Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	better_a	doubt_v	great_a	88	3	2.0647	3	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A15580	The saints aduantage or The welfare of the faithfull, in the worst times A sermon, preached at the Hage the 18. of May, 1623. before the most high, and mighty princesse, Elizabeth, by the grace of God, Queene of Bohemia, Countesse Palatine of the Rhene, &c. By Iohn Wing, an vnworthy minister of the gospel and pastor to the English Church at Flishing in Zealand.	Wing, John, of Flushing, Zealand.	1623 (1623)	STC 25847; ESTC S120119	54,386	92

and there he comprehend's the worst things the world can yeeld worke together for the best the conclusion then come's in of it selfe And soe the first ground is cleare For the second thus 2. Conclusion Prooved That estate which doth soe harden mans hart that he becometh thereby least capable of mercy and most lyable to justice and soe furthereth his vtmost confusion and eternall overthrow must of necessity be the worst for a man that may bee But a wicked mans best estate doth thus Therefore even his best estate is miserable to him No man can with any colour question the first proposition and God giue 's vs sound confirmation of the second Pro. 1.32 where he saith ease stayeth the foolish and the prosperity of fooles destroyeth them here by the foole we must vnderstand the vngodly man and by prosperity all that which he judgeth most happy to himself in this life Now if nothing bring a wicked man sooner to destruction then that which he most affecteth and desireth surely the same is worst of all for him Againe that must neede 's be a mans worst estate which is most accursed of God to a man But a wicked mans best estate is most accursed of God vnto him Therefore his best estate cannot be but worst vnto him The first proposition is easy and evident of it self to be beleeved Deu. 28.17.18 The second is avouched by Moses where he curseth in the name of the Lord all the encrease and store and fruit of a wicked man whether of his body or beast or ground now if his encrease be accursed then the more he hath the more accursed he is and as either himselfe or any thing he hath aboundeth soe doth the curse of God abound with it if he grow from hundreths to thousands soe also doe his curses multiply from the Lord who hath cursed the blessings of every vngodly person Mal. 2.2 And it is to be marked as a most remarkeable curse that he is not cursed in the want of fruit Note or barrennes of his body beasts or ground for that would every common man account a curse indeede but he is accursed in the posession and prosperity and growth of these things and this is a more wofull by how much it is a more wonderfull curse that a man should haue soe much and be soe much the more vnhappy by having it So then if thus it be then is a wicked mans best estate worst for him because it is most accursed to him And thus these two conclusions stand vpon cleare and vnquestionable grounds and are jmpregnable truthes and being soe our mayne doctrine must needes issue from them both as naturally as water from a fountaine and that thus If no estate can be evill vnto a good man but even his worst is good vnto him and on the contrary if no estate can be good to a wicked man but even his best is evill to him why then it must needes come to passe that the worst estate of Gods childe is better then the best of any wicked man But both these haue beene abundantly prooved and therefore the truth we teach is fully confirmed for can any man soe much as once doubt at all whether the meanest good estate be to be preferred to the greatest that is evill or demurre whether he should chuse of the two if he were put to it a poore and perplexed condition which may helpe him to heaven or a prosperous and opulent estate which would hasten him to hell Ceartainely this question would soone be assoyled if it were put to any man had he but common sence to be determined for even naturall reason would giue quick resolution that the worst of that whereby a mā might be happy were to be chosen and preferred before the best of that which will procure a mans misery Why then the worst of the one being soe good and the best of the other soe bad we cannot but yeeld to our doctrine being overcome by vndeniable evidence both of example in him that hath tryed both estates by his owne experience and of reason approoving that which he vpon tryall had practised in refusing the best of the one to choose the worst of the other So that if we will beleeue either Moses who is the man that hath done it to evidence the truth of his faith or God who hath magnifyed Moses in that which he hath done to be truly faithfull our myndes must be throughly setled in the assured perswasion of what we haue soe plainely propounded and prooved soe plentifully and hold it fast vnto our owne harts as our duty to doe the like if the Lord shall cast any the like occasion