are going to hell and after forty or fifty yeares living know not what belongs to dying more than with Ezekiah to turne their face to the wall and weepe when it comes The way to dye willingly is to conne death before hand he that hath spent his life in providing for his death is not troubled at his death how to be provided of a better life My care shall be not how I may not dye but how I may live ever Prosperitie is a great enemy to goodnesse how hardly doe those which have riches enter into the Kingdome of Heaven I heare Israel praying in Aegypt quarreling in the wildernesse When they were at their bricke-kills they would be at their devotion and no sooner are they at ease but they are wrangling for their flesh-pots I think many a man had not been so bad if he had but been poore It is the saying of a wise Father that Salomons wealth did him more hurt than his wisdom did him good Trouble and want do that many times which faire meanes cannot wealth like knowledge puffes up when poverty as their infirmities did many in the Gospell make men flock to CHRIST I will never pray more heartily to God for His blessings than for grace to use them nor to lessen my miseries but to add to my strength Though my afflictions be many or often so my strength be equall I shall get by them the stronger my tryall the greater will be both my victorie and my reward The way to live ever is to live well there is no way to everlasting life but a good life it is not living at ease or at randome or at rack and manger in pompe and plentie mirth and jollity and with Saul think to drive away the divell with musike God cares not how rich or how powerful thou art but how good We should so live as wee may have joy of our life and bee made partaker of those joyes and that life which are for ever There are many dead men and manie deaths there is a death in sinne and a death for sinne and a death to sinne the two first we may thanke our selves for if wee had not knowne sinne we had not known death but the last we must thanke God for it is from Him that wee dye to sinne that have deserv'd to dye for it who Himselfe dyed for us and hath taken our sins upon Him and at once delivered us from the sting of death and the strength of sinne And thankes be to God who hath given us this victorie through our Lord IESVS CHRIST We are in this world as Israel in the wildernes and Christ is to us as Moses was to them if He leave us wee know not which way to turne us nature cannot carrie us to God Here all our sufficiencie is from Him and we say well in our praier for thine is the power and the glorie and it is by that power that wee come to that glorie our strength is but borrowed our standing but leaning upon His arme our going but leading in His hand It is with us as it was with S. Paul upon the way wee must be led we must be carried to God we must pray turne us O Lord unto thee and wee shall be turned Of our selves wee are unable to goe yet drawe us and wee shall runne after thee so shall wee come to thee with thee that are rather images that have feete and walke not without thee It is betweene some sinners and God as betweene some men their creditors all their care is how to be trusted not how to pay My first care shall be as little as I can to come in Gods debt and my next care how to come out of it Our goodnesse must be that part of the wallet that hangs behinde us seene of others not of our selves our sinnes must bee that part that hangs before us seene both of others and our selves To conceale sinne was never the way to be forgiven it or what art thou the safer that thou canst conceale it from men and not from God I had rather be censur'd for my sin than be damned for it As in Moralitie so in Divinitie not to goe forward is to goe backwards and not to thrive in goodnesse is not to be good When I compare what I am with what I have beene I am not a little proud but when I compare what I should bee with what I am with Peter I begin to sinke only here 's my comfort I shall be receiv'd not according to what I am but what I am in Christ. Every good heart is accuser judge and executioner of its ownfaults Why should I be afraid of standing at the tribunall of my owne conscience and not of God at one I must and if I judge my selfe I shall not bee judged I will prevent Gods judgements with my owne and the feare of what I should suffer with the sorrow for what I have done to him only is the last judgement terrible that shunnes the first Wicked men as they make most shew of mirth so they have least their heart and their face do not agree they carrie that in their owne bosome that spoiles their laughing they are alwaies pursued by themselves and encountred with their own thoughts Their sleepe is dreaming and they dreame of those judgements in their sleepe which they have deserv'd waking every noyse is of thunder and everie thunder of the last day every shadow is a spirit and their sinnes are so many divels about them they have a double hell they dy a thousand deaths here and hereafter dye eternally There is no joy like the joy in the Holy Ghost Nay there is no joy but that and that is as farre above all earthly joy as our heavenly joy shall be above this Hallelujah above Hosanna Let mee but