most powerfully press the point of Parental Providence and oft prevents the husband from turning Infidel or worse her tenderness doth teach him kindeness and when she preaches love to him she takes the Text out of her own Obedience The practice of her subjection to him doth Preach the duty of his to Christ and indeed he preacheth best that best practiceth To practice the Sermon we hear is the best way of repeating it but to repeat the Sermon we see is the ready way to practice it Such a visible Sermon is every graceful action proceeding from a vertuous and obedient wife and if ever the devout Conversation of the wife prove the savour of life unto life for the husband if ever the wife of his bosom procure him a place in Abrahams all her piety to her God must be attended on with discreet loyalty to her husband else in vain had the Apostle injoyned Wives to be in subjection to their own husbands that if any obey not the word they might without the word be won by the conversation of the wives 1. Pet. 3.1 Crums from the Table But he answered and said It is not meet to take the childrens bread and cast it to dogs And she said Truth Lord yet the dogs eat of the crums which fall from their masters table Matth. 15.26,27 CHrists Offals are a feast to the humble soul where there is a hungry faith whereas his rarest dainties are but nauciated by the proud and full-fed Christian Faith without humility flies up the soul to the Pinacle of Presumption and humility without faith oft lights it in the Valley of Despair The children and the dogs must not sup at one Table Christ is no Gospel-pearl for Swine Legion is more welcome to such a Heard then he to such a Legion To this latter Age of ours indeed times dotage to this old decrepid bow-back'd world is served in Christs second course the choicest rarities of Gospel-truths but we have so apishly alamoded even our very pallates and so adulterated the substantial food of wholesome Doctrine by the leaven and sawcy Compounds of our own Traditions that our poor souls do even starve whilest our consciences surfeit such is the scarcity of nutrifactive Truths under such plentiful varieties of new-dress'd dispensations When servants feast it wo be to the childrens bread when Stewards feast dogs with the childrens bread who hungers for the masters crums where 's now the Masters Table who keeps forth the Lords house is there no provision made for the Lords Table where are the Stewards is there a dearth in Heaven is not that sheet which epitomized the Creation for Peters appetite Acts 10.11,12 broad enough to cover the Lords Table for our faith or are there no Guests at leisure to sup with the Lord happily this man hath bought a piece of England that man a yoke of Offices the third happily hath married a wife of his own canonizing but are there no poor souls in the high-ways no maimed consciences that on their recovery would rejoyce at the crums which fall from this Table its worth our tears to acquaint the Master how those sharp-set dog-like appetites which were not worthy the crums of his Table have in revenge snarl'd his Table into crums yet It is not meet to take the childrens bread and cast it to such dogs though the dogs eat of the crums which fall from their masters table Matth. 15.26,27 The Camel travelling through the needles eye It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle then for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God Matth. 19.24 IS Heavens gate less then a needles eye no wonder few there be that finde it Matth. 7.14 or is it the rich mans greatness that obstructs his passage and denyes him entrance indeed our Savior entitles the Poor to a propriety in this Kingdom Luke 6.20 and it s the onely inheritance that usurping Ahabs could never yet plunder from our poor and innocent Jezreelites But why so difficult a thing for rich men to enter heaven because so facile a thing for hell to enter them Though it be even a Proverb with Solomon Prov. 14.20 That the rich hath many friends yet he may not expect to be Abrahams bosom-friend there 's not a drop of water for him in heaven who hath not a crum of bread for Lazarus on earth 'T is possible that Creatures of a larger bulk then Camels may by the dexterity of the Artist pass through a needles eye in some exquisite acupicture piece so you may finde the Portraict of a rich man in the picture of a parable but a great gulf-wide from heaven It is the invelleity of the Creature which oft times renders that impossible which in it self is feazible and if Heaven were an earthly Paradice or Eternity could be rated and purchasable at twenty years value the rich being here but Tenants at Will at most for Term of Life it should cost them an Hospital but their souls should have a reversion in Heaven were that transparent anonimity 1 Cor. 2.9 and 2 Cor. 12.4 but penetrable by such blunt and sensual dross Go to now ye rich men weep and howl c. Jam. 5.1 Indeed without are dogs Rev. 22.15 what sad news is this news more desperate then a Bankrupts debt Is there no possibility of entrance into heaven for the rich hath that Saint whom the Romanists idolize as the Clavis of Heaven wept out all his Apostacy yet no room but at the Italian Ephisus for a little bribery have the Mammonists on earth nothing to do with Heavens Exchequer dare we say such a man is not in Heaven because he dyed rich God forbid our Savior never superfluated any Truth he saith A rich man shall hardly enter into heaven Matth. 19.23 but all difficulties imply a possibility and if but a grain of faith can cause Mountains of earth to skip into the Sea Matth. 17.20 21.21 can it not as easily convey a few earth-worms into heaven onely it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle then for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God Matth. 19.24 Rabbi Rabbi Then spake Jesus to the multitude and to his Disciples saying The Scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses seat c. and love the uppermost rooms at feasts and the chief seats in the synagogues and greetings in the markets and to be called of men Rabbi Rabbi Matth. 23.1,2,6,7 AS there is not a vainer puff of pride then hypocritical humility so there is not a more ridiculous piece of folly then a serious affected gravity where ambition is worn with the wrong side outward The Peoples Hosanna bred Vermin in Herod that he became even worms-meat above ground Acts 12.23 and 't was the Scribes impudence to have that Chair for their Pulpit which cost the ambitious Sons of Levi a Journey under ground Numb 16.32 Though it be not denyed but they were learned
