation upon earth by being usually amongst and familiar with Publicans and sinners by his favourable and kind speech and behaviour to that Woman taken in Adultery to Mary Magdalen and the like Nay ●et once further if it be urged and pressed unto our Consciences that the mighty Jehovah even the Lord God himselfe in his ovvne vvords hath spoken by the Prophet Ezekiel As I live saith the Lord God I desire not the death of the wicked And againe most Pathe●tcally by the Prophet Isaiah Though your sins were as crimson they shall be made as white as snow though they were red like scarle● they shall be as wooll If you vvill I say if you vvill at last but endeavour to be reclaimed if the consent c. as it follovves in the next verse intimating that it is not the greatnesse of our sins that can seperate his mercy from us if there be any desire or inclination to good be it never so little even as nothing for he will not quench the smoking flax nor breake che bruised reed Alas it must needs be a very little fire that doth but make the flax to smoak when as

a bag of dung a sinke of filth and corruption me thinks the very meanest creatures are more happy then we for loe O Lord they continue perfect in that state thou hast created them they live not in sinne against their Maker they die in innocencie but man alas unhappy man liveth in sinne dieth in trouble O finne thou art the worst of all evils thou art worst then death worse then Hell sure better were it to have no being at all then that our being should be offensive to that God which hath bestowed it on us In the time of plague and infectious sicknesse in lik● manner doe our Meditations more consideratively enlarge themselves how are our thoughts then not a little swollen up with sadnesse and griefe at the tender apprehension of the solitary and forsaken estate of those poore soules who are imprisoned and shut up in the infected houses thinking thus with our selves O Lord how happy are wee on whom the Sun shines thus merrily the Sunne of Gods favour wee have health wee have Liberty wee have Plenty of all things at our hearts desire but they poore wretches are inclosed within the shadow of death their feet like good Iosep●s are in the stocks and the Iron thereof entreth into their soules the hardnesse of misery maketh their very hearts to bleed for as Iob saith Tbe arrowes of the Almighty are within them and the poyson thereof drinketh up their spirits O how can wee forget to have compassion on such misery as this The se●ious deepnesse of our mind doth also thus frequently close up in our Meditations the departing day and Lord thou hast added one day more unto this our life which thou mightst long ere this have shortned and cut off Lord prepare us for our end and make us willinger to die then yet wee are that when as wee shall have brought all our dayes to a period as we have now this day wee may be ready and well content to depart out of this world to thine eternall mercy and that wee be patiently resolved that this face these hands and this whole body of ours after a while it may put on corruption be clothed with blacknesse and deformity and so with the fatall necessity of all Mankind naturally to be composed into Mortality and be gathered to our Fathers to rest with them in the dust untill thine appointed time Vntill that shrill awaking Trumpet sound At the last day to raise us from the ground The Melancholly Man is a man full of thoughts his phansie is as it were alwayes in a constant Motion no sooner doe wee discharge our braines of these diviner thoughts and meditations specially our mind being at leisure from worldly things but forth with it is in action either with some idle or ill employment either wee are building of Castles in the ayre or framing of Vtopiaes and the Idea's of one thing and of another of Monarchies of Paradises and such like pleasing dreams of phansie or else wee are on the otherside snarling our thoughts with the toyls of sinne Each sense of ours to the heart Proves Traytor to let in Temptation with his fatall dart The Harbinger of sinne How often thus doe the allurmeents of pleasure involve our minds in a restlesse unquietnesse untill wee give satisfaction thereunto how often doth the provocations of lust follow our thoughts till wee commit Adultery with the Baby of our owne fancie how often again doth impatiency haunt us till wee are engaged in wrath and distemper how often doth the love of Riches torment us into the consent of injustice This is the difference wee may find in our soules betwixt good and evill when wee are affected with good things wee are ready as I say to poure out our braines into an abundance of Consideration thereupon but when as wee goe to make use thereof in the practise of our lives such difficulties and impossibilities doe stand in the way that it is even against our stomack then to t●inke upon it when contrariwise wee are affected with evill things it may be wee are not ready to spend so many thoughts upon them but wee may easily observe our pronenesse to imprint them in our actions For good wee are as the fruitlesse Fig-tree all whose sap is but enough to bear leaves none for fruit so that in manner all our goodnesse goes out into thoughts meditations and desires little or none at all into practise and performance but for evill wee are more fruit then leaves the practick part of our soules doth here out-goe the speculative Facilis descensus av A●rni Nature hath made it easie for us to goe downwards in the paths of death and destruction and yet notwithstanding