that God can loue you who is so vnworthie to bee loued I thinke it verilie and I am perswaded God I confesse cannot loue sinne in man but hee may loue man in sinne God inuiteth not these whom hee loueth not Come vnto mee saith hee all yee that are wearied Your wearinesse cryeth vnto you that which was said to the blind man Bee of good comfort arise the Master calleth thee an humble confession in the mouth is the speach of contrition in the heart God hath sworne that hee liketh not a sinners death Hee is more glad to finde vs for to helpe vs than we can rejoyce to find him for to be helped by him Who can thinke but hee is glad to finde vs that tooke such paines to seeke vs that not caring for the vnwholesome and noysome night aire came to our doore hauing his head full of dewe and his lockes full of the droppes of the night which is more such was his loue and liking of vs that for to saue our life hee would die a cursed death The last wordes of your complaint are that yee are one who is vnworthie to bee loued * I had rather heare a sinner calling himselfe wretched and vnworthie with the Publican than boasting of his worthinesse with the Pharisee The swelled hydropie words of thankesgiuing that we are not lik other mē are a sure toking of a deadlie incurable disease Man naturallie goeth about to lessen impaire his faultes yea oftē rather than he will cry guiltie hee will fasten his follie by consequent vpon his Maker Adam said The woman which thou gauest me gaue me of the tree made me to eate Many are caried down the muddie streame of ouerweening their owne worth Our greatest worthinesse is in the sense of our own vnworthinesse and in the seeking of Christs worthinesse That man is worthie before God who findeth himselfe vnable to doe that which is worthie and vnwilling to doe that which is vnworthie The verie strife and battell betweene grace and nature in theregenerat is a victorie in Gods eyes A broken imperfectiō if it be sincere without guile is put vp in his merciful count book for a perfectiō indeed such is the mercie of God while we mislike our selues These were the wisest words of Agur in Gods account when hee said I am more fool◅sh than any man S. Paul was neuer more dearelie beloued of God as when hee hating himselfe called himselfe the first of sinners Cast your eyes off your selfe and looke vnto God your strength your stay The Name of the Lord is a strong towre the righteous runneth into it is safe The sicke Man O that I could practise your precepts O that my God would inspire mee with such a blessed and liuelie vigour of his Spirite that might quicken my Soule to euerlasting life O that it would please my God stronglie to refresh mee with the comfort of his countenance But alas out of this most filthy puddle of my heart arise such filthie vapours which so ouer-cloud the Sunne of righteousnesse that I am not able to behold his face while he did shine vpon mee his most bright and vnspotted beames were fullie darkened The more the heate of his word did beate vpon mee the more my conuersation became stinking and loathsome like a carion cast out before the Sunne this I cannot denie at the rememberance thereof I finde my selfe charged afresh vpon the Conscience with terrours and vexations O the dead slubber of securitie wherein I haue sleept vnto this houre my custome euer was to post ouer my sinnes in the lump with a generall slumbert confession There is nothing within me but matter of feare I feele my faith fainting I feare my sinnes I feare the wrath of God I feare the force of Sathan the king of feare I may be well bee called that which Ieremie called Pashur viz. Magor-missabib that is Feare round about yea I not onelie feare but I feele a fearefull wrath My stubburnesse and stonie heart hath brought vpon my Soule Gods brasen hands Now is hee doing to mee that which of olde hee threatned against these that were like mee If yee walke stubbornlie against mee I will walke stubbornlie with you In my youth I was guided by the guise of times my delight was to goe with the droue now I am lost beeing cold dead frozen in the dregges of my vncleannesse The Pastour The force of temptation wringeth such words out of you as thogh yee had none hope at all Your Soule Sir is like the Moone into an ecclipse There bee darknesse and changing of collours for a time because your sinnes like an earth come betweene you and the beames of Christ the Sunne of righteousnesse I haue seene the Moone in her ecclipse for a space as though shee had not beene at all into the heauens but as shee darkened by little and little so after the greatest