have this within and I care not how the square goe without Death to the wicked ever comes unwelcome because they see it in its worst shape ghastly Faine they would not goe and goe they must it is impossible they should live still but it is intolerable to be still dying which is the life they are to live a living death I will pray God to season this life to me as I may not bee in love with it and so to remember me of my death as I may not be afraid of it and in my life so to prepare me for my death that at my death I may not onely bee prepared but assured of a better life When I remember the sinnes I have already committed and some it may be not throughly repented of and those which I do hourely commit and some it may be not taken notice of so many of infirmitie stealing upon me and other stronger sinnes breaking in upon me I doe not will that good which I should or want power to that will or perseverance to that power I am at a stand with the Apostle and thinke miserable man that I am who shall deliver me
us in modestie to submit to Him and thinke that our best which God thinkes so Seneca an heathen but a Philosopher could say hee was better borne than to be a slave to his body and they are no better that are continuall factors for it Every man layes up for a hard winter and a Rainie-day I will lay up for that day which I am sure will come and am not suer how soone it will come The bare desiring of earthly things is not unlawfull Hee who first taught us to pray allow'd us this in Give us this day our daily Bread 't is the excesse either in using or in caring for them makes them ill to us that are not so in them selves I will so desire these as I may bee the better for enjoying them and so imploy them as I may have little to account for them Why should I abound to my cost Teares are a second Bâ—â—â—â—sme of the soule 〈◊〉 it is rinced anew as the sinnes of the old worlde so of this little world neede a deluge There is but one sorrow never to be repented of the sorrow of repentance only these teares goe into Gods bottle and thus blessed are they that mourne Others eyes are Sermons unto mine when I see a Peter weeping for his denyall it puts mee in minde of mine why should I weepe for the losse of my friends 〈…〉 my health or of 〈◊〉 state and not of my soule There are two kindes of teares of joy and of griefe and two causes of these kindes Heaven and our Sinnes the one of affection the other of remorse the one for what we have done the other for what we would have these two shall vie teares in mine eyes to be forgiven and to be dissolved This World is a stage the play is a tragi-comedy of the life and death of man every man playes his part and exit and it may be he that hath liv'd a begger would not exchange with the KING when he comes to dye for then he is rewarded not according to what he hath beene but what hee hath done I wil not greatly care what part I play but to doe it well Home is home be it never so homely sayes the Proverbe Men goe forth to labour and come home to take their ease this world is our worke-house and Heaven is our home why am I loth to goe to my rest This world is the valley of teares and we may sooner want them than cause to shed them I will bee content to sow in teares that I may reape in joy I reade of Augustus when ever hee heard of any that dyed suddenly hee wish'd him and his friends the like happinesse he shall not choose for me Let him and his brother-heathens pray for their fooles paradise Our Church hath learn'd us a better Language From sudden Death good Lord deliver us I ever thought it not a little blessing to dye by degrees In this case the farthest way about is the nearest way home Mee thinkes it is but th' other day I came into the world and anon I am leaving it How time runs away and we meet with Death alway e're wee have time to thinke our selves alive One doth but breake-fast here another dine hee that lives longest doth but suppe We must all goe to bed in another World I will so live every day as if I should live no more 't is more than I know if I shall All goe to the same home but all goe not the same way one falls by the hand of a brother another by the fall of a house c. Againe all goe to the same home but all goe not the same pace one dyes in his cradle another on his crutches to some their life is a prey to others a burthen Iob and Ionah are weary of living and Lot and Hezekiah would live longer as for the way I shall ever pray God that I may take my last sleepe in a whole skinne but for the pace Come LORD IESVS come quickly Death was given for punishment of sinne but is the end of it when we lost Paradise we met with this and againe when we part with this wee meet our Paradise they that know whither they are going cannot but wish themselves gone and say with our Saviour but in another sense Arise let us goe hence Through how many dyings doe wee come to our Death And how many deaths may wee come to Infinite are our waies out of this life that have but one way into it Our life is compos'd of nothing but deaths for that wee may live other creatures die again our child-hood dyes and is forgotten when we are growne up Our youth dyes when wee are men Our man-hood dies when we are aged at last Our