behave your selves in the House of God in your own Houses as Husbands and Wives Parents and Children Masters and Servants Come Isa 55. 1. â—o this publick Treasury where these â—hings are to be had but you must know this that these Treasures are not to be attained without digging and Christian Diligence in the use of means It is a hard work to dig for Gold and you must make heart-work of it The Job 3. 21. Apostle minds young Timothy of this Eccles 1. 13. who had made it his trade from his youth Meditate of these things and give thy 1 Tim. 4. 15. self wholly to them that thy profiting may appear And Solomon saith If thou seekest her as Silver and searchest for her as for hid Treasure Then shalt thou understand Prov. 2.4 5. the fear of the Lord and find the knowledg of God Quest But what further means must we use to get this Treasure Answ You must be sure to seek it Nihil quaeritur nisi per viam suam in Gods ways and in the use of the good means he hath appointed As 1. You must mix the Word with Faith in your hearts when you read it or when you hear it for such as bring not Faith along with them depart from the Word without Fruit The Gospel Heb. 4. 2. preached profiteth not them that hear it who mix it not with Faith Faith in the heart is like the sweet confection of Oyntment poured upon Christ his Head it casts a sweet scent and savour into all the parts and powers of the Soul it is Oyl to these wheels and makes them go with agility in the ways of God 2. Pray unto God that he would Psal 119. 18. pour upon you the eye-salve of the Spirit for this Treasure lyes deep and our shallow capacities cannot comprehend it our understandings being not only blind but blindness it self Eph. 1.18 Domine velamen amove Volumen evolve Pray therefore that your understandings may be unvailed that the Truths of Christ may be revealed that neither the Organ may be dim nor the Object dark But of this I spake before 3. Live under a godly Ministry where the Word drops like pretious dew from Sion into the fertile vallies This is the Indies where this Treasure lies These Preachers lips preserve knowledg and you must seek the Law at Cant. 1.8 their mouths feeding your kids besides the shepherds Tents Such who are used to dig in Mines know by the colour of the Sands and by the taste of the Waters that run from the Mountains where the true Treasure lieth So you may guess where and from what sort of Men you may get the Pearl of Price even from such who wear the Brest-plate of Science and Conscience whose care is as it was said of Chrysostom In vita Christ Non aures titillare sed corda pungere not to tickle the ears of the Hearers but to prick and pierce their Hearts into whose hearts the true Light hath shined 4. Be diligent in season and out of season and by frequent hearing of Sermons be searching for this hid Treasure This is the means that God hath promised to bless when we lie with the lame man waiting at the Pool Men John 5. 3. use to omit no opportunity to get gain the love of Gold makes many a man not mind his meat or his sleep but he will toil even and take pains when he should rest and refresh nature So he that would get this Jewel must with the Prophets blessed man meditate in the Psal 1. 2. Law of God day and night 5. Such who would get skill in searching for Earthly Treasures must confer with others to know where the right Vein for Silver is what tedious Job 28. 1. Horace his Epistle Travels have been undertaken for this Impiger extremos currit Mercator ad Indos So such as would have this precious Pearl must read and run from one Dan. 12. 4. Amos 8. 12. Sermon to another inquire and retire into themselves and converse with others Luke 24. 17. Lastly Learn from hence to prefer the Gospel before the most pretious things in the world since it affords a truer Pleasure a more induring Treasure Gold is got out of the basest element the Earth and admired only by men of earthy minds who make it their God and sell their Souls to the Devil for it Oh! the misery the mischief that the Love of it hath wrought in the world For this cause Crates the Philosopher is said to cast his Gold into the Sea with these words Ego vos mergam ne ipse Solinus c. 68. mergar a vobis It was never true to any that trusted in it But the Gospel though it come from Earthen Vessels yet it is pure and most pretious sure and certain established for ever in Heaven Psal 119. 