nor are given in Marriage neither can they dye any more Luk. 23. v. 36. for they are equal to Angels and are the Children of God being Children of the Resurrection Mark the Children of the Resurrection are the Children of God that is those and all those Christ rose as a Head for they and all they have a part in the first Resurrection Rev. 20. 6. Blessed and happy are they that have part in the first Resurrection for on such the second Death shall have no power that is Hell the Devil or Jaylors Prison above mentioned O Ladies Look to Christ who is the first Resurrection and the first begotten from the Dead and the Prince of the Kings of the Earth for he has loved you and washt you from your sins in his own Blood Heb. 1. 6. Yea look to him that he be your Resurrection and that you have a part by Faith in him who is the true Book of Life Revel 21. 27. And if by Faith in him you rise from the Grave and Death of sin here then may you assure your selves of a share and part in his Resurrection unto Eternal Life which was typified by the First Fruits and the Sheaf of Corn which the Priest held up and wav'd under the Ceremonial or Levitical Law And that you are indeed the Children of it And of God too and so shall never dye Oh! believest thou this as Christ said in another place about Lazarus I am the life and resurrection of the dead and he that believeth in me shall never dye Joh. 11. 25. Yea though he were dead yet shall he live again Believest thou this sayes Christ so say I to you noble Ladies Gentlewomen and others if you be the Children of God and the resurrection you shall dye no more dye once you must to this world and the things sleep a little in the grave and imitate Christ your Head and your Husband your Lord and your Saviour who was there before you three dayes and three nights and then destroyed and tore the grave open to assure you of the resurrection also but in that you shall never dye more Oh! happy resurrection when Christ shall say awake and sing O ye that sleep in the dust and with my dead body shall ye awake Isaiah Come with me my love from Bebon the Leopard and the Lions den Canticles All which promises and a thousand more are made to you if you be the children of God and peace-makers in the Church or World or where you are The Children of Israel were happy that they were the Children of Israel and the seed of Abraham though all were not the true seed but Oh! how happy are you that you are the Children of God and shall be like his Angels in the resurrection yet Israel died in the wilderness and never entered into the land of Canaan but you shall never dye be as Angels enter in and possess the true Canaan Heaven 's Kingdom and the Kingdom of God be among the Angels to sing with that Coelestial Quire the high prayses of God and the Lamb to all eternity Rev. 7. Oh happy day Oh happy hour that ever you were born or made to be the Children of God and peace-makers in the world and places where you come Hell is full of brawling the world is full of brawling but your Breasts and Lives are full with peace and the love of God and the wayes and things of God Oh! keep that Nightingale and sweet ever singing Bird of Paradise close to you and let it never fail you day nor night yea all you Children of God 't is a heaven to begin a heaven here and a double hell to lose it for a straw as one said or a bubble which Children blow from a walnut shell whilst 't is a little heaven or young heaven as a great Lady called it but old heaven and the heaven of heaven of heavens shall be your portion yea he that compasseth heaven and earth and is within the Starry Element where Sun Moon and Stars are Oh! how glorious is that this is but the Tileing we see Gods house is all invisible and the inside no mortal man nor eye can see nor him neither and live Exod. 33. v. 20. But time shall pass and time shall come when these things shall be no more and we for ever with the Lord 1 Thes 4. 17. and see him as he is face to face and eye to eye and all tears shall be quite wiped away sorrow and mourning fly away for ever former things be forgotten and all your Lords unkindness and your own unworthiness of the Lamb and your Redeemer's love yea the want of Grace and comforts here the young Lord and little Ladies death will be forgotten in another world yea in resurrection glory all will be swallowed up in everlasting joy some Fountains have their mouths or pipes through which they send their Chrystal streams with pleasant noises Revel and in heaven shall the Children of the resurrection Saints and Angels continually send their Praises to God and the Lamb and that unweariedly for worthy is the Lamb to receive Power Glory and Dominion for ever and ever Revel 7. 