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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
work_n	dead_a	faith_n	lively_a	5,187	5	10.6802	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61120	Kaina kai palaia Things new and old, or, A store-house of similies, sentences, allegories, apophthegms, adagies, apologues, divine, morall, politicall, &c. : with their severall applications / collected and observed from the writings and sayings of the learned in all ages to this present by John Spencer ...	Spencer, John, d. 1680.; Fuller, Thomas, (1608-1661)	1658 (1658)	Wing S4960; ESTC R16985	1,028,106	735

not partly on one and partly on another but he bestowes all himself on every one and expects that every one should do the like unto him Excesse of Apparrell condemned WHat heavy things are thundred against those curious Dames of Ierusalem by the Prophet Isaiah who being himself a Courtier inveighs as puncutally against the Noble vanity of Apparrell as if he had late viewed the Ladies Wardrobes And our Saviour finds fault with the Scribes that loved to go in long cloathing But to come nearer In the year 1580 great ruffs with huge wide sets and cloaks reaching almost to the ancles no lesse comely then of great expence were restrained here by Proclamation saith Mr. Cambden And need we not the like Law now when so many Prodigals turn Rents into ruffes and lands into lace singulis auribu● bina aut terna pendunt Patrimonia as Seneca hath it hang two or three Patrimonies at their ears a pretty grove upon their backs a reasonable Lordship or living about their necks from whence both S. Cyprian and S. Augustine drew up this conclusion That superfluous Apparrel is worse then Whoredome because Whoredome onely corrupts Chastity but this corrupts Nature God to be seen in the works of the Creation A Godly Antient being asked by a Prophane Philosopher How he could contemplate high things sith he had no books wisely answered That he had the whole World for his book ready open at all times and in all places and that he could therein read things Heavenly and divine And most true it is that God is to be seen and admired in the works of the Creation there 's not a Flower in the Field not a pile of grasse we tread on but sets forth God unto us in very lively colours so that not to see him is to incur the curse he hath denounced against such as regard not the work of the Lord i. the first making neither consider the operation of his hands i. the wise disposing of his Creatures for our good Esay 5. 12. To keep close to the Word of God in seeking after Christ. IT is the observation of a good Man now with God That the Wise-men travelling to find Christ followed onely the starre and as long as they saw it they were assured that they were in the right way and had great mirth in their journey but when they entred into Ierusalem whereas the starre led them not thither but unto Bethlem and there would be instructed where Christ was born they were not onely ignorant of the place Where but they had lost the sight of the Starre that should guide them thither Whereof we learn in any case that whilest we be going to learn Christ to seek Christ which is above to beware we lose not the Star of Gods Word which onely is the mark that shews us where Christ is and which way we may come to him These are the good Man 's own words whereunto may be added That whereas David made the Word of God a lanthorn to his feet and a light unto his paths we would not suffer our selves to be led aside by every ignis fatuus every false fire that presents it self unto us but to keep close to the Word of God which will bring us to the Knowledg of Christ here and the full enjoyment of him hereafter What it is to trust in God really and truly THere was a King of this Land that being engaged in Warre sent to the Generall of his Army to spare such a City yet he had a command under the broad Seal and the King 's own hand to do it and to disobey his warrant was death but withall the King gave him private instructions to destroy the City and in so doing he would save him harmlesse The Generall did so and trusted the King for his life so that if he had failed him he had been utterly destroyed Thus if a Man be brought to such an exigent if he will trust God in such a case as wherein if he fayl him he is undone so to lean upon God that if he slip away he sinketh so to be unbottom'd off himself and every Creature so to cast himself upon God that if he step aside he is like to perish this is to trust in God really and truly The monstrous Sin of Ingratitude Q. Elizabeth in a letter of hers to Hen. 4th King of France amongst many other expressions hath this upon the sin of Ingratitude That if there were any unpardonable sin in the World such as the sin against the Holy Ghost it was Ingratitude Call me unthankfull said another and you call me all that naught is And without all doubt such a Vice it is that Nature frowns at though she smile at many others Nay It is a Monster in Nature a Solecism in manners a Paradox in Divinity an ugly sinl Insomuch that Christ himself joyned the Evill and unthankfull together Luke 6. 