darknesse was past the light returned by degrees Despaire not Sir of an infinite mercie let not your heart be wasted with wearinesse Though the earth of your sinnes which in comparison of Gods mercie is but a point ouershadow the Soule for a space while it is in this low region the time shall come that God shall mount your Soule aboue the circle of the Starres wherevnto the shadow of such an earth is not able to attaine Thogh God for a space walke stubbornlie with you hee is not stubborn Whē yee shall beginne to walke humblie with your God God shall walke no more stubbornlie with you but shall deliuer you from all your feares Build your selfe vpon your holie Faith The sicke Man I may well say with Iob My stroke is heauier than my groning Whereon can my Faith lay hold God is armed with wrath and Sathan is armed with despight I see nothing for the present but blowes and bloody battels most dreadfull feares teare in pieces mine heart strings sucke out the inmost of mine heart blood The Pastour Though there be many aduersaries yet Christ is with you Make all your boast of him who is the Captaine of your Saluation Hee hath winne the field he hath tread vnder foote principalities and powers and hath ledde Captiuitie captiue Hee whose Faith is founded vpon him shall neuer bee confounded His fresh bleeding wounds are cuer filled with compassions * Though God by our sinnes bee moued to shew some wrath heere is our great comfort There is no condemnation to these that are in Christ Belieue yee not the Scriptures I know yee belieue If Christ bee with vs who shall bee against vs These who thinke that their sinnes ouer-reach Gods mercie make the Centre to compasse about the Circumference Though hee should receiue a world of sinners in the bosome of his mercie it will not for that
him that is a Being which causeth all beeings From motions men in nature will come to motions till they clime vp to Primus motor the first Mouer On him will they looke as a man in an high Feuer to whome this man that man will say Know yee mee know ye mee The sight of the braine is so dazeled that it is paine much labour but to heare these three words Knowe yee mee Braine sicke Nature can by no meanes know God till the Feuer of nature bee cooled with Grace After that the coole of Grace hath broght a sweate wherwith the Soule is purged from the rotten humours of iniquitie then the Soule becommeth like a man after a Feuer come to himselfe againe According to this it is said oâ—… the Forlorne that he came to himselfe after that hee was cooled of his foolish Feuer Till we come to our selues by Grace wee shall neuer be able to know the Lord by Nature All that the most wise Pagans culd doe by the whole helpe of Nature was to come from beeingâ—… to him that is the cause of all beeing and from motion to the first Moueâ—… But who that Mouer was the feuerof Nature made their braine so giddie that they could not discerne him When all the Clergie of Atheâ—… into that Famous Colledge of Greâ—… had sought out this God to feele 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and finde him they wandred 〈◊〉 and downe in their imaginationâ—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sodomites about Lots 〈◊〉 noâ—… beeing able to finde it All their 〈◊〉 knowledge which was but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 could no wiâ—…e reach vnâ—…o him For this cause they set vp an 〈◊〉 into their moste learned Citiâ—… with this inâ—…tion written into great Letters TO THE 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Behold where the true God was vnknowne euen in the Citie where Socrates Plato and Aristotleâ—… the great lights of Nature had reached publicklie The verticall pointâ—… all their knowledge could I neuer reach vnto the borders nay not vnto the base of the Gospel Behold and see where Science was to be sold in greatest aboundance there was a profession of the ignorance of the true God written vpon their Altar in great Letters for by the greatnesse of the Letters to declare the grosse dulnesse of their ignorance Hee who knoweth not God were hee neuer so learned what can hee speake of Heauen 〈◊〉 What should Heauen it selfe bee without the presence of God but like a Citie laide wast or like an olde Dungeon not inhabited where Iim and Zijm resort As for vs blessed bee God we know that there is a God into the Heauens the sight of whose backe partes made the face of Moses so to shine that no eye vndazeled culd behold him What a Majestie must this bee whose backe-partes printed such a light into the face of a man that no man could behold the face of a sinner