10 11 12. And every creature in heaven and earth heard I say Amen Amen Amen Oh! ye Lords Ladies Princes Kings Queens Potentates and highest Mortal of the earth joyn ye for it becomes you well and all ye with that kingly Prophet David in his three last Psalmes 148 149 150. and with this I shall close this little little book of yours which was made a little before and just after a great sickness but the work is Praise the Lord from the heaven Praise him in the highest for the highest is too low for him Praise him all ye Angels an Angelical praise becomes him and them very well praise him all ye host be ye what he will praise him Sun and Moon for ye are man and wife to rule both day and night and he made you both praise him all ye Stars of light which are as Sun and Moons children and are of great influence to the children of men praise him O heavens air ye terrestrial coelestial heavens heaven of heavens praise him and him alone he only made you with the word of his power and ye waters that be above the heavens the airy heavens and clouds that we see and in the deep let the fountains of the deep praise him he hath commanded and you were created he establish a Decree and you cannot pass Praise him Dragons and deep fiery Mountains Hail Snow and Storms and fulfil his word Mountains Hills Trees and Cedars high Men and low Men little Beasts and Cattle Creeping things and Flying little Ants and mighty Eagles Kings Judges Princes and all People young Lords and mayden Ladies of nine ten eleven twelve and thirteen let them praise his name for his name alone is excellent and before him let all flesh be for ever silent His glory is above the Heavens
but give at length some diligence to make your Calling and Election sure Honours and Evidences are never sure enough can Heaven be too sure for you Come look after God and Christ more pray oftener throw your selves into the Arms of Jesus depend upon Free Grace and he will certainly save you and your Souls Like and love holiness Be in love and league with no sin and you shall have Joy Happiness and Holiness to Eternity And therefore as ever you would be Lodgers out of Hell live in the Church as a holy member of the Church love the best of Protestants persecution is a devilish sin And good preaching a great mercy And if ye love one another then are ye my disciples indeed sayes Christ Joh. 14. 21. And 't is reported of St. Chrysostom that they had rather want the shining of the Sun than his preaching and sayes he if I had a Mountain for my Pulpit and the whole world to hear me it should be upon that Text. O ye sons of men how long will ye love vanity Psal 4. 2. The delight of the soul is to know its maker and heavenly preaching is a soul-ravishing thing there being infinite sweetness in the love of God But he that does not lift his head and his heart above this world will perish with the world And he she that is for much ease new fashions and fine cloaths haiting up down in Coaches is oftentimes for little religion If you cannot live without excess of pleasures I say excessive ones you will be carried down the stream of Nilus to the deadly Sea called Mare Mortuum like the skipping fishes till they fall into it Come let brave Sparks and gallant Ladies mind better things the great God and his Son that came down from heaven and never knew pleasure here on earth but in doing his Fathers Will and if you will now do it when the Dore is once shut it is too late Some would be troubled if they should never go to the Park again or see another may-May-day But if you should never go to heaven you are utterly undone for there are but two places all go to one place saith Solomon but he means that of the grave Eccles 12. 7. But all besides believe two places if the principles of Religion were never so dubious yet it concerns us to be serious because they are of such mighty concernment to us Said the great Earl of Leicester Fools play with their souls and drawlers at Religion cut the thread of life and throat of them But sink not into this deadness and deadly wickedness as to make sin a sport of at any time especially such kind of sinning as throws a contempt upon God and his word and hardens others to despise and condemn that namely Religion which all ages and nations beside this have never done before But it were better to be drowned with a milstone about our necks than left to dye and be buried with a hard heart in the grave or live to draw others to hell Take heed which way you go the broad way is most easie but the narrow is most safe Luke 13. 