This indeed is the fashion of beleeuers at their first conuersion beeing iustified to haue peace and ioy in beleeuing the remission of their sinnes and for a while to bee glad of their estate but then to neglect and determinate the vse of Faith as if it had now done all it should or could doe except till they relapse againe into some foule sinne then to recouer life againe vsing it as Vsquebath and strong Waters for swones and heart qualmes onely not being acquainted with a dayly and quotidian improuement of it which ought to bee as constant and continuate as is the vse of Fire and Water of Salt of Bread or Wine or whateuer is more ordinary and necessary then other such as no part of our liues may well be without Serues Faith for entrance and beginnings and not for proceedings and encreasings Are we not nourished by the same Elements of which wee consist Is Faith the Midwife and breeder of ioy and peace and not the Nurse and Foster-mother of them Cherishing and feeding thee till thou come to a full and perfect age in Christ Is not the fruit of it sweeter in the eare then in the blade Hearken therefore to mee oh thou of little Faith and lesse vse of it Doest thou desire to haue a continuall feast to reioyce alwaies in the Lord I know thou desirest it with all thy soule Let me prescribe a Dyet a daily dyet without omission strictly to bee kept The Lord giue thee and mee grace to obserue it Looke how duly thou refreshest thy bodyly spirites by vse of repast or recreations so often at the least bee sure to cheere vp thy Soule by the vse of thy Faith Let thy soule haue two or three walkes a day vp to Mount Tabor that is into some retyred place of Meditation and Prayer such as Isaaks Field Gornelius his Leaded Dauids Closet c. But what is there to be done I answere Still make vse of thy Faith But what is that you call vsing of Faith I now come to the point to the chiefe misterie of Spirituall life Shore vp thy soule in this Mount to conuerse with Christ. Looke what promises and priuiledges thou doest habitually beleeue now actually think of them rowle them vnder thy tongue Chew on them till thou feele some sweetnesse in the palate of thy soule View them ioyusly seuerally Sometimes muse of one sometimes of another more deepely and lest as Patients oft doe in Physicions Billes thou still complaine of obscurity thus doe thinke with thy selfe how excellent a thing it is to haue all thy debts cancelled how sweet a thing to haue God appeased how glorious a thing to bee the sonne of God how happy and safe a condition for thee to bee sure thy perseuerance and saluation how pleasant a state to bee â—â—â—â—â— of the fiere of death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 how 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of glory Feastmakers in ancient time had speciall officers that cheered vp their guests they thought it not enough to set store of meate beefore them but one must come in and say Fall too and be merry Let vs eate and drinke It is a good time c. Thus say thou to thy selfe as Paul to the Corinths 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let us feast and bee merry Christ hath made vs Holy-dayes our Paschall Lambe is slaine Haue any more cause to bee merry With these Soliloquies mingle some Eiaculations to heauen for grace and ayde And leaue not descend not this Mount till thou findest and feelest thy soule in some cheerely plight reuiued and warmed with these spirituall Flagons of Wine in the strength whereof thou mayest walke all the day following This is that which the Spâ—â—se calles Walking into the Gardens and eating of the fruits c. which in plaine termes I call vsing of Faith and liuing by Faith Which if thou wilt duely inure thy selfe vnto thou wilt not maruell why I called it Ascending Mount Tabor thou wilt say thy selfe vpon good proofe It is good to be here dayly to be here often to come hither This is that exercise of Faith which paul inioynes Timothy and calles stirring vp or in kindling Fire in the Embers vnstirred glowes not heats not the house Sugar in the cup vnstirred sweetens not the Wine And in such it is all one not to haue Faith and not to vse it It may well bee said of Money-hoorders they haue no quicksiluer no currant money they haue no more that which they haue then that which they haue not And so of such beleeuers as doe not thus vse their Faith they haue no liuely Faith They were almost for matter of feeling and for present benefit and comfort be without Faith A man is little the better for a sleeping habit It is a rare portion saith Salomon and that which GOD giues onely to such as are good in his eyes to make vse of wealth to eate drinke and bee merry it is a much rarer to vse