age dyes and all dyes and wee dye with it every day dyes at night now if my life consist of dayes what doe I else but dye daily Favour is a thing to esteeme but not to build on hee that stands upon others leggs knowes not how soone they may faile him Greatnesse is not eternall I will never leane so hard upon any man that if he breake he shall give me a fall The things of this world are in a manner but apparitions not so indeed all our Pompe is but like the strowing of Boughes before our Saviour taken up againe straite our provision here is like that of the Gibeonites apt to moulder open to the theefe and the moath to be corrupted and stole wee have waters but like those of Marah bitter we have riches but we have crosses sweete meate but sowre sauce they make a fair shew but they last not I may say of them what my Saviour did of Israel their goodnesse is but as a cloude c. I will use this world but I will bee in love with that better onely why should I delight to be miserable This world is a region of Ghosts or of dying men if not dead our life is but one continued sicknesse and we are ever in a comsumption wasting wee now accompany those to the grave whom shortly wee must keepe company with in the Grave Every man must have his turne and GOD knowes whose turne is next it may bee thine it may bee mine and mine before thine GOD knowes thou hast more yeares it may be and therefore as thou thinkest some strides before I am no lesse subject to diseases and therefore no whit behinde these threaten no lesse to mee than age doth to others Every ache every stitch tolles the bell in mine eares for some have dyed of these but every strong sicknesse digs the grave and sayes service over mee and cries Dust to dust c. Since there is a time to dye and I know not the time I will provide for it at all times Blessed is that servant whom when the Master comes he shall finde watching No man thinkes hee shall live ever yet most men thinke they shall not dye yet otherwise they would dye better
as nature God receiveth no sonne whom He chastiseth not but t is with a gentle hand He leaves no markes behinde and He hath soone throwne away His rod if with unfained resolution you will doe so no more God though He beate many of His Children till they cry yet He never beates any for crying There is a double life in man and must bee a double nourishment men live as if there were no more to bee done but feede and be warme food and rayment are the maine businesses of the World 'T is true wealth and friends and health are things to thanke God for but better desires better becomes Christians the Christian man lives not by bread onely c. Meate for the belly and the belly for meate but God shall destroy both it and them every good mans meate and drinke is to do the will of Him that sent him God hath given us this aire to breathe in it doth not give but continue life 't is the meanes of living not the Author of life God gives it us to use not to serve How many make this world their God and serve it and God as it were but their World to make use of I will never be a servant to my slave God though He be ever the same in Himselfe He is not alwaies so in us though Hee love those whom He doth love unto the end yet not without Intermission Men commonly never know the benefit of a thing but by the absence of it wee could not so well esteeme of health if it pleased not God we were sometime sicke the long absence of a desired friend makes him more welcome at his returne thus Christ is pleas'd sometime to withdraw His presence that with more earnestnesse we might be drawne to seeke Him Tell mee Oh Thou whom my soule loveth where thou feedest c. As when many eyes are fixed upon one pictture every one thinkes the eyes of the picture to be fixed on him so with our soules all looke together at God but every one must appropriate Him to himselfe To know that God is the God of Abraham the God of Isaack and the God of Iacob is but a weake assurance that He will provide for me unlesse also He be my God our faith as our charity must begin at home and say My Lord and my God Our Saviour doth not say doe unto others as others doe unto you but as you would have others doe unto you If thou wouldest have thy neighbour do thee right doe so to him though he have done thee wrong Lex talionis was never a good Christian Law If I forgive not I shall not be forgiven As he cannot rise againe the resurrection of the body that doth not first dye the death of the body no more can he be borne the birth of the soule that doth not first dye the death of sinne It is necessary that hee which will bee borne twice should dye once while he lives and hee that will once rise the resurrection of life should dye twice That I may live ever I will dye daily That two contraries cannot consist in the same subject is as good Divinity as it is Philosophy Good and evill are like Fire and Water ever contending till the one be conquered either my sinns and I must part or God and I I cannot be at once Gods Church and the Divels chappell It is the fault of a great many if God beare with them in their sinnes they thinke hee countenances them if they be not presently striken dead with Vzzah they goe on when they smart not they beleeve