35. How it is that Faith is said to be made perfect by Works AS one that professeth That he hath an art and that he is able to do this and that by his art Now if he make up some exquisite piece of Workmanship by that he is said to make good his Art Or as when we say such and such Trees are good because they have sap in them they are not dead Trees yet for all this the Tree is made perfect by the fruit So Faith by Works is made perfect Not that works put life into Faith the sap must first be in the Tree and then it bringeth forth fruit so there must be first a life in Faith and then it bringeth forth good works So that when it is said Faith is made perfect by Works the meaning is that Faith is made good by Works that Works declare Faith to be right as the Fruit doth declare the Tree to have sap How to make tryall of Faith whether it be right or not TAke a cup of Wine and if you would know whether it be good or not drink it off but if it heat you not warm you not at the Hear● quicken you not nor in any way revive your spirits you will say It is ●aught flat and dead had it been good Wine it would have done all this Then if you come to Plants and find no fruit nor leaves you say This plant is dead If you come to take a dram of Physick and it do not work you say It is bad Physick And so if you take leaven and put it into the dough if it sowr not the lump you say it is a dead leaven a counterfeit Thus if a Man find not Faith in the operation thereof that it works not a generall change in the Soul that it fire not the heart with love to Christ if there be no life in it then let such a Man know that he is deceived his Faith is not right not effectuall not any way

that one slender word all the greatness of the rest is included the King being the Fountain of Honour from whence all their glory is derived Thus it is that if all the created goodnesse all the Priviledges of Gods children all the Kingdomes of the Earth and the glory of them were to be presented at one view they would all appear as nothing and emptiness in comparison of the excellency and fullness that is to be found in Christ Iesus The Ministers joy in the conversion of Souls IF it cannot but delight the Husbandman when he seeth his plants grow his fruits ripen his Trees flourish If it must needs rejoice the Shepheard to behold his sheep sound fat and fertile If it glad the heart of a Schoolmaster or Tutor to observe his Schollers thrive in Learning and encrease in knowledg It must needs be matter of abundant joy to any Minister of the Gospell when People are brought to Fellowship with God in Christ Iesus when they are as it were snatched out of the slavery of sin the jaws of Death and Hell and brought into the glorious liberty of the Sons of God then it is that he may be said to reap the fruits of his labours in the great comfort of his own Soul Gods pardoning other Repentan● Sinners a great motive to perswade us that he will pardon us also IF one should come to a Physitian of whom he hath had a large report of his skill and should meet with hundreths by the way such as were at that time his Patients and all of them should tell him how he hath cured and healed them of their severall infirmities this must needs encourage him to go on with confidence of his skill that he will recover him also So should every Repentant Sinner run to Christ the great Physitian of his Soul because so many thousands have been healed so many great Sinners have been forgiven such as Manasses Mary Magdalen S. Paul c. This may be a great motive to perswade us all that upon Repentance he is and will be ready to forgive us also according to that of the Apostle He hath shewed Mercy unto me that others might believe in God Men to be carefull in the triall of their Faith Whether it be sound or not IF one be told that his Corn is blasted that all the Trees in his Orchard are dead that all his Money is counterfeit that the deeds and Evidences upon which his Lands and whole estate depend are false it must needs affect him much and make him look about him to see if these things be so or no. And shall not Men look then to the Faith they have upon which depends the eternall Welfare of their immortall Souls seeing God accepteth none except it be sound effectuall lively and accompanied with good works such a Faith as worketh by love purifieth the heart and shews it self in fruits worthy amendment of life 1 Thes. 1. 