by Gods mercy sin doth not over-come us to fulfill it in the lusts and full swing thereof we are not at ease and rest with it it doth discontent and trouble us there is no perfect quietnesse in our soules whilst it prevailes within us although sometimes for want of carefull diligence it taketh such advantage of us that t is long and difficult ere wee can wind our selves out of the snare therof I say long and difficult ere we can throughly untie those knots of perversenesse and impiety which Sathan when hee gets time and liberty doth cunningly contrive within us Here we may note the wisely-confirm'd maturity of years and better acquaintance wi●h the nature of things as it doth helpe forward our continuance in grace in that it becomes longer being made cleane by repentance ere we shall now fall backe into sinne I meane into more grosse and frequent sinnes so likewise it advantageth our continuance in sinne in that it becomes the longer also being in the state of wrath ere wee can be duly reconciled againe by true repentance and the reason hereof without question is chiefly to bee conceived for that ripenesse of age makes nature more solid stiffe and unmoveably set in its course being the right subject of constant seriousnesse and Melancholy as on the other-side youth is vainely wavering and according to the Poet Cereu● in vitium slecti c. Like wax that 's quickly wrought to any shape And pliable to any alteration Againe touching the settlednesse of our courses in this spi●ituall condition of the soule it is alwayes to be observed that the more unhappily finne doth prevaile over us and the longer it doth continue with us the more we are disheartned and loth to repent by reason that difficulty and bad successe doth daunt the courage and deter from that which easinesse and happy proceeding doe make to delight in thus likewise in other things it is usually seene that hee who thrives delights to be a good Husband prosperity backs on the endeavour and sweetnes a mans labour In like manner also when we have good successe in Religion it makes us the more religious the be ter wee thrive in it the more wee are in love with it that which wee have already quickens the appetite and

to their own skill and wisedom how do they snarl themselves in blinde conjectures Lo this doubtlesse was the cause that our businesse took not effect it should have been done by such or such a means it such or such a time with these or these Circumstances ●yring out our selves to seek the reason thereof like those blinde men that sought Lot's door and could not finde it never thinking all this while on the Divine providence which directeth all things towards which our thoughts ought to aim their first and chief regard and therefore it is that oftentimes we do try so many ways spend so much time break so many nights sleep to no purpose for sure Except the Lord keep the Citie all our labour is lost the watchman waketh but in vain As Jehu answered Jehoram 2 Kings 9 so may we answer our thoughts and with sufficient experience resolve our selves What peace content or rest can there be so long as this Jezebel of sin raigns and remains within us No peace within nor yet no peace without But full of troubles toils and fears and doubt Our peace with all things utterly doth cease Because with God we do not make our peace And thus on every side we both see and feel it even too much to our own grief That there is no peace unto the wicked The man of Sin is a man of Trouble trouble in his minde with the distractions of sin trouble in his conscience with fear of judgement every way disturbed and out of rest and yet lo for all this that there is so much unquietnesse and trouble and discontent in our sinnes we are so strongly hampered and engaged therein that there is no power in us to break off the bands thereof or cast away her cords from us through the habituated continuance therein it is so hard and difficult for us to repent I mean fully and perfectly to repent that it goes even against might to think of making up a reckoning and an account with God we are so totally as it were turned into sin it self I mean such an invincible disposition of sinning in all our conversation that O who shall deliver us from this body of death what course can we take to come out of this unhappinesse 'T is high time to look about us to raise our thoughts to some better notions but such is the difficulty of true Repentance that we cannot go thorow stitch with it but this and this opportunity is still put off with excuses with the presumptuous and flattering conceit that Gods mercy is infinite we have had often and often trial of it Doubtlesse we shall have some better time and more fitting season hereafter But we who finde it so hard a matter at this time a thousand to one but that we finde it more difficult the next the longer we continue in sin without due Repentance the more methinks are we entangled with it and dayly snarl'd the faster from getting out O therefore let us take heed in time and duely consider this all we that now forget God Consider this I say whilst we have time afforded us lest in his wrath he suddenly pluck us away and there be none to deliver us Here it is observable according to what I have formerly intimated that though not usually yet sometimes the Conscience is so cunningly daub'd up that it seems within us to be as well satisfied with the outward formality of Religion as if it were in the state of grace and true reconciliation our mouthes and the outside of our thoughts do draw neer unto