desire is not true grace Object You will say men come to Church they pray they come to the Sacraments for grace they professe they would have grace and will you say that they doe not desire it Answ I answer with Solomon The soule of the sluggard desireth and hath nothing but the soule of the diligent shall be made fat As it is with a sluggish man that desires his ground should be tilled but yet will take no paines to plough it who desires that his busines should goe forward that hee might have the harvest yet will not be at the cost and charges needfull for it he may wish and desire a harvest but shall have nothing So the soule of a sluggish Christian of a lukewarme professor desires faith and repentance but gets neither but the soule of a diligent Christian shall have enough to justifie him grace enough eternally to save him But the soule of a carnall Christian desires faith but gets but a lazie faith a faith that will not justifie him a leane or perhaps a lazie repentance that will not save him a dead performance and profession together Rom. 11. 7. Israel saith the Apostle hath not obtained that which he sought for but the Election hath obtained it first carnall Israel sought for the promises of Christ but they got it not but the Election hath obtained it Object 2 O but our Saviour saith Seeke and yee shall finde Answ 2 I answere true if you seeke well this word is of few letters but of great force it is the very forme of all Arts for Rhetoricke is the Art of pleading well and Logicke of disputing well so is Divinity the Art of seeking well of living well it is nothing to desire grace unlesse you seeke it well the truth is a wicked man desires not true grace but something that seemes to him to bee true grace Now suppose a man were sicke and five pills would cure him he thinketh foure will doe it and therefore neglects the fifth and dyes for want of it So a man having his conscience convinced from the Word of God that unlesse hee have such and such faith such and such graces of the spirit of God such knowledge such holinesse he shall be damned Hee thinkes if I can bee but thus and thus if I can doe but thus much I shall bee saved whereupon hee will heare the Word of God he will pray he will keepe the Sabbath give over this and that sinne leave his drunkennesse his swearing and yet when all comes to all he goes to hell Why because true grace which was commanded and which he should have had hee accounted and called Puritanisme and precisnesse and rejected as a superfluous thing hee thinkes if he can attaine to such a pitch as to live justly and quietly and to be well governed and to follow his particular calling and keepe the Church and performe some good duties though he bee not zealous for God nor in the worship of God will not endure reproach for Christ and for his strict profession Such a one shall be damned though he have all the grace he lookes for A crimson shooe cannot cure the Goute so fine comelinesse of carriage in a naturall man cannot heale the infection and poyson of corrupt nature An Asse is an Asse still though he be never so well trapped so a naturall man is a naturall man still though never so well qualified Hath he love hath hee knowledge meekenesse gentlenesse and a kind of humility and liberality comes hee to the Church heares the Word receives the Sacraments yet unlesse he be mortified and converted changed and renewed by the Spirit of God it is impossible he should bee saved Tit. 2. 11. 12. The grace of God which bringeth Salvation hath appeared unto all men and teacheth us that we should deny ungodlines c. as if the Apostle would give us to understand that there is a grace that bringeth not Salvation but that which bringeth Salvation teacheth us to deny all ungodlinesse and worldly lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world if then that grace thou desirest and hast attained to teach not thee to cast away all sinfull corruptions and doe not make thee live holily it cannot bring thee to heaven This grace which saith the Apostle teacheth us to deny ungodly lusts as if he had sayd I know it hath appeared to all all the world hath it offered to them it hath appeared to them but they will not learne of it to deny ungodlinesse worldly lusts and therefore in stead of Salvation it bringeth damnation to them but it teacheth us and brings Salvation to us But now because men are apt to say every one boasting that they desire grace therefore for the third Use Vse 3 Come examine thy selfe or thy soule and we will lay it bare before the Lord that if thou hast grace thou mayst know of it if not thou mayest bee convinced of it and so perswaded in time to seeke truely for it Now if thou hast a true desire of grace than it purifieth the conscience from all dead workes If thy Conscience now tell thee that thou hast any sinne and corruption that thou art not willing to lay off it is an evident demonstration that thou hast no true desire of grace A man that hath his hands full of base luggage if a pearle should bee at his feete unlesse he empty his hands hee cannot take it up and therefore if he will not cast away that base stuffe we would say hee hath no minde to the Pearle Now thy hands and thy heart are full of corruptiō so that though grace lye even at thy feete yet thou canst not receive it up unlesse thou empty thy hands and thy heart Mark 1 1. Wherefore if there be any lust though never so deare any bosome sinne which thou wilt not part with it is an evident signe that thou hast not a true desire of grace Heb. 3. 