3. Men not to be ashamed of their Godly Profession though the Wicked speak evill of them SUppose a Geometrician should be drawing of lines and Figures and there should come in some silly ignorant fellow who seeing him should laugh at him Would the Artist think you leave off his employment because of his derision Surely no For he knows that he laughs at him out of his ignorance as not knowing his Art and the grounds thereof Thus let no Man be ashamed of his godly Profession because Wicked Men speak evill of it And why do they so but because they understand it not it is strange to them they see the actions of Godly Men but the rules and principles that they go by they know not and hence is it that they throw dirt in the face of Religious profession but a Wife man will soon wipe it off again God ordering all things for the good of his Church PUt the case all were turned upside down as it was in the confused Chaos wherein Heaven and Earth were mingled together and the waters overcoming all the rest yet as when the Spirit of the Lord did but move upon the Waters many beautifull Creatures wee produced and the Sea divided from the rest so that those waters which then seemed to spoil all serve now to water all without which 〈◊〉 cannot possibly subsist Even so were the Church in never so confused 〈◊〉 yet God will in his great Wisedome so order the things that seem to undo us that they shall make much for us and bring forth something of speciall use for the Churches good something to water and make fruitfull the house and People of God Sin the godly Mans hatred thereof IT is said of the Dove that she is afraid of every Feather that hath grown upon on Hauk and brings as much terrour upon her as if the Hauk were present such a native dread is as it seems implanted in her that it detests and abhors the very sight of any such feather So the Godly man that hath conceived a detestation against Sin cannot endure any thing that belongs to it or that comes from it No not the least motion or inclination though it bring along with it never so fair pretences never so specious shews shall have the least welcome or entertainment Vanity of the Creature without God TAke a beam of the Sun the way to preserve it is not to keep it by it self the being of it depends upon the Sun take the Sun away and it perisheth for ever but yet though it should come to be obscured and so cut off for a while yet because the Sun remains still therefore when the Sun shines forth again it will be renewed again Such a thing is the Creature compared with God If you would preserve the Creature in it self it is impossible for it to stand like a broken glasse without a bottom it must fall and break It is well known that the being of an accident is more in the subject then in it self insomuch that to take away the subject the very separation is a destruction to it So it is with the Creature which hath no bottom of it self so as the sepaeration of it from God is the destruction of it as on the contrary the keeping of it close unto God though in a case that seems to be the ruine of it is its happinesse and perfection How it is that God is to every one of his Children alone IT is observed That a Mathematicall point hath no parts it is one indivisible For let a thousand lines come to one point every one hath the whole and ye● there is but one that answers all because it is indivisible and every one hath all So it is with God though there be many thousands that he loves dearly yet every one of them hath the Lord wholly For that which is infinite hath no parts and therefore he bestowes himself

have no bucket to draw the Cock is hard locked and I cannot tell how to unlock it saith the weak believing Soul What of all this Thou hast faith a true faith though a weak faith now that faith actuated and working upon the Ordinances turns the Cock and then the efficacies and vertues of Christ flow forth then it is that we are filled with the Holy Ghost that with joy we draw waters out of the Wells of our salvation Isai. 12. 3. Forgivenesse of one another commanded and commended WHen Luther had wofully wronged and reviled Calvin well said Calvin Etiamsi Lutherus millies me Diabolum vocet c. Let Luther hate me and call me Devil a thousand times yet I will love him and acknowledge him to be a precious servant of God This was an excellent temper of Calvin and truly such a frame of spirit such a sweet composure of the soul as to forgive and forget to pass by offences to leave all to God not to answer wrath with wrath not to study revenge not to be mindful of injuries received is all along the Scripture commanded by God himselfe commended and by every good Christian to be carefully practised Good meanes how to be used AS a Pilot that guids the Ship hath his hand upon the Rudder and his eye on the Star that directs him at one and the same time So should every man be diligent in the use of all lawful means industrious in his calling but withall he must have a care that he do not sacrifice to his 