89. Mat. 6. 19. Lay not up therefore for your selves a Treasure on the Earth where rust and canker do corrupt but lay up for your selves a Treasure in Heaven c. But I proceed to the Pot into which this Treasure is put Earthen Vessels SERMON II. 2 COR. 4. 7. But we have this Treasure in Earthen Vessels WE have this Treasure Non pretio sed promisso not by debt but by dowry not by purchase but by Promise I might observe other things hence but I must proceed Doct. 2. That Christs Embassadours are Earthly Vessels A Vessel is an Instrument of use in which we do keep or carry any necessary 2 Tim. 2. 20. Commodity that concerns life's good And by a Metaphor it is transferred to men who are so called because they are Heirs 1. Either of Gods Election 2. Or of his Rejection 1. Of his Grace and Glory Or 2ly Rom. 9. 21. of his Anger and Indignation For the Potter hath power over the Clay to make one Vessel to honour and another to dishonour 1. Vessels of Wood and stones and such as are hypocrites in the visible v. 22. Church 2. Vessels of Gold and Silver viz. v. 23. The Elect. Moreover the Word is used in a general signification for any one that God 2 Tim. â— 22 designes to do him service in a publick or private capacity As Cyrus Nebuchadnezzar c. in a subserviency to his providence And in this sense it is put for the Ministers of the Gospel and thus our Apostle Acts 9.15 is called a chosen Vessel to bear the Name of Christ among the Gentiles And they may be here called Earthly Vessels 1. In respect of their Creation and Constitution and the base matter of Gen. 3.19 1 Cor. 15. 47. their making Adam of Adamah red Earth The first man was of the Earth earthly 2. In respect of their Corruption that cleaves to them whiles they remain in the earthly house of this their Tabernacle 2 Cor. 5.1 Acts 14. 15. being subject to many perturbations and passions and
Chrysolite 2. It is a heaped Treasure containing Multum in minimo in parvulo I will not compare it to Homers Iliads in a Nut-shel but prefer it before all other Books Humane or Divine since it Eph. 3.10 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 comprehends totum hominis bonum hominis it contains in it abundance of curious variety of the manifold Wisdom of God as a Ring that hath many Jewels in it and a Treasure that is compacted of many precious Things for commonly a single Commodity doth doth not make a Treasure but Many 3. The Gospel is a hoarded and hidden Treasure for it contains in it those Col 2. 3. Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledg which are hidden from the wise and prudent men of the world who have principium laesum a crackt brain that they cannot perceive things spiritual 1 Co. 2.14 Jewels are not used to be put in places where they may be seen of every eye What Job speaks concerning Wisdom is true of the Mysteries of wisdom and knowledg in the Gospel The Depth Job 28. 12 14. saith it is not in me the Sea it is not in me Such who are able to search into the secrets of nature and can fathom the depth of Arts and Sciences yet are many times meer strangers to it they know not how to dig for or to draw out this Treasure 4. The Gospel hath an attractive vertue in it when preached in the power of the Holy Ghost to penetrate the heart and to draw it after Christ As the Loadstone hath a natural force to draw Iron and the Sun to draw up Vapours so the Sun of the Gospel by the agency of the Spirit to attract the Heart As the men of the world who have Treasures hid in the Earth they count them their chief happiness and their hearts are drawn after them so the godly who make the Gospel their Treasure and their hearts are fixed to it they will forsake all to follow it Where your Treasure is there will your hearts be also Veniat Verbum Domini Mat. 6.21 submittemus sexcenta si nobis fuissent Colla said a Dutch Divine Reas 1. Because the Gospel reveals the unsearchable Riches of the Grace of God in Christ in whom are hid all the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledg whereby the Saints are inabled to lay up 1 Tim. 6. 19. a good Foundation for themselves to lay up their Treasure in Heaven and to Phil. 2.16 lay hold of eternal Life 1 Tim. 3.9 Tit. 1. 9. 