18. Willingnesse and desire to live honestly and a good conscience are joyned together noting that so a man cannot have a desire to live piously according to Gods will but hee must have a good conscience in all things If then thy conscience tell thee that thou wilt sweare now and then thou wilt tell a lye upon occasion and bee scandalous to others now and then and wilt reserve some passage for thy lusts know that thou canst not thou dost not desire grace For true grace animates the soule to lay off all hinderances of the grace desired Mark 2 2. It is a vehement desire if true a lukewarme desire is not true desire As a man hath a desire to a peece of cloth and goes to the Drapers shop to buy it he judgeth it to bee worth twenty or forty shillings now if the Draper should hold it at three or foure pound he scornes the motion and slings away with detestation of it he desired it but his desire was stinted upon such
want of it Secondly insatiable without meate nothing can satisfie him but meate though hee had all the wealth in the world yet he could not bee satisfied without meate So it is in the true desire of grace fetch one all the gold of Ophir all the honours pleasures of the earth all contents under heaven cannot satisfie him but grace hee must have grace no content in any thing else but grace grace 3d. A hunger is irrepulsable it will beare no repulse of cost when it will afford to give large sums for meane food nor of paines as appeareth by the woman that went five miles in the famine for food it will beare no repulse for were a man a Lord it would make him beg rather than withstand it So the true desire of grace is irrepulsable who so truely desires it and cannot get it he wil not let God alone nor suffer him to rest but begs crys for it oh he could bee content to give all he hath for it and if any thing in himself hinder he will willingly cast it off he will goe through thicke and thin he will endure any contempt any disgrace for it If he suffer any disgrace any reproach for grace he glorieth and rejoyceth in it Fourthly hunger is humble it is not choyce in its meate if it cannot have pleasants and dainties it will be content with Farmers food yea any thing Pigeons dung will be good food so hee that truely desires grace is of an humble heart he can be content to welcome childrens crummes and account it preferment to sit with Christ his dogges though with Pauls Widdow they wash the Saints feete though with David they be doore-keepers in Gods house yet so they may have grace they care not though the whole world trample upon them though they bee accounted the off-scowring of all things Secondly It is a supernaturall appetite and that to distinguish from a naturall which naturall men have and yet hate grace Every man naturally hath a care of his owne preservation wherefore seeing hee cannot bee saved but must eternally perish in hell without grace he will desire it as a man may give way to cutting off of his arme or legge rather than his whole body should perish though he hate the cutting off of those members yet seeing an unavoydable necessity that otherwise he must dye or the like he doth willingly desire it So the foolish Virgins Mat. 25. desired Oyle in their Lampes not because they loved light for their deedes were full of darkenesse but they saw they should be shut out of heaven and cast into Hell without it As a dogge that desires to vomit not because hee hates the meate for afterwards he lickes up his vomit againe but because something troubled his stomach So many a man vomits out his lust gives over his drunkennesse whordome pride malice and many other sinnes because they trouble his conscience and hee is evidently convinced that he must goe to hell if he live in them but when his conscience is quiet againe and the pinch over he doth willingly yeeld himselfe to all his former lusts Some have shewed from that place 1 Pet. 1. vers. 12. that the very devills have desired the knowledge of the redemption by Christ though others be of judgement that it is not the meaning of the Apostle in that place yet certainely it is a truth for hell were no hell if damned men and damned devils did not desire to escape it but this is not the desire of grace it is a super-naturall appetite Thirdly it is an appetite or desire after grace not had the love of grace is a good thing whether had or no delight is in good when had desire is in good though not had a good though wee attaine it not nor possesse it yet we love it because wee judge and see it to bee good or to have goodnesse in it and therefore we finde wee delight in it when wee have it and in the want of it we desire to have it A man may desire good that he hath but then it is imperfectly had which may be two wayes First in regard of the haver of it or person having it by reason of some incapability in him of not receiving it grace is a whole thing so is faith repentance love zeal c. they are whole and intire graces which goe together but because we see how good they are therefore wee desire them in a high degree that desire is of grace not had it is plaine Esa. 55. 