beware of Relapses in sin THe Workmans first care is to lay the foundation sure ne corruat left it fall like the house built on the sands the next to perfect the roofe ne perpluat that it do not rain through and rot the principals The Poet did put no lesse virtue into Tueri than into Quaerere nor will the Lawyer pass a Conveyance with a meer Habendum but he will have a Tenendum too The Physitian ends not the cure of his Patient with the cure of his disease but after all minds the preventing of a Relapse And so must we though we stand take heedlest we fall beware of Relapses in sin St. Peters Cavere ne excidatis is but an exposition of his Masters Memores estote both as fortifications against Recidivation we may fall therefore let us look to our standing we may be lead away the Devil will ventureto try us therefore let us not budg nor give him one foot of ground but if he beckens one way be sure to take the other He labours to trip up our heels and it must be our care to take heed of falling And as we desire to have our faith blessed into vision our hope changed into fruition our love into perfect comprehension our Repentance comforted with pardon our Charity crowned with glory and all our services rewarded with eternal life let us keep the Graces of Gods holy spirit ever in breath and motion alwayes in the Ascendent climing higher and higher till they come to the top of immortality And as when Rivers towards their end approach near unto the Sea then the Tide comes and meets them So when the course of our Piety draws near to the end of our life God comes and meets us comforts us with a taste of Heaven before our death and gives us after death the everlasting possession of it through Iesus Christ. Excellency of the Scripture-phrase EUripides saith the Orator hath in his well-composed Tragedies more sentences then saying And Thucidides hath so stuff'd every syllable of his History with substance that the one runs parallel along with the other Lysias his works are so well couch't that you cannot take out the least word but you take away the whole sense with it And Phocion had a speciall faculty of speaking much in few words The Cretians in Plato's time however degenerated in S. Paul's were more weighty then wordy Timanthes was famous in this that in his Pictures more things were intended then deciphered And of Homer it is said that none could ever peer him for Poetry Then how much more apt and apposite are these high prayses to the book of God rightly called The Bible As if it were as indeed it is both for fitnesse of terms and fulnesse of Truth the onely Book to which as Luther saith all the Books in the World are but waste-paper It is called the Word by way of eminency because it must be the But and boundary of all our words And the Scripture as the Lord Paramount above all other words or writings of Men collected into Volums there being as the Rabines say a Mountain of sense hanging upon every tittle of it whence may be gathered flowers and phrases to polish our spceches with even sound words that have a healing property in them far above all filed phrases of humane â—locution Christian Apparrelling THey that put on the Lord Jesus are cloathed with a fourfold garment First With a Garment of Christs imputed Righteousness 2. With a Garment of sanctification 3. With a Garment of protection 4. With a Garment of Glory The first Garment may be called a winters Garment quia tegit because it covers us The second a summers Garment quia ornat because it adorns us The third a Coat armour quia protegit because it keeps us safe The fourth a wedding-Garment quia admittit because there 's no admission to the supper of the Lamb without it The first three may be called our work-aday suits because we must put them on all the dayes of our lives but the fourth our Holiday-suit because we must not put it on till the week of our Pilgrimage in Baca be ended and the Saboth of our eternall rest in the new Jerusalem begun Changing of this life for a better no matter of griefe IF a Man should come to a Merchant and of two stones laid before him the one false and counterfeit the other true and precious and laying down the price of the worser should get the better Would ye think the Merchant had dealt hardly with him No he could not but would rather admire his love and courtesie in the bargain In like manner there are two lives proposed to all Men the one temporall the other eternal both these he sets to sale but he sels us the eternall Why then like silly Children are we sad because we have received the best it being a great favour to be taken from the evill to come Drunkennesse Whoredom c. the generality of them amongst us THere is a tale of St. Bridget that she heard the blessed Virgin say to her Son Rome is a fruitful Land to whom he answered sed zizaniae tantum onely fruitfull of tares And as Hugo Cardinalis said of Innocentius when he departed from Lyons in France That whereas there were four stews at his coming thither he had left them but one urbs tota lupanar that one reached from one end of the City to the other Thus it is that Drunkards were heretofore as rare as Woolvs in England now they are as common as Hogs Whores were like Owls onely night-birds now they keep open house pay scot and lot with their honest Neighbours Heretofore we had but some Families of Papists Schismaticks and Sectarians now there 's whole Colonyes Streets Lanes and Parishes of the brood of that spotted Harlot and crooked Generation Ministers to preach plainly as well as learnedly to the capacity of their Hearers IT is observable that the profoundest Prophets accommodated themsâ—lves to their Hearers capacities as of Fishes to the Egyptians droves of Cattle to the Arabians Trade and traffique to the Tyrians So our blessed Saviour tells his Fishermen that they shall be Fishers of men And after many plain Parables to the People as if the father the essential word had been at a losse for a fit word familiar and low enough for our dull and shallow apprehensions Whereunto saith he shall we liken the Kingdom of Heaven Yea the Evangelists spake vulgarly many times for their Hearers sakes even to a manifest incongruity In after ages those two great lights of the Church St. Augustine and St. Ambrose the one confesseth that he was fain to use some words sometimes to those Roman Colonies in Africa where he preached that were not Latine as ossum for os dolus for dolor floriet for florebit to the end they might
O how shall I be able suffciciently to describe the happy state of that Couple whom the Church hath joyned Prayer and thanksgiving have confirmed Angels in Heaven proclaimed and the Parents on Earth approved Such were those of Rebecca and the Woman of Timnah the one for Isaac the other for Sampson though both appointed by God yet consented thereunto by Parents on all sides But on the other side O how miserable is the state of that pair which by contemning the advice and consent of their Parents do so highly offend God that they can expect no blessing from God till with weeping tears they have sued unto God for pardon and by all possible means of submission and humiliation which is the bâ—st plank after Shipwrack sought to be reconciled to their Parents and labour in what they can to make a compensation for their former disobedience with a care of Conscionable walking before them Afflictions of this life the comfortable use that is to be made of them A Ship after a long Voyage being come into Harbour springs a leak the Master is somewhat troubled at it and is never at quiet till it be stopped so that it is an evill to him yet he comforts himself in this that it did not happen unto him when he was out at Sea that had been a great deal worse and might have proved the ruine of them all And thus it is for troubles and sorrows there is a comfortable use to be made of them so long as they happen to us in this life We may say They are upon us but blessed be God they are upon us here in this World so that by a sanctified use to be made of them they shall never be eternally upon us in the World to come Hence is that prayer of S. Augustine and of all good Men in his words Domine hic ure hicfeca ut in aeternum parcas Here Lord do what thou wilt with me but spare me hereafter and that of Fulgentius Di Domine patientiam hic c. Give patience here Lord and pardon hereafter Whatsoever my grievances are here upon Earth let me rejoyce with thee in Heaven Constancy of holy Duties makes the performance of them easie IT is easie to keep that Armour bright which is daily used but hanging by the Walls till it be rusty it will ask some time and pains to furbish it over again If an Instrument be daily plaid upon it is easily kept in tune but let it be but a while neglected and cast in a corner the strings and frets break the bridge flies off and no small labour is required to bring it into order again And thus also it is in things spiritual in the performance of holy Duties if we contiue them with a settled constancy they will be easie familiar and delightful to us but if once broken off and intermitted it is a new work to begin again and will not be reduced to the former estate but with much endeavour and great difficulty Men to be Provident Christians IT is said that in the dayes of Solomon Iudah and Israel dwelt safely every Man under his Vine and under his Figtree from Dan even to Bersheba i. e. from one end of the Country to the other But then at the very next verse following it is said And Solomon had fourty thousand stalls of Horses for his Chariots and twelve thousand Horsemen What! Peace and plenty Horses and Horsemen Quam male conveniunt How can they stand together Very well No doubt but this was one of the greatest points of Solomon's wisedome to foresee à danger and shun it in times of Peace to provide for Warre And thus it must be the care of all good Christians to be provident Christians with Ioseph in times of Plenty to lay up for times of Dearth now in the strength of Youth to provide for the weaknesse of Age now in the time of Gospel-light and knowledge to be stocked and stored with Graces and Gospel-promises to live upon in worser times Hell-torments the Eternity of them to be considered IT is reported of a Voluptuous young Man that could not endure to be craossed in his wayes and of all things he could not bear it to be kept awake in the dark but it so happened that being sick he was kept awake in the night and could not sleep at all Whereupon he had these thoughts What is it so tedious then to be kept from 〈…〉 and to lye a few hours in the 〈◊〉 Oh what is it then to be in torments and everlasting darknesse I am here in my own house upon a soâ—t bed in the dark kept from 〈◊〉 but one night but to lie in flames and endlesse misery How dreadfull must that needs be These and such like Meditations were the happy means of that young Mans Conversion and by the blâ—ssing of God may be the like unto divers others when they shall consider the Eternity of Hell-torments that they are everlasting for ever and ever a fatall Soul-wounding expression when there shall be a suffering of as many years as there be sands on the Sea shore and Stars in the Firmament for their number yet no comfort at all Oh this Eternity of torments is the Hell of Hell In the curse of Adam there was a donec reverteris In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread untill thou return c. there 's no donec no time limited no bounds set to the Torments of the damned in Hell they are for evermore Christian perfection to be attained by degrees MEteors soon after their first appearing make the greatest shew A Fire of thorns as soon as it is kindled gives the fairest blaze and makes the most noise and crackling and both of them decrease by little and little till they disappear whereas the Morning light shineth more and more unto the perfect day Mushromes come to their perfection in one nights growth but trees of Righteousnesse of Gods right planting are still in growth and bring forth most fruit in old age Psal. 92. 14. Summer-fruits are soon ripe and soon rotten but Winter-fruits last longer Infants in the Womb that make more haste then good speed prove abortive whereas those that stay their time come to their growth by degrees And thus it is that we must think to aspire unto Perfection but in a graduall way not imagine that we can the first day in the beginning of our first conversion attain unto it For as Nemo repentè fit pessimus No Man is made the worst at the first so Nemo repentè fit optimus No Man is made the best all at once which made a good old Christian cry out Nolo repentè fieri summus c. I would not upon the suddain attain to my highest pitch but grow towards it by little and little Nondum apprehendi I have not yet attained sayes the blessed Doctor of