Faith What is a man the better for a Locke if he haue not the Key to vse it withall It is not a Trade but a Trade well followed It is not Land but Land well tilled that maintaines men Oh that this did as clearely appeare to the world in the matter of Faith as it doth in all other habits graces giftes vertues and good things whatsoeuer that the principall beauty and benefit of them consists in vse fruition and action not the bare profession yea the very increase and perfection of them Vse limbes and haue limbes the more thou doest the more thou mayest The oftner the liberall man giues Almes and does good turnes the more his liberality growes and shines Vse will breed perfectnesse and through disuse things perish and come to nothing as the Plowsheare laid vp rusts and consumes imployed glisters doth good and lasts the longer Let any man diligently and throughly improue and great will be his faith and great the ioy it will bring in CHAP. VII An inforcement of the former vse with a reproofe of the neglect and disuse of Faith WHerefore I say again Liue by Faith againe I say alwaies liue by it reioyce alwaies through Faith in the Lord. I dare boldly say It is thy fault and neglect of this exercise if thou suffer either thy own melancholly humor or Satan to interrupt thy mirth and spirituall alacritie and to detaine thee in dumps and pensiuenesse at any time What if thou beest of a sad constitution of a darke complexion Is not Faith able to rectifie nature is it not stronger then any ellebore Doth not an experienced both Diuine and Phisition worthily preferre one dramme of it before all the Drugges in the Apothecaries shop for this effect Hath it not soueraigne vertue in it to excerebrate all cares expectorate all feares and griefes euacuate the minde of all ill thoughts and passions to exhilerate the whose man But what good doth it any to haue a Cordiall by him if he vse it not to weare
a sword souldier like by the side and not to draw it forth vpon an assault when a dump ouer-takes thee if thou wouldest say to thy soule in a word or two Soule why art thou disquieted know and consider in whom thou beleeuest would it not presently returne to it rest againe would not the Master rebuke the Windes and Stormes and calme thy minde presently Hath not euery man something or other wherewithall hee vseth to put away dumps to driue away the ill spirit as Dauid with his Harp some with merry company some with a cup of sack most with a pipe of Tobacco without which they scarce ride or goe if they misse it a day together they are troubled with rhumes dulnesse of spirits they that liue in Fennes and ill ayres dare not stirre out without a morning draught of some strong liquor Poore silly smoaky helps in comparison of the least taste but for dishonouring of Faith I would say whiffe or draught of Faith Oh! that wise Christians would as often take the one as idle Guls doe the other would not the drawing in of sweete ayer from the pretious promises breede excellent blood and cheerely spirits It is a mystery in bodily health that to keepe the arteries and the nosthrils veines and other passages to the head heart and liuer cleere and free from colds and obstructions maintaines a healthfull and cheerefull temper The Pipe of Faith is the same to the soule Hee that is Astmaticall narrow breathed or straight breasted in his Faith cannot bee but lumpish and melancholly Wherefore as thou louest thy mirth aboue all other tend this vitall artery aboue all keepings keepe thy Faith and it will keepe thy ioy It will keepe it an euen euerflowing current without ebbe and flowe clouds and eclipses turning euer vpon the hinges of heauenly and solid mirth And indeed how or why should it be otherwise Doe not Christians consider how vnseemely it is for them to goe drooping hanging the head Is any so simple to think because hee is a Christian that hee should affect a sad carriage a deiected look a demure countenance like an image Away with such Monkish hypocrisie How doth it become the Righteous to reioyce Do they not consider how they wrong themselues of the maine benefit of their Iustification what is a Christian but his mirth wherein doth the kingdom of Heauen consist but in Ioy Doe they not see how they offend standers by and beholders Is not heauinesse a check that driues away and mirth as a lure that wins to the liking of their profession Men wonder to see a rich man that hath the world at will all things at hearts desire to be but in a fit of heauinesse What say they should hee ayle The Irish aske such what they meane to die but I wonder a thousand times more to see one that hath Christ to friend that beleeues God to be his shepheard that knowes all must worke for the best to