not and he is not fear'd till felt Sicknesse is not thought of till death nor that till hell forgetting that the long sufferance of God should lead them to repentance he forbeares us that hee might forgive us shall I sinne because grace abounds God forbid God as He is infinite in mercy so is He in justice and as His mercy extends to thousands in them that love him so do His judgments to many generations of them that hate Him That He is long in comming is no argument that Hee will not come forbearance is no acquittance the longer our time the greater our account if we have liv'd long and liv'd not well of young Saints prove old Divells wee had beene better have gone to heaven young than to have lived to these yeares to goe to hell miserable is that mans case whose latter end is worse than his beginning The relation betweene sinning and falling is so neere that they are us'd promiscuously the one for the other Now it is a hard matter to fall without hurt and once downe it is not an easie matter to rise without helpe Where it is so dangerous to fall and so hard to rise if we love our selves we will looke to our footing Most men feare to heare ill that feare not to doe ill the arrantest hypocrite in the world would not be thought so he would not be censur'd for sinne that feares not to be damned for it and is afraid of holding up his hand to the barre that is not afraid of standing at the Tribunal seat of God All the care is how to sleepe in a whole skinne not so much to live well as to die safe keepe without the compasse of the Law though they come within the teach of hell If this bee not to feare men more than God I know not what is I should wonder many times to see sin so smugge to here a Iudas at his haile Master and kisses did I not remember of what Sire they come the Divell and that he can stil personate that goodnesse he once had He would be more shunn'd if he could not bee mistaken that is not suspected in a disguise where the adversary is so subtile they had need bee wise as Serpents that would be innocent as Doves Charity so forgives offences that it is ready not only to pardon the offender but to doe for him and thinkes it selfe not innocent that it starves not it's enemy while it sees him starve What little difference is there in Religion betweene not saving and killing we are not commended that we require not evill with the like We have not forgiven injuries if wee doe onely not revenge them if wrongs tye our hands from doing good where we ought and may they prove sinnes to us that were but crosses and we wrong our selves more by not doing than by suffering and God shall so forgive us our trespasses For with what measure I mete unto others it shall be measured unto me againe God deales by us as He would have us deale by others and we must doe by others as we would have them doe by us and all of us deale one with another as we would have God deale with all of us As I cannot love God and hate my brother so can I not bee loved of God How iustly is the fire of Envy punished with the fire of Hell It cost God
to all men once to dye death is a punishment of sinne not sinne itselfe yet sure it is the height of punishment when it is suddaine I doe not desire not to dye at all but not all at once I know I must dye and I thinke of my death yet is it not alwayes in my thoughts the best of us all may be taken napping I will ever pray God when he doth fell me not to doe it at a blowe that I may see my selfe falling and bethink me in the fall and thus it is a comfortable thing to fall into the hands of the living God He that knowes his masters will and doth it not shall be beaten with many stripes and yet I cannot say whether shall bee worse beaten hee that may know it and will not or hee that doth know it and doth it not the one sinnes against his knowledge the other sinnes because hee will not know and shall one day not be knowne God made this world not barely to looke on but to contemplate on and of Him in it here the Christian the Philosopher part they are led by reason we by faith they argue we beleeve they enquire the manner how all were made the Christian why He is not curious in the manner but lookes at the end for the glorie of God and the way to our glorie and useth them not for spectacles but motives to the glorifying of him of whom he hath them and if wee enjoy these as we should we shall one day enjoy him from whom we enjoy them This World is oft compar'd unto a sea our life is the Shippe we are the passengers the grave is the common haven Heaven is the shore and well is the grave compar'd unto a haven for there wee unload the things of this world are neither borne with us nor doe dye with us we goe out of this world as we came into it naked why are wee so covetous of those things which are so hard to get and so certaine to be lost If I enjoy them all I shall not enjoy them long or if enjoy but some I shall shortly have use of none I will comfort my selfe against the want of them with the assurance that I shall one day not have need of them Who can but once look backe upon his creation and dares distrust God for his preservation whether is it easier to give or to continue life to keepe thee or to make thee If He have given thee the