Poors asking a peny of thee then they could thee hadst thou freely given them a pound for in the one thou owest God praise for the opportunity of doing good but in the other they have but their own due and thou doest but thy duty Wherefore Withhold not good from them to whom it is due when it is in the power of thy hand to do it Prov. 3.27 The contented Spirit Drink waters out of thine own Cistern and running waters out of thine own Well Prov. 5.15 DIspleasure not a friend to be a slave to thine own lust thy rags are Robes with contentation if thou hast not a mite for the Poor endow them with thy Prayers feast on thine own Lentils quaff thy penitential tears in stead of luscious wines and count thy sins in stead of pounds keep thy thoughts at home and let not thy ambition climb beyond thy Makers pleasure crack not the Misers heart-strings by countermining policy to rob him of his covetousness If thou hast a yolk and a shell never keep house at another mans Table it s better be a Snail in his shell then a Lyon in a Grate Give the Devil his due and plunder no man Do not cut a purse by Law nor lay the foundation of thine own curse upon the ruines of anothers happiness Let both eyes be but single-sighted and let not thy tongue be double-hearted Rejoyce in the wife of thy youth but let thy Neighbors alone Drink waters out of thine own Cistern and running waters out of thine own Well Prov. 5.15 The Arm of Flesh Cursed is he that maketh flesh his Arm Jer. 17.5 HIs is but a wing'd prosperity whose happiness is center'd in his riches and his no stabler honor whose ambition in the peoples breath the one builds Castles in the ayr and the other inhabits them the one counts himself in heaven when his neighbor is in hell or in his debt the other blesses himself as sufficiently immortal if some courteous Historian may be purchased to foist his noble acts into the Margent of a Chronicle the one erects the golden Calf and the other worships it both are an abomination to the Lord For what greater dishonor can be done the Creator then to attribute his Attributes to the Creature When the Sword gives Laws the well-lined bags of the one will prove but pin-proof and when Deaths Herald summons the surrender of the Souls Cittadel titles of Honor will prove but a Cobweb-guard for the other It is not Armies of men can secure thee in a Famine nor thousands of Granaries in a Pestilence nor either of these supply its proper defect if thou rest thereon whole vollies of prayers unless levied by the eye of Faith cannot prevent the incursion of the least of all Gods judgements All the policy of the world knows not how to quench the least flash of Lightning the highest endowments of the most refined brain the noblest spirit of the mightiest Champions the eloquentest beauty amongst Natures darlings have not Rhetorick enough to perswade Death to desist though for an hour He that speaks by his own eloquence may gallantly plead the posthaste of his own ruine he that fights upon his own strength is in actual war with himself he that prays by his own spirit hath them heard by his own ears Say not then to either of these This shall be my Sanctuary for Cursed is he that maketh flesh his Arm Jer. 17.5 Custom in Sin Can the Blackmore change his skin or the Leopard his spots then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil Jer. 13.23 CUstom is a Law to the wicked saith Solomon in his wisdom yet though sin and thou are Twins by nature let not thy natural corruption practice it self into a habit lest the Devil claim thee by prescription Hell hath some title to the Customary sinner for all such desperate shipwracks of Faith fall within the Devils Royalty To habituate our selves in evil is what in us lies to devest our selves of all possibility of doing good and he that from the cradle to the crutch sins away an age may as soon command his gray hairs to resume their youthly colour as incline a thought to Piety without a Miracle of Mercy Every Customary sin like the sin of hypocrisie hath more then one sin in it every such sinner keeps the Records of Hell and is the Devils best Customer It s easier for the Devil to speak truth then for the Customary sinner to act it He that accustoms himself to lye will sooner perjure his conscience then confine himself to truths he that accustoms himself to theft will sooner be hang'd for a rush then deny himself the guilt of murther to purchase a purse he that accustoms himself to be drunk will sooner starve his posterity then be manacled to the rules of sobriety he that accustoms himself to women will sooner be pox'd then be wedded to chastity and he that accustoms himself to swear will rather be damn'd then be out of fashion Can the Blackmore change his skin or the Leopard his spots then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil Jer. 13.23 Prevalency in Importunity He had power over the Angel and prevailed Gen. 32.28 AWaiting Importunity is the childe of Faith but impatient solicitousness the brat of Presumption To wrestle with the Lord by believing is Saint-like but to fight with him by presuming Devilish To the woman of Canaan Christ said Be it unto thee even as thou wilt but to Zebedees wife Ye know not what ye ask The graceless Judge who neither feared God nor regarded man was yet conquered by an Importunate Widow Let me alone saith God to Moses when Israel was at their Calf-Idolatry as if his importunity had even bound with reference be it spoken the hands of the Almighty and prevail'd with him to repent of the evil he intended them Exod. 32.14 Heavens gate flies open at the importunity of a Righteous man where Gods will takes place of ours and patience hath her perfect work and again Heavens windows shall not open for three years and an half together if Elias pray so James 5.17 Indeed the Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence and the violent onely take it by main force of Faith There is nothing too hard for a zealous Importunity which is not improper for God to grant or thee to crave Faiths wings in prayer flies up the soul towards Heaven no higher then importunity swiftens them If without this our prayer be fled Heaven-wards though it took wing at the heart it will not light in the bosom Faith apprehends a fit object Hope takes level to both which Importunity becomes that secret vertue which conveys the arrow to the mark Though Jacobs holy Wrestler when he saw he prevailed not touch'd his thigh out of joynt yet his faith remain'd sound enough to wrestle a blessing from him through the force of his importunity Thus by his strength he had power with God yea He