1. Secondly in regard of the thing had which cannot be had but successively as a Sermon cannot be delivered all in a word but something must succeede wherefore if there be any goodnesse in a people seeing and hearing the goodnesse of one part they will desire the other Fourthly for the goodnesse of it or that is in it a wicked man may desire grace for some other reason but never for the goodnesse of it a swine may desire to be raking in the dung-hill where there is a pearle but it is not for the pearle but for the mucke that is there So as long as the Gospell and plenty goe together the Gospell and Father and Mother and Wife and Lands and houses and life goe together so long they will heare the Gospell and seeme to love it but when the Gospell and these things part then they and the Gospell part also But the true desire of grace is for the goodnesse that is in it Balaam could desire even the very heart of a righteous man but it was when he should be dying for he saw that if he had it there was hope of heaven and salvation but otherwise he must downe to hel But this desire is nothing Now that the true desire of grace is not in a wicked man is cleare from Esay 53. 2. where the Prophet speaking of Christ who is the fountaine of all grace saith thus There is no forme nor comelines and when we shall see him there is no beauty in him that we should desire him this is meant of the body of Christ for as the learned have writ Christ had all parts in the perfection of a body and of his soule for it was replenished with all Divine graces In him dwelleth the fulnesse of the Godhead bodily and therefore there was beauty enough in him to have ravished all Angels yea all the world and ten thousand more if there were so many But men in their naturall estate see not this we that are carnall wee that are sinfull we that are in our sinnes wee that are not truely changed nor renewed in our mindes we see no beauty in him that we should desire him unlesse hee will bring gold and silver Hawkes and Hounds Cards Dice if he would bring these then we should see some beauty in him but if he bring nothing but weeping and mourning and repentance the strictnesse and precisenesse mortifying and crucifying their earthly members there
much more when nature is itsin ful power and force where there is no thing else Put meate into a dead mans mouth and there is no absolute resistance The childe of God is like a sick man troubled with ill humors diseases he hath true desire of grace yet weake and low not raysed to that height and power which they shall be when they are perfectly recovered Therefore the Apostle exhorts the people of God 1 Thes. 5. 19. Quench not the Spirit because even in them there are some lusts and corruptions springing out of the heart which will be ready to put out the fire of grace Vse 1 This is for comfort for all poore broken hearts in whom God hath ingendred the true desire of grace let such know that the first step to grace to see they have no grace and the first degree of grace is the desire of grace it is not with the body as with the soule if you will be healed you shall be healed a man may desire to be healed corporally and yet his disease continue upon him but it is not so with the soule if thou wilt say Christ heale me thou shalt be made whole If a man have but the true desire of grace it shall be given him Psal. 10. 17. Lord thou hast heard the desire of the humble when the poore soule is humbled before God in the sense of the want of grace and breathes and desires after it the Lord will grant such desires So Psal. 145. 14. He will fulfill the desires of them that feare him hee also will heare their cry and will helpe them One said the greatest part of Christianity is to desire to be a Christian And another sayd the totall summe of a mans Religion in this life consists in the true desires of saving grace This was the perfection that Saint Paul attained unto Rom. 7. 18. To will is present with me but I finde no meanes how to performe that which is good Saint Paul wee know was the childe of God and one dearely beloved of God yet there was the pitch of his godlinesse it consisted more in desire than in accomplishment Canst thou approve by evident and sound arguments that thou hast the true desires of grace then know for thy comfort that the Lords spirit of grace hath beene moving and stirring in thee Philip 2. 13. It is God that worketh in you both the will and the deed and that of his good pleasure not onely of his bounty from whence hee hath bestowed many graces even upon such as hee will damne afterwards for their accursed abuse of them with the neglect of the power thereof But if God have set thy will and the streame of thy affections and desires to himselfe and to grace if but thy will yet it is Gods good pleasure from which he did at first elect thee and gave his sonne to redeeme thee As it is with sinne so it is with grace in this The desire of murther is murther the desire of adultery is adultery the desire to steale is theft So it is with grace the desire of faith is faith the desire of repentance is repentance but thou wilt say What good is it to desire to beleeve and not to beleeve to desire to repent and not to repent the desire to have an humble heart and a broken heart and yet not to have the heart humble and broken I answer he that hath the true desire of grace hath the greatest part of grace Suppose a man should be scraping and raking and grinding the face of