greater why dost thou distrust Him for the less Or if thou distrust Him for earth how will you take His word for Heaven Oh God they have forgot of whō they live that distrust thee for their life This life is a race and wee doe not live but travell but we have another race beside this of our soule as well as of our bodie since both must bee runne and the one will not tarrie for the other I will trie who can runne fastest if I have finished my life not my course I have made more haste than good speede Every thing else hath a beginning it is onely Gods title Which was and is and is to come Eternity is only there our glory must be not that wee have liv'd ever but shall doe so If wee looke but out into the World we shall see almost as many miracles as things that trees and plants should every yeare dye and recover that the Sunne should only lighten and warme the earth and not burne it that the heavens should distill its raine in drops and not in rivers full and drowne us where they do but wet us God is not lesse miraculous in preserving the World than in making it and as His mercie so His glorie is over all His workes Religion with some men is but a matter of fashion Many are of Agrippa's Religion almost Christians such men shall be saved as they doe beleeve almost God will never owne such halfe-fac'd followers The hypocrisie of a Pharisee would have shamed thee into an outside of Christianitie and unlesse your righteousnesse exceede the righteousnes of the Scribes and Pharisees you cannot enter c. It is not onely want of grace but wit to dissemble where we may be discernd if I will needs bee a Christian I will be one to some purpose I heare men cōmended now adaies as the Lord did the unjust steward because they deale wisely not honestly 't is held no crime to deceive but to be seene to be discovered that 's a foule fault he is a novice that doth that the care of many is not to live innocent but close they cast how to go as Saul to Endor to the Divell in a disguise but they cosen onely mens eyes Gods they cannot and since they will not be knowne for what they are now they shall not be knowne for what they would be one day God shall say unto them Depart from me yee workers of iniquitie I know you not To dissemble sinne was never the way to be pardon'd it only he that confesseth his sinne shall finde mercie never be asham'd to say what thou wer't not asham'd to do blush to commit them but not to tell of them it is better that the world note thee for a sinner than God for an hypocrite Some there are that heare onely to tell and many times make differences where there were none meant it is not good alwaies to tell all wee heare many a man speaks that in his anger which in coole bloud he would not owne and we doe a double wrong by relating that which the one is sorrie to heare and the other to have spoken when he is himselfe I will heare all and report onely the best he that makes debate betweene others layes a baite for himselfe it is safe and honest to compose discords but sowe none I will labour what I can to set others together but not by the eares When wee behold for who can choose such a world of sinnes in every corner of the world buyers and sellers in the temple and not whipped out selling our soules for the provision of their bodies others with Zimri Cosbi out-facing judgement how doe we not wonder and blesse our selves that we enjoy so good so much some thing any thing that Pharaohs leane kine are not seene amongst us and the metamorphosis of famine of the heavens to Brasse and the earth to Iron that either the clouds are not shut to with-hold their raine or that the windowes of heaven are not opened to raine not water but fire and brimstone It is admirable where the fact is so foule that the reprive is so long Oh Lord we have nothing to say for our selves but acknowledge it is thy mercie that wee are not consumed Good natures are wonne rather with intreatie than curstnesse if wee doe not more love God for His goodnesse that He doth preserve us then feare Him for His power that He can destroy us His mercies are ill bestow'd and worse
and he only shall receive mercy that shewes mercy all the wrongs thou receiv'st cannot equall one sinne thou committest and art forgiven now when God hath forgiven thee thy hundred Talents which thou owedst and could'st not pay do not with the evill servant take thy brother by the throat for two be not so cruell to others that hast God so mercifull to thee freely thou art forgiven freely forgive with what measure yee mete unto others with the same shall it bee measured to you againe and if you give you shall receive good measure not only shaken together and pressed down but running over God as He doth not let goodnesse go unrequited so doth He not requite it with a little or inch out His blessings He never hath done enough for those that love Him one good turne drawes on another and Hee is ever thinking What could I doe more for my Vineyard that I have not done There is no pains of ours which falls to the ground unaccepted unrewarded who would not serve that master whose service is perfect freedome and the wages eternall life I cannot bee more mine owne friend than by beeing GOD's servant and the Worlds