bee at any time out of tune or out of sorts For a Nâ—abal to be all a mort like a stone it is no newes to me but to see Nehemiahs countenance changed there must needs be some extraordinary cause should such a man as he feare or carke or grieue What if it doe not yet appeare what thou shalt bee Is a yong Ward prouder and gladder in his minority of an vncertaine reuersion then a yeoman of his present estate And is not Faith an Hypostasis and euidence to thee of an infallible inheritance Canst thou bee sad which mayest say not to thy belly but to thy soule Thou hast not many goods but fulnesse of all treasures layd vp not in the earth where moath and canker and theeues may come but in heauenly places out of the Deuils reach and that not for many yeares but for euer and euer neuer to bee taken from thy soule nor thy soule from them Oh thou vaine man shew mee thy Faith by thy ioy if thou liuest dumpishly and yet say thou liuest by Faith I wil as soone beleeue thee as him that shall say hee hath the Phylosophers stone and liues like a beggar If it were euer well with thy Faith could it euer bee amisse with thee should not the temper of thy body follow the temper of thy soule and the temper of thy soule the temper of thy Faith The body may incline thy soule but the soule commands the body and Faith is the Lord of them both According to thy Faith so be it vnto thee so will it be with thee Vse thy Faith and haue ioy encrease thy Faith encrease thy ioy CHAP. VIII The vse of Faith to a growne Christian. NAy Christian now I haue gotten thee hither I must draw thee yet a pegge higher and tel thee it is a small thing for thee to come to an ordinary pitch of cheerefulnesse except thy ioyes exceedes the mirth of a worldling yea of a professed Epicure in the qualitie and quantitie of it If thy mirth bee not a sweeter and more rauishing mirth of an higher kinde of a more pure defecate nature of a more constant tenure then any Carnall man what euer thou disparagest Faith thou art very little and yong in the Kingdome of Heauen which consists not in meates and drinkes but in ioy vnspeakeable and glorious in the ioy of the Holy Ghost And must not that needes bee another manner of ioy then euer entred into the heart of a naturall man then euer a Sardanapalus tasted of Yes vndoubtedly So must bee construed that text 1. Cor. 2. not of the ioyes of Heauen which here the spirituall man himselfe cannot tell what they shall be but of the Gospels ioy of the Wine and Fatlings already prepared and now reuealed to the beleeuer by the Spirit which if the carnall man scorne and scoffe at thou canst no more helpe him or prooue to him then a seeing man to a blinde man that hee sees orient rich colours It is enough for thee to secretly feele and enioy it Only it ought in thy life so to be expressed yea so to shine in thy forehead so to be read in the very face of thee that their teeth may be set on edge and that they may enquire what is thy beloued aboue other beloueds what is that makes this man thus merry in all estates Thus let them enuy at thine let not thy soule descend to theirs Are not the gleanings of Ephraim better then the vintage of Abiezer Shouldest thou that hast tasted of the grapes of Canaan long after the Onions and Garlick of Aegypt Is Pharphar like vnto Iordan hast not thou Riuers of water euer flowing out of thy belly and wilt thou stoope to their puddle waters to their stolne waters blousing carding dicing whoring c. which should not thy soule altogether lothe and abhor after the taste of Faiths Nectar and Ambrosia But euen their ordinary and lawfull delights the wine and oyle musicke hunting hawking c. to these God allowes thee
to foule them againe When shee hath appeased her Beloued howe doth shee adiure her-selfe and others by the Hyndes and Roes not to awaken and offend him againe The Text sayeth Not euery hypocrite euery profligate professor of Faith that liues as hee listes shall liue by his Faith but the Iust or Righteous Which golden sentence is indeede ambiguously enunciated of purpose by the Holy Ghost that it may either way bee taken The Iust by his Faith shall liue Or The Iust shall liue by his Faith yet so as it hath but one right eare to bee holden by and that is onely for the hand of the Righteous man Implying that whosoeuer beleeues or liues by his Faith is also and must of necessity bee a righteous man a Iust man not onely imputatiuely but inherently in part such an one as vnfainedly loueth righteousnesse studieth the practise of it denieth and hateth all vnrighteousnesse endeuoureth euery day to bee more and more righteous and so deserueth the denomination of righteous So that looke how the rationall Soule includeth and implyeth the