understand him And the other remembring that he was a Minister stood not alwayes upon the pureness of his style but was farre more solicitous of his matter then of his Words Thus as Children use money to jingle with and Men use flowers for sight and scent but Bees for hony and wax not to gild their wings as the butterfly but to fill their Combs and feed their young In like sort there are those that tip their tongues and store their heads some for shew and some for delight but Ministers above all men have these talents in trust that therewith they may save themselves and those that hear them they must condescend to the capacities of their Hearers stoop to the apprehensions of the meanest become all things to all Men in S. Pauls sense that they may win some Hence was that saying of a reverend Bishop Lord send me learning enough that I may preach plain enough The Sinners wilfull blindness condemned THe Lionesse will not company with the Lyon after her commixtion with the Leopard till she wash her selfe in water unwilling that her Adultery should be manifested by her scent And the Viper is so wise that before its copulation with the â—ish Muraena it first vomits and casts out all the pernicious and venemous poyson that is within it But O the wilfull blindnesse of poor sinfull Man by nature more adulterous than the Lionesse more venemous than the Viper going a whoring after every sort of vanity full of hatred and malice suffering strange Lords to tyrannize over him without repugnancy yea and such cowardly Lords that if but resisted would flee from him yet he gives way to them not fearing that his disloyalty shall be perceived and revenged by his Righteous Lord and Master whose patience will at last break out into fury and break him too into a thousand pieces The hasty unexpected death of friends not to be matter of excessive sorrow A Bijah the Prophet meets with Jeroboams wife and tells her that he was sent with heavy news and with that especially Thy childe shall die And which might add the more unto her sorrow Thy childe shall die assoon as thou enterest thy foot into the City so that she could not so much as speak to him or see him alive And it was so which was the occasion of a Nationall mourning there being in him bound up the hopes of all Israel And thus it is that many judge it very heavy tydings to hear of the early untimely deaths of friends and acquaintance that like grapes they should be gathered before they be ripe and as Lambs slain before they be grown But why should they judge so Why take on so with grief and sorrow It is true that Tears are sutable to an house of mourning so that Moderation lends a Napkin to dry up the excess of weeping Consider then that nothing hath befallen them but that which hath done may do and often doth betide the best of Gods dear Children No Man grieves to see his friend come sooner then ordinary more speedily then usually others do to be Rich and Honourable or to see his friend or childe outstrip others in learning and wisdom to have that in a short time which others long labour for Why then should any Man be troubled but rather count it matter of joy when their Children or friends by death obtaine so speedily such a measure of spirituall Riches and such a height of heavenly glory in so short a time besides they have this benefit before those that live longer they are freed from the violence of the Wine-press that others fall into and escape many storms that others are fain to â—ide through Death the meditation thereof profitable to the Souls conversion THere is a story of one that gave a young Gallant a curious Ring with a Deaths head in it upon this condition That for a certain time he should spend one hour every day in looking and thinking of it He took the Ring in wantonnesse but performed the condition with diligence it wrought a wonder on him and of a desperate Ruffian he became a conscionable Christian. It were to be wished that Men of all sorts would more think of death then they do and not make that the farthest end of their thoughts which should alwayes be the nearest thought of their end but to spend some time fixedly every day on the meditation of death and then by Gods grace they would find such an alteration in their lives and conversations that there would be gladnesse in the Church peace in their own souls and joy before the Angels in heaven for their Conversion The great usefulnesse of Scripture-phrase IT is very remarkable how God himself the greatest Master of speech and maker of it too Exod. 4. 11. When he spake from Heaven at the Transfiguration of his Christ our Iesus made use of three severall texts of Scripture in one breath as in Mat. 17. 5. This is my beloved Son Psalm 12. 7. In whom I am well pleased Esay 42. 1. Hear ye him Deut. 18. 15. No doubt but God could have expatiated as he pleased but this may reprove the curious queaâ—inesse of such nice ones as disdain at the stately plainnesse of the Scripture and to shew of what authority Scripture-phrase is with God Happy then is that man that Minister that can aptly utter his minde in pure Scripture-phrase in that heavenly dialect the language of Canaan It is not the froath of words nor the ostentation of learning though usefull in its time and place nor strong lines that will draw men up to Heaven but strong arguments and convincing â—own-right truths drawn out of the treasury of Gods Word as when a Sermon is full of the â—owells of Scripture so that God and Christ may as it were seem to speak in the Preacher Conversion of a sinner painfully wrought IF a woman cannot be delivered of her child which she hath carried but nine months in her womb without pain and perill of life though she conceived it in great pleasure we must not think then to be delivered of sin which is a man an old man a man that we have carried about in our hearts ever since we were born without any spirituall pain at all The conversion of a sinner is no such easie matter there must be the broken heart the contrite spirit the mourning weed the pale countenance the melting eye and the voyce of lamentation pain for sins past pain for the iniquities of the wicked pain for the abominations of the land and place where they live pain to see the distractions both of Church and State and finally pain for their absence from their heavenly country These are the pangs and throws of the second birth the dolours that attend the conversion of a sinner The Hypocrite characterised THere is mention made of a Beast called
of those thirty would prove to be overspread with Heathenish Idolatry six of the eleven remaining with the doctrine of Mahomet so there would remain but five parts of the thirty wherein were any thing of Christianity And among those Christians so many seduced Papists on one hand and formal Protestants on the other that surely but few are saved Nay such is the paucity of true believers that as that Olive-Tree mentioned by the Prophet with two or three berries on the uppermost bough Satan may be said to have the harvest and God onely a few gleanings It should therefore make us strive the more tanquam pulvere Olympico that we may be of the number of those few that shall inherit Salvation Spiritual sloath in the wayes of God reproved THere is mention made of certain Spaniards that live near unto a place where there is great store of Fish yet are so lazy that they will not be at the â—ains to catch them but buy of their Neighbours And such is the sinful stupidity of most Men such the spiritual sloath upon them that though Christ be near them though Salvation be offered in the Gospel and as it were brought to their very houses yet they will not work out their salvation This was the case of the Israelites It is said that they despised the pleasant Land Psal. 106. 24. And what should be the reason Canaan was worth the looking after for it was a Paradise of delight a type of Heaven I but they thought it would cost them a great deal of trouble and hazard in the getting and they would rather go without it And thus many had rather go sleeping to Hell then sweating to Heaven To be more carefull for the Body then the Soul a thing justly reproveable THere is a Parable of a Woman which travelling with child brought forth a twin and both children being presented to her she falls deeply and fondly in love with the one but is carelesse and disâ—respectfull of the other this she will nurse her self but that is put forth her love grows up with the child she kept herself she decks it fine she feeds it choicely but at last by overmuch pampering of it the child surfets becomes mortally sick and when it was dying she remembers her self and sends to look after the other child that was at nurse to the end she might now cherish it but when the Messenger came she finds it dying and gasping likewise and examining the Truth she understands that through the Mothers carelesnesse and neglect to look after it the poor child was starved thus was the fond partiall Mother to her great grief sorrow and shame deprived of both her hopefull babes at once Thus every Christian is this Mother the children are our Body and Soul the former of these it is that Men and Women fall deeply and fondly in love with whilst indeed they are carelesse and neglect the other this they dresse and feed nothing is too good or too dear for it but at the last the body surfets comes by some means or other to it's death-bed when there is very little or no hope of life then Men begin to remember the Soul and would think of some course to save it the Minister he is sent for in all haste to look after it but alasse he finds it in part dead in part dying and the very truth is the owner through neglect and carelesnesse hath starved the Soul and it is ready to go to Hell before the Body is fit for the Grave And so the foolish fond Christian to his eternal shame and sorrow loseth both his Body and Soul for ever The nature and properties of the Holy Spirit set forth for our instruction in the similitude of a Dove THough Pliny and all the Heathen writers were silent the Holy Word of God hath enough to set out unto us the nature and properties of the Dove There is first of all Noahs Dove with an Olive branch in her mouth a peaceable one 2. Davids dove for the colour with Feathers silver white not speckled as a bird of divers colours but white the emblem of sincerity and there 's Solomons dove for the eye a single and direct eye not learing as a Fox and looking divers wayes 3. Esayes Dove for the voice in patience mourning not in impatience murmuring and repining Lastly our Saviour Christs Dove for bill and claw innocent and harmlesse not bloudy or mischievous Now qualis species talis spiritus as the Dove so the Holy Ghost 1. A Spirit that loves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 men of one accord 2. Et qui â—ugit fictum cannot abide new tricks meer fictions indeed feyned by feyned Christians party-propositions half in the mouth and half in the mind 3. And when he speaketh he speaketh for us with sighs and groans that cannot be expressed such is his love and so earnest 4. And hurts none not when he was in the resemblance of a Dove No not when he was Fire he was harmlesse Fire at the same time And thus it is that the nature and properties of the Holy Spirit are set forth for our instruction in the resemblance of a Dove teaching us to be peaceable to love singlenesse in meaning speaking and dealing to sufâ—er harm but to do none Magistrates Ministers c. to be Examples of good unto others and why so NAturalists report of the bird Ibis whereof there are many in Egypt especially in the City of Alexandria that it â—ateth up all the garbage of the City but leaves somewhat behind it that is more noysome then any filth it had eaten Others write that it will devour every Serpent it meets with but from the egge of this bird cometh the most hurtfull of all Serpents the Basilisk the sight whereof killeth Thus it is to be heartily wished that those who are entrusted for the Peoples good whether in Church or State be not like unto this bird seem to do something good but much hurt withall but that in them as they are Gods upon Earth may alwaies be found that which the Psalmist hath of God in Heaven Thou art good and dost good Psalm 86. 5. that their lives may be Examples of good because that otherwise their authority will be lesse prevailing for suppressing those evils whereunto their bad Examples give encouragement God to have all the glory JUstinian is said to have made a Law that no Master-workman should put up his name within the body of that building which he made out of another Mans cost And our own History tells us that when William of Wickham then Chaplain to Edward the third was by him made overseer of the work for the repair of Windsor Castle that those three words which he caused to be inscribed upon the great Tower This made Wickham had not he construed them another way as that no he made the work