vpon vs and call vs forth to try and declare our faith by being put to the practise of this truth to see whether we will soe esteeme the reproach of Christ and the persecution of the saints that we will giue over and abandon the riches of the earth and the pleasures of sin to embrace the bitternes of those that are beloved of God before the sweetest delicates of those who are abhorred of him A time may come when it may be our turne either to avouch this doctrine by our conformity therevnto or deny the Lord who hath avouched it to be his truth And cursed are they who stand convinced in conscience of any truth of God wherevnto they refuse to yeelde obedience We should doe well then to doe as the wise man saith all wise men doe to wit Pro. 10.14 lay vp knowledg even the knowledg of this particuler to bring it into practise that our good works suitable to it may make good this word of God which hath shewed it to vs and that therein every man may become a Moses to be thus faithfull before the Lord as he was in this thing And that we may be the better brought vnto it and haue our naughty harts the more happily provoked to the holy purpose of this heavenly practise let vs now proceede from the apparant proofe of the point to the powerfull application of the same vnto all such vnto whome it doth or may any way appertaine that is all sorts of men both good and bad saints and sinners something it hath to say vnto either of them severally a sunder and something to them both joyntly together There is very litle truth if any at all that God revealeth but it looke's every way and is of some jmportant consequence to all persons whatsoever if the sappe and juyce of it be pressed and wrung out as it ought to be Vse 1 Let vs then in the first place consider of what vse it is to Gods owne people Comfort to Gods children and what fruit of comfort his blessed and beloved ones doe receiue from the sacred truth which we haue sowen for nothing but heavenly joy sweete consolation can be reaped and carryed in to them from any thing which the Lord hath revealed from

prooue a meere nullity a very vanity and we should be able not only to endure or holde out in such a hard time as we cannot shun as divers of Gods deare children haue done but with Moses rather make choyse of such a meane state and forsake a better to approue our obedience then to dwell in the tents and enjoy the delights of the vngodly vpon such tearmes as ordinarily their tenure is taken and holden betweene the divell and them here in this world Let no mans temporall condition then be the least occasion to call his spirituall or eternall state into question be it farre from every faithfull man to judge according Note to such owtward and vnceartaine appearance God never built his goodnes to vs nor our happines before him vpon such sand which will swell and sincke vpon the shift of every wynd and surges of every tyde the foundation of his loue is more firme and vnmooveable And know there is no happines in the whole earth good enough to be the least tokē of his true loue nor any earthly evill vnder heavē bad enough even at the worst to distemper the harts of his elect in the least yea though all the poyson and malignity thereof were possible to be emptyed vpon one man He that hath assured vs that our worst doth exceede the best of other men would haue vs harten our selues and solace our soules herein knowing that the true weight of this most worthy truth will overpoyze and beare downe all temporary affliction that hangeth on or presseth downe in this present evill world Be it graunted for it cannot be denyed that the worst end of the staffe is in the hand of Gods people and that it is ill with them when worse men fare well let the divell haue thus much yeelded if he will dispute the case truth is able giue error some advantage and yet conquer too well what will he herevpon inferre what shal be his forced and infernall conclusion of this our free concession why this that Gods people are in worse case then wicked wen well be it soe and what of that say they are will any thing follow to their true discomfort whose soules the Lord would not haue made sad if any thing more then this let the divell say his worst and produce and presse it to the vtmost but if this be all all is nothing Satan is confounded we are confirmed wicked men are befoold ' in all this for why though in some earthly and temporary sence we may say our case may be worse then theirs and theirs better then ours yet God hath given vs to know that in spirituall and heavenly consideration our worst is better then their best and this proposition we doe and dare avouch in the face of our feircest adversary the divell or the most furious of those tyrants which he provoketh against vs who thought to inferre some hydeous and hopeles consequence out of these poore premisses whereas nothing can issue from our perplexity and their peace by any sound evidence but that