2. All things or persons that excel others in their kind and are of greatest rate for their rarity or preciousness these are counted Treasures but such is the Gospel as amongst Fishes The Leviathan and in Birds the Eagle and a mongst Beasts the Lion and Princes and Potentates among Men they are valued of more worth than thousands of an inferiour rank So in Books those which are rare and fetcht from far As 2 Sam. 18. 3. it is said That Plato gave for three choice Books 30000 Florens How much more is the Gospel to be prized since it came from Heaven in whose sacred Leaves the Mysteries of Heaven in Treasures lie Dr. Prideaux The Object and the Subject of each Christian eye Who lives by this by death shall never die 3. All other Creatures how excellent soever consume in time Gold and Silver is subject to the rust and Jam. 5. 3. canker the most princely Ornaments even Crowns beset with Pearls and precious Diamonds perish in time the best Books are worm-eaten But the Word of our God shall stand for ever Isa 40. 8. 4. The Saints have ever esteemed it so for they have been content to part with all for it That 's a mans Treasure which he prefers before all other things and will part with all rather than this As a man will part with all he hath to save his life Job 2. 4. He counts Life his chief Treasure Alphonsus King of Arragon professed he would lose his Jewels rather than his Books So a Child of God will part with all rather than the Gospel as that Dutch Divine said as before 5. That is a mans Treasure which he counts he cannot live without Some count Riches their Treasure for if they are robbed of them their life is unravelled their heart and their hopes break at once they die in the nest as did Nabal Some count Pleasures their Treasure for if they be deprived once of them they cry out with Adrian They shall never be merry more Some count Children their Treasure and therefore cry out with Rachel Give me Children or else I die But a Child Gen. 30.1 of God makes the Gospel his Treasure for he thinks he cannot live comfortably without it It was a remarkable Passage of Luther who said He could not live without the Word in Paradise but with it he could even in Hell it self Object But if the Word be so choice a Treasure What may be the Reason why the World doth not so esteem it Answ The Causes of this I conceive may be either in respect of the Organ or of the Object 1. In respect of the Organ The Prince of the World hath cast a mist before the eyes of these men that the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ who is the Image of God shineth not in their 2 Cor. 4. 4. hearts As for Example The Sun is a glorious Body full of light and lustre yet blind eyes perceive it not So the Gospel is a Light shining in darkness but the blind and bruitish world discern it not but prefer with the Cock in the Fable a Corn of Barley before it As one that looked intently on a curious Picture was asked the cause why he did so answered If thou hadst my Nicostrates eye thou wouldst no less admire it than I do So had the world but an illuminated eye they would judg of the Word as the Saints do 2. In respect of the Object They make not the Word of GOD but the World the matter of their choice Their Treasures are in their Fields and in their Flocks and Herds And thus they heap up Treasures for the Jam. 5.3 last day He that holds the World his Portion will prefer it before any other A godly Man esteems the Word of God as his Heritage for ever and Psal 119. 11. therefore takes it for a greater Treasure than Chains of Pearl and Mines of Gold Vse 1. Serves to refute the folly of a generation of Men who are wiser for Luk. 16.8 the World than for Heaven and hoard up Treasures for themselves here in the place of their pilgrimage and are not rich towards God Is the Word such a Luk. 12.21 Treasure Why do you prefer the dirt and dung of this World The Pleasures of Sin and the Profits that result from your Purchases and Possessions before this Pearl of Price Could I but acquaint