24. Safe bind and safe find but sin loosened and the Reins let go carries us whither we should not and whither we would not If we did but consider but the want of due consideration if you will indeed do it too then you shall know it more than you do and taste it to be far better than all the sports and pleasures of the Court and Country too Oh! that I had never been King of Spain said that great Prince Charles the fifth and that I had lived a Hermite's life But a heavenly life will never be repented of Should not Ladies strive to be Angelical and holy in the eyes of God as well as lovely in the eyes of men why should you be all for Honour and not for Religion as some of you are It becomes great Sparks to seek great things and not to spend their time in Ladies Chambers tossing of a Play-Book or reading this or that little Jest crying Faith Madam here 's a good one Lord Bacon said Nothing concerns us so much in all the world as Religion and the Principles of it Come then and let us seek the world to come this passes away like May-day and May-flowers all but smoak or dew quickly gone but everlastingness is a mighty thing The world and times are bad let us make Christ all in all Col. 3. 11. He is so and will be so Let him be to us in point of Justification Sanctification and Redemption Imitate him and lean upon him in Life Death and Eternity Wisdom waits at his Gate to keep you from sin which a Play-house leads unto But I will go to the house of God sayes David and pay my Vows in thee O Jerusalem Psal 116. 19. And I mine in thee O Smithfield said that brave Hampshire Martyr John Philpot but if you care not for God's Honour he will not care for yours nor what becomes of you when you dye But he that honours me will my Father love said Christ Joh. 14. 21. But no man can love serve or honour him enough who has loved us so much as to wash us in his own blood Rev. 1. 5. And Philpot shed his free and boldly and disputed as bravely as ever man did for Christ and his Truth in the Convocation-house And the world is not worthy of those men which have been burnt upon this account in all or divers Countreys by the Man of Sin But take heed you be not foolish Virgins and foolish Ladies and such as have not Oil in your Lamps nor saving Grace in your hearts at midnight when the Cry of the Bridegroom shall come For if the door be then shut and Repentance too late Christ will never hear though you knock beg and cry upon your knees and were more beautiful than Angels saying Lord open open with ten thousand tears in your eyes The day is past and the night will never have an end But 't is non-consideration is the cause of men and women's damnation said a good Divine Therefore said God O that my people did but consider But the Ox knows his Owner and the Ass his Masters Crib but my people doth not consider Isa 1. 3. The length of Time the certainty of Eternity the impossibility of more than a long Life and how vain it is to labour not to dye once Methusalem dyed Gen. 5. 7. Piety strength or policy keeps none from the grave Consider saith Solomon do not all go one way to the dust Eccles 12. 5. But Christ shall say Come ye Blessed Go ye Cursed I was an hungry and you fed me naked and you cloathed me or you did it not Nay what you did to one of these little ones you did to me Matth. 25. 41 42. O Do something for the School if you have not yet though works do not merit 'T is impossible saith St. Austin
a heavenly holy zealous Preacher than a rich Drone a thousand times Some Shepherds have for little so much that the great Shepherd will owe them nothing at all Others have so little for their faithfulness that he will give them a Crown 'T is better for Ministers it should be said Why are not you and you provided for than Why have such and such so much As he nobly said I had rather it should be said Why does not Cato 's Image stand here than it should be said Why does it stand here But Preachers of Faith must live by Faith as well as other men and the world to come will make amends for all Come Thee and I shall be happy when King Jesus comes said one to his friend And they that fear the Lord speak often one to another Mal. 3. 16. And then shall the Righteous shine as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father Matth. 13. 43. But many men make work for Repentance and many Ministers never put them seriously upon it as they should for want of Skill Love Faithfulness or Zeal The Lion sent for the Wolf and asked him if he had not a stinking breath Yea Sir said he and for that he tore him in pieces and sent for the Dog and asked him no said he 't is very sweet for that he tore him in pieces and sent for the Fox and asked him who cunningly told him He had a great Cold in his head and could not smell and so saved his Skin 'T is a brave thing when neither fear nor flattery moves men nor ministers from saying what they should few love Reproof fewer who reprove for love of souls and fewest of all who sincerely love the reprover Am I your enemy because I tell you the truth sayes Paul Gal. 4. 