which wil be Glorious to the Lord Ioyous to his people Greivous to the vngodly and Mischeivous to the divell himself Who observing vs thus compleately armed against his mightiest engyne must now either with shame give over his olde trade of tempting or with sorrow giue over his jdle hope of prevayling and begin to thinke himself lesse able to conquer vs and every child of God who hath this hope to be more then a conquerour through Christ who hath loved them Ro. 8 3● and in his loue made thus much knowne vnto them to make them most harty in their hardest estate And now beloved is the accuser of our bretheren and of our selues cast out and overcome we haue woone Rev. 18.10 he is downe for at the lowest he see 's that we know our selues to be farre aboue all his lymms even all the highest and happiest they can be in and seing he perceive's that we now vnderstand this truth what hope hath he to make vs by any meanes miserable seing we can beleeue that we are more happy then any of his can be in our greatest misery And that we may be the better enabled in our selues to overbeare him let vs descend from the generall notice herof vnto those particuler instances of all kinds of evill wherevnto we are incident and we shall finde true cause tryumphantly to out-face him in every of them from one to another as we may haue occasion to enquire into them in order Put the case where you please nay let Satan haue leaue if you will to particulate where he will in those miseryes which he imagine's may be most for his advantage and our damage whether poverty or captivity or infamy or tyranny or death it selfe we shall sufficiently solace our selues and silence him in each of these Let vs looke a litle into them severally Poverty Is not the poverty of a childe of God better then the wealth of the wicked let Lazarus and Dives be the men that shall decide the matter I dare say you haue read and heard of them both in Gods booke the one is described by his penury and want the other by his superfluity and abundance the one fared deliciously every day and was sumptuosly arayed in purple and fine lynnen the other had but rags and scarce them to cover him and desired but the offall or reliques of the rich mans table to refresh his hungry body and to fill his empty belly Now I pray you which of these two was in the better case and which of their two conditions would you chuse all things considered I suppose no man that hath heard all the truth that is tolde of them both but he had much rather be in Lazarus poore state then haue the riches of the other and soe the poverty of Gods child is happier then the vngodly mans abundance and that which was here but parabolically propounded Ps 37.16 Prov. 15 16. cap. 16.8 vnder these two persons wil be found really true betweene any two in the world in their condition Better is a litle saith David first and Salomon once againe that the righteous hath then the plenty store of a wicked man nay of many wicked mē Our least doth much exceede their most in every respect whether of money meats apparrell or watsoever Imprisonement Againe is not our restraint and jmprisonement better then their liberty and freedome Let Gods child be the prisoner and the jmpious person be free at pleasure a prison wil be found happier to him then a pallace to the other It may soone be tryed betweene Peter Act. 12. and Herod the one was in hard restraint even in chaynes the other might goe where he would yet I warrant you he that reade's the story of these two and count's the middle and both ends would rather be Peter in the loathsome dungeon then Herod in the highest admiration Base vermine

it were and confirmed and commended this act of Moses vnto vs as a fruit of that holynes and piety which was in him and should be in vs who are commaunded to follow the faith of such as by God are well reported of vnto vs as this man is who hath a most savoury name in the middest of this sacred catalogue wherein soe many saints of rare note are recorded into vs and as much if not more is spoken of his faith then of many others and more of this one fruit of the same then of all the rest So that that which is here written of this man doth ratisy the matter we haue in hand his practise thus considered as we haue sayd is plenary proofe of our point it had beene apparant vanity and gyddynes not any power or truth of godlines in him of he had not done thus by Gods direction who by his spirit informed his mynde and conformed his practise and by both confirmed this vndoubted truth vnto vs otherwise it might haue well beene thought he was more brayne-sick then obedient and beene lead from this glory to that misery by frenzy rather then by faith But faith made glorious things vile and vile things glorious vnto him and soe he left the better state which was jndeede the worse and chose the worse which was jndeede the better that all men might learne to know the lawfullnes of his carriage herein and