stamped with a second impression This is he who as Scripture teacheth dwelleth into an inaccessable light of which a learned Pagan hauing seene some light impression not in the face of Moses but onelie into the face of Nature said a great word Lumen est vmbra Dei Deus est lumen luminis All light which wee see is but a duskie shadow of God But God is the Light of light a liuing Light the Life of light the Sunne that shineth to the world aboue and the Candle of Heauen Christ the Sunne of righteousnesse in Heauen shall bee without any shadow of the Earth which is the cause of ouâ—… night Hee shal be a Sun which shall shine continuallie both round about and in all the partes of the Heauen for there shall bee no night there For to come thither man should bee content to pluck out his right eye euen his sweetest bosome delights The sicke Man Mine hearte is wained from the loue of the base lump of this Earth I desire to heare some-thing more coÌ„cerning these celestiall buildings which Scripture calleth euerlasting Tabernacles the resting place of all created desires Seeing there after Death wee must sojourne eternallie let mee heaâ—…e of the Glorie of these heauenlie MansioÌ„s prepared for Gods most precious jewels O these blessed burnished vauts all beset with diuine Dyamonds Let mee heare a description of that Palace The Pastour The matter is high Our creeping wordes of Babel cannot reach to the ancles of such loftie matters are but of yesterday and know nothing As I know I shall in my stammering tong and mussling speech doe what I can for to allure you to the loue thereof As for the structure furniture and beautie of that Palace of our God it is wonderfull By no skill can any mortall hand chalk them out There is that blessed Bridegroomes chamber garnished with an azured Curtaine which is embrodered and spangled with starres of light as with golden studs whose beautie no mortall tongue is able fullie to expresse Well may wee say and sing of that Citie that which Dauid sang of its figure Glorious thinges are spoken of thee O thou Citie of our God nay let mee rather say of the figured Citie such glorious things are in thee that they cannot bee spoken O thou Citie of our God All the glories we see without are but sparkles of these infinitlie bright blazing perfections which are within euen things which eye neuer sawe eare neuer heard and which cannot enter into the heart of man One said verie well Res verae sunt in mundo invisibili in mundo visibili vmbrae rerum That is In Heauen the invisible world is the substance of thinges indeede but in this visible world on earth is nothing but shadowes of thinges which are lesse than accidents The greatest glorie that wee see in the out-side of the Heauens is but a vaile that couereth the glorie that is within as the Badgers skinnes couered the Arke of glorie and the Tabernacle But because wee are in this world as childreÌ„ in the wombe wee cannot conceiue what can bee without this world wee haue made a great conception if wee can conceiue that it cannot bee conceiued wee muse well of Heauen if while wee muse we bee amazed counting all joye pleasure profite and preferment below to be both losse doung in comparison of thinges that are aboue which infinitlie goe beyond all created comprehensions If these who goe downe to the deepes see the wonders of the Lord what wonders shall they see who are in the hights of eternitie What rest can a man looke for till hee bee into the Heauens There the blasts of winds and tempests of tongs terrours of CoÌ„science are not there the Church the Lords Lillie is no more among the thornes There the heart of man is no more greiued nor ouer clouded with lowring Melancholie all is in peace within All is calme cleare There is
him And because I haue deferred my repentance till this houre whereby my Saluation is cutte off if I should die suddenlie Loe how my God in his mercifull prouidence to preuent my destruction calleth mee by a lingring sicknesse which stayeth till I bee readie and prepareth mee to mine ende like a preacher and maketh mee by wholesome paines wearie of this beloued world lest I should depart vn willing like them whose death is their damnation So hee loueth mee while hee beateth mee that his stripes are plasters to saue mee therefore who shall loue him if I despise him This is my whole office nowe to strengthen my bodie with mine heart and to bee contented as God hath appointed vntill I can glorifie him or vntill hee glorifie mee If I liue I liue to sacrifice and if I die I die a sacrifice for his mercie is aboue mine iniquitie Therefore if I should