Honourable Earl of Manchester to be Pastor of Uttington in Lincoln-shire GReat was the Jewel hid within this field A Pearl more precious than the earth doth yield One grace surpasseth Gold and Gems as far As the Sun shining doth the brighter Star This parti-colour'd coat wrought such debate And caus'd thy brethrens envy their hate That from thy place and people thou wast sent To suffer sharp and severe ' prisonment Far worse than that of Joseph in the pit Who afterwards was sold to th' Ishmaelite And by that Merchant-man who came from far To the Kings Provost-Martial Potiphar Where he was prosperous yet by the wile Of her who would by sin his soul defile Was stript of 's coat to keep his conscience His feet were fettr'd for his continence Tell me bless'd Saint what was not this thy fate If thou wast not far more unfortunate For in his bonds good Joseph was more free Who favour found was loos'd honourably But 't was otherwise with thee dear brother Who wast sent from one prison to th' other 'Till death by a Habeas Corpus did remove Thy flesh to th' earth thy soul to heaven above In those thy bonds thou wast so comfortable As made adversity amiable For Divine Truth was girdle to thy loyns And uprightness the brest-plate of thy reins A Faith most firm a shield of thy defence And an incomparable patience Hope was the only helmet of thy head The Gospels peace did light thee to thy bed Thy feet thus shod thou fearest no surprize But could'st defend thy self ' gainst injuries Thou having gotten these to good degree Obtain'st a conquest over Calamity Sore were thy life's troubles sweet thy rest Thy smel 's as of a Field that God hath blest Richard Moore Vpon the Death of many Reverend Ministers since Bartholomew 1662. IF passion be a spur to poetry Sure it should teach me for to verifie Were there but Sympathy who can but weep To see so many Pastors laid to sleep What shall the poor Sheep do now these are dead But dread likewise they shall be scattered The Lord hath smitten many Cedars tall How should poor poplars chuse but fear a fall Are Israels chariots and horsemen gone How should we chuse but weep and make great moan Old Ash foreseeing what a dearth would be Of Sions Seers fell fell down suddenly Although it proved his death yet would he grieve And buried was on Barthol'mew Eve As father Ely bowed his aged head First when the news came thy two sons are dead But when he heard once that the Ark was lost It brake his heart his neck his life it cost Vines Naulton Cawdry Calamy went hence Like Nard and Camphire trees of Frankincense Still sending forth their aromatick scent Till twice extinct from us to Heaven they went Learned Vines went away as in a sleep And Zealous Naulton who was wont to weep Calamy for London he loved so well When in the Fire he heard her passing-Bell Cawdry crowded on Caryl White and Strong Gouge Gataker Hill whitaker and Young Gravely judicious Burges and Hall Who was Tom-tell-troth Baker and Burdall Pale death why do'st thou make such haste And the true Churches Treasure waste Tell me in truth what is there no reprieve That such renowned Worthies might survive See that a Supersedeas thou grant That such the Clergies benefit may'nt want Though thou accostest them with swiftest wing I 'me well assured thou hast lost thy sting They 're now made more than conquerors since dead And are triumphant who were conquered Their Captain Christ hath got the Victory And soon O Death will make an end of thee In the mean time thou canst not surely kill A Child of God but cure him of his ill His Soul 's above thy reach and in a trice When once dismiss'd shall mount to Paradice Nor hurt the Body only lay 't to bed In th' Grave or Coffin where it 's buried RICHARD MOORE De Immortalitate BRight Marble nor the gilded Monunuments Of valiant Heroes nor the rare Contents Of wealthy Monarchs shall out-last thy fame Immortal Scholar of eternal name Neither shall time thy praises e'r divide As learned yet as e'r was on our side Fierce Mars his Sword may Statues overturn And wealthy Cities into Ashes burn Spoil and deface the works of costly plates High Spires and Temples prized at dear rates Yet cannot blur nor these thy Works o'return Immortal Hall who sleepest in thine Urn Art dead do'st speak by Books thou 'st left behind Sight to the faithful eyes unto the blind Bright Orient Pearls to light through misty vales O're gloomy Mountains and obscurest dales When Kingdoms are o'return'd like Troys sad Town The brightest Gem thy lofty front shall crown Posterity Halls learned Name shall boast When this our Isle and Europe quite is lost Aeternitati Comparatum omne tempus breve Popham Gardiner An Epitaph on the never-to-be-forgotten Divine Mr. Thomas Hall STay Passenger in this cold dusty Urn Read carefully in reading see thou learn Life's brevity the shortness of mans days How soon his glory fadeth and decays How soon his honour 's brought unto the