animall so doth Iustification Sanctification being indiuiduall CHAP. X. How Faith Sanctifies and Mortifies SO I slide into the second part or kinde of Christian life consisting in holinesse and righteousnesse which I shall easily demonstrate not onely to bee an indiuiduall companion but a naturall and necessary effect of Faith For looke how the strength of the heart breedes not onely cheerefulnesse but actiuenesse Motion as well as health whence it is that life is put for liuelinesse and agility driues away all lassitude hebetude and indisposition brings in aptnesse and delight to stirre the like doth Faith in the soule which may as the former in the body for a time stand with some sleight distempers spots of the skinne atche of limbes but not long with deadly diseases either vanquishing them or vanquished by them This noble vse of Faith will excellently appeare in both the parts of this newe life Mortification and Viuification And in each of these two manner of wayes doth Faith produce this effect partly as a moouing partly as a procreant cause In the first kinde admirable is the Pitho Saada of Faith aboue all the Oratory in the World All the common incentiues taken from profitte pleasure and honour all the Topicke places of Logicke Figures of Rhetoricke what poore and weake engines are they to the irresistable peâ—arre of Faith which sayeth but Ephata and presently our Euerlasting Gates yeeld and stand open For thus it goes to worke with vs Hath Christ giuen himselfe for thee forgiuen thee so many debts conferred fauours of all kindes vpon thee and what hast thou to retribute If thou giue all thy goods to the poore thy body to the fire thy soule to his seruice yea were euery hayre of thine head a man or Angell were not all short of recompence Louest thou louest thou this Sauiour of thine and darest thou or wilt thou dare to venture vpon any thing displeasing him is there any thing too good too heard or deare for him Mary if thy teares will washe his feete wilt thou not poure them out Is thine haire too good to bee the towell Is there any Spicknard too costly for his head Ioseph the LORD requireth the handsell of thy Tombe and wilt thou deny him Zacheus louest thou thy wealth aboue his honour that hath saued thee Stephen louest thou thy life aboue thy Master Can or did any Beleeuer giue the nay to these melting commaundes or commaunding entreaties of Faith will it take the repulse Doth it not constraine and extort more then all rackes and strapadoes allure more then all wages and prizes Doth not this Magnes as easily drawe weighty yron as other Iet doth strawes So that when thou wouldest bee sure to speed and obtaine any thing of thine vntoward heart set Faith a worke to make the motion and that will be sure to speede not onely by this perswading facultie but also by a Diuine power secretly effecting what it requires conueying into the heart will and abilitie vnto the deede It stands not without doores as a Mendicant Flexanimous perswader but enters into the closets of the heart shootes the barres vnlocks the boults takes away all reluctation and redaction infuseth a plyable willingnesse of woluish and dogged makes the Will Lambe-like and Doue-like of wilde and haggard morigerous and mansuete No otherwise then the medicine curing the vicious stomacke and restoring it to health makes it long for wholesome meate as before for coales and ashes All this it doth by fetching supernaturall efficacie from the death and life of Christ yea part of that mighty power where by Christ raised himselfe from the dead cured all diseases and wrought all his miracles By the vertue whereof it metamorphizeth the heart of man creates and infuseth new principles of action Make triall of this in mortifying the flesh to sinne and quickning thy spirit to holinesse For example complainest thou of some preualent corruption some violent passion that oft carries thee headlong against thy desire and resolution as Castrusius to Hierom who shall helpe mee subdue Nebuzardan Goliah Holofernes my raging lustes that are too mighty for mee Answere thy selfe as Dauid himselfe to the like Through thee O Lord shall wee doe valiantly ouer Edom shall I cast my shooe c. yea when thou hast spent all thou hast vpon other Phisitions tried all morall conclusions of purposing promising resoluing vowing fasting watching selfe-reuenging yet get thee to Christ and with a finger of Faith touch but a hem of his garment and thou shalt feele vertue come from him to the curing of thy disease What if thou hast often encountred thy enemie and receiued the foyle relapsed after victorie yet cast not away the sheeld of Faith but with the Israelites against Beniamites the second and third time set