Sun go down yet if it be twilight Those small remainders of greater Goods are no small refreshings to a loser It doth a man some good to keep some monuments of his better estate especially when they are pledges of some sparkle of good-will towards us continuing in Him upon whose just displeasure we forfeited all Thus as God in favour gives the holy Spirit so in displeasure doth he take Him away and we cannot guesse better at the measure of his displeasure than by the measure of the deprivation if he take it but in part then he tempers mercy with judgment but if he leave no sparkles of grace that may be kindled again if there be such a rowt made that there is no hopes of rallying then we become Lo-ruhama Hos 1. we are clean shut out of the bowells of his compassion God is the onely object of his Children's delight HE that truly loveth his friend transporteth himself often to the place where he was wont to see his friend he delighteth in reading his Letters and in handling the gages and monuments that he hath left behind him how grateful is the sight of any thing that presents unto him the memoriall of his absent friend And thus the child of God to testifie his love to him transporteth himself often to the place where he may find God in his Sanctuary amongst his Saints he delights in reading his Letters the Scriptures he delights in eating those holy monuments and pledges the Sacraments which he hath left behind him as tokens of his good-will untill he come again A peaceable disposition is a God-like disposition BY the Lawes of England Noblemen have this priviledge that none of them can be bound to the Peace because it is supposed that a noble disposition will never be engaged in brawls and contentions It is supposed that the Peace is alwaies bound to them and that of their own accord they will be alwaies carefull to preserve it It is the base bramble that rends and teares what is next unto it Gentlenesse mercy goodnesse love tendernesse of other's sufferings are the greatest ornaments of a noble spirit and where it is sanctified the grace of God shines bright in such a heart Christâ—s victory over Sathan WHen Mahomet the second of that name besieged Belgrade in Servia one of the Captains at last got upon the wall of the City with his Colours displayed A noble Bohemian espying this ran to the Captain and clasping him fast about his middle asked one Capistranus standing beneath whether it would be any danger of damnation to his soul if he should cast himselfe down headlong with that dog so he tearmed the Turkish Captain to be slain with him Capistranus answered That it was no danger at all to his soul. The Bohemian forthwith tumbled himself down with the Turk in his arms and so by his own death onely saved the life of all the City Such an exploit as this Christ plaies upon the Devill the Devill like the great Turk besieged not onely one City but even all Mankind Christ alone like this noble Bohemian encountered with him And seeing the case was so that this dog the devill could not be killed stark dead except Christ died also therefore he made no reckoning of his own life but gave himself to death for us that he onely dying for all the People by his death our deadly enemy might for ever be destroyed Propriety in God is the onely comfort EVery man naturally loves that which is his own and if the thing be good it doth him the more good to look upon it Let a man walk in a fair medow it pleaseth him well but it will please him much more if it be his own his eye will be more curious in prying into every part and every thing will please him the better so it is in a corn-field in an orchard in a house if they be ours the more contentedly do they affect us For this word Meum is suavissima amoris illecebra it is as good as an amatory potion So then if God the Lord be lovely how much more lovly should he be in our eyes if he be our Lord God and doth appropriate that infinite good that he hath unto us And who would not joy to be owner of that God which is independent He is what heart can desire and who can but rejoyce in having Him in having of whom we can want nothing Killing of men heretofore made ordinary THe Romans at the first used to set wild Beasts upon the Stage to kill one another and after this they came to be delighted to see Gladiatores and Fencers kill one another and thirdly they were much affected to see men cast upto the wild beasts to be devoured and torn in pieces so that from the sight of killing of Beasts they delighted to see Men killed And was not this our case by swearing and lying we came at last to killing Thus were we broken out and blood touched bloods blood in the plurall He that hath killed one careth not to kill an hundred a dogg's neck was formerly cut off with more reluctancy than the pretious life of man was taken from him Killing of men was but sporting like that of the young men at the pool of Gibeon Fooles make a sport of sin and so did men of the crying sin of murther But if the Sword had thus plaid Rex any longer it would have been bitternesse in the end which God in the greatnesse of his mercy hath of late years prevented Reverence to be used in the service of God VAlerius Maximus tells a story of a young Nobleman that attended upon Alexander while he was sacrificing this Nobleman held his Censer for Incense and in the holding of it there fell a coal of fire upon his flesh and burn't it so as the very scent of it was in the nostrills of all that were about him and because he would not disturb Alexander in his service he resolutely did not stir to put off the fire from him but held still the Censer If Heathens made such a do in sacrificing to their Idoll-gods that they would mind it so as no disturbance must be made whatsoever they endured what care should we then have of our selves when we come to worship the high God Oh that we could mind the duties of Gods worship as matters of high concernment as things of greatest consequence that so we might learn to sanctifie the name of our God in the performance of duty more than ever we have done The condition of Temporizers IT is observable that the Hedghog hath two holes in his siege one towards the South another towards the North now when the southern wind blowes he stops up that hole and turns him northwards and then when the north-wind blowes he stops up that hole likewise and turns him southward again Such Urchins such
peace it being done without the wit of the King So it is with sin in Gods children it breaks not the peace betwixt God and them because it is but a Rebel and they agree not to it There is a difference betwixt entertaining of sins as Theeves and Robbers and as guests and strangers Wicked men entertain sin as a guest the godly man as a Robber the one invites it as a friend and acquaintance the other throws it off as a rebellious Traitor Immediate addresses unto God by prayer find acceptance CUshai and Ahimaaz ran a race who should first bring tidings of Victory to David Ahimaaz though last setting forth came first to his journeys end Not that he had the fleeter feet but the better brains to chuse the way of the most advantage For the Text saith So Ahimaaz ran by the way of the plain and overwent Cushai Prayers made to God by Saints fetch a needless compass about that is but a rough and uneaven way The way of the plain or the plain way both shortest and surest is Call upon me in the day of trouble such prayer though starting last comes to the mark first Sacriledge never thrives Coepio a Roman Consul with his Souldiers robbed the wealthy Temple of Tholouse a City of Narbon in France neer the Pyrene mountain but of those that had a share of any of those goods not one ever prospered It was so generally observed that it occasioned a Proverb If any man what by means soever decayed were fallen into poverty they would say of him Aurum habet Tholosanum He hath some of the gold of Tholouse The endowment of all other Churches whereof many have been plundered of rich Chalices and other utensils in sacrilegious times are like the gold of Tholouse that brought ruine to them and their Families If any man thriveth with them that holdeth them by a wrong tenure he hath better luck then any such Malefactor before him How many sacrilegious persons have utterly ruinated themselves as it is easie to find in many Monuments of learning how a Canker hath eaten their estates as a Gangrene did their consciences but see the Chronicle search the histories of sundry Nations both antient and modern and find me out but one Church-robber here that hath thrived past the third generation A seeming Religion no saving Religion WAndring Empiricks may say much in Tables and Pictures to perswade credulous people their Patients but their ostentation is far from apprehension of skill when they come to effect their cures How many Ships have suffered shipwrack for all their glorious names of the Triumph the Safe-guard the Good-speâ—â— he Swift-sure Bona-venture c. So how many souls have been swallowed up with the fair hopes of mens feigned Religions such as have at that very time the Deâ—il in their hearts when they seem to have nothing but God at their tongues end The vanity of needless and intricate questions CAmbden in his History of the life of Q. Elizabeth relateth how Captain Martin Forbisher fetched from the farthest Northern parts a Ships-lading of as he thought mineral stones which afterwards were cast out to mend the high-ways Thus are they served and miss their hopes who long seeking to extract hidden mysteries out of nice questions leave them off at last as altogether uselesse and unnecessary The life of Man subject to all sorts of Calamity IOnah's condition was but bad at the best as to be rocked and tossed to and fro in a dangerfull Ship the bones whereof aked with the violence of every surge that assailed it the Anchors Cables or Rudders either thrown away or torn in pieces having more friendship preferr'd him then he had hap to make use of and at length to be cast into the Sea a merciless and implacable Sea roaring for his life more then ever the Lion roared for his prey the bottom thereof seeming as low to him as the bottomless pit and no hope left to escaâ—e either by Ship or by Boat no Tabula Naufragii no plank or peice of board appearing whereby to recoâ—er the land besides all these to make the measure of his sorrows up to the brim the burning of God's anger against his sins like a River of brimstone This is the case of us all in the whole course of our lives as Ezâ—chias sang in his song From day to night thou wilt make an end of me We are tumbled and tossed in a vessel as frail as Ionah's Ship was which every stream of Calamity is ready to dash in pieces every disease is able to fillip on one side or other where neither Anchor nor Rudder is left neither head nor hand nor stomack is in case to give any comfort where though we have the kindness of Wife and Friends the duty of children the advice of Physitians we cannot use their service where we have a grave before us greedy to receive and never to return us till the worâ—s and creepers of the Earth have devoured us but if the anger of God for our sins accompany all these it will be a woful adventure for that Man when the sins of his soul and the end of his life shall come so neer together as the trespasse of Ionah and his casting out of the Ship Sacriledge cursed with a curse IT was usual in former times when any thing was given to the endowment of the Church it was done with a curse against all such as should ever presume to alienate or take them away Whether Mans curse shall take hold on such Church-robbers is wholly in the disposition of God and a secret But sure it is that God himself hath openly cursed all those how many or how great soever they be that rob him of Tythes and Offerings Yea cursed them with a curse redoubling the words not without great cause but emphatically to signifie that they shall be cursed with a strange curse such a curse such a signal curse that he that hears of it his ears shall tingle and his knees smite one the other God the proper object of Man's memory SEneca writeth of himself that he had a very flourishing memory being able to recite by heart 2000 names in the same order they were first digested Portius Laâ—ro writ that in his mind which others did in Note-books He was a man of cunning in History that if you had named a Captain unto him he would have run through all his acts presently a singular gift from God But as Tully comparing Lucullus and Hortensius together both being of a vast memory yet he preferreth Lucullus before Hortensius because he remembered matter this but words Thus certainly as the object about which memory is conversant is more principall so the gift more commendable And the most excellent object of all others either for the memory to account or for any part of the soul to conceive is God the Lord for he
