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word_n	death_n	sin_n	wage_n	2,873	5	11.4472	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A56309	The weavers shuttle displayed and the swiftness thereof unfolded, or, The words of a dying man to a dying people, in the midst of a dying nation wherein is held forth I. That the time is short, the way is narrow, the prize is great, the runners are many, the obtainers few, II. That repentance and turning to God is not in one call or command, wherefore wait upon the means appointed by God to work it, and that diligently and constantly this work deferred will be still greater, the time to do it wil[l] be shorter, the strength to do it by wil[l] be less, III. If we endeavour to the uttermost to improve the present opportunity and ability that the Almighty gives us, we shall, for ought I know, live with more comfort here and die in full assurance hereafter, for the greatest evil threatned or feared, may through wisdom be timely prevented / by Robert Purnel.	Purnell, Robert, d. 1666.	1652 (1652)	Wing P4244; ESTC R32258	54,417	168

yet to live then consider that half of this thirty years will be slept out and then there remains but fifteen years and the half of this fifteen years will be spent in pains and care to provide for thy self and Family and then there remains but seven years and a half and in the half of this thou wilt have some unexpected sickness and weakness which man that is born of a woman is subject unto and then there remains but three years three quarters and the half of this will be spent in mourning for some losses or crosses in thy Wife Children Kindred and Friends and so there doth not remain so much as two years of peace and quiet for thee to minde thy soul this struck the man into such a damp that he went away sorrowfull as the young man in the Gospel did from Christ Matth. 19. 22. Oh let us redeem that precious jewel of time which we have formerly lost Travellers that have staid a little too long at their Inn when they do find the night approaching they mend their pace and go as many miles in one hour as they did before in two so let us do we have staid too long in doating upon the things of this life and in setting our eyes and hearts upon that which is not the World it was Created of nothing saith the Lord and it hangs upon nothing saith Job Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not saith Solomon Pro. 23. 5. I remember a passage that many years since I read in a little Book called Good News from Heaven between Wealth and his worldly Master at the point of death 1. First Wealth seeing his Master dying saith Well Master thus long have I served you or rather you have served me for you have loved me too much and doted upon me and therefore now you be like to speed the worse you was my Master in shew but I was yours indeed for you did what I would have you do thus far have I gone with you but further I will not I have nothing to do in another world now therefore Master shift for your self if you go to Hell I cannot help it I will go seek me a new Master adieu Ans Master Nay saith his Master I hope thou wilt not serve me so now I have most need of thee many a nights rest have I broken for thee many an hour have I bestowed on thee many a good Feast yea many a Sermon and good opportunity for my soul have I lost for thee Wealth Wealth The more fool thou Master who bid you do so not God I am sure but the Devil and therefore to him you are like to go that set you on work or whither you go I know not nor care not but further to go with you I will not Master Nay Wealth I pray thee say not so that goeth to my very heart go answer for me or at least speak a good word for me Wealth Not I nay I am sure you shall answer for me and your self too and to tell you the truth I doubt the place is too hot for me where you are going but go try Master first how you shall speed and if you do not like the place if you can get leave to come back again I may chance to serve you again believe it who list look look here comes death quivering in your lips quaking in your joynts staring in your eyes I cannot endure the sight of him oh draw the Curtains shift for thy self Master I will shift for one Master What dost thou mock me to increase my misery and dolor What wilt thou leave me thus in the straits Oh that I were to live in the World again I would care as little for thee as thou doest now for me Oh base Vagrant have I thus entertained thee like a Prince for this Oh all ye People of the World be admonished by me a dying man take heed how you give entertainment as I have to this Vagabond cheating Wealth that wanders up and down the World but lay up treasure in Heaven not on the earth and that speedily For man that is born of a woman is of few days saith David and they pass away faster then the Weavers Shuttle saith Iob thou shalt cut off thy life like a Weaver saith the Prophet Isaiah and then if thou hast improved thy talent redeemed thy time and given all diligence to make thy Calling and Election sure for ought I know thou mayest die in full assurance of true blessedness which consisteth not in honour for then Pharaoh had been blessed not in wit for then Achitophel had been blessed not in wealth for then Ahab had been blessed but herein will thy blessedness be that thou indeavourest to be found cloathed with the Robe of Christs righteousness in comparison of which thy own is as dung Phil. 3. 