〈◊〉 and burn incense to his own yarn that he do not attribute too much to his own endeavours but look up to God the giver of all good things and wait upon him for a blessing God by Afflictions drives us to Heaven PLutarch in his Pelopidas telleth That Antigonus had a Souldier who being vexed with an ill Disease and thereby so weary of his life that he was alwaies one of the formost in service one so ready as no man more in the whole company The General much liking this cast such an affection to the valour of the man that to his great expence he caused him to be cured who lately held himself incurable But then looking that his Souldier should be forward as before he found him to draw back never offering to come within danger Asking the reason the Souldier makes answer That now he had somewhat to lose and that was a healthful and sound body with which he should grieve to part but before when he was in misery he had thought his case should have been very happy if he might have been dead and buried Thus the wisdom of God doth foresee that in us which Antigonus found but afterwards in his Souldier That we who in anguish and persecution do desire the company of the Elect in heaven and with St. Paul to be dissolved and to be with Christ would lie grovling in prosperity as if tyed and glued to the world and therefore is it that in his love he whips us sometimes that we may seek unto him and sue to be in heaven with himselfe A Sermon preached many years before may be the means of salvation many years after IT is recorded how that many resorted unto Christ and said Iohn did no miracle but all things that Iohn spake of this man were true And they believed on him there Joh. 10. 41 42. Iohn it seems had preached of Christ before yet they did not thereupon believe in Christ when he preached Iohn was dead and gone but now when Christ comes amongst them they upon Iohn's former Sermons preached unto them some while since do now believe Iohn was dead but his word was not dead that now works while he lies in his Grave Thus many a man hears the word and minds it but at present it hath no work at all It is possible that seven years twenty years after it may fall a working a Sermon preached seven years before may be the means of a mans conversion seven years after The danger of Conventicles CUnning Thieves when they can draw a Travailer out of the common road way into some by path then it is that they rob him deceitful Tradesmen will be sure of a false light to put off their bad Wares by and in dark Cellars there may soon be water mixt with wine Thus the Ordinances of God are never more perverted and the doctrine of the Gospel by seducers never more corrupted then when they can draw silly men and women out of the open places of ordinary recourse into their close corners and lone houses there it is that they vend their counterfeit Wares and there it is too that that they mixe their Wine with Worm-wood set false glosses upon the truth of Gods word there it is that they make Scripture speak not what God intends but what they in their wild fancies imagine but that there would be such as should cry up Christ in a corner Christ himself foretold it Behold he is in the secret Chamber Mat. 24. 26. The whole Armour of God to be put on IT is reported by the Poets of Achilles the Graecian Captain that his Mother being warned by the Oracle dipt him being a child in the River Lethe to prevent any danger that might ensue by reason of the Trojan war but Paris his inveterate enemy understanding also by the Oracle that he was impenetrable all over his body except the heel or small of his leg which his Mother held by when she dipt him took his advantage shot him in the heel and kill'd him Thus every man is or ought to be armed cap a pe with that Panoplia that whole Armour of God For the Devil will be sure to hit the least part that he finds unarmed if it be the eye he will dart in at that casement by the presentation of one lewd object or other if it be the ear he will force that door open by bad counsel if the tongue that shall be made a world of mischief if the feet they shall be swift to shed blood c. God slow to anger IT is observed in Men that they are long in making any thing but very quick in marring of it A House built in a year may be pluck'd down in a moneth and sooner A Castle which hath been long in setting up by mining and powder may be blown up in a moment a City which many generations have but brought to its beauty is in a little time brought to ruine onely God is quick in making but pauseth upon destroying he cometh not but step by step step after step and when he should strike he stayeth and turneth and looketh away the Sun and Moon and Stars had but one day for their Creation but Man had a hundred and twenty years before the coming of the floud to his destruction And Ierusalem shall be warned by the Scriptures before the appearance of Christ