in our hearts the true picture of our death a sense of our mortality a consideration of Eternity and in all our doings to remember our latter end and then we shall never do amiss Eccles. 7. 36. The ruine of the Churches enemies to be desired THe Landgrave of Hesse a mild and gratious Prince but whose clemency was much abused being cast by adventure on a Smiths forge over-heard what the Smith said all the while he was striking his Iron Duresce inquam duresce utinam Landgravius durescat And truly the presumption of some amongst us is such in corrupting the truth with their books and opposing it with their heresies that all true-hearted Protestants are generally of the Smiths mind to wish those sons of Belial that flie-blow Religion and blast the Laws of the Kingdom with their stinking breath placing their greatest piety in the greatest mischiefs they can bring to Church and Common-wealth may feel the mettal harder that by a just law is tempered for such kind of spirits as they are of The necessity of Catechising BEda maketh mention of one returning out of England to Aidanus a Religious Bishop in Scotland complaining that the people little profited by his preaching to whom Aidanus answered that it was perhaps because he did not after the manner of the Apostles give them milk first i. e. principle them well in the foundation of Christian Religion And it is most true that super structures must needs down where the ground-sills are not well laid that the onely way to encrease knowledge is by knowledge of the Principles of Religion being thus grounded there will be an ability to judge of truth and false doctrine so that men will not so easily be carryed about with every wind of doctrine as the prophane and ignorant multitude be such as are tiling the house when they should be laying fast the foundation such as think they move in a circle of all divine knowledge when God knows they know little or nothing at all Time well spent THere is a story of a certain holy Man who at first had led a dissolute life and chancing on a time into the company of a godly honest man was so wrought on by his holy perswasion such is the force of good Society that he utterly renounced his former course of life and gave himself to a more private austere moderate and secluse kind of living the cause whereof being demanded by one of his old consorts who would have drawn him such is the nature of evil company to his usuall riot and excess he made this answer I am busie meditating and reaâ—ing in a little look which haâ—h but three leaves in it so that I have no leisure so much as to think of any other business And being asked a long time after whetâ—er he had read over the book replied This small book hath but three leaves and they are of three several colours red white and black which contain so many mysteries that the more I meditate thereon the more sweetness I find so that I have devoted my self to read thereon all the days of my life In the first leaf which is red I meditate on the passion of my Lord and Saviour Christ Iesus and of his pretious blood shed for a ransom of my sins and the sins of all his Elect without which we had been bondslaves of Sathan and fewell for hell-fire In the white leafe I cheer up my spirits with the comfortable consideration of the unspeakable joys of the heavenly Kingdom purchased by the blood of Christ my Saviour In the third leafe which is black I think upon the horrible and perpetual torments of Hell provided and kept in store foâ— the wicked and ungodly Here 's a good man a good book and a good example well met together Would but the men of this world carry this book of three leaves in their hearts and meditate often thereon it would restrain their thoughts bridle their affections and center all their words and actions within the limits and boundaries of the fear of God but alas men like Nabal are so busied about white Earth red Earth and black Earth in gathering and scraping of transitory trash or have so prostituted their affections unto carnal pleasures and delights that they spend their time like Domitian in catching of flyes or like little children in running after butter-flyes so that they have little or no leisure to think either of God or any goodness and so on a sudden the Sun of their pleasure setteth the day of their life endeth the night of their death cometh and like a man walking in the snow not seeing his way they chop into their graves before they be aware A child of God is best known by his affections to God A Father lying on his death-bed called three children to him which he kept and told them that one onely of them was his natural son and that the rest were onely brought up by him therefore unto him onely he gave all his goods but which of those three was his own son he would not in any wise declare VVhen he was dead every one pleaded his birth-right and the matter brought to tryall the judge for the making if possible a true discovery took his course He caused the dead corps of the Father to be set up against a Tree and commanded the three sons to take bows and arrows to shoot against their Father to see who could come neerest to his heart The first and second did shoot and hit him but the third was angry with them both and through natural affection of a child to a Father threw away his bow and would not shoot at all This done the Judge gave sentence that the two first were no sons but the third onely and that he should have the goods The like tryall may be made of God's children Can the drunkard be God's child that gives him vineger and gall to drink No he is a child of the Devil Can the blasphemous swearer that rends God in peices and shâ—ots him through with his dart as it is said of the Egyptian when he blasphemed that he smote or pierced through God's name Levit. 24. 11. No he is a Devill incarnate whereas a child of God is discovered by his affections to his God he makes conscience of an Oath his tongue is the trumpet of God's glory he possesseth his vessel in holiness and if at any time he sin against God as who is it that doth not If he chance to shoot at God a bitter word and unclean thought a sinful act it is as Jonathan did at David either short or over seldom or never home In a word such is his care his zeal his love to his God that if he sin by infirmity he returns by Repentance immediately Iudges and Magistrates are to be the Patrons of Justice IT is reported of a Lord Maior of London that giving order to an
the Saints in glory do now behold there they see not Christ in the form of a servant but Christ in his Kingdome in majesty and glory not Paul preaching in weaknesse and contempt but Paul with millions more rejoycing and triumphing not Persecuting-Rome in fading glory but Ierusalem which is above in perfect beauty and splendour And there they hear too not Eliah Esay Daniel with all the Prophets of old Peter Iohn Iames Iude Apostles of the new Testament preaching to an obstinate people in imprisonment persecution and reproach but triumphing in the praises of their God that hath thus advanced them God a mighty God CAnutus a King of this Land when flatterers magnified his power and did almost deifie him to confute them caused his chair to be set by the sea-shore at the time of the flood and sitting in his Majesty commanded the waves that they should not approach his throne But when the Tide kept his course and wet his garments Loe saith he what a mighty King I am by sea and land whose command every wave dareth to resist Here now was weaknesse joyned with might It is otherwise with God he is a mighty God It appears in the Epithite that is added unto EL which is Gibbor importing that he is a God of prevailing might whom the winds and seas obey In Daniel he is called EL ELIM the Mighty of Mighties Whereupon Moses magnifying his might saith Who is like unto thee O Lord amongst the gods Which words being abbreviated the Maccabees in their wars against their enemies did bear in their standard and there-hence as the Learned have observed did take their name of Maccabees Certainly this Epithite is a just ground of that which King David perswades Ascribe unto the Lord O ye mighty ascribe unto the Lord glory and strength Psal. 29. Drunkennesse the shame of England THere is a complaint in Pliny for the time present and past Latifundia perâ—diderunt Italiam Italy is undone by large severalls We may take up the like complaint against drinking Multifundia that is multum infundendo the pouring in of much liquor is the shame of England already and will be if not reformed the utter undoing of it To trust in God who is the great Lord Protector of his people THere is an excellent story of a young man that was at Sea in a mighty raging tempest and when all the passengers were at their wits end for fear he onely was merry and when he was asked the reason of his mirth he answered That the Pilot of the ship was his father and he knew his father would have a care of him The great and wise God who is our Father hath from all eternity decreed what shall be the issue of all wars what the event of all troubles He is our Pilot he fits at the stern and though the Ship of the Church or State be in a sinking condition yet be of good comfort our Pilot will have a care of us There is nothing done in the lower house of Parliament on earth but what is first decreed in the higher House in Heaven All the lesser wheeles are ordered and overruled by the upper Are not five sparrowes saith Christ sold for a farthing One sparrow is not worth half a farthing And there 's no man shall have half a farthing's worth of harm more than God hath decreed from all eternity How to come off well in ill Company IT is reported of the River Dee in Merionith-shire in Wales that running through Pimble Meere it remaines intire and mingles not her streams with the waters of the Lake So if against thy will the tempest of an unexpected occasion drive thee amongst the Rocks of ill company though thou be with them be not of them keep civill communion with them but separate from their sins and know for thy comfort thou art still in thy calling and therefore in Gods keeping who on thy prayer will bring thee off with comfort Greatness and Goodness well met together SImeon the Son of Onias was as a fair Olive-tree that is fruitfull and as a Cypress-tree which groweth up to the Clouds A Cypress-tree is high but barâ—en an Olive-tree is fruitful but low So a Christian is or ought to be not onely a Cypress-tree reaching high in preferment and worldly honour but he must also be low as the Olive-tree bringing forth fruit with patience like Simeon neither low nor barren though an Olive yet as high as the Cypress though a Cypress