16. and we may say the greatest sin timely repented of is pardonable but the least never repented of is damnable in its own nature it being against a holy law and a holy God and Oh! how would Mr. Fowler that brave Redding and Thames-street preacher set out this 'T is for us to bring our will over to God in every thing and not his to us in any thing contrary to his Law and holy Writ whilst the world stands Religion is an inward thing takes off from self and creature but gives to God reverence in the heart and the heart and sum of religion is to love God and our Neighbours sincerely but Religion can do more for Learning than Learning can for Religion can bless and sanctifie that but that can do nothing but adorn dress and set it out with words which yet is a most excellent thing And oh that all the preachers in the world were practisers and learned too but more especially the former yet sayes God I will set thy Sons O Sion against thy Sons O Greece Zechariah 9. 13. And the quarrel shall never be ended There is naturally so much Scorn Malice Enmity and Disclain in Learning against the Simplicity Purity and Holiness of the Gospel that the corrupt unsanctified mind of man cannot but disdain it as the Pharisees and Sadduces did the preaching of Christ the Greeks and other learned men Paul counting him a babler and the cross of Christ foolishness 1 Cor. 1. 23. and he a mad man and Christ a publican and sinner for being a Physician to them and a preacher frequently among them and therefore a sociable life is better than a solitary Monkish one in a cell Christ did eat and drink at great tables with publicans and sinners but he was still as a physician to heal and reprove sin and Dod the old Puritan minister of Northampton was so holy and good at this and had that reverence and presence with him that a young gentleman at Sir Anthony Cope's could not eat half his Dinner for fear of swearing before Dod but he is dead and gone to Heaven and so may the Gentleman too for ought that we know God calls at several hours but 't is better to go to Heaven alone than not at all or to Hell with half the world Let me be happy it matters not how many then be miserable yet Balak's Balaam wished that he might dye the death of the Righteous and thought of death another world and eternal Joys Numb 23. 10. And so some will send for good men at their death which they care not for in their life to come and pray and secretly desire that their last end might be like unto them Yet the world is apt to think of Religion clean contrary to what it is sayes Lord Bacon and to make it madness a thing that dulls spirits and is apt to make Ladies look wrinkled before their time depresses them of Joy and to be looked upon by Wits and Sparks as some of God Almighty's Shee-fools and must never see good or merry daies more Alas alas said he What a miserable mistake is this Can there be better and greater Joy than Joy in the Holy Ghost 1 Thes 1. 6. unspeakable and full of Glory And can there be better Sorrow than such Sorrow which is accompanied with Joy and Works or Repentance unto Salvation never to be repented of 2 Cor. 2. 10. Can there be better chear than a good Conscience Ask Abraham Isaac and Jacob if the Waies of God be not good Ask all the Prophets Patriarchs and Apostles if the Waies of God be not Good Yea the Martyrs and the Prisoners I am in a Bed of Roses sayes one And I am in my Paradice and Palace with God and his Angels said the Noble Marquess Galliaces in the Dungeon And I have Christ who is was and ever will be all in all sayes another All in Health Life Death and Sickness and Eternity too to Men and Angels Yea ask your own Conscience when the Curtain 's drawn and the Candle out Which is best a house of Prayer a house of God or a Play-house or a days sinning or a days communion and waiting on God and his Worship Come fy pish you are mad if you prefer the pleasures of sin before Heaven or sinful pastime before Heaven's Joy Oh ye vain and foolish young Ladies do not think of being Religious when you have nothing else to do but lay aside the Lute and Citern now and dance a little in your thoughts to Death's Pipe and think you hear his Night-watch and where you shall be a hundred years hence and what when you have lain a month or two in the Grave and this will help you to be good betimes Young Ladies might be merry enough if they would be good and godly and begin betimes and have better Husbands too for good men will love good Ladies especially when they are young and good too And we hope some are left though but a few that look for Heaven and Religious Wives True Recreations are in another world All the pleasures of this are either sins or snares if we use them too much But moderation may be