the conscience of their owne if in any such like case God call them vnto the like course Now if besides this of Moses we should muster vp more examples to this end it were most easy but not very necessary soe to doe this chapter would furnish vs with a multitude of those that haue in like manner done worthily and beene famous for this very thing What thinke you of Abraham how were his thoughts how stoode his hart this way was he not well in this owne countrey could a man be better then to dwell in his owne free land and to haue soe great abundance as he had of all good things yet he must leaue all this fee-simple and whatsoever he had vpon it to goe he knowes not whither only this he knowes that whither soe ever it is he hath not a foote of ground nor any thing at all there but must come from a rich inheritance and great estate where he might commaund to sojourne and be entertayned as a stranger vpon curtesy where he could get foode and lodging for his money And this he did at Gods command of his owne accord and vnconstrayned assoone as he heard he did obey which he had no reason at all to haue done if faith had not furnished him with this perswasion and furthered him to this practise had he not knowne the worst place and state God called him vnto to haue beene incomparably better then the best God called him from he had never stirred his foote but being convinced of this truth and mooved of God he went willingly out as one that knew well the worst that he could goe vnto to witnes his obedience as a child of God would proue more happy to him then all he could enjoy and posesse vpon others tearmes It were but a fruitlesse filling vp of time to adde more examples to a thing soe evident and vndeniable as this truth is we will therefore passe from these to the reasons of the doctrine to vnderstand why these things are soe and how they come to passe and herevnto we haue the more reason because this that we teach seemeth to be against all reason and sence that man can commonly conceive I doe freely professe when first I apprehended it in my hart it appeared like a strang Paradoxe to my self a point incapable of truth jmpossible to be beleeved and therefore I doe not wonder that it should be soe hard of digestion to corrupt nature and carnall reason and that it will not downe with soe many Nature cannot entertaine it it is grace that must first rectify nature and then certify it herof The Lord never put this opinion into any mans hart nor vrged the practise of it at his hand before he had refyned his vnderstanding from the drosse and dotage ignorance and error wherewith it stand's defiled by corrupt nature let vs then stop the mouth yea the breath of flesh and blood and open the passages of the spirit of God and giue free vent vnto them and they will soone shew vs the way and that by good reason too to be throughly posessed of this point of truth and that it is most worthy to be creddited of vs and embraced by vs. And the reasons inducing vs herevnto doe arise out of the due consideration of a double conclusion which we will propound and proue vnto you that you may carry them in mynde evermore as golden most precious remembrances worthy to be engraven deepely and perpetually in our harts that neither Satan nor the world might ever raze them out but that they might remayne with vs all our dayes Two Conclusions even till death And the conclusions are these two 1. Noe estate can be evill to a childe of God but even his worst is good for him yea best vnto him 2. Noe estate can be good to a wicked man but even his best is evill to him yea worst for him The very worst proue's well to a godly man and bad is the best to the vngodly And in the cleare confirmation of these two conclusions the reasons of our doctrine will most evidently arise vnto vs for it cannot but follow yea flow most naturally in the course of all sound argumentation that if the one 's evill be good to him and the others good become evill to him then must the meanest estate of the former be much more excellent then the greatest happines of the latter Now either of these Conclusions resteth vpon vndeniable prooffe and demonstration For the first thus 1. Conclusion Prooved That estate which cometh vnto a childe of God accompanied with the infinite loue wisdome goodnes and power of God must neede 's be best vnto him But his worst estate cometh thus vpon him Therefore it must needes be best to him Nothing here is so much as questionable for sence sayes the first proposition is true that what come's soe come's well And the word of God in the evidence thereof and the worke of God in the experience thereof vpon all his afflicted one 's saith the second is as true the third then must issue vndoubtedly out of them both Againe that estate which worketh towards the furtherance of our best good of all must needes be best for vs But the worst the most wofull and distressed state of every childe of God doth worke for the best therefore it is best for him In this argument all is sound for no man can doubt of the first proposition and the Apostle putt's the second out of doubt where he saith All things Ro. 8.28