Grave How soon the worms their satisfaction have What does his Learning him at all avail When once his vital Spirits dying fail If literature could free learn'd Men from death This Golgotha and dormentorious earth Halls Skeleton should never yet have found Who did with copious works so well abound Genius of art thy loss we do lament Mellifluous Orator who still time spent In reading seeking hearing sapience But now alas from us he is snatcht hence That makes us weep weeping we do deplore Tears blur our writings we can write no more 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Life's Shortness Life 's a bubble Full of trouble And a vapour Or a tapour Life 's a flower Lasts an hour Soon it blasteth Sooner wasteth Then think how soon Mans pleasures fly away Since all his life-times but a winters day Like to the flower that with the Suns uprise His bud unfolds and in the ev'ning dies His swift concurrent motions like th' Sun With winged paces suddenly are gone Then think on God on grisly death's strong hand How thy poor soul at Gods just bar must stand Therefore prepare his aid see thou implore When that thou com'st his bar to stand before 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Solon Have God in mind him serve with filial fear And think how soon thy dying time is near Lord shall my soul when body it doth die Lord-liking climb the heavens Canopie Then farewel Earth Place of my Birth Adieu vain Pleasures Heaven yieldeth Treasures Far better than this tottring Stage doth yield Where we can't act but presently are kill'd O grisly pale-fac't death why so unkind To take him hence and leave me here behind Because I am not ripe too green of years To full this Corn-field of destroying tares If t' were not so thou wouldest take me hence To Heaven above thy dear's ones recompence Where Saints do triumph when the prize they 've won When this my body may out-shine the Sun When Moses-like I view the three in one FINIS Books to be Sold by Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and three Crowns in Cheapside In Folio SErmons upon the whole Epistle o◠St. Paul to the Colossians By Mr. John Daille translated into English by F. S. 2. An Exposition of Temptation on Mat. 4 v. 1 to the end of the 11 v. A practical Exposition on the third Chapter of the first Epistle of St Paul to the Corinthians with the Godly Mans Choice on Psal 4. v. 6 7 8. By Anthony Burgess Forty six Sermons upon the whole Eight Chapter of the Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Romans 8 Sermons upon the whole fourth Psalm 10 Sermons upon the whole forty second Psalm 19 Sermons upon the whole 51 Psalm 9 Sermons upon the whole 83 Psalm All Five by Tho. Horton D. D. Left perfected for the Press under his own Hand a little before his Death XXVI Sermons upon several Texts of Scriptures By the Learned and Reverend John Donne D. D. Quarto's The Morning-Exercise against Popery or the principal Errours of the Church of Rome Detected and Confuted in a Morning-Lecture preached lately in Southwark By several Ministers of the Gospel in or near London Mediocria or the most natural and plain understanding according to the Scripture of the great Doctrines of Election Redemption Justification the Covenants the Law and Gospel and of Perfection Large Octavo Captives bound in Chains made free by Christ their Surety or the Misery of graceless Sinners and their Recovery by Christ their Saviour By Tho. Doolittel The Faithfulness of God considered and cleared in the great Events of his Word or a second Part of the fulfilling of Scripture By the same Author Speculum Sherlockianum or a Looking Glass in which the Admirers of Mr. Sherlock may behold the Man as to his Accuracy Judgment Orthodoxy The Childs Delight together with an English Grammar The true way of reading and spelling English Both by Tho. Lye Small Octavo A Religious Family or a Treatise in which is 1. The Beauty and Excellency of a pious and well-ordered Family described 2. The single Mans Family-Book faithfully prescribed By Phil. Lamb. Index Biblicus Multijugus or a Table to the Holy Scripture wherein each of its Books Chapters and divers Matters are distinguished and epitomized The almost-Christian Discovered or the False-Professor tried and cast By Matth. Mead. The Godly Mans Ark or the City of Refuge in the Day of his Distress with Mrs. Moores Evidences for Heaven By Edm. Calamy The true Bounds of Christian-Freedom By S. Bolton The sinfulness of Sin and the Fulness of Christ By Will. Bridge A Discourse against Transubstantiation or an Answer to the ordinary Question whether a Man may be saved in the Roman Catholick Religion By I. C. D. D.