shelter in times of affliction AVicen writeth that in the Country of Chaldea there are many Rivers and that the Hart being almost hunted down makes to the River side and being not able to passe â—oeth to the first Man he seeth brayes and weeps to him for relief and so is â—aken Which let every Christian man learn to follow this example that seeing himself beet with innumerable Enemies wearied with the burthen of Sin and as it were overwhelmed with a deluge of sorrow and distresse turn to the Man Iesus who is able and willing to deliver him from all dangers imminent and incumbent who is the onely shelter in time of trouble and affliction A Rich Man pleading Poverty condemned ALexander the fifth Pope of Rome said of himself That when he was a Bishop he was Rich when a Cardinal poor and when a Pope a very beggar And plainly so it is in these strait-laced times of ours with too many wretched Rich men who the Richer they are the more wretched they are as their store is enlarged their Charity is contracted such as having a Mâ—le in their Flock sacrifice to the Lord a corrupt thing such as ride on Horses with golden chains lye on beds of Ivory eat of the fattest and cloath with the softest yet when they come to the matter of Charity to the relief of the Poor pauperrimis redduntur pauperiores they plead Poverty and make themselves more Poor then the poorest Magistrates to be active Examples of good unto others IT is said in the praise of Moses that he was a mighty Man both in word and deed not mighty in word onely as many Governors are to command strongly but mighty also in deed to do it accordingly As Tully reports of Iulius Caesar that he was never heard saying to his Souldiers Ite illuc Go ye thither as if they should go into service and he to stay behind in the Tent but venite huc Come ye hither Let us give the onset and adventure our lives together A great encouragement for the Souldier to follow when he sees his Captain march before Thus it is that if the Magistrate will perswade the People to any thing he must shew the experience of it first in himself Or if he will command the People any thing he must do it first upon and by himself otherwise if he exact one thing and do another it will be said that he is like a Water-man that rowes one way and looks another Sin the destruction of any People or Nation whatsoever SEragastio a servant in one of Plautus Comedies asking another Ut munitum tibi visum est oppidum How doth the Town seem to be sortified The answer given was this Si Incolae bene sint morati pulchâ—è munitum arbitror If the Inhabitants be well governed and good I think it to be well fortified And then reckoning up many Vices he concludeth haec nisi inde aberunt c. unlesse these be absent an hundred walls are but little enough for the preservation of it And to say truth such is the destructive Nature of Sin that it will levell the walls of the best and most polite Governments whatsoever so that it is no more the walls and Bullwarks the secret Counsels the subtile contrivements the valour of the Souldiery or the greatnesse of Commanders will be guard sufficient to a Nation or People unlesse Sin that is reigning beloved Sin be first removed Magistrates not to be guilty of that which they do forbid in others ALexander the great Conquerour took one Dyonides a Pyrate upon the Sea and asked him Quid sibi videretur ut Mare infestum faceret What he meant in that manner to trouble the Sea The Pyrate answered him boldly and truly Yea What do you rather mean to trouble the World but because I rob and steal in a small Cock-boat which you do in a great and Royaâ—â— Navy I go for a Pyrate aâ—d you for an Emperour And when it is thus with the Magistrates in a Nation or Common-weal when they punish that Sin in others whereof themselves are notoriously guilty though no Man dare speak yet every Man will matter And Socrates will laugh because he sees Magnos latrones ducentes parvos ad suspendium the great Thieves leading the little ones to the Gallows Not to be disquieted at the Prosperity of the Wicked IT is Augustine's instance of One that considering himself to be cast into Prison and there to be carefull to do the works of Righteousnesse whilest he that laid him there lay wallowing in the abundance of outward Pleasures and delights though he lived in all kind of excesse in Sin the consideration whereof caused him to vent such or the like expressions Deus quare tibi servio c. O God why do I serve thee Why do I obey thy voice I think the Wicked please thee and that thou lovest those that work Iniquity Such a Spirit as this hath from time to time possessed the best of the Sons of Men but David came off well when he said O Lord how great are thy works and thy thoughts are very deep Deep indeed so deep that no humane plummet can fathom such a bottom as that the Wicked should flourish and the Godly suffer tribulation yet by way of direction let us not suffer our selves to be seduced with the Felicity of the Wicked not to be taken with the flower of the grasse nor gaze so much upon them who are happy for a time and it may be eternally miserable The greatnesse of Motherly affection to an onely Sonne SAmuel was not in his Mothers keeping but in the custody of the high Priest much better sure then in his Mothers yet see how Motherly affection works For though he wanted neither meat nor cloaths yet lest too much wind should blow upon him she makes and brings him every year a little coat and she goes up every year to Shiloh to offer Sacrifice yea and withall to sacrifice a little to her eyes that is to see Samuel too For if the Sonne be but a little missing as out of sight Sisera's Mother looks and looks out at a Window and Why â—arry the wheels of his Chariot and why is his Chariot so long a coming If he be sick then the Shunamite sets him upon her knee But if the Son be dead and gone then a voyce is heard in Ramah Rachel weeping for her Children and will not be comforted So dear and tender is an onely Son in the sight of his Mother Men are said to abound in Reason but Women in Affection such as flaming out like Fire cannot be concealed out it must like Solomon's Mothers What my Son and what the Son of my Womb and what O Son of my desires As if she had said O thou my Son whom once I bare in my womb and whom I ever bear in my heart born of my
feared as Knowledg accompained with Injustice armed with power Meat indigested for want of Exercise will rumble in the stomach and Knowledg not ballast with Sobriety will elevate the brain Serpentine wisdome and Dove-like innocencie must go hand in hand together or else we shall drown in our own Knowledge like a Candle that is quenched in his own Tallow Affectation of Novelty in the way of Religion reproved THere is mention made of two Men that meeting at a Tavern fell a tossing about their Religion as merrily as their cups and much drunken discourse there was about their Profession One protested himself of Dr. Martin's Religion the other swore he was of Dr. Luther's Religion whereas Martin and Luther was but one Man Thus some are for this Preacher some for that such doctrine as is begot in Thunder full of Faction and Innovation if it smell not of novelty it shall not concern them they regard not Heaven so much whence it comes as who brings it such a Man or no Man otherwise be the Doctrine never so wholesome they spew it up again as if their Conscience were so nice and delicate as that ground of Colein where some of St. Ursula's eleven thousand Virgins were buriâ—d which will cast up again in the night any that have been interred there in the day except of that company though it were a Child newly baptized Not to be over-carefull for the place of our Buriall THat of Monica the Mother of S. Augustine is worthy of remembrance She had with great care provided her a Sepulcher near unto her Husband who dyed at Tagasta in Africa and was there buried purposing to lâ—e by him but the Lord so disposed that she left her life at Ostia in Italy and being ready to depart she said unto her sonne Ponite hoc corpus Ubicâ—nque nihil vos ejus cura a conturbet Bury my body where you think good take no great care for it And being asked If it grieved her not to leave her body so far off from her own City she gave this answer Nihil longè est à Deo neque timendum est ne ille agnâ—scat in fine saeculi unde me resuscitet No place is nearer to God then other neither am I to fear lest the Lord should not as well raise me up in this place as in my own City Thus let none be troubled with the thoughts of their Burial-place What though the distance be great betwixt them and them to whom they are more especially related and that without great charge and expence they cannot be buried near together All places are alike unto God he can raise them up as well out of Country clay as out of finer City-dust and bring them and all their Kindred and Acquaintance together in a comfortable Resurrection The Christians claim to Heaven what it is OUr Common Law distinguisheth between two manner of Freeholds A Free-hold in deed when a Man hath made his Entry upon Lands and is thereof really seized A Free-hold in Law when a Man hath right to possession but hath not made his actual entry So is the Kingdome of Heaven ours not in re but in spe our's tenore juris though not yet jâ—re tenoris ours in the inheritance of the possession though not in the possession of the Inheritance habemus jus ad rem nonâ—dum in re we are heirs to it though now we be but Wards Our minority bids and binds us to be servants Gal. 4. but when we come to full years a perâ—ect growth in Godlinesse then we shall have à plenary possession How the Devill makes use of the World to destroy Man IT is reported of the Irish that they dig deep trenches in the ground and pave the surface over with green turves that their suspectlesse Enemies may think it firm ground and so fall in to their utter ruine Thus the Devill makes this World his fatall Vault which he strows over with pleasures and delights the way seems smooth but is slippery his intention is mischievous ut lapsu graviore ruaâ—t that Man may have the surer and the sooner fall then doth he laugh to see a knot of Gallants lye all a long on their backs that have ruâ— headlong at Pâ—ide a Corporation of Citizens that have run at Riches a rabble of Drunkards that ran apace to the â—avern a crew of Cheaters that posted as â—ast to the gallows all of them sinking to the bottomlesse pit of destruction Not to repine at a great charge of Children THere is a story of a certain worldly distrustfull rich Woman that being at a poor Womans labour the Child being new born and nothing to be had for the comfort of it See said she without any pitty or compassion Here is the mouth but where is the meat Not long after it so fell out that the same Woman drawing near her time was delivered of a deaâ— child which being well observed by another Woman that was then present at her labour See said she here is meat enough but where is the mouth Let none therefore grudg or repine at their issue be it never so numerous not grumble at the greatnesse of their charge God never sent a mouth but he sent meat for that mouth he can as well feed many as few make the poor Mans peâ—ny go as far as the Rich Mans pound He is the great House-keeper that giveth every living thing meat in due season and if so then those little ones that bear his Image are by no means excluded The least of Sin to be resisted THe Trees of the Forrest held a solemn Parliament wherein they consulted of the innumerable wrongs which the Axe had done them therefore made an Act that no Tree should hereafter lend the Axe an helve on pain of being cut down The Axe travels up and down the Forrest begs wood of the Cedar Oak Ash Elm even of the Poplar not one would lend him a chip At last he desired so much as would serve him to cut down the bryers and bushes alledging that such shrubs as they did but suck away the juice of the ground and hinder the growth and obscure the glory of the fair and goodly Trees Hereon they were all content to afford him so much he pretends a thorough Reformation but behold a sad deformation for when he had got his helve down went both Cedar Oak Ash Elm and all that did but stand in his way Such are the subtile reaches of Sins and Sinfull Men give but a little advantage on their fair promises to remove the troubles of the body and they will cut down the Soul also Therefore obsta principiis crush the Cockatrice in the egge refuse all iniquity at the first in what extenuation of quantity or colour of quality soever it be offered For if Sathan cannot get leave for his whole Army of lusts yet he will beg hard for his