feare death it were a signe that I had not Faith nor hope as I professed but that I doubted of Gods trueth in his promise wh◅ther hee will forgiue his penitent sinner or not Hee is my Father let him doe what seemeth good in his sight Come Lord Iesus for thy seruant commeth I am willing helpe mine vnwillingnesse Heere is the end of that godlie mans speach As at that Brydell in Cana the best wine came last so shall it be heer◅ After the words of a godlie man I shall let you heare the words of God spoken by a man inspired by his Spirit euen the last words of Dauid the man whose praise is this that hee was a man according to Gods owne heart The last words of Dauid Dauid the sonne of Iesse said and the man who was raised vp on high the a◅ointed of the God of Iaacob and the sweete Psalmist of Israel said The Spirit of the Lord spake by mee and his words was in my tongue The God of Israel saide the Rocke of Israel spake to mee Hee that ruleth ouer men must bee just ruling in the feare of God And hee shall bee as the light of the morning when the Sunne riseth euen a morning without cloudes as the tender grasse springing out of the earth by cleare shining after raine Although mine house bee not so with God yet hee hath made with mee an euerlasting couenant ordered in all things and sure For this is all my Saluation and all my desire although hee make it not to growe But the sonnes of Belial shall bee all of them as thornes thrust away because they cannot bee taken with hands But the man that shall touch them must be fenced with yron and the staffe of a speare and they shall bee vt◅er lie burnt with fyre in the same place Alittle before his death at the inauguration of his Sonne Solomon he spake manie notable words among others these bee of great weight O Lord wee are heere but strangers before thee and so◅ourners as were all our fathers Our dayes on the earth are as a shadow and there is none abiding O Lord God of Abraham Isaac and of Israel our Fathers keepe this for euer in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people and prepare their heartes vnto thee That hundreth and two Psalme is excellent It is intituled a prayer of the afflicted when he is ouerwhelmed and powreth out his complant before the Lord. Heare my prayer O Lord and lette my cry come vnto thee hide not thy face from mee in the day when I am in trouble incline thine eare vnto mee In the day when I call answere mee spe◅dilie For my dayes are consumed like smoke and my bones are burnt like an hearth c. Seeing as wee see that nothing is stable in this world but as it is in that Sermon of the Preacher vanity of vanities and all is vanitie wee haue to intreate the Lord earnestlie as Moses did a little before his death That hee would so teach vs to number our dayes that we may applye our hearts to wisedome and to well doing All things below wither and decay our best beauties are w◅ithed and wrinkled by time But the beautie of the Lord is of euerlasting continuance Let the beautie of the Lord our God bee vpon vs. O the beautie of the things aboue O the beautie of the Firmament O these azured Curtaines spangled with stars of light What jewels of joy are within no mortall tongue can tell Looke vp nowe Sir with the eye of your Faith and visite these heauenlie Mansions and blessed buildinges for immortaltiie Yee are shortlie for to change for the better So long as our sillie Soules are here they are but poore Soules reading and meditating the mercies of God within a cottage of clay hauing nothing to see with but the weak light of the small Candle of grace a light dimmed and darkened with the reekie smok of our sinfull corruptions But so soone as wee shall bee dissolued by Death we shall come to the euerlasting Beames of a Sunne which by nothing is able to bee ecclipsed alight which knoweth no darknesse euen that Light which bringeth light out of darknesse Now Sir vp with your heart saile out your course Be like the Pylot who while hee hath hand on the Helme hath his eye fixed on the heauen Take now the Cuppe of Saluation the great Mazer of his mercie and call vpon the Name of the Lord Hee is worthie to bee praised for his vnspeakable fauour toward you He in great mercy hath toward you turned all the sharpe corrasiues of the Law into most sweete cordials of the Gospel He hath now made you free of all these terrours whereinto yee found your selfe once lyable Oh Lord how did once the sharpe edge of thy Law laide to his mourning heart cutte him thorow the verie gall But blessed bee thou who in thy great mercie hast cut the Cartropes of his sinnes where with hee was once