the poore to hoard up a great deale of treasure and riches to himselfe which I pray you is the greatest part of his covetousnesse the laying up of the money or his greedy desires and oppressions surely I judge his covetous desires and oppressions For any even a childe of God may lay up and gather Riches when it pleaseth God to cast them upon him so that it is not the having of Riches but the coveting of them that proves a man to bee a covetous man For not onely great Usurers and oppressing Landlords are covetous worldlings for I tell thee covetousnesse may be in a begger and under thy leather coate if thy minde be running after the world thou that art never at quiet but thy heart thy head thy hand and all is taken up after it whether thou accomplish thy covetous lusts or no yet thou art one of those covetous persons spoken of in 1 Cor. 6. 10. Suppose a man should attaine to a great measure of grace that hee is marvellously humble marvelously zealous marvellously holy and strict in all the wayes of God I would know which is the greatest part of his grace I suppose his strong and vehement desire Secondly set it forth by a similitude suppose a man should bee in a great straite that all his goods were to bee confiscated unto the King now an execution is ready to seise upon them unlesse speedily he make them over to some friend who will keepe them for him it may be his friend is an hundred miles from him so that by no meanes hee can come to him now hee thinkes Oh that I had such a friend whom if I could but come at I would cast my whole estate upon him and repose much trust in him So the soule that apprehendeth the wrath of God and the curse of the Law ready to seise on it for damnation it would faine goe to Christ but hee cannot tell how the sense of his vilenesse keepes him off oh he would bee glad to leave and cast away all his lusts and dearest sinnes and take up the crosse of Christ and if hee could but reach Christ oh then he would thinke himselfe safe he would lay all upon him his very soule and Salvation Certainely this man hath true faith in Christ for a man would trust him well before hee would cast his whole estate upon him There is an excellent place for this in Hag. 2. 6 7 8. I will shake all Nations and the desires of all Nations shall come where are three things First it s a marveilous instinct of the Spirit of God whereby hee shakes all the children he hath in the world humbling their soules and terrifying their consciences upon the sight of their sinnes and they stand in the casts off cast-awayes Secondly their desire of Christ Thirdly The desire of all Nations shall come that is Christ shall come where observe that Christ is not called the assurance but the desire of all Nations because that there is no child of God but doth truely desire Christ though many bee his who have not the assurance of it never did any man desire to eate which had not eaten before so I desire to beleeve comes from I doe beleeve Let then none be troubled and feare and complaine for the want of faith for true desire springs from faith as the roote of it Vse 2 Hence wee may see that grace which wicked men
a condition at such a price above which hee loatheth it This is the reason why the Mininisters of Christ are so unwelcome to men and their Ministery too Because they would bring men beyond the price which they would bid for Christ and grace they would willingly have Christ have faith have heaven but they are loath to take so much paines to bee at so much cost as they must be at if they ever have it suppose thou give over thy whoring thy swearing for grace yet if not thy company keeping thy lying thou hast no true desire of grace though thou give over all thy grosse sinnes yet if thou retainest thy deadnesse thy luke-warmenesse though thou give over all thy sinnes save one though but in a corner or a nook of thy heart though I say thou come to this price yet unlesse thou wilt give all thou hast no true desire of grace For the man that truly desires grace his desires are vehement such as will part with all things for it 2 Cor. 7. 11. Yea what vehement desires the word signifies desire upon desire one desire upon the backe of another and all for grace Gen. 30. Give me children or else I dye saith Rachel unto Jacob So the heart cryeth unto the Lord for grace as for a thing without which it perisheth Augustine saith that the desire of grace is the thirst of the soule it is a burning and gnawing desire that will consume a man with desiring Here therefore the whole world is convinced of their unprofitable desires For what dead prayer what dead hearing what dead receiving as if men would teach God how to deny them or as if they would bid the Lord keepe his graces They will come and say prayers and give an eare but they have no burning nor thirsting desire Mark 3 3 Delight in the means of grace though delight be an effect of true desire yet it is a signe of grace because grace in potentia is in the Ordinance of God therefore the man that desires grace hee will delight in the Ordinances of grace hee that desires learning delights in reading and studying the meanes of it so hee that desires mortification delights in the powerfull preaching whereby hee may have all the corruptions of his heart layd open hee that desires grace delights in all the meanes of it Psal. 37. 