8 9. Looking upon thy self as thou art in thy self as a Tree the body where of is iniquity the Leaves of it is Atheism the Rine pretends perfection the Sap thereof is Humane Reason the Buds swelling words the Fruit of it uncleanness but as thou art taken off from the old stock the first Adam and grafted into the new stock the second Adam thy blessedness lies here in this Root from whence thou receivest sap and becomest a new Tree which may be known by its Root which is Christ by its soil in which it grows which is Free-Grace planted in the House of the Lord and by its body which is Faith by its Bark which is Hope by its Boughs which is Charity by its Leaves which is Spiritual Vertues by its Branches which is good words by its Fruit which is good works This Tree shall stand up with boldness when the other Tree shall fear and shake if he look up there is his Judge offended with him beneath him Hell open and the Furnace boiling ready to receive him on thy right hand thy sins accusing on thy left hand the Devils ready to execute Gods Sentence upon thee within thee thy conscience gnawing without thee all damned souls bewailing on every side the World burning and this dreadfull day will come suddenly as a thief in the night 2 Pet. 3. Therefore while thou hast thy legs let them carry thee to the Assemblies of Zion run to and fro that thy knowledge may be increased thy legs may be taken from thee While thou hast thy hearing listen diligently thou mayst speedily be deaf as many be already While thou hast thy hands let them minister to the necessity of the Saints while thou hast any estate give somthing of it lest thou dost repent too late All these things be mutable and fleeting thy dayes be swifter then the Weavers shuttle and thou mayest lose these before thou dost lose thy life All men had one entrance into life and shall have the like going out In a word thou and I have forfeited our lives many times The wages of sin is death Every sin

40. 7. Psa 102. 3. Job 7. 7. 2 Sam. 14. 14. Hos 10. 7. Jam. 4. 14. 1 Chron. 29. 15. Ps 39. 5. 3. If we make not Religion our business we shall lose much of our comfort here in point of our well being for if we were not wanting to our selvs we might live in heaven while our bodies were here upon earth Phil. 3. 20. For our conversation is in heaven and this caused the Saints exceedingly to rejoyce 2 Cor. 1. 12. For our rejoycing is this the testimony of our Conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity we have had our conversation in the world Psa 119. 6. Then shall I not be ashamed when I shall have respect unto all thy Commandments What is the matter that one is crying another is sighing and a third perplexed and a fourth in despair why sin is the cause if a man made Religion his business so that his ways did please the Lord even his enemies should be at peace with him Prov. 16. 7. Nay further He shall deliver thee in six troubles yea in seven there shall be no evil touch thee in famine he will preserve thee from death and in war from the power of the sword thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue neither shalt thou be afraid of destruction when it cometh thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field and the beasts of the earth shall be at peace with thee thy tabernacle shall be at peace and thou shalt not sin Job 5. 19 20 21 22 23 24 c. In a word what brings all the miseries upon our bodies and plagues upon our souls but sin and how shall we refrain from sin unless we make Religion our business which if we did do we should 1. Not fear the faces of men Mat. 10. 28. 2. When we did suffer either in our bodies or estates we should be so far from murmuring or complaining that our hearts would be taken up altogether with singing praising and rejoycing Acts 6. 25. Luk. 6. 22. 23. 1 Pet. 3. 14 17. 1 Pet. 12 13 14 15 16. 3. We should have a fellowship with Christ in all our sufferings as in Phil. 3. 10. 4. We should be great gainers by all our sufferings Rom. 5. 3. 1 Pet. 2. 19. 20. 5. We should accompt the worst of them both light and short 2 Cor. 4. 17. For our light afflictions which are but for a moment work for us a far more excellent and eternal weight of glory Rom. 8. 8. If we made Religion our business with Paul we should should say in our sufferings as he did 2 Cor. 4. 8 9. We be troubled on every side yet not distressed we are perplexed but not in despair persecuted but not forsaken cast down but not destroyed c. In a word I know nothing that keeps all good things from us and brings all miseries upon us but sin Jam. 4. 1. From whence come wars and fightings among you Come they not hence even of your lusts that war in your members Oh then let Religion be thy business and not sin 1. Because sin is contrary to the nature of God it doth dishonour him 2. It 's most injurious to thy self as hath been proved for it brings all the miseries upon thee that have do or shall ever befall thee As soon as ever thou sinnest the punishment lieth at the door Oh then if the love of Christ will not constrain yet let the fear of punishment compel thee and me to refrain from sin Rom. 2. 9. Tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doth evil both of the Iew and the Gentiles Oh let us not do that abominable thing which the Lord doth hate Sin maketh a man abominable both in the sight of God and good men Better it were to suffer a thousand wrongs then to commit one sin Thou mayest have comfort in thy sufferings wrongfully thou oughtest to rejoyce in it but when thou doest sin thou shalt suffer as an evil doer thou art buffeted for thy faults in this thou canst not glory but blush with shame Wherefore if thou art not able to say with Joseph How shall I do this great evil sin against God yet say with Thamar How shall I do this evil and cause my name to slink among the sons and daughters of men Do but a little mark diligently and thou shalt find if thy Conscience be not feared as soon as ever sin is committed thy conscience checks thee thy heart smites thee thy foes laugh at thee thy friends grieve and pitty thee nay more then this thou dost crucifie afresh Christ Jesus and puttest him to an open shame as Heb. 6. 6. What is the reason thou hast so many enemies and so few friends Sin is the cause as Prov. 16. 7. Iob 5. 20 21 c. Thou art deprived of many comforts that others do enjoy Why sin is the cause of it Ier. 5. 25. Doth the Almighty hide his face from thee Why what is the cause Your sins and iniquities have made him to hide his face Wherefore doth the living man so complain but for the punishment of his sin Lam. 3. 39. Wherefore is there so much weeping in this Nation One weeps for his father another for his mother one for his brother another for his sister some for one Relation some for another Why dost thou weep for them Oh they be be dead or dying Why what brought this unavoidable Death into the world Ans It was sin it was sin The wages of sin is death Rom. 6. 23. In a word Sin hath slain our father deceived our mother cheated almost undone all our brethren and defiled our sisters wounded our children and plundered all our kindred to the skin and left them as poor as Iob. One sin caused Adam to fall and so infected the whole world One sin caused the Angels to be cast out of Heaven One sin caused Saul to be utterly cast off from being King although he was anointed King by the Lord his special appointment Ananias and Sapphira for one lye were stricken with present death Besides sin defiles a man totally it beginneth at the understanding and so to the will and affection it will take in every faculty of the soul and endeavour to act in every member of the body it doth defile a man eternally it robs us of the Image of God it robs us of his presence it will promise us peace and bring us into trouble it will promise us honour and bring us into disgrace it will promise us liberty and bring us into bondage it will promise us life and bring us to death it will hide Pride under the name of decencie it will bring in Covetousnes under the name of good husbandry it will clothe Drunkenness Gluttony under the name of good-fellowship it will hide Frowardness under the name of zeal In a word as the acts of sin be numerous so the

THE Weavers SHUTTLE DISPLAYED And the Swiftness thereof Unfolded Or the Words of a Dying man to a Dying People in the midst of a Dying Nation Wherein is held forth I. That the time is short the way is narrow the Prize is great the Runners are many the Obtainers are few II. That Repentance and turning to God is not in one Call or Command wherefore wait upon the means appointed by God to work it and that diligently and constantly this Work deferred will be still greater the Time to do it in wil be shorter the strength to do it by wil be less III. If we endeavour to the uttermost to improve the present opportunity and ability that the Almighty gives us we shall for ought I know live with more comfort here and die in full assurance hereafter for the greatest evil threatned or feared may through wisdom be timely prevented By Robert Purnel Job 14. 1. Man that is born of a Woman is of few days and full of trouble Psal 39. 5. Verily every man at his best estate is altogether vanity Job 7. 6. For his days are swifter then a Weavers Shuttle London Printed for Giles Calvert and are to be sold at his Shop at the black spred Eagle neer the West end of Pauls 1652. The Epistle to the Impartial READER Courteous Reader AS death is the King of Terrors to Christless Souls who have made the World their portion and Lyes their Refuge c. To Christians it is but a Servant sent from their Father to put them to Bed or sleep for a little time till Corruption put on Incorruption and Mortality Immortality to the first Death comes in full Power Force and Vertue to execute all the Plagues written so puts a period to all his good things But to the latter it puts a period to all his Troubles of what kinde or nature soever they are for Christ hath born all their griefs iniquities transgressions sorrows stripes and chastisements c. Fear not me saith death to a Saint I come from your Father who hath taken away my sting I am come to tell you that God and Christ doth love you and they love you so well that they can not suffer you any longer to be out of the full enjoyment of their love I have but one thing more in my Commission and that is only to crack the clay Walls which is the Prison that you may flie home and be at rest and this will be to the advantage both of thy body and soul thy body shall be healed of all its diseases of what nature or kind soever Death puts an end to all hunger and thirst cold or nakedness labour and weariness and then thy soul shall be taken up into the perfection of Gods eternal Love free Grace full Glory and everlasting Purity and so be for ever with the Lord in a word Death comes to put an end to a dying life which finisheth that work which begins so soon as we begin to live for the whole life is but a progress of death all the time we live we die invisibly and when we die indeed it is but a compleating of what we have been doing all our life long So that all the sons of men may say as once Iacob to Pharaoh Gen. 47. 