Saviour's sake receive my Soul And so departed A Popish Doctor told Tindal disputing about Religion That it were better to be without God's Law than the Popes Tindal replied I defie the Pope and all his Laws He translated the Testament into English but the Popish party exceedingly raged saying There were a thousand Errors in it And for his good Works he was Imprisoned Condemned and Burnt but at his Death he cried Lord open the King of England 's Eyes John Hooper who Died 1555 being writ to by one out of England to send him some News he said He had no News to send him but that the last News that you will hear of me will be That where I have taken most pains to preach the holy Gospel there I shall be burnt to Ashes But one persuading him to Fly No says he I will live and die with my Sheep But being sent for to London he was Committed to the Fleet where he was miserably used and even poysoned with the common Ditch but being Sick he cried and called for help but the Warden said Let him alone if he die it will be a good riddance But a Knight coming to him told him Life was sweet and Death bitter To which he replied Death to come is more bitter and Life to come more sweet But being profered his Pardon going to the Execution he cryed If you love my Soul if you love my Soul away with it He prayed at the Stake Jesus thou Son of David have mercy upon me and receive my Soul And wiping his Face with his Hand cried For God's sake let me have more Fire And a third Fire being kindled he was yet alive but the last words he spoke were Lord Jesus receive my Spirit Lawrence Saunders meeting with one Pembleton another Minister said I have many fears if I should come to Suffer or Die for Religions sake What need you fear said Pembleton you have but a lean Body but I have a fat one yet you shall see the last gobbet and Grease of mine melt or fry away rather than deny Christ or the least of his Truth which I have professed Mr. Saunders being called a while after Imprisoned Tried and Condemned cried Welcome Christ welcome Christ welcome Eternal Life and the Fire being kindled sweetly slept in God sealing the Truth with his Blood But faint-hearted Pembleton for all his Self-boasting played Apostate in a small time John Rogers might have escaped and had many Motives a Wife and ten Children and had Friends in Germany if he would have gone he helped to Translate the Bible into English but Bonner sent him to Newgate amongst Thieves and Murderers And being Condemned he desired to have his Wife admitted to see him but that would not be granted him by any means but being told in the Morning he must Die that Day O said he if it be so I need not tie my Points being Dressing of himself But a Pardon being proffered him if he would Recant he utterly refused it His Wife then with nine Children and the tenth sucking at her Breast were brought to him but this sorrowful sight nothing moved him but in the Flames he took his Death with wonderful Patience The Sabbath before his Death he drank to Mr. Hooper who lay in a Chamber beneath him bidding the Messenger tell him That by God's Grace never little Fellow stuck closer to a man than he would to him supposing they should be both Burnt together Thomas Blinney in the Year 1531 had been in Prison and was drawn to Abjure and Submit himself after which he fell into terrors of Conscience for almost a Year being through God's Mercy restored to Comfort he resolved to lay down his Life for that Truth which he before had Renounced he Preached openly and complained of himself for his Fact bidding them beware they did not trust in Flesh nor Friends in matters of Religion but was seized by the Bishop and Imprisoned Being told of the Fires heat O said he God's Spirit will cool those Flames and I am sailing through a boisterous Sea but shall shortly be in Heaven help me with your Prayers and was Burnt calling upon Jesus with his Eyes and Hands lifted up John Frith was Prisoner in the Tower and had many Conflicts with the Bishops and at last condemned to be Burnt and delivered over to the Mayor and Sheriffs and in Smithfield patiently endured the same the Wind blowing away the Fire made his Death very long but by God's Grace he bore it as though he felt no Pain he much helped Tindal in Translating the New Testament And thus have I given you most Great and Noble Ladies a little short brief hint of a few brave and famous worthy English Martyrs there are Hundreds more in Fox's Book which you may find yea Thousands more English and others surely we should love the Truth and our English true Protestant Religion for the Truths sake yea and a little for these holy Martyrs sake And the God of Heaven grant our merciful King may long Live and such a Spirit never come again For this is the sum and substance of that Stuff we shall have if we lose the Bible of which the Gold Legion has a