kept fast vnder the most heauie bondage of Hell What say yee now Sir How is it of all Haue yee heard all these words and laide them vp into your minde The sicke Man I haue heard them all that with great comfort now mine heart is in heauen Christ by the vertue of his vnualuable Blood-shed hath takē away the gall of my guiltines Now my bodie is wholly dead to its paine and my Soule is whollie aliue to its glorie I see a Crowne of immortalitie which my Soule would not sticke to fetch thorow the brimstone beames of hell My Soule seeth the face of its Redeemer Christ with a soft hand is now loosing all the bondes of my miserie His most sacred Blood hath melted my marble heart Nowe come Lord Iesus come Long haue I looked for thy Saluation Nowe let thy seruant depart in peace for mine eyes haue seene thy Saluation O my deare Soule I summond thee with all thy powers and faculties to
whomsoeuer if it bee without true Godlinesse is l◅k a faire woman wanting Discretion whom wise Solomō compareth to a jewel of go◅d in a Swynes snowte This all flesh will either subscriue or put their hand to the Pen in token of consent except these that look vpon such outward things with the vnhallowed eye of prophannesse But to leaue all particulars What is all the glorie of Nations If all their glorie and excellencie whatsoeuer were put in one Scale of the Ballence and Vanitie in the other Vanitie should weigh them downe Dauid in his time put them in the weights together after hee had well considered the matter hee gaue out sentence saying Surelie men of low degree are vanitie mē of high degree are a lye if they bee laid in the Ballance they are altogether lighter than Vanitie See howe Vanitie is too heauie a weight for men of low and high degree If ye would mak euen weight out of vanitie must bee sought that which Habakkuke calleth verie vanitie euen Solomons vanitie of vanities Put in that lightest vanitie into the one Scale and men of all degrees in the other then shall the tongue of the Ballance stand euen What then shall wee say of the glorie of all Nations It is well compared by the Prophet vnto the droppe of a Bucket and to the small dust of the Ballance To tell vs that no worldlie thing can be balast in Gods Ballance no more than the lightest dust can bee of weight into a Scale of mans Ballance which is most easilie blowne away with the least blast of breath Great is the vanitie of the greatest From the Throne the King himselfe must come downe by death for to goe sleepe in slyme To Gods God hath said Yee shall die like men Thus as yee see all earthlie Honour for which is so much strife debate all worldly pompe and glory which mē so hungerlie hunt after is but like dust driuen away with a pu◅t of breath Let men in Honour bee in his best estate Man in his best estate is altogether vanitie The whole course of mans life is but a Myne of miserie and a verie fardle of vanities That thereof which is most stable is but a flash and away Let Gods vine trees keepe their wine and his figges their sweetenesse and his Oliues their fatnesse but let the Brambles catch crownes This was the euent and issue of the Parliament of Trees at the crowning of their King Well is the man that may line and lurke Who knoweth the weight of Crownes the lodging of greatest Honours would neuer daine to desire them 3. RICHES Now let vs come to Riches what are they a swift vanitie which with winges flie away like an Eagle I compare the most parte of rich men vnto Spiders which spend their verie bowels in weeuing a web wherewith they may catch a flee What is all the glorie of Riches but like a feast in print all sortes of meat are there all sorts of wine are also there but onelie words lines There is nothing there indeede that can either flake the hunger o◅ quench the thi◅st of the wearied man no not after that hee hath laboured night and day might and maine to attaine contentment This world is rich in pr◅ffers but of petit performance Man for a space like a Shippe before the wind are rich laden may glide gladlie ouer the sea of this world with a full saile Hee may get Ladies sailing as wee say and that in a wonderfull quietnesse but a little after such calme Alcedonian dayes are past euen while he is swimming in his wealth blessing himselfe as who but hee vp getteth a tempest and downe commeth a blast beholde a little from the Shore in sight of the Hauen in the hight of his hopes and hee is tumbled head-long downe to the bottome of the Gulfe Let this bee a lesson vnto all not to say with Dauid in his prosperitie I shall neuer bee moued Shall this bee mans felicitie which daylie is in