4. Delight thy selfe in the Lord and hee shall give thee the desire of thine heart Doest not thou onely pray but doest thou delight in prayer doest not thou onely heare the Word but delightest in hearing the Word doest thou not onely come to the Sacraments but delight in the receiving Then thy desire is true desire when the heart hath this delight there is an inward drawing the heart to it Canst thou finde a forcible tugging and moving of thy heart and soule to all holy duties that thou canst not but must at them but if thou art aukward and untoward unto holy duties to the worship of God thy desires are counterfeit Mark 4 The more delayes the greater desire delayes are as Oyle cast into the fire which makes the flame the greater As a stone the further it is from its center the faster it goes to it so if thou dost truely desire grace the longer thy soule is before it can attaine it the more thou art affected after it The Comicke hath a pretty Proverb When a man is athirst it is a miserable thing to goe digge a Well to quench it for every shovelfull will but aggravate his drought So it is with men that desire grace Prov. 13. 12. Hope desired maketh the heart sicke when a mans desires are held off and still deferred that yet he cannot have it it doth even make the heart sicke with griefe a man that wants health is sicke because he cannot get it he tumbleth and tosseth and turneth from this side to that side cannot be at rest So the soule that truely desireth grace is even sicke for it it cannot have content in this nor in that it is never where it would be it is as a stone cast up from its owne center till it have gotten Christ and his graces every delay though never so small seemes tedious to a man at such a time But on the contrary thou hast beene without grace it may bee these 20. 30. 40. 50. or 60. yeares what are thy desires are they more than before No but as before so they are still as thou didst pray before so thou prayest still as thou heardst before so thou hearest still and as thou was faint in thy desires so thou art still and such are thy endeavours it is an evident argument that thou didst never truly desire grace true desire the longer the more earnest Therfore the Prophet begins his prayer Psal. 13. with a How long Lord shall I have this proud heart shall I never be humble How long Lord shall I have this unbeleeving and impenitent heart shall I never have faith to rest upon thee and repent of my sinnes cōmitted against thee How long Lord shall I have such a dead heart such earthly affections in thy worship and service shall my heart never bee quickned and my affections never drawne to thee and fastned neerer to thy service How long Lord shall my heart bee under these corruptions shall I never get victory over them how long shall I serve the devil shall I never serve my God how long ere I shall bee a factor for heaven as I have beene for earth Mark 5 If thy desires be true then thou hast gotten some grace As it is in the veines of a mans body the more they are opened the more they are filled with blood and as the bellowes the more they are opened the more they are filled with wind so it is with the heart the more it is opened with enlarged desires unto God the more it is filled by God with grace the Psalmist hath a sweet passage Psal. 37. 4. Thou hast given him his hearts desire there is no desire on mans part but there is a hath given on Gods part Psal. 145. 16. there is no living thing in the world that can desire but the Lord satisfieth the desire of it Examine therefore thy selfe hast thou desired faith and yet doest thou distrust God hast thou desired repentance and doest thou live in thy sinne never the humbler never the lowlyer for all thy desires but as thou wast yesterday so thou art to day as the last weeke so this as the last yeare so this certainely thy desires are not true For then thou shouldest finde God satisfying of them as thou desirest so thou speedest little desiring little speeding great desire great speeding Alamentable thing it is that the desire of grace so great a thing should be so little esteemed in the world men say they have good desires but they are like wicked God-fathers and Godmothers at the Font who if the Minister asketh them Doe you forsake the Devill and all his
miseries that shall come upon you your riches are corrupt your garments moath-eaten your gold and your silver is cankered and the rust of them shall be a witnesse against you Weepe and howle yee great men Knights Lords and rich men if you have no other treasure your portion shall be damnation and destruction in the day of Gods wrath It is grace alone that is true good inward substantiall good and the last good of the soule all other goods they are but finite but grace inestates a man into the Lord Jesus Christ an infinite full and perfect good riches honour and wisedome these things are good but thou must give account for them and if thy account bee not good thou shalt bee damned for the unprofitable use of them those things are not like fat Parsonages which it may be bring 100. or 200. pound into the Parsons purse yearely and yet may be they are but 10. or 20. pound in the Kings bookes it is not so with grace but every pound is a pound every shilling is a shilling yea every farthing is a farthing in Gods booke so that if God hath given thee wisedome knowledge riches houses honours or any other