THREE HEAVENLY TREATISES VPON THE EIGHT Chapter to the Romanes Viz. 1 Heauen opened 2 The right way to eternall Glory 3 The Glorification of a Christian. VVherein the Counsaile of God concerning Mans saluation is so manifested that all men may see the Ancient of dayes the Iudge of the world in his generall Iustice Court absoluing the Christian from sinne and death Which is the first benefit wee haue by our Lord Iesus Christ. Come and see Written by Mr. William Cowper Minister of Gods word LONDON Printed by Thomas Snodham for William Firebrand and Iohn Budge and are to be sould at his shop at the great Southdoore of Paules 1609. TO THE MOST SAcred Christian truely Catholique and mightie Prince Iames King of great Britaine France and Ireland defender of the faith c. SIR The Apostle S. Paule that chosen vessell of God and his ambassadour sent forth into the world to bring in the house of Iapheth into the tents of Sem hauing in his peregrination vndertaken for preaching from Ierusalem vnto Illyricum seene the most pleasant parts of the world and in an extasie transported from earth into the third heauen seene also the pleasures of Paradise as one who knew both not by naked speculation but experience giues out his iudgement of both that the most excellent things of this world were but dung in respect of the Lord Iesus and that whatsoeuer pleasure on earth may delight the eye or eare they haue vnto others it shal be no small comfort vnto me and my greatest thankefulnesse shal be declared in my dayly prayers vnto the Lord God for your Maiestie that the name of Iacobs God may defend you from all euill and the Lord may send you helpe out of his Sanctuarie in all your need according as hee hath done O King beloued of God hated of none but for Gods sake keepe still your heart in the loue of God and his truth Reioyce in the strength of your God and feare not what flesh can doe vnto you Is it not the Lord who set your Highnesse on the throne to bee a feeder of his people Israel Is it not the Lord who hath deliuered your Maiestie from the contentions of the people and secret snares of your cursed enimies though the Archers grieued you hated you and shot at you were not the hands of your armes strengthened by the hands of the mightie God of Iacob Is it not the almightie who hath blessed your Maiesty with heauenly blessings from aboue with blessings of the depth that lyes beneath with blessings of the breast and wombe Sir let his liberall blessings wherewith the Lord your God hath preuented you be so many obligations binding your Highnesse to honour the Lord who hath honoured you Let his forepast manifold deliuerances be as so many confirmations that if your Maiestie rest in him and not in man he will still be a buckler vnto you Let Abaddon the King of the Locusts that Romish vsurper rage Vnto the Lord belongs the issues of death Can Balaam curse where God hath blessed yea can Sathan hurt the man who is hedged by the Lord Let the Ambassadours of new Babel more shamelesse than Sennacherib his Rabsache raile at good king Ezekiah ruling in Ierusalem the Lord hath yet a hooke for his nosethrils and a bridle for his lips Doe not the eyes of the Lord behold the whole earth to shew himself strong with them that are strong and of a perfect heart toward him Therefore feare not their feare but sanctifie the Lord God of hostes let him be your feare and hee shal be a Sanctuarie vnto your Maiestie Count it a part of your high glorie and no small matter of your Maiesties ioy that with Christ you beare this peece of his crosse that the rebukes of them who rebuke the Lord are fallen vpon you and trust still O King in the Lord and in the mercie of the most High and so your Maiestie shall neuer fall Long may your Highnesse liue and raigne ouer vs as a faithfull seruant to your God and a happie King of many blessings to your people Your Maiesties most humble Subiect and dayly Oratour William Cowper Minister at Perth works of God there is a difference and some of them more cleerely then others declares the glorie of God so it is also among his holy writs they breath all out one truth by a most sweet harmonie diuine enim lectiones ita sibi connectuntur tanqnam vna sit lectio quia omnes ex vno ore procedunt yet ye shall finde that in some of them the Lord commeth neere vnto vs as it were with the face of a man talking familiarly vnto vs in others againe hee mounts high aboue vs as it were with the wings of an Eagle And the Lord hath left it free to delight our selues most in those places of holy Scripture wherein for our estate we haue most edification and to seeke in this Apothecarie shop of that sweet Samaritan the Lord Iesus pharmaca morbo nostro conuenientia such medicines as are meet for our maladie Among all the bookes of the old Testament most frequent testimonies are brought by our blessed Sauiour and his holy Apostles out of the booke of the Psalmes Ierome called it a treasurie of all learning And among all the Epistles of the Apostles no meruaile this to the Romanes haue the first place not that it was first written but because aboue the rest it contayneth a most perfect compend of our Christian faith And this middle Chapter thereof hath in it an Abridgement of all these comforts and instructions one excepted which otherwise are dispersed throughout the whole Epistle and is so to call it a pleasant kâ—ot of the garden and Paradise of God and