9. Few and evil have the days of my life been few in comparison of his forefathers evil in the respect of his manifold crosses first in his Infancy secondly in Youth thirdly of Manhood fourthly of old Age each of those states accompanied with as many miseries as an hour is with minutes as doth appear by those words of Christ Mat. 6. 34. Sufficient to the day is the evil thereof c. And as for the things of this life when we have taken all the pains we can to rake and scrape them together it will be with us as with the children of Israel they that gathered little had no lack and those that gathered much had nothing over The Scripture tells us that the World was made of nothing Heb. 11. 3. and Iob telleth us it doth hang on nothing Iob 26. 7. Therefore to depend upon it is to depend on nothing Prov. 24. 5. VVilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not I have endeavoured in this Treatise to hold forth the frailty of man and the miseries that do accompany all men and women that do take up their rest in any thing beneath God I have exhorted all to improve the present opportunity and ability to the best advantage that all their good meanings and purposes might end in speedy performances in all which I do not say or mean that man should or could act without the Lords enabling him for we cannot get life by any action as it is mans without God for there is a flaming sword so that there is no coming to the Tree of Life but by Iesus Christ the new and living Way the true and only way We may assoon stand upon the Earth and touch the Sun in the Firmament as perform any Spiritual action without him or have any Acceptance either of our persons or performances but only in him Look upon whatsoever I have written as my thoughts or judgement who am a man knowing but little I must confess I rather lisp then speak plain in the things of God wherefore cover all my imperfections with a Mantle of Love this Piece is the only Work of a few redeemed hours compiled in the midst of many personal tryals if thou finde any imperfections yet let not the Truth of God suffer through my weakness but ascribe them to me even to me to whom of due they belong wherefore to the Law and to the Testimonies wherein I come short of speaking according to that Rule it is for want of light I am content to decrease so the glory of God may increase let my name perish so his may flourish let me cut off like a Weaver and die so his Name and Glory may live R. P. THE Weavers Shuttle Displayed And the Swiftness thereof Unfolded Job 7. 6. My days are swifter then a Weavers Shuttle THE Book of Job whereof this Text is a Part in general lays before us these things viz. 1. Gods Omnipotency 2. Mans uncharitableness 3. Jobs Patience and Thankfulness arising from his living in the will of God He giveth and takes away blessed be his name Job 1. 21. Now there were many things very eminent in Job 1. Uprightness of life in these words And Job was an upright and just man one that feared God and hated evil Job 1. 1. 2. Patience in Affl●ction Shall we receive good at the hands of God and not evil Job 2. 10. Job further holds forth viz. 3. The vanishing frailty of mans Nature 4. The envy of the Devil Job 1. 11. 5. The mercy of Almighty God in these words He maketh the wound and bindeth it up Job 5. 18. In the first of these to wit the Uprightness of his Life there are these

wisdom of man rather then the wisdom of God we will take the words as they lie without any division or subdivision c. My dayes are swifter then a Weavers shuttle From which words we may naturally draw this Conclusion or Doctrine That such is the swiftness of mans dayes and shortness of mans life and frailty of his nature that the swiftest shortest and frailest things for the most part that we read of in Scripture are not swift short and frail enough to compare mans life unto This Observation might be proved by Scripture and Reason abundantly but I shall endeavour to contract what I understand in it in few words Iob tels us Iob 16. 22. When a few years are come then I shall go the way whence I shall not return But as if a few years were too long a time the Prophet Isaiah saith Isa 64. 6. We all do fade as a leaf But as if that were too long a resemblance the Prophet tels us 2 Sam. 14. 14. We are as water spilt upon the ground that cannot be taken up again Now as if this were too long a Comparison for water may lie in the Pool a pretty distance of time before the ground drinks it up Job tels us that Man that is born of woman is of few dayes and full of trouble Now as if a few dayes were too long a time to set forth the short life David brings it within the compass of one day Psal 90. 6. Our life is as grass which flourisheth in the morning and in the evening is cut down and withered But as if this were too long a resemblance David tels us Psal 102. 11. Our dayes are like a shadow that declineth and I am withered like grass But none of these are swift short and frail enough to compare mans life unto wherefore James saith Jam. 4. 