reuerence of Winde and Waue Pyrats and Perrels Certainlie it is none happinesse for man heere to haue this wicked world at will It is Gods custome to giue the fatnesse of the Earth to the men of this World These onlie be the things whereof they haue an assigned liferent vvith that rich man in the Gospel to whom Abraham after his death cryed downe Remember that in thy life-time thou receiuedst thy good things At Abrahams requeast GOD refused not to make Ismael vvealthie in this world Concerning Ismael said the Lord I haue heard thee Loe I haue blessed him and will make him fruitfull and will multiplie him exceedinglie Twelue Princes shall hee beget The bitter teates of prophane Esau were comforted with the fatnesse of the Earth with the dew of heauen from aboue Christ cast first the bagge vnto Iudas and after gaue him a sop for to lette the world know that neither money nor meate are sure tokens of Gods fauour The wicked men of this vvorld are content with such thinges because their heauen is vpon earth they haue their portion in this life As for the Godlie though with Iacob they haue but a staffe in their hand for to goe out the vvay they will bee content if so bee that GOD will giue them bread to eate and clothes to put on * Alas that vvee cannot consider that by such heaped vp treasures men often heape vp to themselues treasures of wrath against the day of wrath Happie they vvho lay vp in store for themselues a good foundation against the time to come that they may obtaine eternall life If vvee could with a fixed and sanctified eye behold all these things for which men doe vnder goe such paines by afflicting their Soules wee should easilie perceiue our earthlinesse vvhen vvee losse such things which we loue and who can keepe them it breaketh the verie heart of all our contentments What are all such thinges I pray you euen while most pleasinglie and plausiblie they are enjoyed to the full in the most fertile plaines of plentie pleasures of this vvorld These vvhose cuppe doeth ouerflow in vvhose coffers are wadges of Gold can best if they vvould declare the vanitie of such transitorie things they know vvith vvhat cumber they are conquered and vvith vvhat care they are kept Nay man keepeth not them but they keepe the minde of man in care Cura facit canos Care changeth haire A peeuish worldling is a warded Wretch entangled with golden fetters his Palace is but a prison of carking cares in scraping together hee taketh pleasure into paine before his end hee cannot perceiue his follie But still he gads by Sea by Land seeking vpon the Sea and vpon the Earth an heauenlie felicitie till at last frustrate of all his hopes hee falleth downe into the Graue with
a jumppe Thus as yee see such is the treason of our Treasures They come like deceitfull dreames and passe avvay like vanishing shadowes One lie things Spirituall haue a sure and lasting roote Alas in that our heart is least wherein it should be most and most in that wherin it should bee least Fooles that vvee are vvee all earne vvages to put into a bottomelesse bag Such vvages are often giuen in keeping to most vvorthlesse men as Iudas got the bagge to keepe Oh that mens hearts vvere fixed on the lasting Treasuâ—…es of immortalitie Oh that vvee could learne in time this sound Diuinitie that all that is vnder the circle of the Moone is but flatte vanitie and vexation of the Spirit of man vvhich continuallie vvanders vp and downe at randome seeking its felicitie in that where it is not to bee found Well is the man vvhose hearts desires are bounded and confined vvithin the secret compasse of contentment 4. BEAVTIE What is Beautie but as one faith vvell a colour and a temptation The colour fadeth the temptation â—…nareth Behold her who within these fourtie yeares seemed a perfection of Beautie a rauisher of eyes behold 〈◊〉 now in her fourescore vvith her vvrinkled cheekes and her glasseâ—… eyes and her rotten teeth and her stinking breath Behold and say with a sigh Fauour is deceitfull and Beautie is vanitie But she that feareth the Lord shall bee praised There is nothing more fadding than flesh and yet man will not consider vvhile his eye is quicke his lips rudie and his colour liuelie hee cannot think of changes neither by age nor sicknesse such a foolish conceite is bredde in the heart Out of such a Beautifull sleepe hee cannot be vvakned til God vvith a shout cause preach him to bee Grasse The voyce said cry The Prophet saide What shall I cry All flesh is grasse and the goodnesse thereof as the flower of the fielde The grasse withereth the flower faddeth because the Spirit of the