yet as fruitful as the Olive-tree Prosperity of the wicked destructive THe King of Egypt blest himself for having any thing to do with Polycrates King of Samos because he was over fortunate for having a massy and rich Ring he cast it into the Sea to try an experiment in despight of fortune he found it again at his Table in the belly of a Fish which was brought fâ—r a present unto him The thriving estate of the wicked is set out at large Their Bullock gendreth and miscarrieth not their Cow calveth and casteth not her calâ—e c. And they come not into misfortune as other men What no misfortune Even the greatest in this that they are so fortunate Surely it were good for men not to be acquainted with such engrosers of Prosperity and much lesse to be partakers of their unhappy happiness Gods people meet with many discourgements in the World TIberius Constantinus in the year of our Lord 577. commanding a golden Cross set in Marble to be digged up that it might not be trod upon found under it a second and under the second a third and under the third a fourth So the dearest servants of God in this world digging for the hidden treasure of the word and putting themselves into aframe of Gospel obedience find but hard dealing in the world cross under cross and lossâ—upon â—upon loss and sorrow after sorrow Look how the waves in the Sea ride one upon the neck of another and as Iobs messengers trod one upon the heels of another so miseries and calamities and vexations in the course of this life follow close one upon the other The great comfort of heavenly meditation PHaroahs Butler dreamed that he pressed the ripe Grapes into Pharoahs cup and delivered the Cup into the Kings hand it was a happy dream for him and signified his speedy access to the Kings presence But the dream of the Baker that the birds did eat out of his basket on his head the bak'd meats prepared for Pharoah had an ill omen and signified his hanging and their eating his flesh Thus when the ripened grapes of heavenly meditations are pressed by a good Christian into the cup of affection and this put into the hands of Christ by delightful prayses it is a true Argument of reall comfort that that Christian in â—o doing shall be shortly taken from the prison of this flesh where he liveth and be
Phocion or Pythagorean to speak briefly to the point or not at all let him labour like them of Crete to shew more wit in his discourse then words and not to power out of his mouth a flâ—ud of the one when he can hardly wring out of his brains a drop of the other How to read with profit AS it is not the best way for any that intendeth to make himselfe a good Statesman to ramble and run over in his travells many Countries seeing much and making use of liâ—tle for the improving of his knowledge and experience in State-policy but rather stay so long in every place till he have noted those things which are best worthy his observation So is it also in the travels and studies of the mind by which if we would be bettered in our judgements and affections it is not our best course to run over many things slightly taking onely such a generall view of them as somewhat encreaseth our speculative knowledge but to rest upon the points we read that we may imprint them in our memories and work them into our hearts and affections for the encreasing of saving knowledge then shall we find that one good Book often read and thorowly pondered will more profit than by running over an hundreth in a superficial manner The severall expressions of God in his Mercies and why so AS Lawyers in this captioâ—s age of ours when they draw up any Conveyances of Lands or ther writings of concernment betwixt party and party are fain to put in many aequivocall terms of one and the same signification as to have and to hold occupy and enjoy Lands Tenements Hereditaments Profits Emoluments to remise release acquit discharge exonerate of and from all manner of actions suits debts trespasses c. and all this to make sure work so that if one word will not hold in Law another may Thus God when he shews himselfe to his People in love he varies his expressions as he did to the Israelites Exod. 34. 6 7. The Lord the Lord God mercifull and gracious long suffering and abundant in goodnesse and truth keeping mercies for thousands forgiving iniquiâ—y transgression and sin c. Here 's an homonomy of words all Synonymaes And why so to raise up the drooping soul to bind up the broken-hearted that if it chance to stumble at one expression it may be supported by another if one word will not reach another may his mind is that the poor soul may rather leave then lack when it comes to draw comfort out of the breasts of Mercy Love to Christ how to be recovered when it is once lost A Man upon the way having accidentally lost his Purse is questioned by his fellow-Travailler where â—e had it last O saies he I am confident that I drew it out of my pocket when I was in such a Towâ— at such an Inne Why then saies the other there 's no better a way to â—ave it again then by going back again to the place where you last had it This is the case of many a Man in these loose unsetled times they have lost their love to Christ and his truth since their corn and wine and oyl have encreased â—ince outward things are in abundance added unto them they have sleighted the light of Gods countenance the love of Christ is defective in their souls but when they were poor and naked of all worldly comforts then they fasted and prayed then they sought Gods face both early and late nothing was more dear and precious unto them than the truth of Christ O how they loved him What then is to be done to recover this lost love of Christ back again back again directly where you last had it to the sign of the broken and contrite heart there it was that you drew it out into good words and better works and though it be since lost in the croud of worldly imployments there and no where else you shall be sure to find it again The generality of Gods knowledge IT is said of King Edward the sixth that he knew all the Ports Havens Harbours and Creeks in and about the English coasts together with the depth and shallowes of the water as also the severall burthens of every ship that could ride therewith safety yet this was but a puny knowledge in that young King when we look upon the general knowledge of God He knows all things all Creatures nothing is hid from his knowledge he knowes the thoughts of Man afar off he knowes what he will think many years hence if he live to it he knowes the stars by their names whereas our eyes are dim they small the distance great yet his infinite essence is a vast Nomenclator of them all such and so general is the knowledge of our all-knowing God that he knows all things also Simul semel uno intuito all at once both things past present and to come Gods goodness and Mans ingratitude IT is storyed of a certain King that fighting a desperate battle for the recovery of his daughter injuriously stollen from him found but ill success and the day utterly against him till by the valour of a strange Prince disguised in the habite of a mean Souldier that pittied his loss and bore love to his daughter he recovered both her and victory Not long after this Prince received some wrong in the point of houour which he deservedly prized He made his complaint to the King desires Iustice the forgetfull King puts him over to a Iudge The Prince replyes Know this O King when thou wast lost I stood betwixt thee and danger and did not bid another save thee but saved thee my selfe Ecce vulnera behold the scars of those wounds I bore to free thee and thy state from ruine inevitable And now my suit is before thee dost thou shuffle me off to another Such was our case Saâ—han had stollen our dear daughter our Soul in vain we laboured a recovery Principalities Powers were against us weakness and wretchedness on our side Christ the Son of God took pitty on us and though he were an eternall Prince of peace disguised himselfe in the habit of a common Souldier Induens formam servi putting on him the likenesse of a Servant undertook the War against our too strong Enemies set himselfe betwixt us and death bore the wâ—unds in his own person which should have light upon us Now his glory is in question his honour much concerned in the transactions of these times We stand by and behold it he appeals to our censure remembers us of the wounds passions sorrows he endured for us we put off from one another and let the cause of him that saved us fall to the ground Wâ—o shall plead for our ingratitude Heaven and Earth Sea and Stars Orbs and Elements Angels and Devills will cry shame upon us The right use that is to be made of Dreams THere
are many People that find out more mysteries in their sleep than they can well expound waking The Abbot of Glassenbury when Ethelâ—â—ld was Monk there dreamt of a Tree whose branches were all covered with Moâ—ks cowles and on the highest branch one cowle that out-toâ—t all the rest which must be expounded the greatnesse of this Ethelwold If they dream of a green Garden then they shall hear of a dead corps if they dream that they shake a dead man by the hand then there 's no way but death All this is a kind of superstitious folly to repose any such confidence in Dreams but if any man desire to make a right use of dreams let it be this Let him consider himself in his dreaming to what inclination he is mostly carried and so by his thoughts in the night he shall learn to know himselfe in the day Be his dreams lustfull let him examâ—â—e himself whether the addictions of his heart run not after the byas of Concâ—piscence Is he turbulent in his Dreams let him consider his own contentious disposition be his dreams revengefull they point out his malice Run they upon gold and silver they argue his covetousnesse Thus may any Man know what he is by his sleep for lightly Men answer temptations actually waking as their thoughts do sleeping Consultation with flesh and bloud in the waies of Heaven is very dangerous LOok upon a Man somewhat thick-â—ighted when he is to passe over a narrow bridge how he puts on his spectacles to make it seem broader but so his eyes beguile his feet that he falls into the brook And thus it is that many are droâ—â—ed in the whirle-pool of sin by viewing the passage to Heaven onely with the spectacles of 〈◊〉 and blood they think the bridgeâ— broad which indeed is narrow the Gate to be wide which indeed is straight and so ruinâ— themselves for ever The sad condition of adding sin to sin Mr. Fox in his Martyrology hath a story of the Men of Cockâ—am in Lancashire by a threatning command from Bonner they were charged to set up a Rood in their Church accordingly they compounded with a Carver to make it being made and erected it seemed it was not so beautiful as they desired it but with the hard visage thereof scared their Children Hereupon they refused to pay the Carver The Carver complained to the Iustice the Iustice well examining and understanding the matter answers the Townsmen Go to pay the Workman pay him get you home and mark you Rood better if it be not well-favoured to make a God it is but clapping a pair of horns on 't and it will â—erve to make an excellent Devill Thus when any man adds one sin to another when they add superstitious dotage covetous oppression and racking extortion to their worldly desires whereby they gore poor Mens sides and let out their very heart-bloods they shall find no peace of God to comfort but Devil enough to confound them Preaching and Prayer to go together IT is observed by those that go down into the deep and occupy their business in great waters that when they see the Constellation of Castor and Pollux appeare both together then it is the happy omen of a successfull voyage but if either of them appear single actum est de expeditione there 's small hope of thriving Thus it is that when Preaching and Prayer do meet together and like Hippocrates's two twins live arm in arm together not all praying and little or no preaching as some would have it nor all preaching and little or no praying as others would have it then