heaven for it is written light is sowen for the righteous Ps 97.11 and joy for the vpright in hart And to speake as the truth is what childe of God can speake of this truth or heare of it being spoken without solace to his very soule if he haue faith to beleeue the same ceartainly if we be not comforted by it it is only because we are not confirmed in it were we well resolved of it we could not but rejoyce in the assurance therof For why what is it that trouble 's and perplexe's a childe of God but his present estate of misery and distresse and the worse a mans misery is the more wofull is our distraction through the same and when it come's to the worst many times we grow from distraction to desperation and begin to throw our selues into forlorne and hopeles and infernall conceits touching our present condition and to giue over both our selues and all expectation of ever being any more happy the present clowd of our calamity is so thick and darke that we can see no sun-shyne through it nor dreame of any more good dayes during our lives but make account to be perpetually miserable and vnhappy and to be in soe bad case as none can be in worse nor many nay scarce any as we thinke in the like Now in this case what can be more truly sayd to the saints then that of Christ to the Sadduces Mat. 22.29 yee erre not knowing the scriptures nor the power of God it is only your ignorance that make's you ill conceited of the state you are in and to mistake both it and your selues soe much as you doe did you vnderstand the scriptures and the power of this truth of God as we haue made it plaine it would soone be seene how wyde you were from the truth of your estate for whereas you thinke now you are at worst it's scarce possible that any body should be soe bad this truth will tell you and teach you to know both that you are now no worse then any child of God may be as also that no wicked man is or can be soe well at his best as you are and shall ever be at your worst And indeede soe much the more sweete and heavenly is the benefit of this doctrine by how much it expell's the deadly venyme and poyson of one of the most heavy and hellish temptations that doth vsually sursprize the soule of them that are affected and humbled of God And that is the ayme and estimation they haue taken of themselues and their estate not considered in it selfe but compared Note with others who are wholely free and feele no such sorrow or extreamity as they doe And commonly the divell carrye's the eye and settle's the observation of Gods children only vpon such jmpious and prophane persons as escape the misery wherein to they are fallen and having fastned them vpon such an object he then turmoyle's the mynde and tyrannizeth over the thoughts and double's yea multiplye's the vexations of their soules not soe much that they are in distresse but most of all that others are out who are notoriously vngodly and herevpon their thoughts doe offer to fly in Gods face as if he were nothing soe gratious or righteous as he is magnifyed to be seing he lett 's his owne children fare soe ill and suffer's his enemyes who are rebells against him and no better then dogs or swyne in his account to be as well as hart can wish and it is kindnes or justice in any earthly father to vse his children worse then his cattell and if not how much lesse loue and more wrong must it be in him that is heavenly who make's himself the mirrour of all mercy and favour and then as God is thus censured soe are wicked men applauded and the generation of the just condemned Satan hath not set vpon a few with this suggestion and there are not many who haue beene assaulted but they haue beene foyled The stoutest of Gods army haue shrunke shrewdly and well neere fainted through frailty a man would wonder to see such mighty champions soe miserably dishartened and discontented when they haue taken notice how themselues haue beene afflicted and other most vngodly persons exempted from the evills wherewith they haue beene heavily laden so long David was soe deeplely discomfited hereat that he began to conceit well of wicked mens estate and to question yea and condemne his owne and all the people of God concerning this thing when he saw the prosperity of sinners and the misery of himself Let himself giue vs evidence how he was gastard and like to haue gone quite beside himself yea to haue fallen right downe the divell had so mislead him and trip't vp his keeles that he was even gone and ready to giue over all Psal 73.1.2.3.4 we haue the particulers related by himself at large in the seaventie third Psalme where he tell 's vs how this very thing had like to haue cost him an jrrecoverable fall and had wounded him almost incurably and how much a-doe