2.14 15. Before this God and his people by election were twaite did disagree and can two walke together except they agree if they could what comfort should a soule have to walk and worke with an Enemie trust himselfe in the hand of an Enemie Now this blessed act of Christ's love hath made God and his people friends hath taken away the wall of partition so that now we may goe boldly and freely to the Throne of grace * Heb. 4.16 through Christ who before durst not see his face Now that there was but one and had not he undertooke it there had been no other 't was greatest love that he in mans distresse would doe it There are two reasons of his fitnesse in this particular respect First he onely could discover how great the breach was that sinne had made Secondly he only could make the atonement being in favour with God the Lords equall Secondly that hee be able to beare the deserts of the offendor onely Christ was able to beare the just demerits of sinne that wrath of a Divine Majesty that was due to sinne Alas humanity cannot stand under the wrath of such Diety a little displeasure of God you see can breake us in pieces beat us to powder Wee cannot tell how to behave our selves under small afflictions a little paine in the head tooth heart bellie back or sides casts us downe when as all the paines and evills of this life are lesse then the least of all our sinnes how much lesse then could humanity stand under the wrath due to every sinne of one person nay to every sin of every person It must be a God as well as a man that was able to doe this This Christ did hee stood under the sinnes of all the elect that ever did or ever shall survive in this inferiour world Thinke of it then was there ever any sorrowes like to his sorrowes * Lam. 1.12 what a burthen bare hee The Church useth the speech to Christ when she was under but small suffering but might not Christ to dampe the Spirit of murmuring under a light Crosse have said so to her and all her children You just ones you see his fitnesse to die for you Thirdly that he be able to satisfie for the offence none else could satisfie Divine Justice and a just Law for sinne ô who then would sinne sith such suffering was required for satisfaction Some men will feare to offend against the civill Law if they perceive that any great satisfaction is required any great mulct inflicted for the breach of the Law Hence murthers rapines buggeries are not so many as they would be because the Law exacts no lesse then life in such a case and pray tell me what 's the life of man to the life of God of Christ it's nothing yet some out of naturall tendernesse will weep for the death of a man and that in great measure but have not one teare for Christ thinke not of him are every day striving as much as in them lies to crucifie the Lord of Glory afresh and put him to open shame by their sinnes If it be not so what meaneth the breaking out of your piercing sinnes flinty hearts ô foolish and unkind will yee thus requite the Lord and the love of Christ Fourthly that hee be without sinne he that is a sinner can but die for his owne sinne as in the case of two malefactors the suffering of the one cannot acquit the other because they are both under one and the same condemnation Christ was thus afflicted for your sakes Silver and gold was not the price of our soules corruptible thing 's were invalid to this purpose 't was precious bloud * 1 Pet. 1.18 not of a sinner but of one that saves from sinne a Lamh of God without blemish spotlesse * ver 19. Fifthly that he personate the party offending so as that the same perfection of nature may fall for sinne which fell in and by sinne Christ was the common person personating as a second Adam the first Adam and all his posterity offering the same nature for sinne which fell by sinne from the patterne of perfection God himselfe By man came death and by man came the resurrection from the dead * 1 Cor. 15.21 man for man person for person nature for nature name for name * ver 45. Sixthly that the satisfaction be eqivolent to the indemnitie suffered and sustain'd God suffered by the losse of his Image in man so as that nothing except the like in value to what was lost is of equall value in the Lords esteeme Thus did Christ and much more for the Elect he gave to his Father a more refined and better accomplished nature then Adam lost for Adam was left mutable and so he might either stand or fall But Christ hath so ordered the matter for Christians as that that part of the Divine nature which they have is uncapable of any such mutation