is offered up that Sacrifice which unto God is made acceptable For praying and no preaching would not so well edifie his Church because where Visions fail the People perish and preaching without prâ—yer would not well beseem his Church which is called an house of prayer but both together will do exceeding well the one to teach us how to pray the other to fit us how to hear Man losing himselfe in the pursuit after knowledge Extraordinary HOunds that are over-fleet often out-run the prey in the pursuit or else tyred and hungry fall upon some dead piece of carrion in the way and omit the game Thus Man who onely hath that essentiall consequence of his Reason Capacity of Learning though all his time he be brought up in a School of Knowledge yet too too often lets the glass of his dayes be run out before he know the Author he should study hence it is that the greatest Epicures of Knowledge as Children new set to School turn from their lessons to look upon Pictures in their Books gaze upon some hard trifle some unnecessary subtilty and forget so much as to spell God How great a part of this span-length of his dayes doth the Grammaticall Critick spend in finding out the Construction of some obsolete word or the principal verb in a worn-out Epitaph still ready to set out a new book upon an old Criticisme How doth the Antiquary search whole Libraries to light upon some auncient Monument whilst the Chronicles of the Lord who is the Ancient of dayes are seldom looked into all of them so wearying the faculties of their understandings before hand by over-practising that when they come at the race indeed where their knowledge should so run that it might attain it gives over the course as out of breath before it have begun Slanders of wicked men not to be regarded LIvia wrote to Augustus Caesar concerning some ill words that had passed of them both whereof she was over-sensible but Caesar comforted her Let it never trouble you that Men speak ill of us for we have enough that they cannot do ill to us And to say truth above Hell there is not a greater punishment then to become a Sannio a subject of scorn and derision Ill tongues will be walking neither need we repine at their violence we may well suffer their words while God doth deliver us out of their hands Let it never trouble us that Men speak evill of us for we have enough that they can do no evill to us And withall whilst that the Derider dasheth in a puddle the dirt flyes about his own ears but lights short of Innocence the Mocker that casts aspersions on his brother over night shall find them all on his own cloaths next morning How to be truly Humble EPaminondas that Heathen Captain finding himself lifted up in the day of his publique triumph the next day went drooping and hanging down the head but being aked What was the reason of that â—is so great dejection made answer Yesterday I felt my selfe transported with vain glory therefore I chastise my selfe for it to day thus did Hezekiah thus David thus Peter and many others And so must it be with every truly humbled Man If he have not the
proposed or fore-humility to levell all his thoughts at the glory of God in the suppression of all self-conceit nor the opposed or mid humilitie to banish all selfe-confedence and presumption uppon his own strength let him be sure to double the imposed or after-humility making Pride it selfe to humble him the more And thus it was that the Psalmist doubles nay trebles his words Non nobis Domine non nobis Domine c. feeling some thought of Pride like some fly alighting upon his Soul he beats it away with a Not unto us O Lord If it lights a second time he flaps it off again Not unto us O Lord but if it comes the third time he kills it dead with the next word Sed nomini tuo but to thy Name give the glory This is the exercise of a threefold Humility and if in any of these there be a failing the best of our actions will be so far tainted that there will be no remedy to supply that defect but with doubling our after-humility that as Pride grew up out of Humility so Humility may spring out of pride again Men of other Callings not to meddle with that of the Ministry BY the Lawes of the Land a person occupying the craft of a Butcher may not use the occupation of a Tanner and a Brewer may not deal in the occupation of a Cooper none prescribe Physick but such as are Doctors at least Practitioners in the faculty None plead at the Bar but such as are learned in the Law It must needs then be a great fault as Hierom complains in an Epistle to Paulinus when every ordinary Mechanick takes upon him exact knowledge in Theology and will teach both Clark and Priest what they should say what they should do when artless Men will judge of Art nay enter upon the work of the Ministery instructing others when they have need to be instructed themselves Charity mistaken IT is reported of those Indians in Iamaicai who refusing to furnish Columbus that Genoese the first discoverer of that new American world with provisions but he seeing the People idolatrously devoted unto the Moon and foreseeing her Ecclipse by his Ephemerides told them that if they did not speedily supply him the Divine anger would suddainly consume them a sign whereof they should see in the darkned face of the Moon within two dayes They silly wretches being ignorant of the cause were so terrified at the beholding of the Eclipse that they came to beg pardon of him and brought him provision in abundance He made use of their ignorance supplyed his own necessity and engaged them much unto us Thus many there are to be found amongst us simple men silly women ignorant of the wiles of their seducing Teachers laying down all they have at their feet thinking nothing good enough all too litle to throw upon them when such is their preposterous zeal they will not willingly part with a penny that is due to maintain him that is more Orthodoxall The necessity of â—umane Learning WHen S. Paul undertook to make the Corinthians know who was the Lord God he profest a wealthy variety of much other knowledge besides the Scripture and thanks God for it that he spake with tongues 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more then they all did he cites their own Poets amongst the then learned Athenians and applies a Satyrical verse out of Epimenides to reprehend the lying and bestiall manners of the Cretians so powerfull was his language amongst the Lystrians that he gain'd the repute of Mercury And questionless the sitting so long at the feet of Gamaliel made him vas electionis a Vessel fit to hold that divine treasure which the Holy Ghost powred into him It is but folly then for any one to be transported with the pangs of so indiscreet a zeal as to extinguish those first lamps of knowledge polite and numane studies for they are like the Cryer in the Wilderness before our Saviour to prepare his way and though they do not directly teach us to know God yet are the fittest spectacles for unripe years and tender sights to put on who are not able to endure at the first vehemens sensibile so excelling an object as God is It is true that S. Paul was wrapt into the third Heavens but God leads Men now with a more apprehensive and ordinary hand then either by taking them up or sending down lights and visions from himselfe to make his Spirit to be at the command of every obstreperous unletter'd Extemporist who will undertake to teach before themselves have learnt whereby it often falls out that whilst such Ignaroes are about to make known the knowledge of God though their bodies be confiâ—'d within the compass of the Pulpit yet is their stragling invention fain to wander for matter as Saul did over the Mount Gilboa and many other Mountains to seek his Fathers Asses and yet never found them No Man able to free himself from Sin JT is reported of a Prince with whom a mighty neighbour-King used to pick quarrels by making impossible demands otherwise threatning War and ruine to him Amongst the rest one was that he charged him to drink up the Sea which a Counsellor hearing advised him to undertake it The Prince replyed How is it possible to be accomplished The Sage answered let him first stop up all the Rivers that run into the Sea which are no part of the bargain and then you shall perform it Much more impossible is it for our selves to consume and dry up all the Ocean of Sin in us so long as lusts remain like so many Rivers to feed it For still sin breeds lusts and lusts encrease sin as the sea sends forth springs that run into Rivers and those Rivers return to the Sea again So that to bid a Man clear his heart from all sin is to impose upon him opus Dei the peculiar work of grace omnipotent Who can say I have made my heart clean That can I saies the proud Pharisee and that can I saies the Popish Iustitiary Non â—abeo Domine quod miâ—i ignoscas I have nothing Lord for thee to pardon said Isidore the sinfull Monk but so could neither David Iob nor St. Paul say for in many things we sinne all To promise much and perform little reproveable LIvy said of Hannibal that he never stood to his promise but when it made for his profit And Antigonus was called Doson in the future tense as being about to give yet never giving whereupon grew the Proverb upon him that promised much and performed little that he was a Doson The World is at this time surely full of many such such as one would think were born in the Land of Promise who feed their Prisoners of hope with future promises as Ephraim with wind meer Alchymists whose Promises are gold
payment but dross putting off as the trick is either with improbable reverâ—ions or Promises of Promises like the Devills omnia dabo imaginary and delusory whilst their Patients like that Man of many years infirmity in the Gospel fainting by the pool and none to put him in lie languishing at Hopes Hospital like a hungry man dreaming of meat and when he awaketh his soul is empty or like Men in a swoon cheared with strong water they revive onely to beweary their eyes with further expectation and to witnesse the fallibility of Promise Partiall Hearers of Gods word reproved IT is observable that in great Fayrs and Markets the Pedlar and the Ballad singer are more thronged than the wealthy â—radesmen Children and Fools hang upon them who sell toyes and neglect those who have their shops furnished with rich and Merchantable commodities And such is the partiality of many Hearers of Gods word that they will croud to hear a Sermon abroad when they may hear one perhaps a better at home and that too with a great deal more ease and herein they wrong both God his Word and his Ministers God to whom onely Iudgement belongs in this case for though some may judge of the Minister eloquence many of his industry yet none of his faithfulnesse which is the chief thing required in a Steward His word in having the faith of our Lord Iesus Christ in respect of persons Iam. 2. 