he had to bring his hart to the due consideration of this matter and to temper his mynde which was soe mightily distempered with doating on his owne distresses and dreaming of their happines and when he compared these together to wit their welfare and his owne affliction he was in a heavy taking and growing toward a hydeous resolution even as it were to hang his religion on the hedge and to joyne himself to such as were hellishly jrreligious because at the present they were in better case then he Neither was this temptation for a litle time nor did it during the time it helde him trouble him a litle but it stuck long by him and bitt by the bone insomuch that he could not either easily or quickly come to settle himself into better or sounder thoughts that he might stay himself vpon the truth And why I pray you did his owne bad and their good estate trouble and puzzle him soe much was it not because he was not either at all informed or not well advised of this truth we teach from God who hath avouched vnto vs as we haue heard that the worst estate of his owne people is incomparably beyond the best prosperity of wicked persons Had David learned this lesson well all this labour and danger had beene spared and he had beene well able to haue waded happily through the deepest temporary vnhappines the world could haue brought vpon him Nor was David the only man in this conflict but good Ieremiah a man of no meane piety or ordinary parts he was also very sorely put too'te in this particuler and never soe neere a conquest in any combate as in this his owne mouth shall say how he was amazed and put to a pittifull non-plus when he considered Ier. 12.1 2.3 the course of Gods dispensation of these owtward favours That God was righteous he durst not deny he knew

devoure Herod in all his pompe magnificence and royallty the Angell of God guards Peter in restraint and bring 's him out miraculously and joyfully and this is left recorded of God to comfort vs inasmuch as nothing is more against nature then to be caged vp and kept in that we might know that our God can make that restraint more happy to his then another mans enlargement can be to him The byrd it is kept in a cage is safe and well provided for of all things meete to make him sing but the vulture and kyte often prey vpon those that fly in the open firmament of heaven Nay say it come to captivity Captivity which is a strayne of extraordinary restraint put case Gods childe be taken captiue and kept in slavery and that Gods enemy be the party in authority to detayne him there and to tyrannize over him in a strange land I make no question but the captivity of Gods people shal be found to be a condition more truly comfortable thē another mans eminency yea soveraignity though he were the King of that countrey wherein they are kept in bondage Daniell and Nebuchadnezzar shall decide it the one viz Daniell was the captive the other was the King let any man say who hath considered what is sayd of them both which of the two he would chuse to be Surely if the odd's had not beene extraordinary in the comparison and proportion of these estates Moses had made no good match in leaving to be a Courtier to become a Captive but he well knew that the meanest and most oppressed Israelite in Egypt was more happy then that mighty Monarch that kept them vnder Soveraignity in a Pagan is not comporable to slavery in a Christian Let God giue sentence by his revealed word and it wil be apparant to be a truth vndeniable and vndoubted A throne and a crowne cannot be so good to another as a cottage yea a dunghill to those that are the Lords Againe Persecution is not our persecution better then their pleasure and are not our very distresses beyond their delights I thinke the three children in the fiery fornace will soone satisfy vs for that Dan. 3. for they were in more comfortable plight in the midst of these feircest flames thē he was who cast them in and that the tyrant himself is forced to confesse also maketh decrees to confirme the same vnto others that out of his mouth all men may know the power and favour of the Lord to his owne in sweetening their extreamest bitternes and his wrath and vengeance against all vngodly ones in envenoming and poysoning their greatest sweetnes God hath many precious comforts for the persecuted but nothing but curses and plagues for persecutors The very infamy and reproach of such as suffer for the truth doth surpasse the honour and reputation of those that cast contempt vpon them for the Lord doth renowne the one and renounce the other Men fawne vpon mighty tyrants with glorious titles but God doth frowne vpon them as base and ignominious persons How many pages of his sacred booke are perfumed with the odour of their sweete names who haue beene disgraced for God and how many stories doe record the rotten and stincking memory of their oppressors the one goe for glorious martyrs the other for egregious and