14. For what is your life it is even a vapour that appears for a little time und then vanisheth away But as if this were too long we find it written for our further learning Ps 102. 3. My dayes are consumed like smoak Now smoak will appear as a cloud in the air but speedily consume away But this is yet too durable a thing to compare mans frailty unto therefore another Scripture tels thee it is but a span long But as if a span was too much the Holy Ghost tels us it is but a hand-breadth Ps 39. 5. But a hand-breadth is too large a thing to compare mans little time unto and therefore Job tels us Job 7. 7. that our life is but as a puff of wind which flies away as swift as lightning But this is yet too permanent a thing to hold forth our life by therefore David sayes Mine age is nothing before thee Let us a little lay these things together and we shall soon conclude with Job My days are swifter then a Weavers Shuttle Lo here is the Anatomy of our life it is a shrub a leaf a reed a rush a grass a smoak a Post a cloud a wind a water a bubble a vapour a shadow a nothing it is swift yea more swift then a Weavers Shuttle We no sooner have our Being but we are going to our End and our strength is but as the grass and our beauty is but as the flower the grass fadeth and the flower withereth and so our glory is gone and life is uncertain but death is certain for we are more sure to die then live for what is more certain then death and what is so uncertain as life All Creatures observe their time but man and yet man is the most noble of Creatures having time and all things attending him to minde his Creator but alas poor Creatures we do countenance our greatest Enemy for we are a friend to our Flesh and it is an enemy to God How much time do we take in cloathing it what cost do we bestow on it to cloath it and to make it fine we rob or at least borrow of every Creature to adorn our selves viz. we go to the Sheep and take his wool and from another Creature his skin from another his furr then we go down to the ground for gold and silver and turn up the Sands for pretious stones and having borrowed all this of other Creatures we jet up and down and look so big and so lofty as if all this were our own when the stone shineth upon our finger we will seem forsooth thereby to shine when the silver and silk doth glister upon our backs we look big as if all that beauty came from us and as we walk in the Streets and meet with men that be not so richly arrayed as our selves we expect Cap and Knee as Haman did of Mordecai or else we will seek their ruine as he did Esther 3. 5. How oft do we change our habit and how bravely do we indeavour to adorn our selves How carefull are we of our dyet how softly do we lay us down In a word we seek to save that which doth seek to destroy us and so we are a friend to our flesh and it is an utter enemy to God and so we come to be carnally minded which is death Rom. 8. 6. The word Fashion not your selves according to this world is forgotten and also that of Christ is slipt out of our memory Matth. 6. 31 32. Take no thought saying what shall we eat or what shall we drink or wherewithall shall we be cloathed for after all these things do the Gentiles seek It is a wonder to consider the different proceedings of God and the World herein the Almighty was the first that ever made apparel in the World Gen. 3. He made it for the most noble of all our Ancestors in Paradise and yet he made it but of Beasts skins And Saint Paul testifies of the noblest Saints of old Heb. 11. how that they were cloathed with Goats skins and Camels hair what vanity is it then for us to be so curious in apparel and to take such Pride therein as most do at this day never considering those words Isa 40. 6 7. The voice said Cry And he said what shall I cry All flesh is grass and all the goodliness thereof as the flower of the field The grass withereth the flower fadeth because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it surely the people is grass Psal 90. 9. We spend our days as a tale that is told but a tale is sometimes longer in telling then a man is dying Let them that have wives be as if they had none saith Paul there is the Doctrine My days are swifter then a Weavers Shuttle saith Job there is the Reason Oh teach me so to number my days saith David Psal 90. 12. that I may apply my heart to wisdom there is the Use Oh earth earth earth hear the voice of the Lord Jer. 22. 29. Why doth the Prophet mention the earth three times is it not for this cause viz. 1. Because we came from the