5. Lastly They offer indignity to the Preachers of his word in overvaluing one man and too much sleighting another Afflictions happen both to good and bad but to severall ends THe stalk and the ear of Corne fall upon the threshing floor under one and the same Flayl but the one shattered in pieces the other preserved from one and the same Olive and from under one and the same press is crushed out both oyl and dregs but the one is tun'd up for use the other thrown out as unserviceable And by one and the same breath the fields are perfumed with sweetness and annoyed with unpleasant favours Thus Afflictions are incident to good and bad may and do befall both alike but by the providence of God not upon the same accompt Good Men are put into the Furnace for their tryal bad Men for their ruine the one is sanctified by Afflictions the other made far worse then before the self-â—ame Affliction is as a Loadâ—stone to the one to draw him to heaven as a Milstone to the other to sink him down into hell The study of School-divinity not altogether necessary THere is an Italian Tree mentioned by Pliny called Staphylodendron whose wood is fair and white like our Maple the leaves broad and beautifull the fruit sweet and pleasant yet Dodoneâ—s a good Herbalist saith of it that it is good for nothing Such is the study of School-divinity I will not say good for nothing but as Dr. Whitaker a learned Man in his time said That School-men had plus argutâ—arum quà m doctrinae plus doctrinae quâ—m usus a goodly kind of learning that whetteth the wit with quaint devices and filleth the head with nice distinctions Multa dicunt sed nihil probant said another learned Man yet giving them Christian freedom we may use them as sweet meats after a feast rather to close the stomack and to delight with variety then to satisfie the appetite or support Nature Atheism condemned PRotagoras Abderites because he began his Book with a doubt De Diis neque ut sint neque ut non sint habeo dicere was banished out of Athens and his Books solemnly burnt to ashes And the same Athenians committed Anaxagoras to prison and but for Pericles had put him to death for but writing a book of the Moon 's Eclipses after they had received her for a Goddess Then do we find such jealousie of the Heathens over their fained Gods and shall the denyall and disparagement of the Honour of the one true and ever-living God be tolerable among Christians No let us know that Atheism is the main disease of the Soul not only pestilent to the person in whom it is harboured but to the whole Land where it is permitted Heaven the inheritance of Gods children IT is observable that whereas Abraham gave gifts to the Sons of his Concubines and so sent them away yet the Heritage he reserved for his son Isaac in whom the Covenant was established the Son of Promise So if God as oftentimes he doth give secular things common gifts unto bastard-children yet the Inheritance of Heaven the Crown of life he preserveth for them who after the manner of Isaac are children of promise as St. Paul speaks to his Isaacs his laughters in whom he takes pleasure to those that love him saith St. Iames to those that love his appearing saith another all which hinteth thus much that Heaven is the proper inheritance of Gods children God in wisdom ordering all things to work together for the good of his Children LOok upon the revolution of the Heavens how every Planet moves in its proper Orbe their motions are not all alike but various nay opposite each unto the other Hence those different Conjunctions Oppositions and Aspects of the Planets yet by the wheeling round of the Primum mobile they are brought about to one determinate point Or do but observe well the wise and politique carriage of a provident Governour who meeting with opposite factions in the State while each man takes his own way one seeking to undermine another he serves his own ends of both so wisely managing the good so powerfully over-awing the bad that all turns to the common good Thus it is that though many and sundry Agents are found in the world whose course and scope whose aims and ends and actions are not the same yea divers nay adverse one thwarting and crossing the other yet the over-ruling providence of God so swayes all subordinate and inferiour instrâ—ments that in the midst of their mutuall jars they conspire in a sacred harmony as if they were entred into an holy league or some sacred combination for the good of his chosen where-ever the Enemies be in respect of their places whosoever they be in regard of their persons howsoever dis-joynted in regard of their affections all their projects and practices tend and end in the good of his Elect. The unprofitable Rich man IT is observed by the Mineralists such as dig for treasure that the surface of that Earth is most barren where the bowels are most rich that where veyns of Gold and Silver swell the biggest the body of that Earth as if the treasure had eaten out all its fatnesse is made so poor that it is not capable of the least improvement Thus it is not alwayes but most usuall with rich Men they have full purses but empty souls great Incomes of wealth but small stocks of
Grace Iudas carried the bag he was good for nothing else and a rich Man laden with thick clay having outward things in abundance is good for no body but himself so true it is that as Greatness and Goodness so Gold and Grace â—eldom meet together To beware of erronious Doctrine IT is recorded by Theodoret that when Lucius an Arrian Bishop came and preached amongst the Aâ—tiochians broaching his damnable errours the People forsook the Congregation at least for the present having indeed been soundly taught before by worthy Athanasius Thus it were to be wished that the People of this age had their wits thus exercised to distinguish betwixt truth and falshood then false doctrines would not thrive as they do now amongst us and Errours though never so closly masked with a pretence of zeal would not so readily be received for Truths as now they are by the Multitude nor so much countenanced by those that make profession of better things Atheism punished IT was somewhat a strange punishment which the Romans inflicted upon Parricides they sewed them up in a mail of leather and threw them into the Sea yet so that neither the water of the Sea could soak through nor any other Element of Nature earth air or fire approach unto them And certainly every Creature is too good for him that denyes the Creator nor can they be further separated from Heaven or pitched deeper into Hell than they deserve that will believe neither The God they deny shall condemn them and those Malignant spiritâ— whom they never feared shall torment them and that for ever Truth beloved in the generall but not in the particular AS the Fryer wittily told the People that the Truth he then preached unto them seemed to be like Holy-water which every one called for a pace yet when it came to be cast upon them they turned aside their face as though they did not like it Just so it is that almost every Man calls fast for Truth commends Truth nothing will down but Truth yet they cannot endure to have it cast in their faces They love Truth in universali when it onely pleads it selfe and shewes it self but they cannot abide it in particulari when it presses upon them and shewes them themselves they love it lucentem but hate it redarguentem they would have it shine out unto all the world in its glory but by no means so much as peep out to reprove their own errors The confident Christian. THe Merchant adventurer puts to Sea rides out many a bitter storm runs many a desperate hazard upon the bare hope of a gainful return The valiant Souldier takes his life into his hands runs upon the very mouth of the Cannon dares the Lion in his Den meerly upon the hope of Victory Every Man hazards one way or other in his Calling yet are but uncertain venturers ignorant of the issue But so it often falls out that the greedy Adventurer seeking to encrease his stock loseth many times both it and himself The covetous Souldier gaping after spoil and Victory findeth himselfe at last spoiled captivated But the confident Christian the true child of God runs at no such uncertainty he is sure of the Goal when he first sets out certain of the day before he enter the field sounds the Trumpet before victory and when he puts on his harnesse dares boast as he that puts it off witnesse Davids encounter with Goliah Gedeons march against the Midianites and the christian resolution of those three Worthies Dan. 3. 17. To take Time while time serves IT was a curious observation of Cardinal Bellarmine when he had the full prospect of the Sun going down to try a conclusion of the quicknesse of its motion took a Psalter into his hand And before saith he I had twice read the 51 Psalm the whole body of the Sun was set whereby he did â—onclude that the Earth being twenty thousand thousand miles in compasse the Sun must needs run in half a quarter of an hour seven thouâ—and miles and in the revolution of twenty four hours six hundred seventy two thousand miles a large progresse in so short a time And herein though the Cardinal's compute as well as his doctrin in debates Polemicall doth very much fall short of truth yet his experience in this gives some proof of the extraordinary swiftnesse of the Suns motion Is then the course of the Sun so swift is time so passant then let time be as pretious lay hold upon all opportunity of doing good labour while it is day for night will come and time will be no more The Sun was down before the Cardinal could twice read the Psalm Miserere mei Deus and the light of thy life such is the velocity thereof may be put out before thou canst say once Lord be mercifull to me a sinner The workings of God and Man very different THe first and highest Heaven drawes by its motion the rest of the Planets and that not by a crooked but by a right motion yet the Orbs of the planets so moved move of themselves obliquely If you enquire whence is the obliquity of this motion in the Planets Certainly not from the first mover but from the nature of the Planets Thus in one and the same manner Man aimes at one end God at another the same that man worketh sinfully God worketh most holily and therefore they work idem but not ad idem The motion of our wills do exceedingly vary from Gods will and seem to drive a contrary end than that which God aimeth at yet are they so over-ruled by his power that at last they meet together and bend that way where he intendeth A wicked life hath usually a wicked end THere is a story of one that being often reproved for his ungodly and vitious life and exhorted to repentance would still answer That it was but saying three words at his death and he was sure to be saved perhaps the three words he meant were Miserere meî Deus Lord have mercy upon me But one day riding over a bridge his horse stumbled and both were falling into the River and in the article of that precipitation he onely cryed Capiat omnia diabolus Horse and man and all to the devill Three words he had but not such as he should have had he had been so familiar with the devill all his life that he thinks of none else at his death Thus it is that usually a wicked life hath a wicked end He that travells the way of hell all his life-time it is impossible in the end of his journey he should arrive at heaven A worldly man dies rather thinking of his gold than his God some die jeering some raging some in one distemper some in another Why They lived so and so they die But the godly man is full of comfort in his death because he was full of heaven