a fresh in the name of the LORD and they shall flye before thee Complainest thou with Augustine of his in-bred hereditary habituall inueterate vices holding thee in the Adamantine chaines of custome against which thou hast often resolued and resolued modo modo now I will leaue them and now I will forsake them why should I not as well as such and such as Potitian and Victorinus and yet they keepe thee Prisoner still full against thy will and endeauours Find out the cause which hee had reuealed to him in te stas non stas Thou standest vpon thine owne feete and therefore fallest so foulely thou wilt like a childe goe alone and of thy selfe and therefore gettest so many knocks Dye to thy selfe renounce the broken reede of thine owne free-will which hath so often deceiued thee and put all thy trust in the grace of Christ And it will crucifie the olde man and giue him his Hoc habet his deathes wound pierce his sides and breake his knees in peeces Be weake in thy selfe and strong in the Lord and through Faith thou shalt bee more then Conquerour
Leaue tuggling and strugling with thy sinne and fall with Iacob to wrestle with Christ for a blessing and though thy selfe goe limping away yet shalt thou bee a Prince with God and bee deliuered from Esaus bondage Yea what if Satan what if Legions of Principalities and powers haue long held possession in some strong fort of thy heart beginne to pleade prescription scorning as the Iebusites to bee eiected out of their impregnable tower hast thou Faith and canst thou beleeue persist in resisting and hee shall flye and thou shalt see him fall like lightening before thee Christ raised from the dead not onely the daughter of Iairus which was yet within bed not layd forth nor the Sonne of the Widdow newely carryed out of the Gate to buriall but Lazarus that had foure daies lyen in the graue to that ende sayeth Augustine That such as haue long beene dead in sinne yea such as vpon whom Satan hath rowled the stone of Custome and such as stinke in the nostrilles of the world through putrified soares of sinnes should not yet despaire but know that which falles out in frequent experience Faith can cure diseases past all other cures and hopes Through Faith thou shalt roule away the stone from the Caue of Makpelah and take out the fiue Kings that haue domineered and tyrannized ouer thee set thy feete in the neckes of them and triumph ouer them CHAP. XI How Faith Viuifies ANd what is there yet further thou wouldest haue Faith doe for thee Oh sayest thou it is not enough to bee healed of the disease vnlesse thou mayest take vp thy bedde and walke yea leape and skippe as the Lame restored to his limmes Oh! that I could finde that life of Grace which I see in some that can make it their meate and drinke to doe the will of God Though I be not pestered and mastered with any reigning corruption yet I finde my selfe so dull and vntoward that I take no pleasure in my life Know also that this quickning power Faith only can helpe thee withall To pray to meditate to haue thy conuersation in heauen to keepe a Sabbath cherely is as easie to thee as to Iron to swimme and stones to ascend vpward but nothing is impossible to Faith it can naturalize these things vnto thee metamorphize thee make thee a new creature of a moule of the earth a soule of heauen of a snaile a dromedarie such a change as the Sunne workes in the vapour when of an earthy heauy substance it makes it light and aery apt to ascend into the middle Region Such a change Cyprian saith hee felt in his conuersion And how else came Dauid to that high delight in Gods seruice that he loued the Commandements of God more then thousands of gold and siluer the honey and the honey combe that hee rose at mid-night to meditate in them The selfe-same duties may be done by the Ciuill man and by the beleeuer for the outside and deede done both may goe to Church heare a Sermon reade a Chapter but the one goes as the Beare to the stake as a slaue to the mill and the dullard to schoole in comparison of the other who hath a different internall principle which is as a spring and oile to the wheeles that makes them goe smoothly and currantly makes the yoake light and easie They that trust in the Lord shall renue their strength lift vp the wing as the Eagle runne and not bee weary walke and not faint Faith it is that fetcheth sap from the roote Christ that makes euery tree bring forth fruite in it kinde euery Christian in his owne calling What else made Dauid so worthy a Souldier what taught his fingers to fight so that a bowe of steele was broken in his hand What made Paul an able Minister of the Gospell gaue him the doore of vtterance made his tongue as the penne of a readie writer Hee