therefore shall it not be vnprofitable for vs by Gods grace to delight our selues for a while in it As to the connexion of this Chapter with the former wee are to know that it is a conclusion of the foregoing treatise of Iustification Wherein the Apostle summarilie collects the excellent state of a Christian iustified by faith in Christ Iesus declaring it to bee such that there is no condemnation to him that nothing were it neuer so euill is able to hurt him yea by the contrary that all things workes for the best vnto him And because there are onely two euils which grieue vs in this life to wit sinne that remaines in vs and affliction that followes vs in the following of Christ. Against both these the Apostle furnishes the iustified man with strong consolations Comforts against the remanents of sinne wee haue from the 1. verse to the 18. Comforts against our afflictions wee haue from the midst of the 18. verse to the 31. That this is the very purpose and order of the Apostle is euident out of his owne conclusion set downe from
and foresee their end for eyther that shall be fulfilled in them which Mâ—rdecay said to Ester who knowes if for this thou art come to the kingdome that by thee deliuerance may come to Gods people or else that which Moses in Gods name said to Pharaoh the oppressour of the Church in her adolescencie I haue set thee vp to declare my power because thou exaltest thy selfe against my people May wee not behold here how vnsure their standing is and how certaine their fall who when they are highest abuse their power most to hold the people of God lowest what else are they but obiects whom the Lord hath raised vp to declare his power and iustice vpon them If wee shall mark the course of the Lords proceeding euer since the beginning of the world wee shall finde a blessing following them whom he hath made instruments of good vnto his Church and that such againe haue not wanted their owne recompense of wrath who haue continued instruments of her trouble When the Lord concluded to bring his Church from Canaan to soiourne in Egypt hee sent such a famine in Canaan as compelled them to forsake it but made plentie in Egypt by the hand of Ioseph whom the Lord had sent before as a prouisor for his Church and by whom Pharaoh was made fauourable to Iacob but when the time came that the Lord was to translate his Church from Egypt to Canaan then hee altered Pharaohs countenance and raised vp a new King who knew not Ioseph hee turned the Egyptians hearts away from Israell so that they vexed Israell and made them to serue by crueltie Thus when the Lord will bring them to Egypt hee maketh Pharaoh fauourable which also brings a blessing vpon Pharaoh and his people but when the Lord vvill haue them to goe out of Egipt hee maketh another Pharaoh an enimie vnto them whereby both they are made willing to forsake Egypt and Pharaoh prepares the way for a fearefull iudgement on himselfe and his people Againe when the sinnes of Israell came to that ripenes that their time was come and their day drew neere the Lord stirred vp the King of Babell as the rod of his wrath and staffe of his indignation He sent him to the dissembling nation and gaue him a charge against the people of his wrath to take the spayle and the pray and to tread them vnder feete like mire in the streets and to this effect that the Lord might be auenged of the sinnes of Israell he subdued all the kingdomes round about them vnder the King of Babell that no stoppe nor impediment should be in the way to hold back the rodde of Ashur from Israell But yet againe when the Lord had accomplished all his worke vpon Israell and the time of mercy was come and the seauentie yeares of captiuitie expired then the Lord visited the proud heart of the King of Ashur and for his Churches sake he altered againe the gouernement of the whole earth translating the Empyre to the Medes and Persians that so Cyrus the Lords annoynted might performe to his people the promised deliuerance All which should learne vs in the greatest changes and alterations that fall out in the world to rest assured that the Lord will worke for the good of his Church though the earth should be moued and the mountaines fall into the middest of the sea yea though the waters thereof rage and be troubled yet there is a riuer whose streames shall make glad the cittie of our God in the middest of it yea if they who should be the nourishng Fathers of the Church forsake her and become her enimies they shall assuredly perish but comfort and deliuerance shall appeare vnto Gods people out of another place The Lord for a while may put the brydle of bondage in the Philistims hand to humble Israell for their sinnes but it shall be taken from them at length his Church shall with ioy draw water out of the Well of saluation and prayse the Lord saying though thou wert angry with mee thy wrath is turned away and thou comfortest mee yea Sion shall cry out and shout for ioy for great is the holy One of Israell in the middest of her And therefore in our lowest humiliations let vs answere our enimies Reioyce not against me O mine enimie though I fall I shall rise when I shall sit in darkenesse the Lord is a light vnto mee I will beare the wrath of the Lord because I haue sinned against him vntill hee plead my cause and execute iudgement for me he will bring me forth to the light and I shall see his righteousnesse then hee that is mine enimie