g Qui operatur ut accedamus operatur ne discedamus Aug. de bon persev c. 7. Phil. 1.6 sooner may the Heavens bow downe to the earth and the earth it selfe ascend to the Heavens darknesse it selfe be made as the Light then that grace can cease to be grace till it becomes glory Satisfaction must be plenary First to put a glory upon Justice the Justice of him who exacts the reparation and that for the setting forth 1. The austerity of Justice 2. The impartiality of it First thus it pleased the Father to bruise Christ for sinners to set forth the austerity of his Justice in this particular whereas he would not be content with a slight satisfaction or payment God will have one worthy for another yea a person ten thousand times more worthy to satisfie for the wrong than was he that did the wrong for the first man was of the earth earthie who did the wrong the second man was the Lord from Heaven * 1 Cor. 15.47 who made the satisfaction Secondly the impartiality of Justice in discovering that the most high will not connive at sinne no not in his owne and onely begotten Sonne the Sonne of his dearest love Rom. 8.32 he spared not his owne Sonne but delivered him up for us all so that if the dearest Sonne of his dearest love will take upon him the sins of the elect he must beare their chastizement Hee was wounded for their transgressions and bruised for their iniquities the chastizement of their peace was laid on him and by his striyes they are healed * Isa 53.5 Could not Christ escape for sinne that he tooke upon him did not God spare a Sonne of love where then you sonnes of wrath can you bee safe from the hand of Justice Every man by nature is a sonne of wrath Eph. 2.3 and without this grace Christ had not been a Sonne of love oh yee sinners in Syon stand amazed at this strictnesse of God against sinne and turne not your
is not in him Some like the bird that is fastned to a stone would be on the wing on high towards Heaven but when they attempt to ascend they are drawne back and held downe with a stone in the heart and another in the hand God hath given some their hearts desire but hath sent leanenesse into their soules and what profit was there in that had it no been better to have wanted those things which fat the carcasse and starve the soule which is the most precious Jewell we have in this world It is one mystery in Godlinesse to have nothing and yet lack nothing A Christian may have nothing and yet lack nothing Luke 22.35 When I sent you without purse scrip and shooes lacked you any thing and they said nothing Divine Providence makes up outward wants another way The Martyr had noe food and yet he lacked none for as hee had no meat so he had no stomack and all the Apostles wants and sorrowes were but an as it were so 2 Cor. 6.9.10 but as it were dying and yet living as sorrowfull yet alwayes rejoycing as poore yet rich and making many rich as having nothing and yet possessing all things Christ was their all as it were what it was not for when a Christian possesseth God he injoyes all and what wants hee surely there is none who live in God and his Christ but shall be kept alive in this world and if they be not 't is no great matter for this is not their Countrie they will never be well and at hearts ease till they be at their heavenly home Christ promiseth health also and protection to his in mercy Prov. 7 8. c. 4.22 Luke 21.18 all the haires of your head are numbr'd p Si sic custodiuntur superflua tua in quanta securitate est anima tua Aug. Sed sicut Capillus de capite sic nec momentum pâ—ribit de tempore Bâ—â—â— If that sicknesse and infringement doe surprize thee yet is it any more but an exchange of mercies God shuts out Moses from an earthly Canaan which was an affliction to him but then gives him a heavenly one for it q â—n Câ—â—is repâ—sita est major compâ—nsatio Calvin one mercy for another did we not sometimes meet with changes wee should like Jeshurom wax fat and forget the Lord. Afflictions sicknesses and weaknesses with wants and exigencies are as needfull and as good for some as their ordinary food Yea if they were not good in themselves as there is an evill of punishment as well as sinne yet God makes them good to some they were good to David Psal 119.1 They give us a true taste of the bitternesse that is in the tree of evill for we in nothing doe more taste and sensibly perceive the sinfulnesse of sinne than in suffering Hence that Oh the wormwood and the gall my soule hath them still in remembrance and is humbled within me Lam. 3.19.20 Here was the taste of sinne in