beleeued therefore hee spake What made Onesimus of a false eye-seruant trusty to his Master as to the Lord The like might bee said of all trades and sciences Looke what a full treasurie of all sorts of graces Christ hath stored vp in him Faith dreineth and deriueth them out of his fulnesse to the vse of euery seuerall Christian euen Grace for Grace Faith is the Conduit Cocke that watereth all the Herbes and flowres in the Garden All which the more I consider the more I pitty the preposterous care and vnhappy trauell of many well affected who study the practise of this and that vertue neglecting this cardinall and radicall vertue As if men should water all the branches of a Tree and not the roote Faine would they abound and shine in patience meeknesse zeale yet establish and roote not themselues in Faith that should maintaine all the rest are ambitious to doe good workes build Hospitalles giue Almes but study not to doe the worke of the Father And what is the worke of the Father but to beleeue in the Sonne whom hee hath sealed and sent into the world to bee relyed on for Saluation which worke is the gratefullest work that we can performe and which will make gratefull all that we doe besides without which all that we can doe will not please him What cares hee for thy thousands of Rammes thy Riuers of Oyle Hath he not shewed thee Oh man that he that trusteh in his Sonne honoureth him most of all in putting to his Seale that hee is true This honour if thou wouldest doe vnto him hee would honour thee with all other graces and withhold no ornament no good thing from thee if it be fit for thee Meeke thou shalt be as Moses patients as Iob zealous as Dauid thy soule and life embroadered with all kinde of shining Graces as the high Priests apparell with Iewels Wherefore adde this prescript to the former when thou art on the toppe of Mount Tabor solacing thy soule in thy Lord and his fauour through Faith feasting and banqueting with him as Ester with Ahasuerosh Bethinke thy selfe what suite thou hast to him what troublesome enemy thou wouldest bee ridde off suppose it bee some potent Haman of prid make but thy complaint and it shall bee executed and crucified before thine eyes Consider what grace thou standest in neede of and make thy petition as Achsah to Caleb And hee shall giue thee the springs aboue and the springs beneath This prescript if thou wilt dayly obserue some daies more largely and feruently as the Spirit that blowes how and where it lists shall assist and as occasion shall require but euery day some what more or lesse though I will not promise thee thou shalt attaine to perfection of degrees such as the perfected spirits of the Iust enioy in glory because here thou shalt euer beleeue but in part and therefore bee holy but in part yet this I dare promise as thou growest from Faith to faith so shalt thou grow from strength to strength in all other graces till by degrees
tels the Earle of Bedford and Augustine tels Romanian whiles hee was in the mouthes of all men most honorable most munificent most fortunate in the full of his prosperitie in the source of pleasures in the toppe of greatnesse c. who durst lispe a word of a better life of true happinesse or what boote was it for any man to make mention of any such matter Yet if any such God will perswade to make tryall of this life thou which saist what is a Gentleman but his pleasure shalt then tell mee as Salomon of his youth such gentry is but vanity true pleasure there is none but in this life What is a Christian but his Faith and what is his life but the vse of his Faith Beest thou a Scholler a Prophet or Sonne of the Prophets what is thy worke what is thy scope or what should it bee in thy selfe and others but this life of Faith What is Paul or Apolloes but such as by whom you haue beleeued What euer you teach before you haue taught this you were as good Preache to the stooles and stones of your Churches What are your Auditors but dead bones and skulles till they beleeue and till Christ be formed in them Get first an hold whereon you may fasten your Engines to drawe them to vertues and good workes You which would doe that in soules which Elisha did in bodies raise them from their graues Interpretors one of a thousand get the tongue of the learned to declare their righteousnesse vnto them the righteousnesse I say of Faith shew your selues skilfull workemen such as haue been brought vp not onely in moralls of the heathen subtilties of Scholemen sentences and conceipts of Postilers rosaries destructories Anthologies but in the wholesome word of Faith which are the Arme and power of God to the saluation of euery beleeuer Aboue all let it be our wisedome to liue our selues by that which