shall looke vpon it and shame shall couer him who said to mee where is the Lord thy God now shall hee be trodden vnder as the mire in the streets yea so let all thine enimies perish O Lord. For the best This good or best is no other thing but that precious saluation prepared to be shewed in the last time reserued in the heauens for vs and whereunto wee are reserued by the power of God through Faith Of this it is euident that our best is not yet wrought it is onely in the vvorking and therefore vvee are not to looke for it in this life There is a great difference in this betweene the Godly and the wicked the one enioyes their best in this life the other not so but looketh for it If if should be demaunded when a wicked man is at his best I would answere his best is euill enough but then is bee at his best when hee comes first into the world for then his sinnes are fewest his iudgement easiest it had beene good for him that the knees had not preuented him but that hee had dyed in the birth For as a riuer which is smallest at the beginning increases as it proceedes by the accession of other waters vnto it so the wicked the longer he liueth waxeth worse and worse deceiuing and being deceiued proceeding from euill to worse till at length hee be swallowed vp in that lake that burnes with fire and brimstone And this the Apostle expresseth most significantly when hee compaâ—es the wicked man vnto one gathering a treasure wherein hee heapeth vp wrath vnto himselfe against the day of wrath for euen as the worldling who euery day casteth a piece of money into his treasure in few yeares multiplyes such a summe that hee himselfe is not able to keepe in minde the particulars thereof but when hee breaketh vp his boxe hee finds in it sundry sorts of coyne which were quite out of his remembrance Euen so it is and worse with thee O impenitent man who not onely euery day but euery houre and moment of the day doest multiply thy transgressions and defile thy conscience by hoording vp into it some dead worke or other to what a reckoning thinkest thou shall thy sinnes amount in the end though thou doest
our heauenly Father may be glorified though workes can be no merits yet are they your witnesses and what haue yee done to remaine when yee are dead as witnesses of your loue toward the Lord Though your goodnesse extend not to the Lord yet where is your delight that should be on his Saints and excellent ones vpon earth where is your compassion and loue toward the brethren are not the men of this age like vnto that fig-tree which had faire leaues but not so much as one figge to giue vnto Iesus in his hunger hauing the shew of godlinesse but haue denyed the power therof yeelding words inough but no fruits to adorne the glorious Gospell of our Lord Iesus Of these and many moe if wee might insist in them it is manifest that all haue not the loue of God in their hearts who this day pretend it The last tryall of Loue which novv we bring is readinesse to suffer affliction for the cause of God The Apostles being beaten for preaching in the name of Iesus instead of mourning departed reioycing that they were counted worthy to suffer for Christs sake and all because they loued him For the loue of Rahel seauen yeeres of hard seruitude seemed vnto Iacob but a short space For the loue of Dinah Sichem willingly sustayned the circumcision and cutting of his flesh much more to him in whose heart abounds the loue of the Lord vvill bitter things become sweet and hard things easie This Loue hath made the holy Martyres step out of their owne element into the fire with greater ioy and willingnesse then worldlings haue when they fit downe to their banquetting tables to refresh them or lyes downe in their beds to rest them The Apostle who suffered all sorts of affliction for the Gospell giues this for a reason that the loue of Iesus constrayned him Thus much concerning the effects of holy loue by which we are to make sure our calling and consequently our election for our euerlasting comfort Euenâ—toâ—them that are called according to his purpose Hitherto the Apostle hath summarily set downe his third principall argument of comfort and now in the end of this verse he shortly breakes vp the confirmation thereof which is this they who loue God are called according to his purpose therefore all things must work for the best vnto them The necessitie of this reason shall appeare if we consider that the Lord cannot be frustrated of his end Those whom the Lord in his immutable purpose hath ordayned to glory and whom according to that purpose he hath called in time how can it be but all things must worke vnto their good for the working prouidence of God which is the executer of his purpose doth so ouer-rule all incidents which fall out in the world and doth so gouerne all secondary and inferiour causes that of necessitie they are directed to that end whereunto the supreame cause of all to wit the purpose and will of God hath ordayned them This is shortly set downe in these words and more largely explaned in the two verses following It is the last reason of comfort and the highest for now the Apostle leades vs out of our selues and sets vs vpon that rocke which is higher than wee hee carries vs by the hand as it were out of the earth vp into heauen and lets vs see how our saluation is so grounded in Gods eternall purpose that no accident in the world can change it We haue here