torment the Wicked 73. Afflictions if any thing will make us seek God 455. A good Man is bettered by his Afflictions 74. 174. 445. A true Christain the more he is Afflicted the better he thriveth 79. Afflictions and crosses not to be sleighted 84. Afflictions crosses c. a surer way to Heaven then pleasures 85. How it is that afflictions lye oft-times so heavy 632. Afflictions to be looked on as coming from God onely 93. Afflictions lead to Heaven 97. 452. Afflictions add unto the beauty of a Christian 105. God by afflictions drives us to Heaven 114. The thoughts of Gods omnipresence a great comfort in affliction 118. Afflictions follow the godly Man close in this World 159. Gods tryall of his children by afflictions 202. 215. God afflicts his Children for their good 227. Afflictions happen both to good and bad but to severall ends 241. God onely to be eyed in the midst of afflictions 286. Not to be daunted at afflictions 296. Not to rejoyce at the afflictions of others 308. God afflicting his Children for the improvement of their graces 325. Not to be troubled at afflictions because God intends good by them 356. God afflicting his Children to try their sincerity 403. Gods children afflicted to make them perfect 406. Men to be prepared for Afflictions crosses c. 408. When lighter Afflictions will not serve God will send heavier 410. Afflictions the comfortable use that is to be made of them 441. Christ the best shelter in time of Affliction 530. Afflictions Gods Love-tokens 599. Not to wait Gods good time in Afflicting us dangerous 609. Not to be altogether taken up with the sense of Afflictions 633. Afflictiâ—ns though grievous yet profitable 660. Not to murmur under Afflictions and why so 662. Comfort nearest when Afflictions are at highest 669. How it is that Age becomes truly honorable 331. The dissolution of all ages past to be a Memento for Posterity 100. Get but God and get all 47. All things come from God who is therefore to be praised 181. All sin to be repented of and why so 315. Almsâ— giâ—en to the poor are the givers gaâ— 31. Alms-giving how to be regulated 402. Ambition proves its own ruine 41. The poysonous nature of Ambition 82. The great heat of Ambition 622. Anabaptistical spirits their madnesse 416. Angels ministring unto Gods people for their good 322. God is not to be provoked to Anger 16. Not â—o answâ—r one angry word with another 305. Not to be angry with our brother 485. Not to take notice of every angry word that is spoken 547. Not to contiâ—ue angry 72. 165. 196. How God is said to be angry with his children 86. Antinomians compared to Thieves 46. Their madnesse 576. The great danger of Apostacy 619. Wantonnesse in Apparrel â—eproved 167. Excesse of Apparrel condemned 192. 642. Christian Apparrelling 280. Men and Women not to wear each others Apparrel 292. The vanity of gay Apparrel 446. The great â—olly of costly Apparrel 594. Apparrel whether richer or plainer the necessity thereof 646. No Appeal from Gods tribunal 141. The poor distressed Man's comfort by his appeal unto God 198. Gods comfortable appearance to his people at the time of their death 554. The whole Armour of God to be put on 115. The best Christian is the best Artist 137. Not the Assurance but the joy of Salvation gives content 81. Assured Christians must be patient Christians 351. God so ordering it that few or none of his people live and dye without assurance of their salvation 352. Assurance of Gods love the onely comfort 370. Atheism advanced by the distractions of the Church 152. Atheism condemned 243. Atheism punished 242. Aâ—heism will unman any Man 303. Atheisticall wicked men at the hour of death forced to confesse Gods Judgments 476. The great danger of relying upon forraign ayd and assistance 580. B. BAptismal water the power and virtue thereof 186. Bapâ—ism renounced by the lewdnesse of life and conversation 321. Children of persons excommunicate to be baptized 470. How it is that Godfathers and Godmothers undertake for children in Baptism 495. Infant-baptism asserted 557. To be careful of our Vow made in Baptism 605 Better live amongst beasts then beastly-minded Men 161. God to be consulted at all times but more especially in the beginning of all publique concernments 1. The paucity of true Believers 398. Bitter spirits are no gracious spirits 21. Blamelesnesse of life enjoyned 113. The sins of Blasphemy and swearing the commonnesse of them 122. Blasphemous language condemned 230. A good Neighbour is a great blessing c. 6. Governors as they are qualified are a curse or a Blessing to a People 9. A little with Gods blessing goes far 11. Blessings turned into curses 63. The blessing of God more to be eyed then our own endeavours 70. The Ministers blessing after Sermon to be attended 71. Gods blessing upon the means doth all 92. 581. Outward blessings do not alwayes make a blessed Man 107. A blessed thing to have God for our Lord 136. God hath a peculiar blessing for his children 169. Gods spiritual blessing upon a Mans employment in his calling 200. To rely upon the blessing of God notwithstanding all opposition 611. The blessing of God attending on people listning to their own Minister 638. To blesse God for all 453. The Devils aym to strike every Man with spiritual blindnesse 12. The Sinners wilfull blindnesse condemned 281. Spiritual and corporal blindnesse their difference 414. The naturall Man's blindnesse in spirituall things 485. The guilt of innocent Bloud crying to Heaven for vengeance 19. Bloudy-minded Men condemned 130. A Caveat for bloudy-minded Men 611. The greatest boasters the smallest doers 434. More care for the Body then the Soul condemned 11. 552. The Sinner's care is more for the Body then the Soul 171. Deformity of body not to be contemned 193. Young Schollers to mind their books 40. Scandalous and seditious books and pamphlets fit for the fire 295. Books of Piety and Religion testimonial at the great day of Judgment 476. The several books of God sleighted and neglected by the most of Men 656. The bountiful goodnesse of God to his children 606. The exceeding bounty of God 119. The borrowers duty and comfort 612. The sin of Bribery condemned 332. 373. The word Brother how far extended 172. Not to be over-carefull for the place of our buriall 592. Busie-bodies condemned 136. 147. A busie-body described 285. C. THe great danger of taking up a false perswasion of our effectual Calling 353. The certainty not the time of our spirituall Calling to be so much looked into 260. 612. The necessity of Catechising 119. Weak ones how to be catechised and instructed 133. Catechising an excellent way to instruct Youth 422. Distrustâ—ull cares reproved 125. Censurers condemned 20. Not to censure others but look to our selves 46. Censures not to be regarded 69. The Worlds hard censure of the godly Man 128. How it is that one Man censureth another 225. To
an artificiall contrivance it is so framed that when the wind sitteth in such or such a corner it will move and so having but an externall motor and cause to move and no inward principle no soul within it to move it it is an argument that it is no living creature So it is also if a man see another man move and move very fast in those things which of themselves are the waies of God you shall see him move as fast to hear a Sermon as his neighbour doth is as forward and hasty to thrust himself and bid himself a guest to the Lord's Table when God hath not bid him as any Now the question is What principle sets him a work if it be an inward principle of life out of a sincere affection and love to God and his Ordinances that carrieth him to this it argueth that man hath some life of grace but if it be some wind that bloweth on him the wind of state the wind of law the wind of danger of penalty the wind of fashion or custom to do as his neighbours do If these or the like be the things that draw him thither this is no argument of life at all it is a cheap thing it is a counterfeit and dead piece of service God is not to be provoked to anger THe gods of the Gentiles were senslesse stocks and stones not able to apprehend much lesse to revenge an injury done unto them Well therefore might the Philosopher be bold with Hercules to put him to his thirteenth labour in seething of his dinner and Martial with Priapus in threatning him to throw him into the fire if he looked not well to his Trees A child may play at the hole of a dead Aspe and a silly woman may strike a dead Lion but who dare play with a living Serpent who dare take a roaring Lion by the beard Let Christians then take heed how they provoke the living God for He is a consuming fire and with the breath of his mouth he is able to throw down the whole frame of Nature and destroy all creatures from the face of the earth Religion and Unity the onely supporters of Church and State IT is not possible that those things which are knit together by a bond should hold fast together after the bond it self is broken nor can a sinew hold steddy the joynt if it be sprayned or broken or cut assunder Religion is the band of all society the strongest sinew of Church or Commonwealth God forbid there should be any rupture any sprain in this sinew The like of Unity Pluck iâ— you can a beam from the body of the Sun it will then have no light break a branch from the Tree it will bear no fruit sever a River from the Spring it will be soon dried up cut a member from the body it soon dyeth cast a Pumice-stone into the water and though it be never so big which it remains entire and the parts whole together it will swim above water but break it once into pieces and then every piece of it will sink to the very bottom Thus both Church and Commonwealth which are supported and as it were held up by Religion and unity peace and concord are ruined and destroyed by discord dissention schism and faction O tam bonum quam jucundum How happy are such a People such a Nation such a Church such a State as live together in peace and unity Peace with Men will make our peace with God WHen upon newes of earthquakes and other prodigious signes the Sooth-sayers foretold great calamities that were to befall the State of Rome unlesse the wrath of the gods were suddainly appeased the Orator determineth the point most divinely Faciles sunt deorum ira c. God will be easily reconciled to us if we be reconciled one to another And most true it is we cannot be one with God so long as we are one against another when we are at peace one with another then God will be at peace with us and if God be at peace with us all creatures shall be in league with us so that neither devill nor man nor any thing else