Cart-load which I here give you in a score or two of Lines as I found it written in a great Book Translated out of Spanish and Dedicated to a mighty Princess by an English Knight A great Person quitting all his fair Possession and giving them to the Church as 't was likely turned Colliers Man which labour brought Sickness and Death at which very instant all the Bells in Rome rang out on their own accord to the astonishment of the Pope himself A certain holy Monk retiring into a Wilderness house 70 miles distant from any 14 Years together had a certain Leopard which came to him every day for his Meat a long time together Gregory the Great in a great Sickness-year relates that he saw many visible Arrows come down from Heaven and struck Men dead yea another saw it Rain perfect Arrows and pieces of Stars A holy Priest that went into a very Rich Man's Kitchin where was a great Dinner of Chickens Capons and Feasants in Dishes which when the Priest saw he bade the Cook uncover the Dishes and they presently became Toads and Serpents A certain Monk saw a little Bird in a Cloyster singing very pleasantly and hopping out he follow'd it to a certain Wood where the Bird continued singing for the space of two or three hours as he thought but returning to the Cloyster again thinking he had been only a few hours or half a day at most but being unknown and searching of the Records he had been absent from the Covent 300 Years when he thought he had not been half a day St. Antonius tells you of an ill Liver that he knew was afflicted with tedious Sickness earnestly begged of God to deliver him who sent an Angel to tell him he must lie so two Years
and then die and go to Heaven or else lie three days in Purgatory and from thence go to Heaven willing him to take his choice He presently pitched on Purgatory and his Soul went strait thither where he had not been one hour but the Angel appeared to him there and asked him how he did and that he was the same Angel that brought him the Message from God about his two years or three days in Purgatory Ay but said he You are not a good Angel for I have been here three years and you told me but two days No said the Angel it is not one hour yet O pray for me said he that I may come out and go to my sick Bed again which the Angel did and the man was very glad he got into the world again St. Francis writes just such another Story and God sent an Angel to him to know whether he would lie one day in Purgatory or one year longer in his Bed but prayed hard here and the Angel came and let him out before he had lay'n one hour and yet he thought his two dayes had been out so great were those Torments and therefore what a cruel hard hearted thing is it for People that have money to let their Friends lie there in Torment when the Priest can so easily get them out if they will but pay for it Ay and what a devilish thing is that of the Pope to keep them there for money especially if they be poor Gregory the Great writes of Tarsellus's Sister being dead cast forth a most fragrant smell beyond Oyntment Jessamy or Roses and that St. Hillarion did the like for 10 moneths together A French Doctor in Paris wondering in his mind how God should make the Bodies of his Saints to shine in the Kingdom of Heaven had immediately his Feet so transparently shining and bright that he was not able to behold them with his eyes but to cover his head and them with the Bed cloaths St. Anthony in one day past from Padua to Portugal St. Ignatius transported himself from Rome to Cologne and to Rome again in less than two hours St. Francis and St. Martinus were seen lifted up in Prayer to a very great height namely above Trees or Towers or any Steeples and continued praying a great while very visible to be seen A Gentleman of Noble Parentage became a Monk and went on with that courage and zeal that at last he challenged the Devil and bade him do his worst The Devil appeared and fought in his own Cell and made his nose and mouth bleed but with the noise the rest of the Monks came in where he lay as in a trance but they carried him to his Bed where he continued almost three days without any sign of life in which time by the company of an Angel who descended to a dark obscure place and saw a man sitting in a Chair and certain beautiful Women thrusting Torches in his mouth drawing them thorough his body again and many strange things which frighted the Monk and he prayed the Angel to tell him what it meant This miserable Wretch said the Angel was a Gentleman much given to Women and therefore the Devil torments him in the shapes of Women And he said the Angel that lay on the Gridiron rub'd with Salt was a cruel Lord to his Tenants Others had their Brains and Eyes beat out because that in their life-time they would not see These and such like Stories be in that Book which is big and large but has not a Primer-full of Divinity in it only a few moral rational things mixt with these kind of Lyes which they would teach men instead of the Scriptures and the Holy Word of God And if such kind of Divinity shall be Translated and Dedicated to agreat Princess what stuff is there in France Spain Italy and other Countries for which we may justly charge these two or three Scriptures against them and a hundred more were we minded who are Enemies to the Bible and the Souls of Men. The first Scripture is this They have forsaken me the Fountain of living Water and digged to themselves broken Cisterns which can hold no Water Jer. 2. 