then three things euery one of them depening vpon another the loue of God flowing from the calling of God and the calling of God comming from the purpose of God vnto which the Apostle here drawes vs that vve casting our anchor within the vaile and resting in the Lords immutable purpose may haue comfort in all our present tentations It is most expedient for the godly to marke this that our manifold changes doe not interrupt our peace let vs consider that the Lord hath in such sort dispensed our saluation that the ground thereof is laid in his owne immutable purpose but the markes and tokens thereof are placed in vs after our calling the markes and tokens are changeable like a wee our selues in whom they are are changeable but the ground holds fast being laid in that vnchangeable God in whom falles no shadow of alteration I am God and am not changed My sheepe none can take out of my hand The counsell of the Lord shall stand and his foundation remaines sure It is true that the tokens of election cannot be fully taken away from any that is effectually called nay not in the greatest desertion yet haue they in vs their owne intention and remission And this should comfort vs against our daily vicissitudes and changes when wee feele that our Faith doth faint our life languishes our hope houers and we are like to sincke in the tentation with Peter and our feeble hands fall downe with Moses yet let vs not dispaire no change in vs can alter Gods vnchangeable purpose he who hath begunne the worke in vs will also perfect it Because I am not changed saith the Lord therefore is it that yee O sonnes of Iacob are not consumed This purpose of God is called otherwise the will of God and the good pleasure of his Will In that the Apostle saith our calling is according to his purpose it teacheth vs to ascribe the whole praise of our saluation to the good pleasure of his will and not to our owne foreseene merits That poyson of pride which Sathan poured into our first parents and by which they aspyred to be equall with God doth yet breake forth in their posteritie the corrupt heart of man euer ayming at this to seeke vnto himselfe either in part or in whole the power and praise of his own saluation This is to start vp into the roome of God and to vsurpe that glory which belongs to the Lord and he will not giue to any other than the which no greater sacriledge can be committed against the Lord. O man content thee with that which the Lord offers thee and let that alone which hee reserues vnto himselfe My peace saith the Lord I giue to you my glory I will not giue to any other The first Preachers of the Gospell were Angels they proclaymed glory and peace but glory they gaue to God which is on high and peace they cryed to the children of his good will which are vpon earth It is inough that peace and saluation is giuen to be thine but as for the glory of saluation let it remain to the Lord. Hee is for this called the father of mercy because mercy bred in his owne bosome Hee hath found many causes without himselfe mouing him to execute iustice but a cause mouing him to shew mercie hee neuer found but the good pleasure of his will therefore the Apostle saith the Lord hath called vs with an holy calling not according to
stand at the right hand of Iesus and heare that fearfull condemnation of the wicked Depart from mee c. when vvee shall see the earth open and swallow them then shall wee reioyce and prayse the mercy of our God O happie time wherein the Lord sent his messengers among vs to call vs from the fellowship of the damned There is no difference by nature betweene the Elect and reprobate neyther in inward nor outward disposition till God make it by grace Paul as bloudy a persecuter as euer was Domitian or Iulian. Zacheus as vnconscionable and couetous a Worldling as was that rich Glutton damned to hell The elect and reprobate men before Grace make a difference are like two men walking in one iourney with one minde and one heart like Eliah and Elisha walking and talking together when a chariot of fire did incontinent seperate them and Eliah is taken vp into heauen Elisha left vpon the earth not vnlike is it when the vnlooked for calling of God commeth and seperateth those two who before were walking together yea running in the same excesse of ryot the one changing the course of his life returneth back againe to the Lord from whom hee had stollen whereas the other not touched with the same Calling meruailes that his former companion hath forsaken him and walketh still on stubbornely in the former course of his sinnes to his condemnation Apply this vnto your selues and see whether this effectuall Calling hath seperated you in your conuersation from the wicked or not an euident argument that ye shall be seperated from them in their condemnation Blessed is hee that walketh not in the counsell of the wicked nor stands in the way of sinners nor sits in the seat of the scornfull And if wee finde after tryall that the Lord hath called vs then should wee alway shew forth his prayses who hath translated vs from darknesse into his meruailous light The Lord shewed a great mercy to Israell when he deliuered them out of the house of bondage he set the remembrance of that benefit in the forefront of his law as a bond euer oblieging them vnto thankfulnesse but their bondage was not so horrible as ours Pharaoh oppressed their bodies and compelled them to worke in