Lord blaweth vpon it Surelie the people is grasse By this the Lords publicke Oyas all fleshlie beautie is cryed downe as beeing but a beguiling colour and a snairing temptation Fye on men and vvomens follie care for colour is but vanitie Heere is beautie vvithout fard Let the beautie of the Lord our God bee vpon vs All other beauty is lik an Almanack whose vse is but for a yeare It is but a baite for catching of vnstable Soules 5. PLEASVRE As for all the Pleasures vve reape in earthly things I compare them to fruites eaten before they bee ripe vvhich fiâ—…st set the teeth on edge and thereafter cause diuerse and deadlie diseases There is no pleasure heere without a Page of paine at its backe Our vveedes and our flowers growe vp together the best often is borne downe by the vvorst What I pray you are all the foolish pleasures of this world but as wee ordinarlie call them passe times Hath man so long a time to liue Or is his journey from Earth to Heauen so easie or so short that hee may haue leasure for pleasures and passe times Is mans short life so wealthie of time that it must be passed into passe-times Must wee not in end come to count reckoning for our euill and well spent houres Moreouer what are the most parte of all earthlie delights The most excellent are but noble miseries the fairest are but farded lik the face of Iezebel onely an out-side or outward scroofe of pleasure What I pray you are all carnall delights but the lymetwiges of the Deuill wherewith the sillie Soules of sinners are ensnared and entangled What shall I say more All the pleasures that are below may well be compared to a smokie fire in a fâ—…ostie day whereof the smoke is more hurtfull than the fire is helpefull All the joys which are heere are but reekie pleasures purchased with teares wher with the eyes of men are made bleared In laughing the heart will bee sorrowfull and the end of that mirth is heauinesse Worldlie pleasures but darkeneth the Reason deceiue the Senses Voluptates carnales sunt putida putrida both stinking and rotten Onelie the pleasures of Heauen are pure perfect and perpetuall All other thinges slide away like water 6. WISEDOME What is all the Wisedome of this World Scripture saith that it is but follie before God It may well bee compared to the Letters which Vriah carried against himselfe If it bee not sanctified it is in the bosome â—… message against the messenger Knowledge and pregnancie of Wit stored with all morall vertues without Gods feare are witnesse against the man himselfe in whom they are They will stand vp and testifie against him that hee vnderstood his Masters will and yet would not doe it Woe to that backe in hell whose heart on earth was full engrossed of worldlie witte Hee that knoweth his Masters will and doeth it not shall bee beaten with manie strips Away with that Soule whose vnderstanding is great swelled with knowledge but lamed in its practicall powers wherein is the working of the life of true Christianitie Many in this world are much counted of their naturall â—…it but wherin I pray you doe most men spend their wits and breake their braines Is it not to be great in this world In the meane time they are so spirituallie brutish that they care not what they bee oâ—… where they be in the world to come Such fooles are like Fishers that leaue mayne seas for to fish in shallow puddle As I beganne this point so I end it all naturall witte is branded with this that it is but follie before God Let your Soule disavow and disclaime it that yee may bee wise in God Gods wise man to worldlie wise is but a sillie Gods Foole. 7. CHILDREN As for Children their conception is with sicknesse ouer casting of heart Their birth is with paines like the paines of hell Their buâ—…iall is with teares after many a wearisome night Such pleasures are painefull pleasures Apples of So dome are rotten vvithin But let vs suppone that lik noble branches they liue and come to men yea to gray haires They are our Heires the end of all our painefull drudgery carefull conquests Though a man had conquered vnto them the whole vvorld hee must looke vpon his conquest with a sigh and say with the vvife Man As for him that commeth after mee who knoweth whether hee shall bee a wise man or a foole and yet he must bee master of all my labours Man may conquise Lands to his Children but Thrift and Wisedome cannot bee bought The most thriftie is often the father of the most for lorne What a vanitie is this Certainlie who vvould weigh well all the pleasures of Children with the paines past and the feares for time to come should find all the pleasures light