Jesus Sacrae Scripturae tui sunt sanctae deliciae mei Augustin Christ made of the Scriptures As also our famous Orthodox Modern Divines Dr. Prideaux left these Verses behind him written upon his Bible This sacred Volume in whose precious leaves The Mysteries of Heaven in treasures lie The Object and the Subject of each Christian eye Who lives by this by death shall never die Here shines the Sun of grace diffusing wide His quickning rays on all from side to side Here God and Man do both embrace each other Met in one Person Heaven and Earth do kiss Here a pure Virgin doth become a Mother Who bore that Son who the worlds Father is Here true bliss cometh flying from on high To hawl Man out of Hells dark Empiry John a Wigord Take one taste of those few among the many famous verses written by Mr. Clark See his Divine Poem or Poetical Meditation p. 622. In his Mirror This Book these Sentences these Lines Each Word and Letter To me is better Than Chains of Pearl and golden Mines 'T is Heaven transcrib'd and glory pen'd Gods Truth no doubt Was copied out When he this Gift to man did send J. C. You see Sir with what a Cloud of Witnesses you are compassed about for your conduct incouragement in your way towards Canaan your heavenly Country that you may taste of the hidden Mannah and read and ruminaâ—â— upon this Bread of Life and Food 〈◊〉 your Faith And as by much porinâ— and pondering upon the Statute-Lawâ— of the Land you may become a wise anâ— able Justiciary so hereby a true anâ— intelligent Christian and the better acquainted with your own heart For thâ— Scriptures are so penned as Athanasiuâ— saith that every man may think theâ— speak de se in re sua of him in hiâ— Affairs Indeed there is little good â—â— be got by reading the Scriptures cursorily and carelesly but if you do it duelâ— and diligently with attention affectioâ— and supplication they will have such aâ— influence upon the Soul and such aâ— Erasmus in his Preface upon Luke efficacy as is to be received from no other Book that can be named herebâ— how hath the proud heart been humbled the hard heart softned those boisterouâ— and predominant passions and affection subdued and every thought captivateâ— into the Obedience of Christ so thaâ— the Man hath become of a Lion a Lambâ— of a Leopard a Lamb of a Swine â— Sheep Who sees not at this day that thâ— nauseating of this Bread of Life hath brought many men to spiritual leanness set them upon dangerous precipices of pride till they have fallen into the dead sea of practical Atheism whereas a serious searching out of the Will of God revealed in his Word is an effectual Dr. Stillingfleet in his Epist to Origin Sacrae means for the maintaining a powerful sense of Religion in the souls of men Be sure therefore to make a diligent search into the mind of God as it is here manifested For the dignity of the Scriptures and the Majesty of Christ who is the Author and the matter of them mutually look one upon another as the Sun doth on the Stars and the Stars on the Sun for as the excellency of the Sun appears by the glory of the Stars to which it giveth light so the Majesty of Christ is manifest in the Scriptures to which he giveth credit And as the Pearl by the often beating of the Sun-beams upon it becomes glorious so we by beholding as in this Glass the Glory of the Lord are changed into the same Image from Glory to Glory 2 Cor. 3. 18. It happily may be expected from some according to the Custom of such 2 Cor. 9. 10 11 13. Dedications that I should speak of your personal worth but I well know your modesty would by this means be 〈◊〉 â—o the blush and some disaffected persons might count me a parasite I shall therefore turn such Praises into Prayers that he who is able to make all grace abound in every good Work would multiply your Seed and increase the Fruits of your Righteousness that others may glorifie God for your professed subjection to the Gospel of Christ this is Sir and shall be the hearty Prayer of Your Servant in the same Saviour Richard Moore Wetherock-hill Novemb. 4th 1674. To the Candid Christian Reader WIse Solomon saith There is no end in making Books In Eccles 12. 