Patient it may be impatient of anguish and pain cryes out to have it removed No sayes the Surgeon it must stay there till it have eaten to the quick and effected that throughly for which it is applyed commanding those that are about him to see that nothing be stirred till he come again to him In the mean time the Patient being much pained counts every minute an hour till the Surgeon come back again and if he stay long thinketh that he hath forgotten him or that he is taken up with other Patients and will not return in any reasonable time When as it may be he is all the while but in the next room to him attending the hour-glasse purposely set up till the Plais●er have had its full operation Thus in the self-fame manner doth God deal oft-times with his dearest Children as David and S. Paul The one was instant more then once or twice to be rid of that evil and the other cryes out as fast Take away the plague from me for I am even consumed c. but God makes both of them to stay his time He saw in them as in all others much dead flesh much corrupt matter behind that was as yet to be eaten out of their Souls he will have the Crosse to have its full work upon us not to come out of the fire as we went in not to come off the fire as foul and as full of scum as we were first set on Resurrection of the Just asserted TRees and other Vegetables in the Winter time appear to the eyes and view of all men as if they were withered and quite dead yet when the Spring time comes they become alive again and as before do bring forth their buds blos●oms leaves and fruit the Reason is because the body grain and arms of the Tree are all joyned and fastned to the root where the sap and moisture lies all the Winter time and from thence by reason of so ●ear conjunction it is derived in the Spring-time to all the parts of the Tree Even so the bodies of Men have their Winter also and that is in Death in which time they are turned into dust and so remain for a time dead and rotten yet in the Spring-time that is in the last day at the Resurrection of all Flesh then by means of the mysticall Union with Christ his divine and quickning Virtue shall stream and flow from thence to all the bodies of his Elect and chosen Members and cause them to live again and that to life eternall The inestimable valew of Christ Jesus CHarles Duke of Burgundy being slain in battell by the Swissers at Nantz Anno 1476. had a Iewel of very great valew which being found about him was sold by a Souldier to a Priest for a Crown in money the Priest sold it for two Crowns Afterwards it was sold for seven hundred Florens then for Twelve thousand Duckets and last of all for twenty thousand Duckets and set into the Popes triple Crown where it is to be seen at this day But Christ Iesus is a commodity of far more value better then Rubies saith Solomon and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to him He is that Pearl of price which the Merchant purchased with all that ever he had No Man can buy such gold too dear Ioseph then a pretious Iewell of the World was far more pretious had the Ishmaelitish Merchants known so much then all the Balms and Myrrhes that they transported and so is Christ as all will yield that know him To depend upon Gods bare Word THe Earth that we tread on though it be a massie dull heavy body yet it hangeth in the midst of the ayr inviron'd by the Heavens and keepeth its place steady and never stirreth an inch from it having no props or shores to uphold it no beams or barrs to fasten it nothing to stay or establish it but the Word of God In like manner must we learn to depend upon the bare Word of God And when all other ayds and comforts have taken their leaves of us then to rest and relye upon God himself and his infallible unfailable Word of promise not on the outward pledges and pawns of his Providence nor on the ordinary effects and fruits of his favour so shall we see light even in the midst of darknesse and be able to discern the sweet Sun-shine of his blessed countenance through the thickest clouds of his fiercest Wrath and displeasure The day of Death better then the day of life PLato maketh mention of Agamedes and Trophonius who after they had builded the Temple of Apollo Delphicus they begged of God that he would grant to them that which would be most beneficiall for them who after this suit made went to bed and there slept their last being both found dead the next Morning Whereupon it was concluded That it was better to die then to live Whilest I call things past to mind said that incomparable Q. Elizabeth I behold things present and whilest I expect things to come I hold them happiest that go hence soonest And most true it is that Death being aeterni Natalis the birth-day of Eternity as Seneca at unawares calls it And if Death like unto