the whitest feathers yet of the blackest skin The Eagle a bird of the quickest sight and of the highest flight yet the most ravenous among birds And among Beasts the Lion the goodliest of all the woods yet the most fierce and cruel The Fox most subtle yet a Creature of the foulest smell Thus God hath ordered it even amongst the Creatures irrationall and thus it is with his own People in respect of Grace though they have many excellent endowments and guifts yet he suffers some corruptions of Nature in them to humble them So that Humiltty the best of Graces comes from the worst root our Sin And Pride the worst of sinnes comes from the best root our Grace which caused that saying of Mr. Fox the Martyrologist That his Graces hurt him more then his sins meaning That many times he was proud of his guifts but humbled by reason of his sinnes and natural infirmities Not to consult with Gods secrets but his revealed word IT was a good saying of Mr. Bradford that famous Martyr of Christ Iesus That a Man should not go to the University of Predestination untill he were well grounded in the Grammer-school of obedience and Repentance And most sure it is that we are not to consult with Gods secret decrees but with his revealed Word Secret things belong to the Lord our God but revealed things to us and our Children for ever Deut. 29. 29. We are not to look to the decrees of God and upon them either do or not do our duty but we are to look to his revealed will which bids us to be conversant in holy duties of Religion and Godlinesse We are not to search the secret Records of Heaven but the revealed will of God which is able to make us wise to salvation The consideration of Mercies formerly enjoyed an excellent means to bear up our spirits under present Afflictions THere is a story of a Man aged fifty years or there abouts who lived forty eight of that time and never knew what sicknesse was but so it was that all the two last years of his life he was sickly and impatient under it yet at last he reasoned the case thus with himself The Lord might have given me forty eight years of sicknesse and but two years of health yet he hath done the contrary I will therefore rather admire the mercy of God in giving me so long a time of health than repine and murmure at him for giving me so short a time of sicknesse And thus must all of us consider that we have had more Mercies in our life to chear us up than we have had crosses to discomfort us What though the Lord doth now visit us with sicknesse we have had more years of health then we have had of sicknesse What though this or that comfort be taken from us yet we have a great many more left us still Hence is that advice of the Wiseman In the day of Adversity consider What must we consider That God hath set the one against the other that is Though we are in Afflictions now yet he hath given us Mercies heretofore and it may be will give us Prosperity again he hath ballanced our present Afflictions with former Mercies so that if we should set the Mercies we have enjoyed against the present Afflictions we suffer we should soon find the tale of our Mercies to exceed the number of sufferings be they of what Nature or quality soever imaginable Not to mourn excessively for the losse of any worldly enjoyment whatsoever And why so IT is related of a Minister of Gods word that visiting a Neighbour whose child lay a dying he endeavoured to comfort her but she being much grieved and dejected with sorrow would by no means be comforted The Minister said unto her Woman Why do you sorrow so much pacifie your selfe If your Child should live it may be so that God might make it a scourge and vexation to you by taking wicked and sinful courses She answered that she did not care if her Child did recover though he were hanged afterward This Son of hers did recover and was afterward executed for some villany coâ—mitted Now let any one judge whether it had not been a greater mercy and a thousand times better for her to have seen him buryed before her then that he should have come to such an unhappy end Thus it is that that comfort which any of us all shall so excessively mourn for the want of it may be would have proved a greater cross and trouble should but God have continued it still unto us whether it be the lâ—sse of life or estate of a loâ—ing Wife or an onely Son as it was in Rachels case Gen. 30. 5. and in Davids that if God had given him the life of his Child it would have been but a living Monument of his shame and all that knew the Child might have said Yonder goes Davids Bastard The consideration whereof should allay and take off the edge of all excesse of sorrow for the losse of any temporall comfort any worldly enjoyment whatsoever Not to be troubled at Afflictions because God intends good by them SUppose a Man very much in debt and in such need of Money that he knew not well how to subsist without throwing himselfe upon the saâ— charity of others that might if they had but hearts possibly relieve him should go to some especiall inâ—imate friend and make known unto him the lownesse of his condition and crave relief accordingly Now if this friend of his which is somewhat strange should go presently to his Châ—st and take out a considerable bag of Mony and throw it at him and in the throwing of it breake his head or give him some slight scar Can it be imagined that he would take it unkindly No certainly Thus it is that every Affliction that God is pleased to lay upon us shall work for our good We may say as Ioseph did to his brethren Though you intended all this for my hurt yet God intended and turned it for my good and will work benefit and advantage to me by it and promote my spiritual good that as Afflictions do abound my Consolations in Christ shall abound much more Every Affliction like Ionathans rod having hony on the top and therefore let us bear them patiently How to know whether we are more grieved for sin then for worldly Sorrow and Trouble WHen a Man is brought to a low Condition and a great decay in the world so that his Trade is quite fallen and his stock spent Now if such a Man be more troubled for his sin that brought him to so low an ebbe in the World then for the Affliction and trouble it selfe then he will not commit a fin to repair and make up his losses though he did know assuredly that the committing of such a sin would make up all again As in the story
had a man in his Kingdome that durst deal so plainly and faithfully with him Thus did but all Men especially Ministers Preachers of the Word such as are immediately employed by God seriously take notice of his Omnipresence and continually remember how his eye is alwaies upon them O how diligent how confident how abundant would it make them in the work of the Lord how faithfull how couragious how unbyassed how above the frownes and smiles of the greatest of the Sons of Men c. The consideration of Gods omnipresence to be a disswasive from Sin IT is well known what Ahashuerus that great Monarch said concerning Haman when coming in he found him cast upon the Queens bed on which she sate What saith he will he force the Queen before me in the house There was the killing emphasis in the words before me will he force the Queen before me What will he dare to commit such a villany and I stand and look on Thus it is that to do wickedly in the sight of God is a thing that he looks upon as the greatest affront and indignity that can possibly be done unto him What saith he wilt thou be drunk before me swear blaspheme before me be unclean before me break my Laws before me this then is the killing aggravation of all sin that it is done before the face of God in the presence of God whereas the very consideration of Gods Omnipresence that he stands and looks on should be as a bar a Remora to stop the proceeding of all wicked intendments a disswasive rather from Sin then the least encouragement thereunto Courts of Iudicature to be free from all manner of Injustice IT is said of that famous Athenian Judicature where once Dionysius sate as a Judg and thereupon called The Areopogite that they did excell so much in authority that Kings laid down their Crowns when they came to sit with them that they were of such integrity that they kept their Court and gave judgment in the night and in the dark that they might not behold the persons whâ— did speak least they should be moved thereby they onely did hear what was said Here it was that the Pleader must not use any proeme nor make any Rhetoricall expression to move the affections so that the People did bear as much reverence to the sentences and decrees promulged there as they did to their sacred Oracles Such was the strictness such the Iustice of that though then Heathen Councill that it may very well serve as a miroir to look in as a pattern for the imitation and as a coppy for the most Christian Courts of Iudicature to write by For were but Causes evenly weighed in the ballance of Justice there would not be so much complaining of the often titing on the one side or the other as now there is Were men but Christian Lawyers they would not be so often looked on as Heathen Orators Were Laws but justly put in execution the sword would not so often be born in vain neither would great ones bear down those that are lesse nor mighty ones confound the mean but all would be subservient to the Supream serviceable and respectfull one to the other Ministers advised in the method of Profitable Preaching AS the Physitian himself gives not health but onely gives some helps to bring the body into a fit temperament and disposition so far as to help and strengthen Nature So the Preacher cannot be said to give knowledg but the helps and motives by which natural light being excited and helped may get knowledg And as he is the best Physitian that doth not oppresse nature with a multitude of medicines but pleasantly with a few doth help it for the recovery of health So he is the best Preacher not that knoweth how to heap up many mediums and Arguments to force the understanding rather then to entice it by the sweetnesse of light but he that by the easy and gratefull Mediums which are within reach or fitted to our light doth lead Men as by the hand unto the Truth in the beholding or sight of which Truth onely knowledg doth consist and not in use of Arguments hence is it that Arguments are called Reasons by a name of relation to Truth And why so but because they are a means for finding out of Truth and discovery of Errour Fear of Hell to be a restraint from the least Sin THe passage in Scripture is well known how Nebuchadnezzar erected a Golden Image with this terrible commination That whosoever would not fall down and worship it should be cast into the fiery Furnace This now was so terrible to every one that heard it that unlesse it were three or four there were none that did resist the very fear of a Fiery Furnace made them do any thing And shall not then the fear of those eternall flames the fear of that great day wherein God shall reveal all wrath without any mercy to the Wicked man shall not this turn him out of the wayes of Sin shall not this make him with bitternesse bewail his former lusts and to hate those bitter-sweets of pleasure which er'st he so much delighted in saying with Ionathan I have tasted a little honey and I must dye I have had a little pleasure of Sin and I must be damn'd for evermore Daily amendment of life enjoyned to the making up of the new Creature IT is said of Argo the then Royal Soveraign of the Asiatique Seas that being upon constant service she was constantly repaired and as one plank or board failed she was ever and anon supplied with another that was more serviceable insomuch that at last she became all new which caused a great dispute amongst the Philosophers of those times whether she were the same ship as before or not Thus it is that for our parts we have daily and hourly served under the commands of Sin and Sathan made provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof drawn iniquity with cords of Vanity and sin as it were with a Cartrope and daily like Ephraim increased in wickednesse insomuch that there are not onely some bruises and brushes but as it were a shipwrack of Faith and all goodnesse in the frame of our pretious Souls What then remains but that we should dye daily unto Sin and live unto Righteousnesse put in a new plank this day and another to morrow now subdue one lust and another to morrow this day conquer one Temptation and the next another be still on the mending hand and then the question needs not be put Whether we be the same or not For old things being put away all things will become new we shall be new Men new Creatures we shall have new hearts new spirits and new songs in our mouthes be made partakers of the new Covenant and at last Inheritors of the new Ierusalem Gods great patience