the suffering r Civitatis evertio est morum non murotum casus Aug. It brings to mind our sin as in the case of Pharaohs Butler Secondly it is a mercy in that it drives us to the God of mercie And meanes of escape from sinne and miscrie In their afflictions the 'l seeke me early Å¿ Num tibi cum fauces urit sitis aurea quaeris pocula Hor. ser l. 1. Sat. 2. saith the Lord. Many persons are carelesly remisse in walking with God and calling on God can keep from him for dayes together succession of dayes one after another sometimes moneths and scarce speake a word to God Is this thy kindnesse to thy friend Doe we not take it ill if wee meet a friend as wee walke the streets morning and evening if our friend gives not the salutation of a good morrow or a good even Doe we not say he is proud and stiffe or carelesse and regards not his neighbour what suppose yee will God thinke then of some that serve him worse Is it not pride that makes thee passe by him not give him a word and but seldome a thought Is it not pride that estrangeth thee from God yea it is and it will estrange God from thee he knowes the proud afarre off Is not the whole fabrick of mans body made upright set upward when other creatures are made to looke downeward and all to signifie that hee should mind God Heaven and highest things t Os homini sublimi dedit Coelumquè videre jussit erectos ad fidera tollere vultus Ovid. Metamor l. 1. sab 1. Ah Lord What will the end of these things be will not the end be bitter Secondly Christ's love is practicall and is discovered 1. In his doing for them 2. In his suffering for them 3. In his suffering with them First he serv's them wonder therefore yee Celestiall soules he that is Lord of all is a servant to all who are of the election of grace Matth. 20.28 The sonne of man came not to be ministred unto but to minister Now what thinke you did subdue this conquering King of Saints make him serve was it not love great love free love he tooke on him the forme of a servant not onely of a good servant to obey but also of a bad servant to be beaten u Non solum servi ut subesset sed quasi mali servi ut vapularet Bern. ter quart Heb. poenos He was as if he had been the worst of servants buffeted stripped scourged chastized and pierced led to prison to Judgement and to death and for your sakes hee was beaten and abused w Cibus hominis muravit se inpabulum pecoris homine mutato in pecus Ber. sup Cant. ser Now Christians did he not love you what discoveries of love doe you desire more reall than these The Lord make you such to him as he is to you Secondly in making exchanges with them even best things for worst x In primis de suis meliora contulit in secundis de nostris inferiora suscepit Aug. de tompor ser 9. living quickning grace for dead and sottish nature Spirit for flesh Mercy for miserie Riches for poverty Glory for shame a Crowne for a Crosse Life for death Christians can you tell when you are well all Christ and all Christ's things are yours Are you pleased If not the Lord of hosts is displeas'd you have his help you have his heart he is eternally yours this is love indeed Thirdly in making his services easie to them and that hee do's First by suting and fitting his imployments agreeable to the abilities of his servants his Commandements are not grievous the more grievous then is the breach of them y Quo leviâ—s mandatum eò geaviù peccatum men of this world doe put their servants on doing more then they are able oppressing them which thing must needs make their service irkesome and very unpleasant But
seeme to shew some love to themselves but doe no more then grope after true blisse Some seeke to be and doe well in their latter end but 't is but as the Sodomites grop'd for Lots doore in the darke Reach after it they doe but 't is onely ignorantly as some worship they know not what so some seeke they know not what others seeke they know not where vitam beatam quaerunt in regione mortis They seeke Heaven in Hell Is est homo calamitatis fabula insoe-Ncitatis tabula the living among the dead a living Christ in wayes of death Is this to love thy selfe The Lord bee good to such a soule Christ loves thee more then thou lovest thy selfe for his care is more for thy soule then is thine owne Thou canst let slip away precious opportunities of soule refreshing rarities and ne're observe the emptinesse of all seene things but Christ watcheth alwayes ne'r slumbreth ne'r sleepeth waites that hee may be gracious to thy gracelesse selfe Oh sinner what 's the frame of thy heart when thou ponder'st these