talent know that God hath set it downe to a farthing and thy account shall bee as strictly demaunded of thee if thou hast not grace Grace would discharge a man of all these when all other goods are but as burthens to men to sinke them to hell Object I hope I desire grace may some say I pray I reade I heare I meditate and conferre of good things Answ When a man is at a banquet doth hee desire the dishes or the meate in the dishes indeede hee may pull at the dishes but reacheth thereby to the meate Prayer and Preaching Sacraments c. they are but as it were the dishes God disheth up his graces in his Ordinances now should guests when they are at a banquet sit cutting the dishes they might cut them and yet rise a hungry and starve for all the nourishment they would give So men cut the meate and when that is eaten they cast away the dishes Prayer Preaching Sacraments they must cease if therefore thou hast not gotten meate out of those dishes if thou hast not received the grace offered unto thee by them thou art never the better thou hast heard the word but hast thou received the spirit thou hast prayed but hast thou gotten grace thou hast received the Sacraments but hast thou received Christ and his graces also otherwise thou hast nothing O what a strange thing is it that men should feede upon dishes and not seeke after the meate in them and so starve their soules Did the Prodigall Luk. 15. feede upon his fathers dishes No but on his fat calfe What though I have a golden key if it will not open the doore What good is it for a man to have brave gally pots about him if there be no physicke in them to heale his sicknesse A boate a boate cryes the passenger when he would goe over the water what is it the boate he desireth No but that hee may passe over the water We cry out a Sermon a Sermon a prayer a Sacrament but to what end wee should desire them as a meanes wherby God conveyeth grace using them as boates carrying us unto holinesse to faith love meekenesse humility c. otherwise thou wilt bee never the better for if a man have a hundred boates yet if they cannot carry him over the water what is he the nearer for them if a man have heard an hundred Sermons and have as many prayers and Sacraments yet if thereby hee have not grace nor be carried to holinesse and Sanctification at the day of Judgement he shall be at the farthest part of the River of the Haven of blessednesse No good can satisfie but onely grace Eccles. 1. 8. All things are full of labour the eye is not satisfied with seeing nor the eare filled with hearing suppose the eye should see all the brave and beautifull things in the world yet the eye is not satisfied with seeing of them suppose a man should heare all the melodious musique yet would not the eare be satisfied The woman that came to draw water at Jacobs Well John 4. 13. our Saviour tells her Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst againe these things may allay for a time but not quench a mans thirst For give a covetous man never so much wealth and riches yet his thirst is not quenched but there is roome for him to covet againe Give Alexander one world and he will aske for another Thou art sick and desirest health thou hast health yet thou desirest something else thou art in Prison thou desirest liberty when thou hast it doest thou leave off desiring No but thou wouldst have some other thing Suppose a man were worth ten pound he desireth to be worth twenty and when be hath that hee desireth an hundred and so a thousand pound All the goods in the world is like Ale-house Beere which the travailor drinketh of but it doth not quench his thirst a man can never satisfie his desire with any worldly good If thou wouldst have that which will satisfie thee then desire grace for grace is the proper object of the soule Suppose thou hadst all the brave sights in the world yet thou couldst not see them with thine eyes suppose thou hadst all the sweete Musique in the world yet thou couldst not heare it for the sights are the objects of the eyes and Musique of the eares So all the good things of the world are but for the body not for the soule riches honours pleasures and the like are the objects of the body and not of the soule and therefore the soule can never be satisfied with them A father in his meditations speakes thus Lord thou hast made my soule for thy selfe and it can never be at rest till it can find rest in thee The soule is like Noahs Dove which could finde no rest the waters overflowing the earth till she returned to Noah in the Arke againe so unlesse thy heart hath found God and bee drawne up to him the center of it thou mayst wander up and downe the whole world and yet never have content Couldest thou get wealth honour wisedome learning health and the like yet without grace the soule is empty and hath not satisfaction They are all transitory and therefore cannot give content Suppose a man could have the world and yet lose it againe it would more vexe him and disquiet him than if he had never had it Hence it is that a poore begger that hath alwayes endured want can beare it better than a broken Gentleman that hath lived in wealth and pleasures in former time want and necessity is a hundred times more grievous to him Wilt thou saith Solomon Prov. 23. 5. cast thine eye upon that which is nothing for riches taketh her to her wings as an Eagle that flyeth