we sing Laudate Dominum omnes gentes Praise the Lord all ye Nations Then the Name of Christ was an oyntment kept close in a box but now it is an oyntment poured out And lastly then the Church was a Garden enclosed a Fountain sealed up but now it is a springing Well that overflowes the World to renew it as Noah's floud did to destroy it The Company of Wicked Men to be avoided IT was once the Prayer of a good Gentlewoman when she was to die being in much trouble of Conscience O Lord let me not go to Hell where the Wicked are For Lord thou knowest I never loved their Company here the same in effect though not in the same words was that of holy David Lord gather not my Soul with Sinners Thus if Men would not have their Souls gathered with Wicked Men hereafter they must take heed of joyning with them here Can God take it well at any Mans hands to go and shake hands with his Enemies God himself will not so much as reach out his hand to the Wicked Why then should any of us do so Can we be in any place where we see God dishonoured and sit still as though not concerned therein Certainly the sight of Sin wheresoever or by whomsoever it is committed should cause horror in the Soul it should make us forbear coming into such wretched Company Time mis-spent to be carefully redeemed IT is observable that when Men have mis-spent their youth in Riotous living neglected all means of thriving and prodigally wasted their Estates but coming to riper years and being beaten with the rod of their own experience in the sight of their folly do not onely desist from their former lewd courses but are sorry and ashamed of them and set themselves with so much the more care and diligence to recover and repair their decay'd estates and with the greater earnestnesse use all good means of thriving And he that being to travell about important businesse nearly concerning his life and estate if he have over-slept himself in the Morning or trifled out his time about things of no worth when he sees his error and folly he makes the more haste all the day following that he may not be benighted and so coming short of his journey be frustrate of his hopes And thus must every good Christian do labouring with so much the more earnestnesse after the spiritual riches of Grace and assurance of his Heavenly hope by how much the longer he hath neglected the spiritual thriâ—t And traâ—elling so much the more speedily in the wayes of God by how much the longer he hath deferred his journey and loytered by the way fearing as the Apostle speaketh lest a promise being left of entring into Gods rest he come short of it Heb. 4. 1. Sacriledg the heavy Iudgments of God depending thereon POmpey the Great who is noted by Titus Livius and Cicero to be one of the most fortunate Souldiers in the World yet after he had abused and robbed the Temple of Ierusalem he never prospered but velut unda sâ—pervenit undam as one wave followeth another so ill successes succeeded to him one on the neck of another till at last he made an end of an unhappy life by a miserable death Many more Examples of the like nature are recorded to posterity To what purpose To forewarn them of the heavy Iudgments that depend upon all Sacrilegers that as the Aâ—k of God could find no resting place amongst the Philistines but was removed from Asdod to Gath from Gath to Ekron and so from place to place till it came to it 's own proper place so shall it be with the goods of Gods Church of what nature soever being wrung out of the Churche's hands by violence Quae malignè contraxit Pater pejori fluxu refundet haeres That which the Father hath so wickedly scraped together the Sonne shall more wickedly scatter abroad and so it shall passe and repasse from one to another untill it be far enough from him and his for whom it was collected so tâ—at the out-side of all his goodly purchase will be the Iudgment of God against himself and the curse of God to remain upon his Posterity Nothing but Eternity will satisfie the gratious Soul WHen there were severall attempts made upon Luther to draw him back again to the Romish side one proposed a summe of Money to be offered unto him No that will not do sayes another Illa bestia Germanica non curat argentum c. That German beast cares not for money nor any temporal thing whatsoever and so they ceased any further tampering that way Such was the Christian resolution of those Fourâ—y Martyrs under the persecution of Liciâ—ius the Emperor Anno 300. that when Agricolaus his chief Governour and one of the Devil 's prime Agents set upon them by severall wayes to renounce Christ and at last tempted them with money and preferments they all cryed out with one consent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. O Eternity Eternity Give money that may last â—or 〈◊〉 and glory that may never fade away Nothing but Iesus Christ and him crucified will serve S. Paul's turn And thus it is that nothing but Eternity will satisfie the gratious Soul Let all the World the things of Heaven and Earth present themselves to the Soul by way of satisfaction it will say What are ye Temporal or Eternal If temporal away with them but if they bring Eternity along with them if the Inscription of Eternity be set on them then it closes with them and is satisfied in the sweet enjoyment of them The Ranters Religion IT is reported of the Lindians a People in the Isle of Rhodes who using to offer their Sacrifices with curses and execrable Maledictions thought their unholy holy-Rites were prophaned if that in all the time of the solemnity vel imprudenti alicui exciderit verbum bonum any one of them at unawares should have cast out or let fall one good word Such is the irreligious Religion and desperate carriage of a wretched crew called Ranters whose mouthes are fill'd with cursing and blasphemous speeches and that in such an â—orrid and confused manner as if Pythagoras his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were to be credited a Man would think Rabshekah's Soul had been transported into their bodies their Dialect being alike Divellish their language semblable Flatterers to be avoided WHen Xerxes with his multitudinous Army marched towards Greece and asked of his Friends What they feared most and one said That when the Greeks heard of his coming they would fly away before he could come near them another said He feared the ayr had not room enough for the arrowes of his Army another feared All Greece was not sufficient to quarter his Souldiers in And then Damascerus the Philosopher said He feared that all those Parasites would deceive him And no
Weak ones his little ones sins of weaknesse and infirmity which if once admitted will soon unbolt the dores of the heart let in all the rest of their Company and so make a surprisall of the Soul and endanger it to all Eternity Not to admit of delayes in Religious performances EXcellent is that comparison of St. Ambrose If saith he I should offer thee gold thou wouldst not say I will come to morrow and fetch it but thou wilt be sure to take it out of hand yet Redemptio animae promittitur nemo festinat the Redemption of our pretious Souls more worth then thousands of gold and silver is daily offered and no man hastneth to lay hold thereon How true may this speech of the Father be returned upon the cunctators such as procrastinate in the matters of Religion For Earthly things no Man will take time till to morrow but is very hot in the pursuit never resting till he have one way or other compassed them yet for spirituall things such as accompany salvation most Mens states are Weak and like Men ready to break are taking order for two three four six Monthes time and so as far from making satisfaction as ever Humility appeaseth the wrath of God incensed IT is recorded of an English King Edward the first that being exceeding angry with a servant of his in the sport of Hauking he threatned him sharply The Gentleman answered that it was well there was a River betwixt them Hereat the King more incensed spur'd his horse into the depth of the River not without extream danger of his life the water being deep and the banks too steep and high for his ascending yet at last recovering land with his sword drawn he pursues the servant who rode as fast from him but finding himself too ill-horsed to out-ride the angry King he reyned lighted on his knees and exposed his neck to the blow of the Kings sword The King no sooner saw this but he puts up his sword and would not touch him A dangerous water could not hold him from Violence yet satis est prostrâsse his servant's submission pacified him Thus whilst Man flies stubbornly from God he that rides upon the wings of the wind posts after him with the sword of Vengeance drawn but when poor dust and Ashes humbles it self and stands to mercy the wrath of God though ever so much incensed is soon appeased A faint-hearted Christian described A Certain Colliar passing through Smithfield and seeing some on the one side hanging he demands the cause answer was made For denying the Kings supremacy on the other side some burning he asking the cause was answered For denying the reall presence in the Sacrament Some quoth he hanged for Papistry and some burnt for Protestancy Hoyte on a Gods name â—hil be nere nother Such an one is every timerous faint-hearted Christian another Gallio a new Nichodemus that would fain steal to Heaven if no body might see him one that owes God some good will but dares not shew it his Religion is primarily his Prince's subordinately his Landlord's Whilst Christ stands on the battlements of Heaven and beckens him thither by his Word his heart answers Lord I would fain be there but that there is a Lyon or a Bear some trouble in the way All his care is for a ne noceat let him but sleep in a whole skin then omnia bene whether right or wrong all 's one to him The Devills hard dealing with the ensnared Sinner IT is not unknown how the Spanish Index deals with Velcurio who commenting on Livy saith That the fifth age was decrepit under the Popes and the Emperours The Index favourably takes out the Popes and leaves the Emperours wholly obnoxious to the imputation Thus the Devill winds out himself at the last from the wicked refusing to carry the burthen any longer but leaves it wholly to their supportation he that flattered them before with the paucity of their sins now takes them in the lurch and over-reckons them he that kept them so long in the beautiful Gallery of Hope now takes them aside and shews them the dark Dungeon of despair and ingrossing all their iniquities in great text-letters hangs them on the curtain of their beds feet to the wracking amazement of their distracted and distempered Souls The great Folly of costly Apparel LOok upon a Man that dwels but in a borrowed house expecting every hour when he shall have warning to avoid he doth not trouble himself to bestow any cost either in repairing or trimming up thereof because he hath no time in it no Lease for tearm of years to come Such is the condition of every living Man his body is but as it were an House lent unto the Soul from whence it looketh daily and hourly to depart Why should he then be so carefull to cloath this body with rich and brave Apparell when God knows how soon it must be laid down in the Earth there to rot and perish and in the mean time neglect to adorn and beautify his pretious Soul with Heavenly graces which is immortal How the wounded Sinner is to be cured THere is a story nothing worth but for the Morall of a great King that married his daughter to a poor Gentleman that loved her But his grant had a condiâ—ion annexed unto it that whensoever the Gentlemans side looked black or he lost his Wedding Ring he should not onely lose his Wife but his life also One day pursuing his sports he fell into a quarrel where at once he received a bruise on his left breast and lost his Ring in the scuffle The Tumult over he perceived the danger whereinto his own heedlesnesse had brought him and in bitternesse of Soul shed many tears In his sorrow he spied a book which opening he found therein his Ring again and the first words he read was a Medicine for a bruised side it directed him to those hearbs whereof a plaister applyed would not fail to heal him He did so was cured was secured Thus applied The great King of Heaven marries to Man poor Man hiâ— own daughter Mercy or eâ—eâ—lasting kindness but threatens him that his side musâ— not look black his heart must not be polluted with spiritual Idolatry nor must he lose his wedding Ring love to God and his Saints least he forfeit both Gods mercy and his own salvation Man in pursuit of Worldly affairs quarrels with his Neighbours and scuffles with Contention So his heart gets a bruise looks black with hatred And Charity his wedding Ring is lost in these willfull turbulencies and Vexations What should we do but mourn Lo God in his goodnesse directs him to a book the holy Gospell then the spirit helps him to his Ring again his former love and to heal his bruise prescribes him these speciall herbs of Grace Repentance Thankfulness and Meekness which being well applied will keep his Ring of