the gathering Hoast of Dan come last into the Field to gather the lost and forlorn hope of this World that they may be found in a better needs must then be the day of Death better then the day of life Therefore as a witty Man closed up a paper of Verses concerning Worldly calamities and naturall vexation● What then remains but that we still should cry Not to be born or being born to dye Men to be prepared for Crosses Afflictions Troubles c. IN or about the year 1626 A book formerly printed and entituled A prepara●●on to the Crosse of Christ composed by Iohn Frith Martyr was brought to the M●rket in Cambridge in the belly of a Fish and that a little before the Commencement time when by reason of the confluence of much People notice might be given to all places of the Land which as a late Reverend Divine observed could in his apprehension be construed for no lesse then an Heavenly warning and to have this voice with it England prepare for the Crosse A great work of God it was to be sure and a fair warning to us of this Nation before the sad dayes of trouble came had but Men made good use of it but surdo narratur No Man prepar'd for the Crosse since which time here hath been enough of the Crosse Crosse-doing and Crosse-dealing one with another and much ado hath been about pulling down and defacing material Crosses such as in themselves were but Civill not Religious marks as that Princely Iob defin'd them when they should rather have been busied in pulling down the old Man out of their hearts and so made way for

wonder For many Men have been eaten up and cheated out of their whole estates by such dissembling and devouring Caterpillars adulationis unctio est domorum emunctio the oyl of Flattery hath soaked up many a good Family Plus nocet lingua adulatoris quà● gladius persecutoris saith another A Flatterers tongue doth more mischief then a Persecutors sword so that better it were for Men to live 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 amongst Ravens then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 amongst Flatterers For Ravens fe●d onely upon dead carcasses and Flatter●rs feast upon living Men they are therefore to be banished from our ears or at the least no wayes trusted and by no means countenanced which if they be it is to be feared they will not onely deceive us but also destroy us Prov. 26. 28. and mislead from the wayes of goodnesse The Vanity of temporal things compared with those Eternall A Bulensis setting out the Vanity of all Worldly excellency observes That those who have been the most glorious in what Man accounts excellent have had inglorious ends whereby their splendor hath been much eclipsed As in Sampson for strength and what a contemptible end had he Absolon for beauty Achitophel for Policy Azahel for swiftnesse Alexander the great for Conquests yet poysoned in the end And he instanceth also in Kingdoms as that of the Assyrian the Chaldean Persian Graecian and Roman How soon were they gone He might have added Common-wealths For be they never so well settled they must have their ending too Crowns have their periods length of dayes their date Triumphs their tombs Felicity it's Fate SUch then is the Vanity of all temporal things compared with those Eternal The beauty of all Wordly things being but as a fair picture drawn upon the 〈◊〉 that melts away with it The fashion of this World passeth away And d●d but Worldly Men consider what is become of all those that have had as great dealings and as many merry-meetings as they and have indulged the Flesh as much as they that they are gone rotten in their graves and their Souls it may be crying under the wrath of an infinite God and all their bravery and delights at an end they would then leave doating on the World and fix their hearts upon things that shall make for their Eternal and everlasting good Ceremonies of the Church not to be any cause of Separation PLiny in his natural history reporteth of Hedg-hogs that having been abroad to provide their store and returning home laden with nuts and fruit if the least Filbert fall but off they will in a pettish humour fling down all the rest and beat the ground for very anger with their bristles And such is the peevish fancy of many strait-laced Christians amongst us such as in themselves are bells of passing good Mettall and tuneable enough though by the artifice of some miserably rung out of tune that will leave our Church and remain obstinate for trifles and accidents Ceremonies things in themselves adiaphorous indifferent and harmlesse that Fire hath tryed them to be but stubble and straw-controversies easie to be moderated if Malice and Prejudice make not men irreconcileable The Tongue for the most part a mischievous member AESop being sent by his Master to buy all the best meat he could get in the Market bought all Tongues And being sent