shall have any power to hurt us The great folly of too late Repentance in any thing IT was a sad confession that by the testimony of a reverend ear-witnesse drop'd from the mouth of a very considerable person in Scotland viz. That it was true he with the rest of his Nation had buried Episcopacy and their antient Monarchy in one and the same grave but upon the sad consequences of it they would be content to tear up the very earth of that grave with their teeth so that they might but raise both of them up again And such is the precipitate folly and madnesse of many that are at this day to be found in the midst of us who act ill at the first and then to their great griefe consider what they have so acted such as have and do still run headlong upon one mischievous designe or other and then Phrygian-like repent when it is too late wishing that undone which is done whereas one day they will finde to their great losse that the safest course had been with prudent Prometheus to have foreseen a danger and shun'd it then with foolish Epimetheus in the want of due consideration to go on and be deservedly punished The Church robbed of her maintenance upon pretence of Reformation DIonysius the Tyrant entring into a Temple of Idolls took away from the chiefest amongst them a Cloak of gold and being demanded why he did it his answer was This Cloak is too heavy for the summer and too cold for winter Taking likewise a golden Beard from Aesculapius he said That his father Apollo having no beard there was no reason his son should wear any But this was but a mask for his covetousnesse And thus it is with some in these daies they will strip the Church of her maintenance to keep the Clergy from lazinesse and they tell us that the King's Daughter is all glorious within so as they may pocket up her Rayments of needlework and fine gold it is no matter how she is without They professe encouragements to the Ministers of the Gospell and in the mean time pare off a great deal of their necessary maintenance But let them know That it is scandalous maintenance that makes a scandalous Minister and that a beggerly clergy is alwaies the signe of a bankrupt Religion Time to be well used MAny sitting up so long at play are necessitated to go to bed darkling This our living in this world is a kind of playing or gaming whose bed is Eternity Let us then study to give over this play in some good time and not stay at it till the very snuffing and topping of the candle go out lest darknesse overtake us and we
Sea tumultuous then to lanch forth and 〈◊〉 up sail for a Voyage into far Countries And yet such is even the skill of evening-repenters who though in the morning of youth and soundness of health and perfect use of Reason they cannot resolve to weigh the Anchor and cut the Cable that withdraws them from seeking Christ nevertheless they feed themselves with a strong perswasion that when their wits are distracted their senses astonied all the powers of the mind and parts of the body distempered then forsooth they think to leap into heaven with a Lord have mercy upon me in their mouths to become Saints at their death however they have demeaned themselves like devils all their life before The Saints knowledge of one another in Heaven MRs. Willet made a quaerie unto her Husband Dr. Willet then lying on his death-bed touching the mutual knowledge that the Saints in glory have one of another such another question being proposed to Luther a little before his death he resolves her with the words of Luther unto which Chemnitius and many others do subscribe That as Adam in the estate of innocency when God first presented Eve unto him whom he had never seen before asked not whence she came but said This is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh Even so the Saints of God in Heaven beatifically illuminated with knowledge beyond Adam's in his first condition shall know not onely those whom here they knew not but even those whom before they never saw Satan tempteth by degrees IT is observed of the Crocodile that he cometh of an egge no bigger then a Goose-egge yet he groweth till he be fifteen cubits long Pliny saies thirty he is also long lived and which is much encreaseth as long as he liveth This setteth forth the manner of the encreasing of Sathans Kingdome and how cunningly he disposeth of his temptations First he beginneth with small matters and so by degrees to greater from thought to consent from consent to action from action to custom from custom to a habit of sin Iudas is first inured to theft and trained up in another false trick as in repining at the box of ointment poured on Christ at the length he is brought to betray his Master Thus was the gradation of Peters sin first lying then cursing after swearing c. National Iudgements call for National Repentance SUppose that the Sea should break forth in this Land as such a thing might soon come to passe were not the waters thereof countermanded by God's Prerogative Royal it is not the endeavour of a private man can stop it What if he goes with a Faggot on his back and a Mattock on his shoulder and a spade in his hand his desire is more commendable then his discretion it being more likely the Sea should swallow him then he stop the mouth of it No the whole Country must come in Children must bring earth in their hats Woemen in their aprons Men with Hand-barrows Wheel-barrows Carts Carrs Wains Waggons all must work lest all be destroyed So when a general deluge and inundation of God's anger seizeth upon a whole Kingdom when he breaks in upon a Nation like the breaking forth of waters it cannot be stop'd by the private endeavours of some few but it must be an universal work by a general Repeâ—tance all must raise banks to bound it till this be done no hope of Peace no hope of Reconcilement at all How Christ's sufferings are made ours AS the Burgess of a Town or Corporation sitting in the Parliament-House 〈◊〉 the person of that whole Town or place and what he saith the whole Town saith and what is done to him is done to the whole Town Even so Christ upon the Cross stood in our place and bare our persons and whatsoever he suffered we suffered and when he dyed all dyed with him all the faithful dyed in him and as he is risen again so the faithful are risen in him A Worldly-minded man speaketh of nothing but worldly things WHen a clock within is disordered and the wheels out of frame the hammer and bell must needs give an uncertain sound so when our hearts are inwardly disordered and corrupted with worldliness and prophanenesse our speech outwardly accordeth with them The door-keeper said unto Peter Thou art surely a Galilean thy speech bewraieth thee And whosoever he be that hath his mind taken up and chiefely delighted with the Worlds musick hath his tongue also tuned to the same key and taketh his joy and comfort in speaking of nothing else but the World and worldly things if the World be in his heart it will break out at the lips A worldly-minded man speaketh of nothing but worldly things Censurers not to be regarded LAnquet in his Chronicle relateth that in Frizland there was a phantastical Prophet named David George who calling himself God's Nephew said Heaven was empty and that he was sent to chuse the children of God that the great work of Election was left unto his disposal to appoint such as he thought fit to be saved Thus in our time there be many such Prophets electing and damning whom they please deifying this man and devilifying that man but sure it is they have no more authority to make devils then the Pope hath to make Saints As then a number of his Saints are in Hell so questionless many of their devils are glorious Saints in Heaven The certainty of God's will and purpose THe Wheels in a Watch or a Clock move contrary one to another some one way some another yet all serve the intent of the work-man to shew the time or to make the Clock to strike So in the World the providence of God may seem to run crosse to his promises one man takes this way another runs that way good men go one way wicked men another yet all in conclusion accomplish the Will and center in the purpose of God the great Creator of all things A wicked man believes not there is a Hell till he be in it TOstatus observeth out of Pliny that the Mole after he hath long lived under ground beginneth to see when he dyeth oculos incipit aperire moriendo quos clausos habuit vivendo he beginneth to open his eyes in dying which he alwaies had shut whilst he lived This is the true State of a wicked earthly-minded man he neither seeth Heaven nor thinketh of Hell tell him that the wicked shall be turned into hell and all that forget God it is but as brutum fulmen a meer scare-crow he feareth not God nor man all his life-time till he approacheth to judgement and then too soon he beginneth to feel that which he could not be brought to believe The World 's dangerous allurements THere is a kind of Serpent called by the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which when she cannot overtake the fleeing Passingers doth with her beautiful
they are longer lived they preach when the Author cannot and which is more when he is not Sights as they come sooner to the eye than sounds to the ear so they abide longer Audible words are more transient visible works more permanent the one may make the ear more attentive but the other the memory more retentive both in themselves excelling Princes and Governors to be prudetinally qualified BE wise now therefore O Kings Psal. 2. Two kinds of wisdom are required in Kings and Princes wisdom or knowledge in God's matters otherwise called Divinity and wisdom or knowledge in worldly matters otherwise called Prudence or Policy Both are not onely like the two pillars that Solomon put in the porch of the Temple for ornament but also for special use like the hands of Aaron and Hur which did support the hands of Moses for the discomfiture of the Amalekites And good reason too for if they be pious onely in God's matters and be not otherwise prudent then they are fitter for the Common-weal of Plato then for the corrupt estate of Romulus for the Cloyster then for the Court again if they be prudent or politick onely and be not pious then they are fitter to be Kings of Babel where dwelleth confusion then of Jerusalem where Gods glory is seen and more rightly to be called the children of this world which goeth to nought and perisheth then the children of God who love truth in the inwards and care for none but for such as worship him from a pure heart with a good Conscience A sad thing to lose both soul and body at one and the same time DUdithius relates a sad story of one Bochna a Woman which had but two sons and whilst she was walking with the one towards the River she heard the other crying out and hasting back she found a knife sticking in his side which killed him immediately then she made haste to the other child but he in her absence was fallen into the River and drowned both lost at once This is our case every one of us hath two children a soul and a body a life temporal a life eternal What a heavy loss would it be to lose both these at once yet such is the sad condition of many that whilst they busie themselves to catch at the shadow and to set up a rest for their souls here in this world they lose both shadow and substance soul and body the rest of their souls here and the true souls of their eternal rest hereafter both together A good Magistrate or Minister is the support of the place where he lives MEn use to fence and defend to keep watch and ward over their corn-fields whilst the corn and fruits are in them unreaped ungathered but when the corn is inned and safe in the Barn then is open-tide as they say they lay all open throw in the fence and let in beasts of all kind nay sometimes they set fire on the stubble Thus every zealous Magistrate every godly Minister every good Christian is as it were a fence a hedge to that place that parish where they live and when they are once plucked up when they are taken away by death or otherwise removed that Kingdom that place that parish lyes open to all manner of ruin and destruction The certainty of Faith IN the midst of a tumultuous Sea the Nodes of the Compass remain unmoveable because they govern themselves not according to the winds but according to the influence of the Heavens And so the faith of the faithful remaineth firm amongst the rude agitations and distracted variations of the VVorld because it governeth it self not according to the instability of the affairs of this world but according to the promises of God which are from all Eternity The danger of unworthy Communicating IT is reported of Mr. Bolton a famous Divine and Minister of Kettering in Northampton-shire that calling for his children on his death-bed after some speech to them he concludes thus And I hope there is none of you will dare to meet me at Christ's tribunal in an unregenerate estate intimating the great and inevitable danger that must needs attend such a condition And it were to be wished that none would dare to meet at the Lord's Table in a sinful state which if they do and will with unhumbled and unhallowed hearts come unto that tent and as Sisera Iudg. 4. 