bricke and clay yet their spirits were free to sigh and cry to God for the bondage but here so long as we were the slaues of Sathan he compelled vs to worke the abhominable workes of darknesse and vncleannesse and therewithall did so captiue our spirits that we could not so much as cry and sigh vnto God for the bondage and therefore our deliuerance should neuer goe out of our remembrance and our hearts and mouthes should euer be filled with the prayses of our redeemer when we think of this yeere of Iubilie wherin he hath opened the doore of the prison and set vs at libertie as the freemen of God who were the captiued and bond slaues of Sathan The author of this calling is the Lord euen hee who calles things which are not and makes them to be Caâ—ling is a new creation and the first resurâ—ection The Lord that commanded light to shine out of darkenes is he who hath giuen to our mindes the light of the knowledge of his glory in the face of Iesus Christ. It is he who creates in vs a new hart and puts in our bowels a new spirit that we may walk in his statutes As man when hee was not could not helpe to create himselfe and Lazarus when he was dead helped not to raise himselfe so a stranger from Grace helpes not to call himselfe to the fellowship of Grace the Lord who makes the barraine wombe a mother of many children makes also the barraine hart to be fruitfull The praise of our calling belongs to the Lord onely Nemo dicat idâ—o me vocauit quia colâ—i Deum quomodo coluisses si vocatus non fuisses let no man say therefore hath God called me because I worshipped him for thou couldst not haue worshipped him vnlesse he had called thee The calling of God findes euery man either vainely or wickedly exercised When God called Paul to be a Preacher he found him a persecuter when he called Matthew he found him sitting at the receipt of custome when he called Peter and Andrew they were mending their nets no such minde had they as to be fishers of men As Saul was seeking his Fathers Asses when Samuel came to call him to the kingdome and as Rebecca had no errand to the well but to water her fathers goods when Eliezer came to seeke her in marriage vnto Isaac so if wee doe enquire at our owne consciences how we were exercised when God called vs we shall finde our harts were set vpon the trifling things of this world and that we had no minde of his kingdome let the praise therefore of our calling berâ—sâ—rued to the Lord onely As this worke of calling is the Lords onely so hee extends it to none but vnto those who are chosen it makes a perticular seperation of a few from the remanant and doth so distinguish betweene man and man in all ranckes and estates that of two brethren as Iacob and Esau of two Prophets as Moses and Balaam of two Kings as Dauid and Saul of two Apostles as Peter and Iudas of two theeues the one is taken the other is reiected The first distinction betweene man and man was in Gods eternall counsell and this is secret the last distinction will be in that last day wherein the one shall stand at the right hand of Iesus the other at the left and that shall be manifest the middle distinction is presently made by this calling of God his Gospell is the arme of his Grace being extended sometime to one corner of the world sometime to another according to his owne dispensation to seuer out his owne from among the remanent of the world Whereof it comes to passe that this sauing grace of the Gospell enters into a land but not into euery Cittie it enters into a Cittie and not into euery familie it enters into a familie but comes not on euery person of the familie Of Husband and Wife of Maisters and Seruants of Parents and Children of Brethren and Sisters the one is taken the other reiected It came to Iericho and chose out Zacheus it came to Philippi and chose out Lydia and the Iaylour it entred at Rome into the Court of Nero but lighted not vpon Nero it entred into the Familie of Narcissus but not into the heart of Narcissus As the Lord so gouernes the cloudes that he makes them raine vpon one Cittie and not vpon another so doth hee dispense the dew of his grace that he makes it drop vpon one hart not vpon another The Gospell is preached to many but the blessing that comes by the Gospell abides onely vpon the children of peace Let euery one among you see to himselfe this preaching of the Gospell
onely iustifies I doe but point out the proper action of Faith but doe not therefore seperate it from Hope and Loue. So farre iniurious are the aduersaryes of the truth vnto vs when they accuse vs for maintayning a Faith which is without Hope and doth not worke by Loue which we neuer affirmed Of this now it is euident that the Hope of a Christian must be very strong seeing it sustaines him in trouble it is a pillar that sustaynes the whole building and a most sure anchor which being fastened vpon the rocke Christ Iesus holds vs so fast that we who are weake vessels tost too and fro with restles tribulations cannot be ouercome it leanes vpon most certaine warrants whereof now we vvill onely consider a few The first warrant of our hope is the word of God whereof novv onely vve vvill touch these two comfort able places The Apostle saith there is reserued for vs in heauen an immortall inheritance vnto the which wee also are kept by But hope that is seene is not hope The Apostle to confirme his reason subioynes a short description of the nature of