again to buy all the worst he bought all Tongues again being demanded Why he did so answered That no flesh was better then a good Tongue nor any worse then a bad Tongue And most true it is as Bias told Amasis King of Egypt The Tongue is the best and worst member of the body for the most part an unruly michievous member lambit et laedit a killing and destroying Member a dangerous weapon and the worst of all other weapons the stroke of a sword may be born off the shot of an arrow may be shunn'd or if not the wounds may be healed but there is no way to escape a poysoned Tongue no salve to cure it hence it is well observed that a Word and a Pest grow upon the same root in Hebrew signifying that the Plague and an 〈◊〉 Tongue go together In the midst of Worldly enjoyments to mind Eternity THere is a notable Story of one Theodorus a Christian young Man in Egypt who when there was a great deal of Feasting with Musi●k in his Fathers house withdrew himself from all the Company and being got alone thus thought with himself Here is content and delight enough for the Flesh I may have what I desire but how long will this last this will not hold out long then falling upon his knees to God in prayer O Lord sayes he my heart is open unto thee I indeed know not what to ask but onely this Lord let me not dye Eternally O Lord thou knowest I love thee O let me live Eternally to praeise thee And then when his Mother came to him and would have had him come in to the rest of the Company he made an excuse and would not onely upon this Meditation because he saw this could not hold out long And thus it is heartily to be wished that the Sons of Men when they find their hearts beginning to be let out upon any temporal good when they are in the midst of all their Worldly delights and pleasures would think upon Eternity and reason with themselves thus I am now in the midst of all temporal enjoyments but will they hold out I was made to abide for ever I was made for that God that must abide for ever What are a sew hours here if years they were nothing to Eternity Those that abide longest in the fruition of health and prosperity their time is but a bubble they are gone and the memory of them is perished Xenophilus in Pliny lived an hundred and five years without any sicknesse but what is that to Eternity Popery a meer heap of Confusion IT is said of the Nabis a beast in Egypt so called that it hath the shape of severall beasts and of Hanniball's Army that it consisted ex colluvie omnium Gentium of the very scum of all Nations Thus the whole body of Popery is nought else but a very amassed lump of Pagan Rites and old Heretical dregs as in their Purgatory Idolatry Sacrifice for the dead holy Water Free-will challenge of the Church merit of Works renouncing of Scriptures c. so that as Iosephus said of Apion's writings that they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a meer dunghill of shamelesse untruths rather then Orthodox verities a meer heap of trash and trumpery Children to have a care how they marry without consent of Parents TErtullian the African Father writing to his Wife concerning Marriage closeth all with a piece of admiration U●de sufficiam ad e●arrandam foelicitatem ejus Matrimonii quod Ecclesia conciliat confirmat oblatio c.

science of all things is now grown sottish and senseless not onely as Calvisius forgetting those things which he was well acquainted withall but even losing the knowledge of himselfe he that to whom before all the beasts of the Forrest and every living Creature came as the Queen of Sheba to Solomon to admire his wisdom must now go to the beasts and birds and creeping things to learn severall lessons for instruction to the Pisemire for providence Prov. 6. 6. to the St●rk and to the Swallow for to make a right use of time Jer. 8. 7. to the Oxe and to the Ass for knowledge c. Esay 1. 3. to the Fouls of the Air for confidence Matth. 6. c. The sloathful Christian reproved MAjor Lepidus a loose Roman whilst his Camerades upon a very hot day were exercised in the Army he laid himselfe down in the shade saying Utinam hoc esset laborare I would this were all the duty that I were to do So it may be said of many idle sloathfull Christians amongst us such as with Balaam wish to dye the death of the Righteous but they will not take any care to live the life of the Righteous they would fain enter in at the straight Gate but they would be loath to croud for it they have longing desires to be in the Church triumphant which is in Heaven but care not whether they ever make a step or nor into that which is militant here upon earth Prosperity of the wicked destructive PRosperity to the wicked is as wind to a bladder which swels it untill it burst like a Ship when she is top and top gallant soonest cast away like a Spider in a Kings house soonest swept down When a wicked man