defamed malefactors And this made some who mockt the Apostles at the first Act. 2. when they had afterward better bethought themselues they left mocking and became disciples they gaue over reproaching and fell to professing the gospell and they had no reason thus to doe had they not knowne that it had beene more excellent to haue beene an infamous Christian then an honorable infidell But passing over all these and supposing the worst that can come Heb. 12.4 if the worst doe come to the worst if men must resist to blood and that Death must end all the foresayd afflictions of poverty jmprisonement captivity persecution infamy and whatsoever can be endured in this life Is not our Death better then their life yea God hath sayd it as it may appeare in that which he hath enforced from the mouth of a most wicked man to witnes it What say you to Balaams wish and that vpon his best thoughts when he had but the taste and seene as yet but the glympse of the happines and glory of Gods people even Balaam who came of purpose to curse and maligne them and therefore vnto him it may well be thought the life of Gods people was as bad as a death and worthy of his vtmost excecration yet noe sooner had God shyned a litle vpon him only with some litle light without all life of this truth but the man is more in loue with the death of the righteous then with his owne life and would gladly cease to liue as he did to dye as they doe his wish shewe's enough to make this good with advantage how earnestly doth he vtter it Num. 23 10. Let my soule dye the death of the Righteous let my last end be like vnto his and no man in common sence can wish any thing but that which either is indeede or in his apprehension for his owne welfare Moreover how many singuler respects are there wherein the death of Gods childe is to be preferred to the life of a wicked man Our death is precious Psa 116.15 Psa 15.4 Phi. 1.23 2 Pet. 2.10 1 Cor. 15. Their life is vile Our death desiderable Their life abhominable Thus in the last enemy which is death we overgoe the vngodly and are or ought to be soe farre from changing liues with them that we will not giue our death which is the worst that can befall vs in this world for their life which is the only darling they desire beyond all other to enjoy vpon the earth And soe we haue seene in all these particulers severally how the odd's is ours in all respects there 's more to be got by our greatest evills then by all their best good instance where you will it 's evident in every thing which can be named or conceited I will now speake but once more and that shal be of all and every of our evills summ'd vp together and gathered into a totall that as in the Items before soe now in them all at once it may appeare that the whole masse of our misery or the greatest measure therof that can be powred in pressed downe even till it run over vpon vs is more happy and much better then all the good things that can be cast vpon wicked persons yea though the whole world should empty all her fullnes and excellency to giue them the largest contentment that could be wished And we will giue you sufficient security for the truth herof in one that is beyond all exception to wit Iesus Christ who was a man of sorrowes a mirrour of miseryes in whome all kinde of calamity did combyne and settled it self

the extreamest that they can be And herein I joy and will joy maugre all the divells in hell and hell hounds on earth Would not this or the like speach vnto this make the eares of tyrants to tingle and their harts to tremble would it not vexe and torture their very spirits within them to here these voyces sounding from the mouthes of those who are vnder their heaviest vexations Ceartainely it would worke one way or other with them if they could but beleeue it either it would cause repentance vnto salvation and make them weary of their wickednes and most willing to become as one of them whome they thus abuse or to frett and fume and gnaw owne their owne bowells to see themselues defeated in all the jmpious purposes which being to make the Lords people most miserable of all men cannot by the most and worst and all they can doe make them any way soe miserable as themselues who in their owne opinion are more happy then any Doe you thinke it would not make their harts to boyle yea to burne within them and chafe them soe throughly that they should be forced to foame at mouth with indignation and distemper Were a man but in their bosomes to see how they frett and vexe jnwardly when they perceive God himself to laugh them to scorne in heaven and his people to laugh at them on earth to see that all the mallice and villany the divell can arme them withall cannot make anothers estate at worst so bad then their owne at best then would something appeare as the effect and efficacy of this truth which we haue told them it may be they would cease their bloody hands against the blessed of the Lord and begin