19. take the milk and the butter the bread and the wine let them know that there is a nail and a hammer for them they eat and drink their own damnation A Minister to be careful in the delivery of God's message EArthly Kings and Magistrates are offended and good reason too if their subjects or servants shall do from them or in their names such messages as they send not or if their Ambassadors being limited by advertisements what they shall do and what they shall not do should negotiate to the contrary Then should all Ministers of Jesus Christ whose Ambassadors they are be careful in a very high degree that they deliver the whole counsel of God that they speak nothing but what they have in Commission otherwise they shall offend a Lord of more dreadfull majesty who is more jealâ—us of his glory and more able to punish then any earthly Kings or Magistrates whatsoever Graces lost in the soul are to be made up onely in Christ. THe Virgin Vestals of the Pagans from whence proceeded those many Cloysters of Nuns at this day had a continuall fire which if it hapened by any mischance to go out they might not give it light again but onely from the Sun Thus our natural clearness and purity of life being quite extinguished by the sin of Adam there 's no meanes under heaven to renew it we cannot kindle it again but at the Sun of Righteousness Christ Iesus our Lord to whom belongeth that which is said in Psalm 3. 6. The fountain of life is in thee c. Gods speciall love to his Children LOok upon the Sun how it casts light and heat upon all the World in his general course how it shineth upon the good and the bad with an equall influence but let its beames be but concentered in a burning-glass then it sets fire on the objectonely and passeth by all others And thus God in the Creation looketh upon all his Works with a generall love Erant omnia valdâ— bona they pleased him very well O but when he is pleased to cast the beams of his love and cause them to shine upon his Elect through Christ then it is that their hearts burn within them then it is that their affections are inflamed whereas others are but as it were a little warmed have a little shine of common graces cast upon them The strength of a true Christians love to Christ. IN our English Chronicles we read of the rare affection of Elianor the wife of Edward the first
use it as an occasion served and Rachel that other holy woman did not desire the Mandrakes so much to hold in her hand or to smell to as to be made apt thereby to bring forth the fruit of her womb And we must not come to the Well-spring of life and when we have filled our pitchers spill all presently on the ground nor we must not so much labour to know the Word that we may subtilly dispute or discourse of it as to practise it that we may shew the fruit of it in the amendment of our lives and conversations Dulness and drousiness in the service of God reproved IT is reported of Constantize the great that when divine service was read he would help the Minister to begin the prayer and to read the verses of the Psalms interchangeably and when there was a Sermon if any place of special importance were alleadged that he would turn his Bible to imprint the place the better in his mind both by hearing and seeing it and being as it were revished with those things which he heard he would start up suddenly out of his Throne and Chair of State and would stand a long while to hear more diligently and though they which were next him did put him in mind to remember himself yet he heard the word so attentively that he would not give any ear at all unto them How wonderfully should this confound us that are every way inferiour when we hear Emperors mighty Kings shew such a good heart in hearing of the word of God to be so chearful in the service of God and we in the mean time to have such lumpish and dull spirits as to be never a whit moved or affected with the same that though Christ talk with us never so comfortably in the way yet our hearts are not so much as warmed within us though he putteth his hand to the hole of the door yet we will not list up the latch to let him in and though our well-beloved speak yet we will not hearken unto him A good man bettered by Afflictions SPring water smoaketh when all other waters of the River and the Channel are frozen up that water is living whilst they are dead All experience teacheth us that Well-waters arising from deep springs are hotter in Winter than in Summer the outward cold doth keep in and double their inward hear Such is a true Christian in the evill day his life of Grace gets more vigour by opposition he had not been so gracious if the times had been better I will not say He may thank his Enemies but I must say He may thank God for his Enemies Christ compared to an Eagle CHrist is not unfitly compared to an Eagle in three respects First because as the Eagle fluttereth over her young ones and safeguards them from any that would annoy them so doth Chris carefully protect his Church that the Gates of Hell nor the deepest Counsells of her Enemies shall not prevail against her Secondly as the Eagle stirs up her nest and taketh up her young ones enforcing them to look towards the Sun thereby trying her generous and degenerating brood even so doth Christ make triall of true and counterfeit Christians he rejects them as counterfeits that have but owl light such as hate the light but those which can look upon the Sun of Righteousnesse and delight in beholding of him they go for true Christians Thirdly The Eagle hateth the Serpent and wheresoever he seeth him renteth him with his Beak And Christ the seed of the woman did break the Serpents head The Hypocrites discovery of himselfe THere are a sort of Men that call themselves Christians professe that they know God and that their hope is in Heaven but no sooner doth any vanity come in the way any temporal commodity present it selfe but their hearts quickly betray where their Treasure is just like the Iuglers Ape of Alexandria which being attired like a reasonable Creature and dancing curiously to his Masters Instrument deceived all the Spectators untill one spying the fraud threw a handful of Dates upon the Stage which the Ape no sooner espied but he tore all his Vizard and fell to his Victuals to the scorn of his Master which gave an occasion to the Proberb An Ape is an Ape though he be clad never so gaily And most sure it is that an Hypocrite will at last shew himselfe an Hypocrite for all his specious shew and goodly pretences The Churches condition under the two Testaments St. Paul resembleth the different conditions of the Church under the two Testaments to the different conditions of a child when he is in his nonage though he be heir and when he is come to his full age While he is in his nonage though he be heir yet he is kept in awe and under a Pedagogue but when he cometh to full age his Father affords him a more cheerful Countenance and a more liberall maintenance Even so under the Law the Church was kept under and scanted of Grace but under thâ— Gospel she is more free and endued with a more plentifull measure of Gods holy spiriâ— The Kingdom of Heaven an everlasting Kingdom MOrtal Kingdoms are not lasting and while they last they continue not uniform Are not everlasting they have their Climacterical years and commonly determine within certain periods The Politicians write of it Bodine by name and he out of othâ—rs and the stories are clear and experience daily sheweth it to be so Iustin hath calculated the three first Monarchs but Sleidan all four and we see their beginning and ending And as they are not lasting so while they last they continue not uniform The Planters of great States are commonly Heroical men but the Proverb is Heroum â—ilii noxae The Parents were never so beneficiall as the children are misâ—hâ—evous oppressing by Tyranny or wasting by Vanity worldly peace breedeth plenty plenty breeds pride and pride breeds war wherewith cometh Ruine This being the condition of mortall Kingdoms how blessed is that Kingdom of Heaven which shall have no end the words are short but they are full The Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it this is typified in David and Saul the Kingdom of the one was tempâ—rall of the other eternal The Angel repeats the same promise The Psalms do often urge it so do the Prophers Esay especially they all concur in this that it shall have no end Gods Lawes obeyed are the support of a Common-wealth IT fareth with the body politick as it doth with the body naturall if the humours keep their proportion we have health no sooner do they swerve from it but they begin a disease which maketh way to puâ—refaction and so to dissolution wherefore we apply physick to reduce them again into a due temper Even so while good Lawes sway our carriage towards our selves towards our neighbours each man doth well the
then he is humble and patient and shewes nothing for a time but the prickles of repentance but let him be thrown into the waters of affliction or the fire of persecution then he sheweth himself what he hath in him which before was kept close Manna the heavenly food of God's Word how to relish it IT is observed that when the beak of the Eagle is grown so big that she cannot eat any meat so that thereupon the becommeth very poor and bare of her body she goeth to a rock and there she dasheth her beak so long against it till she have broke off the end of it and then she feeds with much more ease and so recovereth her strength again Thus when we have lost our taste and cannot relish that heavenly Mâ—nna the pretious food of our soules we must repair to the rock Christ Iesus and there knock off all those domineering lusts and disordered affections that irregularity of our wills and perversnesse of our judgments and then and not till then shall we taste how good the Lord is and come to our selves again The joyes of Gods Children invisible IT is St. Augustines own relation of a certain Gentile that shewed him his Idoll-Gods saying Here is my God Where is thine then pointing up at the Sun he said Loe here is my God where is thine so shewing himâ— divers Creatures still upbraided him with Here are my Gods where are thine But as the Father answered him I shewed him not my God not because I had not one to shew him but because he had not eyes to see him Thus the joyes of a Christian though they cannot be seen with bodily eyes though the wicked cannot so much as discern them yet is there nothing so delightful so comfortable as they are witness that Peace of Conscience that joy in the Holy Ghost which is so unspeakable such as eye hath not seen nor ear hath heard neither hath it entred into the heart of Man to conceâ—â—e them as they are Gods trial of his Children by Afflictions THere is a custome amongst the Germanes that they might know whether their Children were bastards or not to throw them in Fluvium Rhenum into the River of Rhine if they floated