enemie Our bodies waxe weaker as they waxe older our sinnes as they waxe older they waxe stronger I will labour to bee olde in goodnesse and I cannot complain of weaknesse let mee but bee too strong for my sinnes and I have strength enough Some men doe not revenge injuries because they cannot they want power others because they want opportunitie and doe but waite with Esau the dayes of the mourning for my father are at hand and then I will slay my brother It is no god-a-mercie to passe over injuries when we can do no other he is not innocent that is so perforce then is our goodnesse commendable when we may hurt and will not It is the fault of the world yet it is the fashion of it to put off God to the last the fall of the leafe will serve his turne and thinke one sigh at their death enough for all their lives before but true repentance as it is not for a spurt so it is not done in an instant He that goes about thorowly to make riddance of his sinnes shall finde it a long businesse sinnes are not like servants to be gone at a quarters warning In many things we offend all is the voice of an Apostle the best have their faults he is happie that hath least and fewest I can never be so holy as to have no sinnes my care shall bee to repent me of those I have if my repentance be daily my score shall never be long Youth and holinesse doe not meet often to see a young man dead to sin and ready for death is admirable but rare it is a good thing to be good betimes sinnes as they growe old they growe lusty and if they once get head they know no master it is a harder matter to restore to godlinesse than to make godly for there must be a dedocebo te c. an unteaching of that evill which they before learned before there can be an insertion of that good which they must after practise Custome will alter nature and an use of sinning make them in love with sinne it is rarely seene that a young divell proves an old Saint I will so begin as I would hold out with GOD otherwise it is ill that I have begun but worse that I hold not out GOD desires not the death of a sinner but that is not all He doth not onely not delight in our ruine but He desires our recoverie If we repent He spares us if we returne Hee receives us for the first mercy to forgive for the second an Abrahams bosome to receive if we wander He recalls us if we be obstinate he intreats us if we come but slowly He will stay for us in all His workes He is wonderfull but in His workes of mercy He exceeds I will never despaire of that goodnesse that hath no bounds my sinnes are infinite but not unpardonable Hee was once a persecutor who was after an Apostle and not behind the best of the Apostles that was once before the worst of the Iewes for cruelty God is able to make of a cast-away a convert of a theefe a disciple of stones children of dead men living Saints if the disease be desperate the cure is the glorie of the Physician the recoverie is more remarkeable of a dead man to life than of a sicke man if the danger were not great there were lesse praise of our redemption but when our sinnes are gone over our heads when the beame of the timber and the stone in the wall crie us guiltie when thou art possest and not as Mary Magdalen with a few divels but with Legions not one sinne or small sinnes or a few sinnes seven divels as it is said of her but past number like the starres or the sands and of the worst sort of divells too that cannot easily be cast out but with fasting and praier and hast not onely committed them but lived in them and art now dead in them when we have thus lost our selves and Him to bee found of Him and brought to our selves pusles us for thankes His armes are ever open onely our hearts are shut wee receive not because wee aske not wee are not received because wee returne not or returne to our vomit It is but just when wee turne to our sinnes that GOD turne to His judgements either wee must bee cut off in our sinnes or from them Salvation is the gift of God it is given and yet it is got with a great deale of struggling thou must fast and watch and fight as Saint Paul saies and as Saint Paul did too not onely with beasts after the manner of men though wicked men are beasts in a manner but with principalities and powers not the Aegyptians but the Anakims Gyant sinnes growne temptations My glory shall be not to have no sinnes but to have the mastery not that I am not set upon but not beaten That we shall all dye we all know when wee shall dye God knowes but how any man should be dead while he is alive is strange wil some think and would bee glad to know yet so it is sin is a death and every obstinate sinner is dead for the time Some with Iairus daughter are not dead but sleepe others with Lazarus are not onely dead but stinke and it is with sinne as with sicknesse it weakens by degrees first it distempers the palate of the soule or spoiles the stomake so that either it refuseth meat or distastes it or puts it up againe and next it takes away the sense that they feele not their sinnes and then are remedilesse and as our Saviour told the Iewes they wil dye in their sins and this is a death men care not to be acquainted with til they be past cure and then onely thinke of Heaven when they