to lay them on themselues as Iudas and some other of their praedicessors haue done But our God the God of heaven 2 Cor. 4.4 doth suffer the Divell the God of this world to blyndefolde their eyes that they should not see or know or acknowledg this truth soe by the ignorance therof they worke out at once Their owne perdition Phi. 1.28 and Our salvation and make Vs blessed Martyrs Themselues accursed Malefactors in despight of all that they contrarily intend and her of if they might or could be perswaded no question were to be made but they would quickly become either better or worse But it is misery enough that they cannot be brought to beleeue the same oh what saith the Apostle if our gospell be hid 2 Cor. 4.3 it is hid to them that are lost A heavy sentence inasmuch as by ignorance especially wilfull of any truth more sin is multiplyed against God more service is done to the Divell more mischeife to men Rom. 2. and consequently more plagues heaped on and wrath stored vp against the day of wrath to be powered by the mighty arme of Almighty God vpon the heads of all those that haue thus encreased their jmpietyes before him who shall not escape the full poyson of all those his envenomed vyalls which he hath revealed from heaven to be reserved in hell for them But we will now leaue these men as men left of God and not soe happy as once to giue vs the hearing or the Lord the beleeving of this truth but given over to be drunke with their owne delusions to their owne damnation perswading themselues soe well of their owne evill estate and being so ill perswaded of the good and blessed condition of Gods children that they meane to continue as they are and to proceede in their jmpiety against the Lord oppression against his people till they haue wrought out their owne eternall confusion by both and provoked the dreadfull indignation of the Lord God to come vpon them to the vttermost through this double jniquity committed against his highest majesty Vse 3 And in our last vse we will turne our speech to all manner of persons endeavouring to doe our best Instruction to all men to giue them that true information which floweth from this point wherof we now treat and the premisses of the same which haue beene so particulerly and plentifully related at large vnto vs. And the consequence of this truth for matter of instruction looketh both at the saints of God themselues and also at all others that are not yet revealed to be such For the former viz those who haue beene already found and approoved to be faithfull whose happy interest is therefore vndeniable in this heavenly truth it call's for their constant continuall and perpetuall perseverance in that their estate of grace and holynes the worst whereof is so good as we haue heard For if our first being in grace while we are yet but babes or beginners therein doe giue vs assurance of so much consolation doubtles if we continue hold out to the end as we grow and goe on in grace soe doth the sweete savour of this happines encrease and multiply vpon vs. But I hope the discovery of the comforts aforesayd is such as may saue me the labour of any further pressing of this point vpon them and that their taste of the blessednes of them is so pleasant as they haue sensible arguments within them sufficient both to perswade them to tarry where they are and to oppose and repulse all suggestions to the contrary And therefore I will not persue them with more words for whose sakes especially all that is past hath beene vttered and whose setled resolutions touching their state of grace are such and so vnmoveable as was the Apostles who sayd I am sure that neither death Rom. 8.38.39 nor life nor Angells nor Principalityes nor Powers nor things present nor things to come nor heigh nor depth nor any other creature shal be able to separate me from the loue of God which is in Iesus Christ our Lord. This was his of himself and the Romans this is and ought to be ours of our selues of all true Christians therein we will rest and turno our last speech vnto those that yet are not turned to the Lord by any visible manifestation of that faith the vertue wherof doth giue them their part and portion in the saving peace and comfort of that which hath beene vttered And what can we vrge either more or lesse vpon them then that they should now at last learne to leaue their former sinfull and vngodly condition and cleave to the Lord in the power and truth of sincerity and sanctification that inasmuch as they are not yet cannonized of the Lord for saints nor haue their names written in the booke of life so farre as their life sheweth vnto men they might now once bethinke themselues what they are and come out of that estate wherein they cannot be happy And what more weighty or worthy argument can we vse then this which is soe powerfull to perswade if it be duely pondered of them For it is drawne from that which nature affecteth and desireth in all men aboue