hope that it is of things which are to come and not yet seene for that which is present and a man seeth he cannot bee said to hope for it yea then shall hope cease when we shall enioy that which we hope for Spes tunc non erit quando erit res In the first of these words Hope is put for the thing Hope in the second for the vertue of Hope it selfe and thus much of Hope Verse 25. But if wee hope for that which we see not wee doe with patience abide for it THe Apostle here concludes not onely this his last purpose wherein hee hath taught vs that the very nature of hope leades vs to looke for some better thing which is to come but also he concludes his first principall argument of comfort making this to bee the end of all that it becomes vs with patience to abide our promised deliuerance And albeit for memories sake wee haue reduced all that hee hath spoken into one principall argument yet may wee see how vnder this one many particular reasons are heaped vp together tending all to this one conclusion that we should abide it with petience First wee haue heard that the nature of our sufferings are so changed that they are now made sufferings with Christ. Secondly that the end of them is to be glorified with Christ. Thirdly that the glory to come doth farre exceede in waight and eternitie our present sufferings Fourthly that the creatures haue a feruent desire of the reuelation of that glory Fiftly that they also who haue receiued the first fruites of the Spirit are wearie of their present misery and waite for ther edemption to come And last that in all our troubles wee are saued and sustained with the hope of that which is to come and not with a present possession of that which wee would haue In all these respects it becomes vs not onely to be of good comfort for the present but also patiently to looke for a better The Apostle brings in his conclusion vpon his last argument but we are to consider that it hath an eye vnto all that goes before and that euery one of those reasons aforesaide serueth to strengthen this conclusion that if wee hope for that which is to come then will we with patience abide for it We haue first to marke a difference betweene the Christian and the Worldling the Worldling hath his affection on things which are seene hee cannot mount aboue them hee hath receiued his consolation on earth his portion is here and he possesseth his best things in this present life It is farre otherwise with the Christian for in his affection he transcends euery thing which is subiect to sense hee is not now a possessor but an expectant by hope of his best things hee hath them not in re but in spe therefore may he say to the Worldling as our Sauiour saide to his Kinsmen your times is alway but my time is not yet come The Christian is that good husbandman who hath more comfort in that seed which he hath sowen and couered with earth that he seeth it not than he hath in that which he sees lying before his eyes in the barne for hee knowes that the one at the last shall render him manifold greater encrease than the other It is not an vnpleasant Allegorie which Augustine makes vpon these words of our blessed Sauiour If a Some aske bread of any of you that is a Father will he giue him a stone or if hee aske a fish will he giue him a Serpent or if hee aske an egge will he giue him a Scorpion The Lord Iesus being the highest Doctor that euer taught doth teach in the lowest applying himselfe to our capacitie by homely similitudes of earthly things hee labours to bring vs in all his doctrine to the knowledge of things heauenly I know that the end of these parables is to confirme vs in this assurance that if we seeke good things from the Lord we shall obtaine them day of death vvhich vvill be to thee a day of darknesse and dolefull displeasure which shall swallovv vp with one gape not onely the sense but also the remembrance of all thy former delights Where then are your pleasures O worldlings vvherein yee reioyce present pleasures yee haue not those vvhich are past are vaine and comforts you not and those which are to come are vncertaine in the smallest things how oft are ye deceiued yee looke for a faire day and a foule comes vpon you ye looke for continuance of health and sicknes vnawares seases vpon you yee comfort your selues vvith the hope of a good successe of your affaires and an euill successe ouerturnes incontinent all the counsels of your hart thus the good for which yee looke to come in your owne experience you finde it deceiues you Call not therefore any more vpon vs to follow you and to drinke with you of your perishing pleasures wee haue had a proofe of yours and found them to bee vanitie but if yee will come and take a proofe of ours will you taste of those delicates vvhereunto God hath called vs will you eate of the fruit that growes vpon the tree of life discouered by the Gospell vnder the shadow whereof vve delight to sit righteousnes shall breed you peace and peace shall breed you ioy in the holy Ghost and these shall in such sort delight you that in regard of them your soule shall loath all your former vaine pleasures vvherein you delighted before Of this we may see further that as Faith procreates hope so hope procreates Patience so that the want of Patience in trouble bewrayes the want of Hope What made Saul who in his first beginning draue Witches out of the land in his latter end to make his refuge to them surely