God when-as our hearts the true depth of our heart is far from him even full of nothing but dead mens bones the rottennesse and corruption of sin we are I say thus so smoothly deluded in our selves that we can seem boldly to chalenge acquaintance with Christ and perhaps think that we are able to boast of great matters in his Name and yet for all that peradventure as it was with those in the Gospel Mat. 7. peradventure I say Christ himself may never so much as know or acknowledge one jot of Christianity within us but this deceitfulnesse of Religion this superficial delight is easily discerned if we mark it well both by our selves and others in that it is frequently wont to vent it self into a partial siding contentious talking part-taking and debating as those of whom the Apostle speaks that fell out about their Religion I am of Paul I am of Apollo I am of Cephas taking the shadow for the substance and mistaking the truth thereof as though it were a thing so shallowly seated in the soul that it consisted in wittinesse of discourse sharp understanding following of Opinions and the like no verily the Kingdom of heaven Religion and godlinesse is not without as our Saviour saith but within us even in the dressing ordering and managing of our own souls Indeed Our Knowledge without Charity may swell Into Contentious strivings full of pride But true Religion in that heart doth dwell Where patience love and humble thoughts abide what ever or however the Conscience as I say may thus be deluded and held in some pleasing satisfaction finely skinned over for a while with the upper part of Religion yet in the truth of it the wound that is so deep is not so easily cured this sinfulnesse of the minde here spoken of having gotten such time and liberty with us is not without great difficulty deep sorrow many prayers and much carefulnesse took off again and therefore till we can by Gods special mercy attain unto this thorow piercing and happie Repentance there is none so soveraign and helpful a means to prevent the dangerous encrease thereof as is the constant following of a good employment ever to be doing in one industrious action or another according to the quality and manner of our life even in one honest action or other though it be but to little advantage so that the Rule is very true Praestat oriosum esse quam nihil agere It were far better for us to be in action with that which is to no purpose so that we do not sin in it then to sit still and be altogether idle for alas we do by woful experience finde that Idlenesse is rightly named The devils Cushion being seldome out of one sin or other whilst we are out of action in some good employment This Cushion makes the devil so easie a seat that it is even an invincible work to remove him from our idle souls or make him sit away this is his seat I say and his shop too here he freely sits and plyes his utmost skill to mould our thoughts to the very wickednesse of his hearts desire here he sits forging and fashioning all the ugliest forms of sin and foulest monsters of impiety that ever entred into the heart of man there is no sin so great so hellish and inhumane but Idlenesse hath been the means to hatch it into the world Quaeritur

that our souls may so wisely esteeme the shortnesse of this life that we may never forget this this I say in the Field in our Journey in our Beds at all times and every where while it is day whilst we live that the night that is our death commeth and then no man can work which is the last observeable thing and the effect of the night No man can worke Man goeth forth to his worke and to his labour untill the Evening Vntill the evening no longer we have done in this life whatsoever we shall doe Mors ultima linia rerum Death is the full period of all our Actions there remaines now no more teares of Repentance no more works of Piety no more sacrifice for sinne no more I say no more for ever Phisick comes too late when the party is deceased Actum est we have acted●our parts here whilst we were in this life all now is done the scene is ended Remember my Sonne that thou in thy life time receiveast thy good things that thou hadst then the opportunity to have made thy selfe happy for ever if thou wouldst but what canst thou now give to redeeme thy soul when instead of good workes thou hast nothing but paine and torment instead of the godly sorrow of repentance nothing but the Hellish sorrow of despaire Oh how many millions of years would the miserable soul be glad to work the hardest work that might be invented if it were but possible for her to work out her salvation O how precious would she esteeme those minutes and gather up those crummes of time which she hath here so foolishly neglected and thus me thinks that lamentable voice of the untimely departed soul doth sound this warning peale in our eares All yee that live by me learne to be wise Your precious time at higher worth to prize For ●oe alas my time was past so soone That night was come ere that I thought it noone And now too late unhappy wretch Idearly lament my headlesse f●lly Spes omnium in bot or be molestiarum est admirabile lenimentum Hope saith Drexelius is an excellent refreshing and comfort in all the troubles of this life as long as there is some hope there is some comfort and be our miseries never so great we are here in possibility to have ease of them but after death there is not the least possibility hope or comfort a● all to be expected the Doome is past no man can work all the world is not able to purchase one drop of ease