things Did'st thou ever heare of such a friend that could over-love thy selfe in thee seeke things for thy owne peace like to Christ Is not this love of the highest degree do's not this speake him an inlarging good when thou art straitning thine owne bowells against and towards thy selfe in the things of thine owne welfare Fifthly Christ loves more then a soule For first a soule may leave her bodie in the dust but cannot raise 't up againe but Christ will raise his body though buried in bottomes of greatest depth Secondly the soule quickens with a borrowed life but Christ quickens with his own life Christ loves his owne bodie more then the soule can love her owne body Two things shew the soule 's strength of love to her owne body 1. Feare of death 2. Loathnesse to die For the first men tremble to thinke of that separation which is then made betwixt soule and body it 's as he calls it a terrible separation f Horrendum divortium Bern. sup Cant. ser 26. not onely of the dead from the living but also of the dead from it selfe a separation of the dead body from its owne soule which is it selfe Timore casto autem timeat homo separationem à Deo Bern. Secondly loathnesse to dye the soule shrink's at the bodies dissolution and they each of them grieve to part with each other Is there not in them who shall live for ever a loathnesse to die which loathnesse arising neither from a desire of possessing present pleasures nor from a feare of suffering future torments in hell fire must needs spring from this root the love that is betwixt soule and body Hylarion when he was about to die spake to his soule thus Goe out my soule goe out what fearest thou what doubtest thou g Egredere anima mea Egredere quid times quid dubitas Hierom. in vita Hillarion discovering that his soule was loath to leave her earthly home loath to goe to her heavenly Father the onely Father of Spirits oh the love it selfe of none but of such an one who is love its selfe * D. Wals ser lise death of Christ 1 Joh. 4.8 God is love Christ's and Christians union is greater then that of soule and body thus 1. The soule is truly and properly said to be in the body but the body cannot truly and properly be said to be in the soule for 't is impossible h Ultra posse non est esse But Christ is said to be in his and they are said to be in him 2. There is a greater union between the one then is between the other i Caput corpus unus est Christus Aust and therefore the greater love for the more the unitie is the more is the amity Sixthly Christ loves man more then man loves God though you take in the best of men within the limits of this conclusion Abraham may give a Sonne an onely sonne k Sint in hoc parenti triplicata supplicia silius charissimus quem diligis Orig. in locum Fulmen non minus terribile Abrahamo quam si jubetur cor sibi cruere immo secum universo mundo in Infernum praecipitare Paraeus in Gen. 22. a sonne he lou'd to the Lord his God in love through many straits and yet not be so much in love with God as he 's in love with him a man may give his owne life selfe and soule to Jesus Christ and yet not love as he 's belov'd For first love in this life is little and can you think its acts are so great Nothing acts beyond the compasse of its owne abilities Secondly wee are the Lords debtors our lives are his by right but Christ is debtor to none he paid many debts of many thousands but ow'd not a mite to any l Promittendo se fecit debitorem Aug. 3. Christ's love to us is greater then ours to him for 'tas a greater fruit his love makes lovely but ours addes nothing to his beauty wee may get by him but what gaines he by us can we augment his glory that were to help the Sunne to shine whose glory needs no increase Deare friends tell mee what thoughts have you of Christ's love and what worke doth it make on your spirits can you at last admire the height depth length and breadth of such a grace in such a person as Christ is you see friends of Christ all these lovers have done worthily Prov. 31.29 and yet as Solomon saith of the vertuous woman many daughters have done vertuously but thou excellest them all so may I say of Christ and much more many lovers have done worthily but thou excellest them all CHAP. IV. Of the Discoveries and manifestations of Christs love SOme things have a greater shew than substance but the things of Christ are no such things Some men have got an Art to seeme what they are not these doe like themselves not like Christ for Christ cannot doe so He 's as good as he seemes but cannot seeme the halfe of that he is in