above then they acknowledged them to be their own but if the water carried them away then they esteemed of them but as bastards So God casts his Children into â—â—uâ—â—ina afflictionis floods of afflictions those that swim to Christ by a true and lively faith them he acknowledgeth as his but those which by the violence of lust are sunk and drencht in sin he looketh upon them as bastards not as Sons The silent coming of Gods spirit into the heart of Man RIvers that at first run out of the Sea are not heard because of the extraordinary noyse of the Ocean they run out no Man hearing them nor seeing the place where the main brancheth its selfe into Rivolets but as they run back into the Sea being swelled with the new access of Land-waters make a great noyse in their return Even so is the Spirit of God it comes quietly and silently into the heart of Man so that the Man that hath it knoweth not when it came to him of the day and hour knoweth he nothing yet at the return thereof unto God that gave it there is a voice of praise and thanksgiving Gods trial of his Children by cleansing their hearts VVHen the Queen of Sheba came to hear the wisdom of Solomon 2 Chr. 10. the more to scarch out the same as the Rabbines do observe she dressed Boyes in Womens apparell and Girls in Mens apparell asking of him which were the Boyes and which the Girles whereupon he bids them all to wash their hands and their faces and those which he perceived to wash the more them he judged to be boyes the other girls Thus the Lord maketh a difference to be seen betwixt his children the children of light and the children of darkness by how much the more his children do purifie and cleanse themselves to be kept unspotted of the world it is not a little smearing will serve the turn with them but rather than they shall seem not to be sufficiently cleansed they will cry out with 〈◊〉 Amplius lava me Domine Lord wash me throughly c. Psal. 51. The Sinners security SUppose a Travailer in a stormy night should take up his lodging in some Cave in the Woods where are nothing but Serpents and Adders and such like venemous Creatures he because he sees them not sleeps as soundly as if he were at home in his own bed but when the morning comes and he sees what companions are about him he useth all the means possible and maketh all the haste he can to get away In the same case is every impeniâ—ent sinner beset with as many Serpents as he hath sins though he cannot see them and therefore fears them not but sleeps as soundly as if he were in Solomons bed about which was a guard of threescore thousand valiant Men of the valiant of Israel Cant. 3. 7. but when it shall once please God to open his eyes then he sees the dangerous condition of his Estate and labours to get out of it as fast as he can Man the best and the worst of Creatures THe Philosopher being asked which was the best member of the body answered The Tongue And being asked again Which was the worst answered The Tongue if good the onely Trumpet of Gods glory if bad a very Fire-brand of Hell So if it were asked Which Creature of God were the best the answer would be Man in honour before his fall And what the worst Creature Man in his fall which hath not understanding but is compared to beasts that perish The fall of Man described MAn was once the mirrour of all understanding the Hieroglyphick of wisdom but now quantum mutatus ab illo there is a great alteration we see that the tallest Trees first dye at the top and the highest Cedars have the greatest lapse So it hath happened in this Man of Men who at his Creation was Cedrus Paradisâ— Gods sweet wood but now aspiring up not onely through folly lop'd off from what he was but even cut down to the ground so that as it was said of the Philosopher Aristotelem in Aristotele and of Rome Roman in Roma quaerere So may we say of Man Hominem in Homine quaerere quaerentes non invenire for what was Imago dei the very Image of Heaven is now larva Diaboli the vizard of Hell he that was gloria terrae the glory of the Land is now inutile pondus the very burthen thereof He that was entituled Dominus mundi â—delitiae Domini the Worlds Lord and the Lords darling is now captivated and made a servant He that was Master of knowledge and wonder of Understanding perfect in the
Amorites not living half their daies Psal. 55. 23. How to be made like unto Christ. HE that intends to have his picture drawn to the life must not wrest and writhe his body this way and that way but sit still with a composed setled countenance having his eye fully set upon the Painter otherwise the resemblance will be false and the work much mis-shapen So he that would have the image of Christ truly stamped on his soul must eye Christ as he is the perfection of all graces do as the Prophet did by the Shunamites child lay his mouth to his mouth his eyes to his eyes his hands to his hands say as he said do as he did Sic oculos sic ille manus propose him as a pattern in all things imitable Otherwise if he gaze upon the vanity of the creature and spread his thoughts at large upon earthly things there will be much of Mammon but little or no likenesse of Christ appearing upon his soul. The certainty not the time of our Calling to be so much looked into WHat a deal of do did the Pharisees make with the poor man that was born blind Ioh. 9. first his neighbours they begin with him How were thine eyes opened vers 10. then the Pharisees asked him How he had received his sight vers 15. The poor â—an tells them That one called Iesus made clay and annointed his eyes c. After many questions they bid him give God the praise for they knew that that man Iesus was a sinner vers 24. Well saies the poor man whether he be a sinner or not that 's more then I know but so much I know for certain that whereas I was blind now I see It matter'd not with him what the man was that cured him nor the place where nor the time when this he took notice of that he was blind but now he did see So the question is not When or How any man is called of God but the main will be Whether he is yet called A woman with child if the babe stir in her womb she takes no thought when it was that the child first quickned but is glad that it is quickned If a man can but see marks and signes of salvation within him and perceive that the blessed Spirit of God hath wrought wonderfully on his soul he may certainly conclude that he is called let the time place and manner be never so uncertain Without Faith impossible to please God OF all the Virgins presented to Ahasuerus none was so pleasing as Hester Let the maiden that pleaseth the King be Queen in stead of Vashtai When that Decree was published what strife what emulation may we think was amongst the Persian Damosells that either were or thought themselves fair every one hoped to be a Queen But so incomparable was the beauty of that Iewesse that she was not onely taken into the Persian Court as one of the selected virgins but had the most honourable place in all the Seraglio allotted unto her The other virgins passe their probation unregarded When Hâ—sters turn came though she brought the same face and demeanour that Nature had cast upon her no eye saw her without admiration the King was so delighted with her beauty that contemning all the other vulgar forms his choice was fully fixed upon her Thus Faith is that Hester to which God holds out his golden Scepter He is pleased with all graces hot zeal and cool patience please him cheerfull thankfulnesse and weeping repentance please him charity in the height and humility in the dust please him but none of them are welcome to him without faith in Christ Iesus All alike in Death AS Trees while they grow are apparently known by their fruites by their severall kinds and so are commonly called by their names but when once the Ax comes amongst them that they be felled fired and consumed none can distinguish of their ashes So when men whilst they live do very much differ in office title place and power but when they be dead and resolved into cinders their dust admits of no seperation it can by no means be divided As there is the like ashes of the Shrub and the Cedar so the like dust of the King and the Beggar Mors sceptra ligonibus aequat Death is the head of the Levelling party makes all men alike the mightiest have no more priviledge than the meanest Ingratitude reproved AN empty bucket that is let down into a well doth as it were open its mouth to receive the water but being drawn up full sheweth his bottom onely to the well that gave it The sea receives her moisture from Heaven sweet and pleasant but returns it salt and brackish The clouds by the power of the Sun-beams are exhaled from the earth but being once mounted they darken that aire and obscure that Sun that raised them The frozen Snake in the Fable stingeth him that refreshed it Thus it is with all unthankfull men men ingratefull to God he ladeth them daily with benefits and blessings and they lade him with sins and trespasses God would have them to be righteous but they will not part with their inventions So ingratefull so swinish are they that having acorns to feed on mercies to encourage them promises to support them they will not so much as look up to the Tree not be thankfull to God that hath so richly provided for them Gods fundamentall love of Election and actuall love of Adoption how distinguished IT so falleth out sometimes that a great person of quality hath a purpose to marry a poor kitchin-maid he provides her cloths and all things suteable for such a state She poor wretch little dreams of any such matter is in the kitchin about her drudgery and it cannot be said but that he loves her still Here now is an intentionall love a virtuall and fundamentall affection but there will be another manner of love when she comes to be his wife and lie in his bosom Thus wretched sinfull Man he is under wrath a very bond-slave of Sathan in a sad condition by nature hath nothing in him that may deserve love yet God intending to adopt him for his son looks after him and treasures him up in Christ Iesus The poor sinner all this while knowes little of it he is not justified because he is not called but when God shall be pleased to manifest himself by the operation of his blessed Spirit the love of Election which was virtuall and fundamentall from all Eternity will break out and he shall be actually adopted a child of God and heir of eternall salvation Faith the root of all Graces THe root of a tree is a ragged and a jagged thing no shape no proportion no comlinesse in it and therefore keeps it self in the earth as unwilling to be seen yet all the beauty that is in the tree the streightnesse