or refreshing any more O that it is too late too late too late to cry for mercy O that the doore is shut and there is no entering in Give me saith one a River of teares to weep before I dye well might he wish it for he knew there was no weeping to any purpose when he was dead O let me weep weep weep and ne're give o're My sins till I have washed cleane away O let me never cease for to implore My Iudge till I come to the Iudgement Day O let us repent now for we cannot repent in that day if ever we meane to doe our selves good now is the time because we cannot worke when the night is come Let us therefore worke while it is day while we have time while we may vvork Obsecro vos O Christiant per vos perquae salutem vestram c. as Drexelius bespake his Auditers so let me bespeake our soules and selves O yee Christian soules yee souls vvhom Christ hath dyed for let me beseech you for your ovvne sake for your salvations sake for your Saviours sake that yee vvould avoid this Shipwrack the danger is certain if we looke not to it in time as long as life lasts our amendment is not too late doe we fall by sin a thousand times we may rise againe by repentance a thousand times We may begin any day any houre to become better But in death no man remembreth thee O Lord and who can give thee thankes in the Grave As David did concerning Bathsheba's Child so whilst life is in us we may weepe and humble our selves by repentance but in death all hope all possibility of recovery is cut off Whilst we have therefore time let us make use of it I say let us take it whilst we have it for time will stay for no man it is but a while that we have to worke one daies labour will make us happy forever our Fathers have had their daies and are gone and now this is our day I say ours if we lose it not our day and portion of time which God hath allotted us to work● out our salvation in Woe is us then if we work not even triplox vae an woe and an Eternall woe We vvould faine depart and be in Heaven O let us do our taske whilst we are on earth To conclude let not the Sun set upon our wrath upon our lust upon our covetuousnesse upon our pride and the like alas what a dismall what a dolefull night must we then expect Let us not be wearv of well doing for in due season we shall reape if we saint not let us now go on in our way towards Heaven weeping and we shall returne with sheaves in our bosome let us so we in teares and we shall reape in joy let us be found so working now in this day of our life that at the night of our death when our Lord and Master Christ Jesus cometh we may partake of that blessednesse which is promised in the Gospel to that Servant who when his Master commeth he sball finde so doing so shall we receive that e●ge boni servi Well done yee good and faithfull servants enter you therefore into your Masters joy Amen Sit gloria Deo in saecula saeculorum A farewell to the Reader ANd now kind Reader thanking you for your patience that hath vouchsafed to peruse over this my unworthy labour I desire you to understand Each mans a little world and my Booke A Land-Skip is this world to overlooke There may you ken the Cedar tops of pride With thorny cares and buskets on each side The fruits of grace there also may you see Like Apples just as they grow on the tree And then again a River meets your eye Of tears for sin and mans sad misery Mountains of Zeal do here and there swell up Even to the Clouds but 't is enough I stop Not presuming to borrow your patience any longer or trouble you with many things only I shall intreate you to take this unum necessar●um this one necessary thing along with you and well to observe it that the way of the Lord may be thus trackt out in the soul of man First the sight of Gods being seriously apprehended strikes into us a reverend feare of his infinite greatnesse this feare casteth us downe before him into a condemning humility of our sinfull wre●chednesse this humility breedeth an admiring love of the abundance of his mercy towards us in his blessings this love maketh us bold to have trust and relyance on him as our help and defence this trust affordeth patience to hold out and endure in all difficulties whatsoever this patience at length crowneth us with hope of Heaven not a foolish hope built on the sand but a strong hope setled with discretion a hope built on such ground which maketh not ashamed not ashamed in life not ashamed in death not ashamed in the day of Iudgement This hope O Lord grant unto you to me and to us all and so preserve it in us for thy mercies sake that it may end at last in the perfect fruition of thine eternall Kingdome there that we may be together for ever untill which most happytime dearly beloved I heartily bid you farewell in longum valete farewell even a long farewell FINIS Imprimatur John Downham 17. Febr. 1645. ERRATA REad most frequently thrust page 10. line 1. the two first lines p. 17. are to be read as verses for holy seam r. holy stem p. 18. l. 10. for his liberality r. this liberality p. 30. l. 3. for the least of which is many of which are p. 30 l. 27. for who giveth us gives us p. 31. l. 15. for minde wind p. 44. l. 16. for honour humour p. 62. l. 31. for shall he shall we p. 64. l. 13. for not as yet as yet p. 82. l. 18. for outward souls untoward souls p. 85. l. 13. for we can can we p. 104. l. 24. for are not a little offended doe not a little offend 105. l. 26. and l. 29. for even ever for Devil the Devill p. 112. l. 24. For the lesser faults I desire your favourable construction Emblematized thus Psal 101. 1