himselfe and unto his while they live in this inferiour world Some want Bowells or else shut up those they have in time of others need but Christ abounds with Bowells and they are alwayes open never shut against his chosen Hence is that multiplication of that mercifull word Hosea 11.8 How shall I give thee up how shall I deliver thee how shall I make thee as Admah how shall I set thee as Zeboim and the Lord gives you the reason of this his arguing within himselfe his heart was turned his repentings were kindled set on fire within his bless'ed brest Christ's love and the discoverie on 't doe passe th' apprehension of mortall weights but unto you who must put on immortality bee it shadowed out thus DIscoveries of love are either verball or actuall and practicall Christ discovers
his love to his by words or workes expressions or actions By words Christ lets his know hee loves them speaking good to them and of them to his Father First by words of nomination by the sweet Epithets hee gives them as is usuall among all lovers save that in this Christ outstrips them all when hee is verball he is alwayes reall so are not other lovers These sweet words demonstrate love 2 Chron. 20.7 Joh. 15.15 Mark 3.35 Cant. 4.12 Mal. 3.17 Zach. 2.8 Ioh. 21.5 Cant. 2.10 Dent. 32.9 Cant. 4.11 Cant. 5.2 Love Dove undefiled and those other words elsewhere my friend my brother my sister my Jewells the apple of mine eye my children my faire ones my portion my Spouse Are not these expressions full of love doe not these words of Christ speake you beloved We take it mighty kindly when the great ones of this world speake friendly to us and we thinke it a favour a friendship more worth then gold How will some plot contrive and lay their heads together for a few good words from an earthly Monarch Prince or Potentate Let such behold the King of Kings putting out himself freely in sweetest termes His Spouse lov'd to heare him speake let me heare thy voyce Cant. 2.14 for it 's sweet and thy countenance is comely Saints feele sweetnesse in their Saviours words he gives his beloved good names which are better then precious oyntments Christ also knowes his by those names Thou hast told me saith Moyses that thou knowest me by name Exod. 33.12 Though those hee hath elected may keep from him many yeares and not come at him untill their through conversion yet when they come to him hee can call them by their names he can call out Saul Saul goe to such a place thou art a chosen vessell Though afflictions both of body and mind may so change men as Job was changed by his noysome body poore estate meane dwelling which was on a dunghill Or as Lazarus was changed with running fores so as that a man that had seen them before would say that is not Job this is not Lazarus yet God hath not forgotteÌ„ them he knowes them yea he knowes them by name he can say this is my friend Abraham this is my servant Job this is my son Adam tho'other is my child David a man after my owne heart hee calls them together as you doe your children by name Fetch mysonnes from far saith the Lord he cannot forget his What the Heathen Oratour spake flatteringly of Julius Caesar namely that hee was wont to forget nothing but wrongs and injuries a Nihil oblivisci solet nisi injurias Jer. 31.34 Heb. 8.12 chap. 10.17 is most true of God and Christ He forgets nothing but the sinnes of his people I will forgive and remember their finnes no more The Lord blots out their sinnes that they condemne them not puts them away that they hurt theÌ„ not casts them behind his back as though he regarded them not casts them into the Sea that they drowne them not covers them that they appeare not in the Judgement doth not impute them as if they were not A second sort of love discovering words that fall from Christ's sweetest lips are words of consolation Comfort yee comfort yee my people saith your God speake you comfortably to Jerusalem I saiah 40.1.2 O yee rectified Christians consider the fruit of Christ's words what fruits words spoken of Christ have 'T is said of Elizabeth when she heard the salutations of Mary with the tidings of a Jesus that the babe leapt in her belly and she was filled with the Holy Ghost The good woman was transported above her selfe that not onely the babe but her self also leaped for Joy Luke 2.41 to 5. and she brake out into singing of God's great goodnesse to her Consider what soule-ravishing comfort there is in words spoken by Christ Christ's words warme well as farre as they goe Did not our hearts burne within us Luk 24.32 when he talked with us spake