12. this Case Covetousness and Ambition like the two Daughters of the Horseleech never say it is enough and in Polemical Discourses Men are endless in their Answers and Arguments so that the Reader after a curious inspection will find many things impertinent acted in passion and utterly to fail his expectation like the hungry Dog gnawing upon a Flint-stone wherewith he may assoon as we say in the Proverb break his Neck as his Fast Which made Erasmus so ironically to pass his Censure of such Multi mei similes saith he hoc Morbo laborant ut cum scribere nesciunt a scribendo tamen temperare non possunt And lest any man should say unto me Physician heal thy self Know good Reader that the Subject-matter of this small Piece is not Controversial but truly Christian you have here an Impartial Narrative of a Man of God a Godly Divine who was illustrious in his generation one that thundred in his Doctrine and lightened in his life who was a holy President to his Flock and left many wholsome Precepts behind him when he died He was conscious that Examples do more affect or infect than Rule that Practice doth obviate Precept and that our life is a continual imitation and that we are one anothers pattorns and temptations that most men go the way that is gone not the way that must be gone and are carried by the gale of Custom rather than by the guide of Conscience he chose therefore to go before his Charge in all manner of Conversation and Godliness He was one that was high in Parts holy and lowly in Heart the more he knew the As Nazianzen of Athanasius more he perceived his own ignorance as Boughs loaded with Fruit and full Ears with Corn and bow down the head and bend towards the Earth As for such who have the highest natural Endowments without grace they are but glittering Glow-worms in the dark or as Toads which they say have a Pearl in the head and poyson in their whole body The Devil desires to be adorned with these counterfeit Pearls and Bristoll-stones But this renowned Worthy had a good inside and outside clean hands a learned head and a loyal heart to Jesus Christ It were to be wished that such who are Justin Martyr non in verbis sed in factis res Religionis dependet Hesiod so ready to strive about words would strive to imitate him in good works to imitate Vertue is a Vertue to be imitated and herein that is truly excellent wherein we strive
these men where they might buy a cheap Piece of Ground or where Gold and Silver and precious Jewels lay hid in the Earth though it were a great way off and hard to get Would they not hearken to me Oh how would they run or ride dig and delve in the bowels of the Earth to get them Bu◠I acquaint you with a more precious Purchase with a far more enduring Substance and tell you it is nigh unto you where it is hid and how easie Rom. 10. 8 it is to be had yet I cannot prevail with you for my life to take a little pains to get it or to part with a little of that which you cannot long keep though it were to gain that you can never lose Well your Treasure you are for and your Treasure without true repentance you will have such Psal 140. 10. as it is such as you have laid in and laid up for your selves even Treasures of Wrath against the day of Wrath and the Revelation of the righteous Judgment of Rom. 2. 5. God Vse 2. Which that you may avoid let me prevail with you to make the Gospel your Choice count it your chief Good below God and Christ It is a Legacy left you by your dearest Lord sealed with his precious blood herein you have a promise of the Pardon of Sins of Adoption of Sons whereby if you are not wanting to your selves you may become Heirs of God and Joint-heirs with Christ and Partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints And will you not read it Will you not heed it at least with as much care as a Child would his Fathers Will to know what he hath left him to see whether some one or other have not a Title before him to the chief Treasure Alas beloved Do we see it and is it not our shame that those Terrae-Filii Sons of the Earth can even sweat for Silver forbear Pleasures that they may get Profit dig deep in Mines for Precious Mettle and choice Jewels storm dangers and difficulties by Land Omnis cupiditas in illum tendatur and Sea The Merchant the Mariner the Mathematician the Mechanick the Souldier and he that studies the