we teach others to liue by wee that haue or might or should haue more Faith then common Christians is it not a shame if we liue not more happily and cheerefully then priuate Christians not by our Liuings wherein the Laity hath now gotten the start of vs for the most part but by our Faith wherein wee haue the aduantage of them or else shame be it to vs. Is it not a shame to see an honor of a thousand pound a yeere liue as meanely as a poore Farmer a Master and professor of an Art as a meane practisioner Yet this I must say euen to the meanest tradsmen and poorest people this life belongs not to such onely that are booke learned but is equally obuious and open as the Kings high way to all sortes of Trauailers to Heauen Honourable liues Pompous liues voluptuous liues poore folkes haue small hope to atteyne vnto but a true happy life they may and doe liue as well as the learnedest Cleakes and greatest Princes if they get the gift to practise that which such for the most part doe but study and talke of To conclude what euer thou art or who euer that desirest to mend thy condition to better thine estate to multiply thy life to change thy few and euill daies of thy pilgrimage into good and many behold here is the Art of liuing well and liuing long Life is not to bee numbred by the houres but measured by cheerfulnesse as moneyes not by tale but value A little peece of gold conteynes a great many peeces of siluer Manhood consists not in the bulke of the bones but in the mettall and spirits Is not one weeke of an healthy man better then a yeere of a crasie one Sun-shine houre then a gloomy day I haue often mused how a man might come neerest to that life which Adam lost and recompence in this latter age of the World wherein the liues of men are so contracted the longaeuity of those that liued before the Floud And this is the best helpe I finde To liue well is to liue twise A good man doubles and amplifies his dayes one may speake as much in few words as another in many Persius wrote more in a few leaues then Marsus in large volumes One day led by the rules of Faith is better then an immortalitie of vanity A man may liue to as good content to himselfe and others in a short space as others in a long life some are old in yeeres tediously drawne out others in howers cheerfully spent some haue been long and others haue liued long and they onely are such as haue liued this life of whom I conclude as doth the story of the Kings Ieremiahs Prophecie touching Zedekiah vpon his aduancement by the King of Babell His portion was a continuall portion a Kingly portion euery day a certayne all the dayes of his life such I say it is or might be if Christians might be perswaded not to content themselues to professe or thinke they haue Faith but to liue by their Faith onely before I part with thee take from me one Caueat one aduise one request and so an end First take heede thou mistakest me not in all this as if I had spoken of an absolute perfection in this life equall to vision fruition in the life to come confounded Heauen with earth as if I thought my selfe or any other to haue comprehended If any man thinkes hee beleeues any thing hee beleeues nothing yet as hee ought to beleeue but all things in part and imperfectly Wee cannot by all our assiduousnesse in Reading Prayer and Meditation haue Gods Spirit at an absolute command no more then Mariners the winde or Husbandmen the showers so as the most obseruant beleeuer hath his turbida interualla his buffetings lest hee bee too much exalted his desertions wherein his beloued will hide himselfe behinde the grates not to bee found of him for a while that hee seeke him more eagerly and prise his presence more thankefully more heedefully keepe him when hee hath him and be wholly dependant on his grace yet so as this remaines most sure and certaine that the constant and dayly Practiser of his faith shall constantly and congruously bee seconded with the gusts and gales of his spirit the onely true Zephirus and Fauonius shall haue Satan tyed vp from long and frequent molesting him shall not haue such tedious absences of the Spirit such vncertaine fits and moodes of his ioy and comfort as the negligent and loose beleeuer but a more stedfast frame and tenor of ioy then any other kinde of man in the world that takes not this course Prouided that thou take this aduise that for the better and stronger vse of this Faith thou seele vp thy senses and chaine vp thy reason Walking by sight and walking by Faith are opposite things and therefore as men fortifie the visuall beames of one eye by closing the other so must thou winke and close vp the eye of thy soule to all worldly things that thou mayest by the prospectiue of Faith