to us were wee not inflam'd with love ravish'd with joy yea ravish'd in spirit especially when he opened to us the Scriptures those precious sountaines of living waters when Christ speakes to the heart with power he speakes from his heart in love and such kind of speaking must needs be very taking in and upon the Spirits of Saints Tell me ô yee servants of the most High when you feed where he feedes his flock when you rest with him at noone in the scorching times of trouble from within and from without tell me I say Is not this fruit sweet to your taste did you ever taste the like Cant. 2.3 what have you not found your hearts raised your Spirits quickned your doubts resolved your soules filled with his marrow and fatnesse Psal 63.5.6 and that invisibly b Pulcherrimam insulam videmus etiam cum non videmus Lyps ep ad Cambdâ—â— my soule shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatnesse and my mouth shall prayse thee with joyfull lips when I remember thee upon my bed and meditate on thee in the night watches saith the Prophet as if hee should say I cannot once think on thee and thy goodnesse but it fattens my soule and strengthens mee as a man is strengthned with marrow much more in the multitude of my thoughts within me doe thy comforts delight my soule Psal 94.19 and elsewhere the good man is so full of the comforts of his good God after hee had spoken peace and comfort to him that his mouth is too narrow for his heart and observation and breakes out thus 139. Psal 17 18. How precious are thy thoughts to me oh God How great is the summe of them If I should count them they are more then the sands when I awake I am still with thee viz. I cannot be from thee I cannot be without thee thou art so good to me Thou man of God admire his goodnesse deplore thine own vilenesse A third sort of Christ's love discovering words are words of Promise c Quaelibet divina promissio est dilectionis Dei erga nos testimonium Calv. l. 3. Jnst c. 2. Policitis dives in praestatione ditior promissary words he discovers his love by sweerest promises made to them he loves even as 't is usuall amoÌ„g all lovers Promises that doe assure d In Dei promissis nulla falsitas est quia infacienais nulla est omnipotenti difficultas Fulgent them of spirituall helps and sufficiencies First that he prayes to his Father for them Secondly that he prayes to his Father in them he prayes to his and their Father for them First that their graces faile not Secondly that their natures soile not That their graces faile not Peter saith Christ Satan hath desired to have you that he might winnow you and sift you as wheat he would have you in his sive to sift out your grace and preserve nothing but the chaffe of your
qui nos ipsos non perfectè cognoscimus non possimus ad plenum scire quid nobis expediat ideò necesse est ut à Deoditigamur protegamur qui omnia novit omnia potest Aqu. sum 2 â— q 109. a. 9. crying Christians when you crie unto God Christ by his Spirit is crying in you and calling out Abba Abba Father Father can you then doubt of being heard when Christ prayes in you whom the Father heares alwayes Secondly Christ in them poures forth their requests to the Father and that by words sutable to his Majesty and their necessity this is called the help of the Spirit by reason of mans infirmity and this help is afforded because we know not what to pray for as we ought 'T is good to have a helper when wee goe into the presence of a great God especially when wee are helplesse for did not the Spirit help who else can give supplie in such a case Or what can be pleasing to God save that which comes from God can any thing lead to God ascend unto him besides that which descended from him surely nothing onely he that searcheth the heart knoweth the mind of the Spirit because that makes intercession according to the will of God Rom. 8.27 God and Christ puts words in his peoples mouthes as is clear from Hos 14.2 Turning to the Lord say these words take away our iniquities remove our sinnes from us receive us graciously be favourable to us so shall wee render to thee the calves of our lips that is we will bee thankfull so Luke 11. from the first to the fift When the Disciples desired Christ to teach them to pray hee puts words into their mouthes saying when yee goe to my God and your God speake thus call him Father the very name prayes for us k Ipsum nomen â—rat pro noâ—is pray him to sanctifie his owne name to let his Kingdome come his Kingdome of grace into the hearts of the gracelesse to let his will be done upon you in you and