VVHen Christ went about to bring the woman of Samaria to remorse and sorrow for sin he singled out one sin amongst all the rest and tâ—ld her Thou art an Harlot and the Scripture gives us this hint That the singling out of that one sinne so farre opened her eyes that she saw all other sinnes whereupon she said Loe behold the Man that hath told me all that ever I did and yet Christ told her onely of her Adultery So let every one of us take notice that the singling out of one beloved sin makes way to the full sight of all sin Let us examine then What is that Dalilah that darling sin that we play withall and hugge so much in our bosomes single but out that and the coast will be so clear the mists and fogs of darknesse so much expelled that we shall have a distinct view of all the sinnes that ever we committed not a generall and confused apprehension of sin which onely brings in a generall humiliation of sin and hath without the great mercy of God been the undoing of many a precious Soul for ever Assured Christians must be patient Christians IT is mentioned that in the time of that Marian persecution there was a woman who being convened before Bonner then Bishop of London upon the tryall of Religion He threatned her that he would take away her Husband from her saith she Christ is my Husband I will take away thy Childe Christ saith she is better to me then ten Sons I will strip thee saith he of all thy outward comforts yea but Christ is minâ— â—aith she and you cannot strip me of him The thoughts of this bore up the womans heart spoil her of all and take away all yet Christ was hers and him they could not take away Thus when the soul lives in the assurance of Gods love and of its calling to Grace and glory it cannot but make a Man very patient to endure with chearfulnesse whatsoever of opposition he shall meet with here below There is a remarkable phrase in that of the Prophet The Inhabitants of Sion shall not say I am sick the People that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity A strange passage He doth not say They were not sick but the Text saith They should not say so And what 's the reason Why should the People forget their sorrowes and not remember their pains This was it that did it The Lord hath forgiven them their iniquities The sense of pardon took away the sense of pain And thus should all of us walk to shew that trouble can not daunt us nor any any way startle us but as assured Christians to be patient under all sufferings whatsoever Worldly-mindednesse a great â—inderance to the comfortable enjoyment of spirituall graces WHat the Philosophers say of the Eclipse of the Sun that it is occasioned by the intervening of the Moon between the Sun and our sight is true in this case If the World get between Christ the Sun of Righteousnesse and our sight it will darken our sight of Iesus Christ and bring Eclipses upon our comforts and Graces Again those Men that dig deep into the bowels of the Earth they are oft-times choaked and stifled by damps that come from the Earth So it is with Christians those that will be ever poring and digging about the things of this World it is a thousand to one that if from worldly things a damp doth not arise to smother their Comforts and quench their Graces Lastly A Candle though it may shine to the view of all yet put it under ground and though there be not the least puffe of wind the very damp will stifle the light of the flame so it is that Men may shine like Candles in their comforts yet bring them but under the Earth and a clod of that will stiflle their Candle will damp their spirituall comforts and bereave them of those joyes that are in themselves unspeakable God so ordereth it that few or none of his People live and dye without assurance of their Salvation IT is reported of one Mrs. Honywood a famous professor of Gods truth and one that for many years together lay under the burthen of a wounded Spirit and was much troubled in mind for the want of her Assurance as to the matter of Salvation At length there came a Minister to her who endeavoured to settle her hopes and comforts in Iesus Christ and urging Promises of the Gospell unto her she took it with a kind of indignation and anger that he should offer to present any Promises to her to whom as she thought they did not belong And having a Venice glasse in her hand she held it up and said Speak no more to me of Salvation for I shall as surely be damned as this poor brittle glass shall be broke against the wall throwing it will all her force to break it But it so pleased God that by a miraculous Providence the Glass was preserved whole The Minister seeing this made a happy use of the accident took up the Glass and said unto her Behold God must work a miracle for you before you will believe And from that day saith the story she was a woman very strong in the Assurance of Gods love and favour Thus did God indulge the infirmity of his poor dispairing servant at that time and rather than that any of his People now or heareafter shall live or dye without assurance of their salvation he will work it even by a Miracle or some unusuall extraordinary way to them altogether unknown Grace in the heart is certain though the feeling thereof be uncertain And how so AS the Aire is sometimes clear and sometimes cloudy THE Sea sometimes ebbing sometimes flowing ebbing in our comforts as well as flowing in our Graces Or as the Trees of the â—ield sometimes flowring green and growing another time naked withered and as it were even dead So are all Christians in the feeling of their Graces their apprehension of Graces is subject to much change though their Graces be not so for Grace in it selfe is certain and unchangeable All the Devils of Hell cannot pluck one Believer out of Gods hand Those whom thou hast given me I will keep saith Christ and none shall take them from me The foundation of God stands sure though our knowledge that we build upon that foundation be not sure to us The Lord knoweth who are his though we do not And hence is it that though Grace itselfe be an unshaken foundation yet our feeling of Grace is not so but subject to many alterations and changes The great danger of taking up a false perswasion of our effectuall Calling AS a Man that is in a pleasant sleep dreams that he is a King hath loyall and obedient subjects about him a large Revenue with a Treasury full of gold and silver yet when he awakes behold the Man is a
the whitest feathers yet of the blackest skin The Eagle a bird of the quickest sight and of the highest flight yet the most ravenous among birds And among Beasts the Lion the goodliest of all the woods yet the most fierce and cruel The Fox most subtle yet a Creature of the foulest smell Thus God hath ordered it even amongst the Creatures irrationall and thus it is with his own People in respect of Grace though they have many excellent endowments and guifts yet he suffers some corruptions of Nature in them to humble them So that Humiltty the best of Graces comes from the worst root our Sin And Pride the worst of sinnes comes from the best root our Grace which caused that saying of Mr. Fox the Martyrologist That his Graces hurt him more then his sins meaning That many times he was proud of his guifts but humbled by reason of his sinnes and natural infirmities Not to consult with Gods secrets but his revealed word IT was a good saying of Mr. Bradford that famous Martyr of Christ Iesus That a Man should not go to the University of Predestination untill he were well grounded in the Grammer-school of obedience and Repentance And most sure it is that we are not to consult with Gods secret decrees but with his revealed Word Secret things belong to the Lord our God but revealed things to us and our Children for ever Deut. 29. 29. We are not to look to the decrees of God and upon them either do or not do our duty but we are to look to his revealed will which bids us to be conversant in holy duties of Religion and Godlinesse We are not to search the secret Records of Heaven but the revealed will of God which is able to make us wise to salvation The consideration of Mercies formerly enjoyed an excellent means to bear up our spirits under present Afflictions THere is a story of a Man aged fifty years or there abouts who lived forty eight of that time and never knew what sicknesse was but so it was that all the two last years of his life he was sickly and impatient under it yet at last he reasoned the case thus with himself The Lord might have given me forty eight years of sicknesse and but two years of health yet he hath done the contrary I will therefore rather admire the mercy of God in giving me so long a time of health than repine and murmure at him for giving me so short a time of sicknesse And thus must all of us consider that we have had more Mercies in our life to chear us up than we have had crosses to discomfort us What though the Lord doth now visit us with sicknesse we have had more years of health then we have had of sicknesse What though this or that comfort be taken from us yet we have a great many more left us still Hence is that advice of the Wiseman In the day of Adversity consider What must we consider That God hath set the one against the other that is Though we are in Afflictions now yet he hath given us Mercies heretofore and it may be will give us Prosperity again he hath ballanced our present Afflictions with former Mercies so that if we should set the Mercies we have enjoyed against the present Afflictions we suffer we should soon find the tale of our Mercies to exceed the number of sufferings be they of what Nature or quality soever imaginable Not to mourn excessively for the losse of any worldly enjoyment whatsoever And why so IT is related of a Minister of Gods word that visiting a Neighbour whose child lay a dying he endeavoured to comfort her but she being much grieved and dejected with sorrow would by no means be comforted The Minister said unto her Woman Why do you sorrow so much pacifie your selfe If your Child should live it may be so that God might make it a scourge and vexation to you by taking wicked and sinful courses She answered that she did not care if her Child did recover though he were hanged afterward This Son of hers did recover and was afterward executed for some villany coâ—mitted Now let any one judge whether it had not been a greater mercy and a thousand times better for her to have seen him buryed before her then that he should have come to such an unhappy end Thus it is that that comfort which any of us all shall so excessively mourn for the want of it may be would have proved a greater cross and trouble should but God have continued it still unto us whether it be the lâ—sse of life or estate of a loâ—ing Wife or an onely Son as it was in Rachels case Gen. 30. 5. and in Davids that if God had given him the life of his Child it would have been but a living Monument of his shame and all that knew the Child might have said Yonder goes Davids Bastard The consideration whereof should allay and take off the edge of all excesse of sorrow for the losse of any temporall comfort any worldly enjoyment whatsoever Not to be troubled at Afflictions because God intends good by them SUppose a Man very much in debt and in such need of Money that he knew not well how to subsist without throwing himselfe upon the saâ— charity of others that might if they had but hearts possibly relieve him should go to some especiall inâ—imate friend and make known unto him the lownesse of his condition and crave relief accordingly Now if this friend of his which is somewhat strange should go presently to his Châ—st and take out a considerable bag of Mony and throw it at him and in the throwing of it breake his head or give him some slight scar Can it be imagined that he would take it unkindly No certainly Thus it is that every Affliction that God is pleased to lay upon us shall work for our good We may say as Ioseph did to his brethren Though you intended all this for my hurt yet God intended and turned it for my good and will work benefit and advantage to me by it and promote my spiritual good that as Afflictions do abound my Consolations in Christ shall abound much more Every Affliction like Ionathans rod having hony on the top and therefore let us bear them patiently How to know whether we are more grieved for sin then for worldly Sorrow and Trouble WHen a Man is brought to a low Condition and a great decay in the world so that his Trade is quite fallen and his stock spent Now if such a Man be more troubled for his sin that brought him to so low an ebbe in the World then for the Affliction and trouble it selfe then he will not commit a fin to repair and make up his losses though he did know assuredly that the committing of such a sin would make up all again As in the story