13. That is they have forsaken the Holy Scriptures which contain the waters of consolation and comfort for all thirsty and desiring Souls after God and Christ and the saving knowledge of God and Christ in their Souls and for the broken Cisterns that is the deceitful lying crackt unsound History Books of little Truth or Divinity in them And this is the very same which St. Paul speaks of in the 2d Chapter of the 2d of the Thessalonians ver 11 12. where he says For this cause God shall send them strong delusions that they should believe a Lye 'T is but one Lye all their whole Religion that is one great entire Lye congealed linked mass'd and coupled together by Time Policy Covetousness Deceit and Ignorance And a strange delusion is sent them by God ver 12. who can and doth most righteously and often punish sin with sin the Jews and Pharisees for malicious accusing and persecuting Christ and his Apostles with blindness to this day and the Papist too for abusing of the Word of God and concealing of it from the People to believe Lyes and Delusions God suffering it to be because of the Peoples ignorance and willingness to have it so not at all caring for his Word or receiving the love of and Truths contained in it about Jesus Christ and his pure Worship full and infinite satisfaction to the Father for our sins by his sufferings all which they are willingly ignorant of and for this cause or sin of theirs God has sent that is suffer'd Satan by false foolish Teachers Books and Lyes to deceive them that they might be justly damned for not loving regarding or forsaking the pure Fountain that is the plain wholsom Word and Truths of God but suffer their Priests to forbid Meats and Marriages which is the very Doctrine of Devils saith S. Paul 1 Tim. 4. 1 3. S. Peter whom they advance above all almost equal with Christ making him a Rock or that the Church of God stands upon him when as he is no more than another but says this against them that Christ is the Rock or precious Corner-stone on which all the Church of God and Believers are spiritually built 1 Pet. 2 4. and how his Word is a more sure Rule to us and that we ought to take more heed to it than if an Angel from heaven speak to us 2 Pet. 1. 18 19. Gal. 1. 8. And says St. John If any man add to that God shall add to him all the Plagues that are written in this Book Rev. 22. 18. Or if they shall take away any thing of this Prophesie God shall take his part out of the Book of Life ver 19. And yet you presume to alter or take quite away one of his Commandments Read this you poor well-meaning
you be his servants you shall sing and others shall weep grieve and mourn Isa 65. 14. You shall drink and others shall be thirsty The Heavens declare his wondrous work saith the Psalmist and the Earth is full of his Goodness Psal 8. 1. And will you be full of Sin Enmity and Folly Oh! God forbid that such lovely Creatures as many of you young Lords and Ladies be should be full of sin Sin is an evil an evil Disease in the Soul and to the Soul it kills it worse than Leprosie to Eternity if Christ do not save it Oh! value him fly to him clasp about him that ye never miscarry in Time nor Eternity Compare both how short is one and long the other The pleasures of sin are but for a season Heb. 11. 25. Moses left Pharaoh's Court preferring afflictions before these pleasures which betrays into Gulphs Snares and Rocks Do not you make your selves unhappy in another world when you may do well in both A thousand years should be more valuable than fourscore However let not fourscore be more to you than three or fourscore thousand thousand thousand This is certain Riches Honours Estates and Courtships with all that is Terrene and Sublunary shall fly away Heaven and Earth shall pass away before one Jot or Tittle of God's Word Joh. 2 17. Luk. 21. 33. 'T is a very dangerous thing though you do not mind it to be irreligious Pleasure one day in God's Court is worth a thousand elsewhere Psal 114. 