by you and for manner so an earth as 't is done in heaven viz. willingly chearefully readily with much willingnesse without any the least wearinesse aske for bread for the day all necessaries for the comfortable being of the outward man aske forgivenesse of sinnes for he is blessed to whom the Lord imputes not sinne though hee hath little of the things and necessaries of this life Beg you be not lead into temptation viz. not suffer'd to be tempted or else be kept from falling under the temptation l Jubet orare ne in tentationem dueantur i. e. ne ab câ vincantur Aug. l. de Cor. grat c. 6. and from being overcome of it and that you may bee delivered from all evill of sinne and suffering Yee shall aske what yee will and it shall be done unto you if yee continue in mee and my words abide in you Joh. 15.7 aske and ye shall have Christ names not what shall be given to let us know that gift is above all that can be named m Non dicitur quid dabitur quia donum supra omne nomen Aug. Secondly or without words for prayer is mentall as well as vocall and although a Spirit of son-ship is a Spirit of Prayer and every son of God is a man of prayer yet some sweet soules as deare to Christ as others cannot sometimes by reason of some distempers and distractions of body and mind I say they cannot utter their minds by words at the Throne of grace Rom. 8.26 Now Christ by his Spirit helps n Est metaphora ab onerious sumpâ—a quae utrinque admotis manibus sublevantur Beza 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so Luk. 10.40 The Greek worâ—â—'s a decompound and there 's great force in it these sometimes even to sigh out their wants and sorrowes before him and obtaine o sometimes to groane out their desires unto him sometimes by weeping shedding teares which have a secret language and voyce in the eares of the Lord of rests Psal 6.8 Thou hast heard the voyce of my weeping and Christ himselfe hath wept for some * ChristuÌ„ flevisse legimus rifisse nunquam Salvian l. 6. Cum Spiritus hominis suspiâ—or Spiritus Dei aspirat Cyprian Matth. 6. sometimes the heart 's so full of sorrow so sad and heavie that nothing can bee said or done then even then the Spirit helps and all through love Christ ha's promised his beloved friends corporall succours every morsell a Saint receives hee hath it in way of a promise The Lord feedes others too but 't is onely so as he doth the beasts of the field in an ordinary way of providence wicked men may have much and yet inherit nothing because they possese not God in their injoyments injoy not him in conjunction and connection with the Creatures Take no thought saith Christ what ye shall eate or what yee shall drinke or wherewithall yee shall be cloathed It 's enough for a Gentile a Heathen a stranger to God and Christ to bee cuttingly carefull for these things that hath ne'r a heavenly Father to provide for him Doth your heavenly Father feed the fowles of the Heavens and shall hee not much more feed you Doth he cloath the Lillies of the field better than Solomon in all his glory and cloath the grasse of the field * Wicked men are like the grasse of the field with their gloria brevis whose end 's to be burn'd which remaines but for a time and shall hee not cloath thee who shalt live for ever abide for ever these are some of Christ's comfortable love discovering words And many other such like there be which for number are as the Starres of the Firmament that cannot be told 'T is said that one Crane a precious Christian though of meane estate in outward things being about to die and it being demanded by his friends what should become of his children hee answered thus God that provided for the Ravens will also certainly provide for the young Cranes and according to the good mans faith so it was that all his children were well provided for in this evill world Psal 34.9 There is no want to them that feare him that is of what is good for them and to misse an evill thing is no injurie to them If the Lord of his goodnesse doth foresee that riches will be a snare to one or other his sonnes of love and therefore withholds them from them what doth that child want save something which if hee had 't would make him more wanting in better things Some have much of the world and this hath been the fruit of it the cares of getting and keeping together with the feares of loosing the things of this life 'tas almost drunke up all that delight Joy and content they should and might have had in a spirituall God Christ and spirituall things If any man loves this world the love of the Father