we commit we make a forfeit of our life Here is the sad condition of the sons of Adam O Adam what hast thou done For though it was thou that hast sinned yet thou art not faln alone but all we that come of thee as being then in thee and so infected by thee And we become guilty not only of original but also of actual transgression and so many of us have forfeited our lives ten thousand times over from which there is no redemption but by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and it is to be feared that not one of twenty do truly believe in him and make it their work to follow him hence it is that death finds us so unprepared we never considering that there is but a breath between us and Heaven or Hell Vse 4 If our dayes be so short and swift let us so accompt of it that when death comes and sweeps away some of our nearest Relations it may not be so tedious unto us as to cause us to mourn excessively because we saw their dayes to be short and swift before So that in stead of grieving that they be gone so soon we should give thanks to God that he did spare them to us so long and say with David I shall shortly go to them The consideration of these ensuing things will much abate our mourning and take off the edge of our excessive grief for Friends of any Relation that are deceased 1. Let us consider that whatsoever doth come to pass is by the soveraign will and pleasure of God 1 Sam. 3. 18. And Eli said it is the Lord let him do what seemeth him good In the foregoing verses the Lord had told Samuel that the iniquity of Eli's house should not be purged because his sons made themselves vile and he restrained them not Well saith Eli good is the word of the Lord let him do as seemeth him good as if he had said The Lord is infinitely wise and therefore knoweth better then I how to dispose of me and my family for his own glory and our everlasting good And although those Judgments be very heavy which he hath denounced against me and my family yet we have no just cause to complain for doubtless he will bring glory to his name and good to us by it according to his promises So said David 2 Sam. 15. 26. Behold here I am let him do to me as seemeth him good So again Psal 39. 9. I was silent and opened not my mouth because thou didst it So said Hezekiah Isa 39. 8. the Lord had told him by the Prophet Isaiah that all his goods should be carried to Babylon and his sons that did issue from him they though near dear to him should also be carried to Babylon Well saith he good is the word of the Lord. So our dear Saviour himself Mat. 26. 39. O my Father if it be possible let this cup pass from me Nevertheless not as I will but as thou wilt Psal 68. 20. He that is our God is the God of salvation and unto God the Lord belong the issues from death Job 30. 23. I know that thou wilt bring me to death and to the house appointed for all living and that speedily too for my dayes are swifter then the Weavers shuttle 2. Let us consider that we our selves and our friend or friends that now we grieve for I say we and they received our lives from God and must be accomptable to him for them again Eccl. 12. 7. Job 1 21. 1 Tim 6 7. 3. Consider All men have one entrance into the world and the like going out Death is certain and appointed to all the greatest Kings and Emperors under the Sun must taste of this cup nay the Lord Christ himself if he will be vailed in flesh must die And that it is certain and appointed to all will appear by these Scriptures Heb. 9. 27. Job 30. 23. Job 7. 1. Gen. 3. 19. Psal 90. 3. 4. Let us consider the fulness of the Lord Jesus Christ answering every relation and the many excellent promises that are suitable to our particular condition He is bread to the hungry water to the thirsty cloths to the naked eyes to the blind legs to the lame strength to the weak life to the dead he is peace in trouble joy in sorrow health in sickness riches in poverty he is a friend to the friendless a husband to the widow a father to the fatherless I had thought to have brought chapter and verse to have proved each of these to thee but I would have thee to search for them thy self that so thou mayst finde many more sweet Promises sutable to thy present state and condition for he is all thy tongue can ask thy heart can wish or thy minde conceive he is light in darkness and Heaven in Hell if thou canst but see thy Interest in him and Relation to him thou wilt be ready to say within thee in the midst of all thy troubles Let friends forsake me let enemies deride me let all worldly comforts leave me nay the plagues of Egypt the botches of Iob the enemies of David the imprisonment of Ioseph the poverty of Lazarus the bands of Paul cannot hurt me for the Lord is my portion his grace is sufficient for me wherefore I will even say with David Psal 18. 2. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer my God my strength in whom I will trust my buckler and the horn of my salvation and my high tower c. 5. Consider though I have lost a neer and deer Husband or Wife Father or Mother Son or Daughter Brother or Sister Kinsman or Neighbour yet I cannot say as once Jeremy did Was ever sorrow like unto my sorrow but I can say There is nothing hath befallen me but what is common to man nay God hath dealt more favourably with me then he did with Job Job 1. 19. 20 21. for he lost all and he hath dealt more kindly with me then he did with his servant Eli 1 Sam. 4 17. For he lost at once his two Sons and the Ark of God which went nearest to his heart and at last his own life too 6. Let us consider that many of the Saints have desired death and if we love our friends departed shall we grieve that their desire is answered Read and well consider Phil. 1. 23. and Job 14. 14. 2 Cor. 5 1 2 3 4. Again in another Scripture we find these and the like words Now let thy servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen thy salvation 1 Kin. 19. 4. Take away my life for I am no better then my fathers For such as die in the faith we should not mourn for as men without hope 1 Thes 4. 13. But I would not have you to be ignorant concerning them which are asleep that you sorrow not as others that have no hope ver 14. For if we believe that Iesus