10. Oh! taste and see the sweet and honey of it Less pains will serve for Eternal Life than some take for Temporal yea to dress themselves What! three hours about that and not a quarter at prayers Some get great Fortune by Marriages others a little by Plough Cart and pains others by Play and that 's almost cheating but get the Lord Jesus Christ and you get all 1 Tim. 4 8. This world you see but do not you believe the other and the Resurrection-state if you do not you are Sadduces and irrational Do not you see all things spring again every year Dead Seeds and Corn bring the same Grain and shall not man spring again as well as Worms Flies and Spiders which seem to be dead all the Winter yet live again in the Summer Oh! believe the Resurrection-state and the Promises for Godliness hath one for both worlds But this lies in wickedness 1 Joh. 5. 19. Ephes 2. 2. Shall honours pleasures profits be your portion ever it cannot be Oh look ye after another world then Why choose you not then that that you would have when you come to dye let me dye the death of the Righteous and my latter end be like unto his Num. 23. 10. And every one will say and wish so Let go sin and sorrow take faith and you shall do it how much better is that than fancy heaven and earth than earth and not heaven God can give a thousand pleasures a river of pleasures Psal 36. 8. But vain sinful pleasures are certainly the way to hell 2 Tim. 3. 4 And I could never reconcile them and Religion together said a great one Lovers of pleasures that are sinful are really Lovers of Death yea the whores house goes down to death her feet take hold on hell Prov. 2. 16. 5. 5. He that cannot cease from sin and repent of it must needs be damned for it it is an ill bed-fellow and a worse grave fellow And a cutting saying it was to the Jews that they should dye in it Joh. 8. 21. If ye believe not that I am he you shall die in your sins sayes Christ Sinful lusts make men beasts and sinful wrath makes men Devils What! kill a man in anger Go into the field to seek honour but find Death and Hell live a Murtherer or dye by one If furious sparks did mind the sparkles of an eternal fire and how much the Devil is glad when he finds such fools they would never do as they do sight and damn one another for a thing of nought many times My Life is of more worth said the Philosopher to the rude Mariners who were swearing and careless in a storm than to be cast away And indeed Life is a thing to be valued at a high rate And upon a Life well spent depends Eternal happiness therefore 't is the wise and not fools that redeem time for Eternity The Aegyptians pictured time with three heads a Dog a Lion and a Wolf a Dog signifying Time to come flattering and a Lion to denote Time present strongly working and a Wolf denoting Time lost or past to be biting And Death on a dark Throne with a Rod in one hand and a Key in the other as if by one he drove us together and the other he lockt us up Oh Ladies every moment of time commands Regions of Blessedness when 't is improved but lost it becomes a Worm in conscience and eats to Eternity If men in health and Duellers did but mind this they would not send one another to Hell as they do Certainly such Duellers will be sad repenters as I said before in another world Do they believe a God or do they not If there be a God he is a Rewarder of Virtue and will certainly punish all unpardoned sins which lead us into Gulphs Snares and Rocks Say when temptations are upon you to any great sin Now are the Philistines come and the Cords of Death and Hell are upon me shall I be foolish base vile and unclean do this and wrong my own soul Prov. 8. 36. And all that hate me love death sayes Solomon Some vices have short pleasures long throws and after-pains if vice sin sinful sin and folly have spoiled youth Have a care of old Age one foot is in the grave What! sin all your life and have Heaven at last no it will be Hell And I had rather be in it sayes a Father without sin than in Heaven filled with it Oh! take a fair farewel of it betimes it never did will nor can do any one good no it cannot it brings all the losses crosses in the world on us here or hereafter And how can we think of going to Heaven if we do not live to it but leave a Hell of sin seeds and spawn by bad example behind us or if we should live for Heaven a little and lose it for want of living a little more would it not be sad A good bargain lost for want of a second or third bidding proves a great vexation many times one step more and all had been well and safe but to lose a Heaven for nothing for nothing for want of a little Religion and being serious in it bites to Eternity Oh! if you fall but a step or two short this will be your case and you will never come in Take heed and again take heed O ye great Ones of the times Lords Ladies and others that ye do not miscarry in the daies of Eternity