Philosophers-stone And will you not take as much care be at as much cost use as much courage in Christianity at least in searching into those golden Mines of the Gospel wherein are discovered Joh. 5.39 those hidden Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledg in Christ St. Chrysostom saith to this purpose In his Homil Super Orat. Annae Such as dig Treasures out of the Earth though they get infinite Wealth yet give not over till they have drawn the Mine dry for this is their chief care not to get out much but to leave none behind How much more should we endeavour to know the Read the Lady Jane Grays Letter written to her Sister whole mind of Christ contained in the Gospel lay out our selves about it and labour in it day and night The Gospel is a pure Treasure very pure purity it self free from all dross Such as dig in Mines for Gold and other Psal 119. 140. precious Mettals are willing to work hard though the Oar hath much dross and dirt that cleaves to it till it be refined but this is a pure and proved Word pure as Silver tried in a Furnace of Earth fined seven-fold Psal 12.6 2. It is a perfect Treasure in all parts without mixture of any other alloy nothing must be put to it or ought be taken from it Those precious things that are taken out of the Deut. 12. 32. Earth even all Mettals have their mixture which doth somewhat debase them but the Word of Christ is perfect Psal 19.7 of it self and compleat without the additions or traditions of men He that addeth to or diminisheth any thing Rev. 22. 18 19. from it shall have no part in the Book o◠life but shall partake of the plagues that are written it Oh how inexcusable are the Papists who count it imperfect and pollute it with the mud and Mine of their vain inventions and carnal-Gospellers who profane it who take not pains to read it who heed it not neither hoard it in their hearts 3. It is a precious Treasure Gold Silver and Jewels are precious things and yet they are but as the Offal and Excrements of the Earth a man may have much of them and yet be miserable and say with Caesar Omnia fui nihil profuit I have been all things and never the better but the price of Job 28. Psal 119. 72 127. this is above rubies to be esteemed as gold nay above fine gold even above thousands of gold and silver Had the Lord thought these things a fit portion for his people he would not have given them to his enemies the barbarous Indians have much more of these than you 4. It is a profitable Treasure to teach to convince profitable for all 2 Tim. 3. 16. things to correct and to instruct in righteousness Gregory calls it the heart and soul of God Athanasius the food of the Soul St. Augustine the Fortress 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 against Errors Irenaeus the invariable Rule of Truth In a few words it teacheth true godliness which is profitable for all things 1 Tim. 4. 8. for all persons whether in a publick or private capacity 2 Tim. 3. 17. It is profitable for men in all Duties in all Estates and Conditions which respect their active or passive obedience It teacheth men what they ought and what they ought not do how to live and how to die and how to suffer and how to carry themselves in prosperity and adversity The Apostle had never taken out that Lesson had he not learnt it here viz. to be content in every estate to know how Phil. 4. 11. to want and how to abound and as one that had nothing yet possessing all 2 Cor. 6. 10. things A strange hyperbolical Speech a Riddle to the world 5. It is a pleasant Treasure sweeter than Honey yea than the droppings Psal 19. 10 Psal 119. 103. Hos 13.15 of the Honey-combs Ephraim who was a pleasant Child in Gods account Jer. 31. 20. yet he had the Treasure of all his pleasant things spoiled but here is a sweetness wherewith as the Soul of man shall never be satiated so neither shall it ever be satisfied till it come to Heaven It is a lasting Treasure an everlasting Sweetness I might add what I before said The Gospel is a heaped a hoarded a hidden and a heavenly Treasure Vse 3. And now you Sons of Pleasure and Daughters of the Horsleach who are so ready to cry Give and are never satisfied Tell me what you would have And where you are like to mend your selves You are for Profit here is Gold for you you are for Pleasure and here 's Honey for you Oh how well might you be without these Earthly-sweets Would you