may come it may be presented pure and spotlesse to him whom he intendeth it now unto Progresse in Piety to be endeavoured PRogresse in Piety and Religion is not unfitly compared to a building to a Race to the Morning light and to the Moon that waxeth Houses are raised from the Foundation to the walls from the walls to the roof In a Race Men run on to the goal The Morning light is brighter and brighter till the Noon day And the Moon encreaseth more and more till it come to the Full Habent et omnes virtutes suas conceptiones nativitates incunabula c. And all virtues have their conceptions births infancies and encreas So must every good Christian have he must not stand still in Religion like the Sun in Gibeon or go back like that on Ahaz's dyall but as a Bridegroom coming out of his Chamber that rejoyceth as a strong Man to run a Race he must go forward make still some progresse in Piety It is not enough that he receive a Talent but he must employ it and gain by it like good ground that giveth not the bare seed-corn back again but fructifieth in abundance He must encrease more and more as S. Paul exhorted the Jews of Thessalonica and to grow in Grace and in the Knowledg of God 1 Pet. 3. 18. Resurrection of the dead asserted OUt of the Earth comes the bread that we eat that bread after it passeth several concoctions is alter'd and changed into bloud then conveyed throughout the parts of the body and at last attains to be even of the very same substance and Nature with the body Thus that which was Earth and sprung out of the Earth becomes Flesh in substance which before it was not In the Numerical Resurrection that which was Flesh and after turn'd into Earth becomes Flesh again in the same Nature which before it was If that were not daily and ordinary the difficulty would appear no greater in the one then in the other Again We daily see a tall fair spread losty Tree to have risen out of a little seed If you demand saith Gregory the Great Ubi latet fortitudo ligni asperitas corticis c. Whence was derived the solidity of the Wood the superficial hardnesse of the bark the flourishing greennesse of the leaves Experience testifies it proceeded from the spreading virtue which lay treasured up in the seed What marvel then if he that out of a small seed daily extracts the Wood Fruit and leaves in the trunk and branches of a Tree doth likewise reduce bones veins and hair out of the least remainder of our dust And having grafted them into the former stock of the same Flesh commands again breath and warmth into that Flesh bloud into those veins strength into those bones and beautifies those hairs with a fresher hew The Souldiers calling Honourable HE â—hat in these dayes of the Gospel styleth himself Deus pacis the God of Peace did in the dayes of old under the Law call himself Deus exercituum the Lord of Hoasts The Scriptures make Christ The Captain of the Lords Army the Angels Souldiers The Church a Squadron of armed Men every Bishop or Superintendent of the Church a Souldier and the Church upon good grounds hath listed every Child in Baptisme as a Souldier of Christ Iesus Eques that formerly signified an ordinary Trooper is now our Knight Miles that was wont to be a private Souldier is now our Esquire or Gentleman such and so Honourable is the Condition and Calling of a Souldier that though the Poets have inveighed against it yet they must so far yield that whatsoever of rubbish and dirt is thrown upon it it is vitium personae non rei the fault of the Persons not of the Profession since God himself hath graced it our Saviour hath approved it the Apostles have commended it the Saints have practised it and our Ancestors gloried in it Women Reformers intolerable IT was a witty answer that St. Bernard gave to the Image of the blessed Virgin at the great Church of Spire in Germany Bernard was no sooner come into the Church but the Image straight saluted him and bad him Good morrow Bernard Whereat Bernard well knowing the jugling of the Fryers made answer again out of St. Paul O saith he your Ladiship hath forgotten your self It is not lawfull for Women to speak in the Church Thus it is commendable in a Woman when she is able by her wisdome to instruct her Children and to give at opportunities good Counsell to her Husband but when she-Apostles Women shall take upon them as many have done to hold out the Word in publique and to chalk out Discipline for the Church this is neither commendable nor tolerable for her hands should handle the spindle or the Cradle but neither the Altar nor the Church the commendations that St. Iohn's elect Lady had was not so much for her talking as her walking in the Commandements of God 2 Joh. v. 5 6. When it may be said to be the best time for Prayer SUiters at Court observe mollissima fandi tempora their times of begging when they have the King in a good moode which they will be sure to take the advantage of but especially if they should find that the King himself should begin of himself to speak of the businesse which they would have of him then they take that very nick of time and seldome or never come off but with good successe Thus when God speaks secretly to the heart to pray fashioneth and composeth it into a praying frame and disposition observe such a time and neglect it not strike whilst the Iron is hot lay hold upon such a blessed opportunity such a one as thou maist never have the like againe for it is a great signe that he intends to heare thee and answer thee gratiously when he himself shall thus prepare and indite the Petition and frame the Requests that thou shalt put up unto him This must needs be the best time of Prayer Magistrates and men in Authority to be Exemplary to all others IT is observable in the very course of Nature That the highest Spheres are alwayes the swiftest in their motion and carry about with them the inferior Orbes by their â—elerity The biggest Stars in the Firmament are evermore the brightest and give lustre unto those of a lesser magnitude Thus Men that bear Authority that are eminent in power and dignity that excell in Riches and command are placed in the highest sphere of humane Society to this end that like sons of God they might shine brightly unto their Inferiors by their godly life and Example Ministers to be acquainted with the state of Mens Souls MEn are careful that the Physitian should be well and throughly acquainted with the Constitution of their bodies before he administer any Physick unto them And
as maintain him though he were a Papist in the matter of his Religion yet this unthankfull Fellow went about to betray him to death but the Merchant having escaped his hands meerly out of love to his Soul used all means to be Friends with him again and invited him to his house All this would not do his heart was so embittered that he would shun the way of him and not so much as look at him It fell out so at length that he met him in such a narrow lane that he could not balk him but must needs talk with him The good Merchant takes him to him tells him he was glad he had met with him and wondred that he was grown so strange What said he do you think me your Enemy If I were Could I not crush you with a word speaking Alas I am not offended with you if you be not with me and for all your treachery against me will forgive and forget it These kind words were no sooner spoken but the Cobler melted into tears and falling down upon his knees confessed his villany and repenting of it told him This love of yours shall bind me to you for ever to serve you in all that I may or possibly can This Popish Cobler is the heart of every child of Adam this Royall Merchant is the great God of Heaven this narrow lane is the streight of Conscience beset with sins and curles this kind behaviour is the tender of Grace Let us not then be worse to our poor Souls then the Cobler was to his but break our hearts by Repentance and sorrow for our sins that ever we should offend so good a God so gratious and loving a Master and with Saul to David say Where shall a Man find such love as to spare his Enemy when he had him in his hand and to be content to cut off onely a lap of his garment to correct him here in this World with some temporary Iudgment when he might have cut his throat and cast him into Hell-torments for evermore God raysing up Instruments for the deliverance of his People MEmorable is that Vision of Zachary I lift up mine eyes said the Prophet and saw and behold four horns Chap. 1. vers 18. And the Lord shewed me four Carpenters vers 20. Now what were these four horns What but the Enemies of the Church vers 19. Horns so called for their power and said to be four in reference to the four parts of the World East West North and South from all which they came And what are the Carpenters Why Instruments raised up by God to break and batter those horns to oppose to overthrow that adverse power vers 21. and they are said to be four to import an equality of strength and power Thus when God hath a work to do be it to beat down Babylon or build up Ierusalem he can raise up Carpenters Instruments that shall be sufficient for the work though never so mean yet they shall effect great work Trumpets of Rams horns if they do but blow down go the walls of Jericho with a Vengeance Nay though Instruments fail yet the promise shall not fail though the Carpenters should not strike one stroke yet God hath waies to take off the horns of his enemies though his People should be destitute of all humane protection yet he will find out a way to deliver and secure them no Temptation no crosse no trouble shall so far seize upon them but he will find a way to esape that they may be able to bear it All endeavours to be sanctified by Prayer THere was a certain Husbandman that alway sowed good seed but never could have any good corn at last a Neighbour came unto him and reasoned What should be the cause he sowed so good seed and râ—aped so bad corn Why truly said he I give the Land her due good tillage good seed and all things that be fit Why then replyed the other It may be you do not steep your seed No truly said he nor ever did I hear that seed should be steeped Yes surely said the other and I will tell you how It must be steeped in Prayer When the Party heard this he thanked him for his good counsel put it home to his Conscience reformed his fault and had as good corn as any other Man whatsoever Thus it is that if ever we look to have a good improvement of our labours and to have a blessing upon what we undertake we must have recourse unto God by Prayer Otherwise we may trade and trasfick fight and warre and get nothing Nay let us get ever so much it is all in vain because we ask not aright Iam. 4. 2. Universal Obedience unto God injoyned AN Instrument if one onely string be out of tune although the rest be well set yet that one keeps such a jarring and harsh sound that the lesson plaid thereon will relish as unmusically in a skilful ear as if all the strings were out of tune And thus if a Man should abstain from swearing and drunkennesse yet if he were given to lust or if from those three and yet addicted to Covetousnesse it comes all to one reckoning Let every Man therefore look into his bosome sin observe diligently that one jarring string and never leave screwing and winding of it up till it be brought into right tune and if that cannot be effected break it pluck it out For God will have a compleat harmonious consent a resolution for Universal obedience otherwise no acceptance To be more careful for the Body then the Soul reproveable THe Iews have a Story of a Woman that took two Children to nurse the one a very mean deformed crooked blind and not likely to live long the other as goodly a child as may be beautifull well-favoured and likely to be long-liv'd Now this foolish Woman bestowing all her care and diligence pains and attendance upon the worst child never so much as minding the best must needs be ignorant and very foolish in so bad a choyce and of so great neglect Thus it is that the most of Men are herein to be reproved who having taken two Children to nurse their bodies and their Souls and well knowing that the Soul is infinitely far better then the body more beautiful and of longer continuance yet like the foolish Nurse they bestow all their care labour and pains for the worst they make provision for the Flesh pamper up the body which must ere long lye down in the dust and starve the Soul which doth and must live for ever The great danger of Repentance put off till old age HE cannot be otherwise looked on then as a very Unwise Man that having made a burthen of sticks and finding it too heavy for his shoulders should lay it aside and go and cut down more and adde unto it And him little better then a Mad-man that