is at the highest then he is nearest his fall and usually when he is in the ruffe of all his bravery God so orders it that he is humbled on a suddain Gods acceptance of Sinners through Christ. THemistocles on a time having highly offended K. Philip and not knowing how to regain his favour goes and takes young Alexander his Sonne in his arms and so presents himlsef before the King which when he saw and perceiving the young child to smile upon him his wrath was soon appeased towards him Thus we have all of us highly offended and provoked the King of Kings God himselfe What shall we do to regain his favour No way so ready as to take his Son Christ Iesus in our arms and upon the bended knees of our hearts to prostrate our selves before him and then we shall find to our comfort that as one looking through a green or red glass all things will seem to be of the same colour so God looking through his Sons Righteousness upon us will for his sake accept us for Righteous and so be reconciled unto us The Christians heart never quiet till it be in Christ. THe Needle 's point in the Seamans Compals never stands still but quivers and shaks till it come right against the North-pole The Wisemen of the East never stood still till they were right against the Star which appeared unto them and the Star it selfe never stood still till it came right against that other star which shined more brightly in the Manger then the Sun did in the firmament And Noahs Dove could find no rest for the soal of her foot all the while she was fluttering over the floud till she returned to the Ark with an Olive-branch in her mouth So the heart of every true Christian which is the Turtle-dove of Iesus Christ can find no rest all the while she is hovering over the waters of this world till it have silver wings of a Dove and with the Olive-branch of faith fly to the true Noah which signifieth Rest till Christ put forth his hand out of the Ark and taking it in receive it to himself Christ the proper food of the Soul EVery kind of living Creature hath a kind of food proper to it selfe offer a Lion grass and he will have none of it but give him flesh and he ears it Fodder is for the heards and the flocks of the field but flesh for the beasts of the Woods that hunt for their prey Thus offer a Christian heart all the Kingdoms of the world and the glory thereof which is but as the flower of the grass they will not down there is no relish in them but give it Christ who saith My flesh is meat indeed and my blood is drink indeed then it falls to very eagerly and makes a comfortable meal thereof Prayers of the wicked ineffectuall IT is said of the precious stone Diacletes though it have many excelling So●eraignties in it yet it loseth them all if it be put into a dead mans mouth And certainly Prayer which is the onely Iewel of a Christian though it have many rare vertues in it many excellencies belonging to it yet it loseth them every one if it be put in a Mans mouth who is dead in sins and trespasses The ingratefull Christian reproved WE would think that begger intolerably impudent that coming to our doors to ask an Alms and when we have bestowed on him some broken bread and meat yet like those impudent persons the Psalmist speaks of that grudge and grumble if they be not satisfied if they have not their own will and their own fill he should not hold himselfe contented unlesse he might have one of our best dishes from the Table But this is the case of very many amongst us We come all as so many beggers to Gods mercy seat Quantumvis dives dives Dei mendicus est Annon mendicus qui panem petis saith S. Augustine And God gives us abundance of many good things as life liberty health of body c. yet we cannot be quiet nor think our selves well unless we be cloathed in Purple and fare deliciously every day as such and such do not considering in the mean time many that are below us and above us too wanting those things which we comfortably enjoy The great danger of little Sinnes A Little rope sufficeth to hang a great Thief a little dross abaseth much Gold a little poyson infecteth much wholsome liquor a little Heresie corrupteth much sound doctrine a little fly is enough to spoil all the Alablaster box of ointment So the smallest sin the least peccadillo without Gods mercy is sufficient to damn our souls to all eternity A worldly minded Man no heavenly minded Man THe Lark as long as she sits on the ground is very silen● and still but being once mounted up into the air hovering in the golden beams of the delightful Sun then she se●s up her pretty little throat and chants it out merrily It is just so with worldly minded Men whilst their thoughts and affections are le● out upon the things of the world they are faint and dull and as even dead to all good

works but when their minds are raised up to higher things and their thoughts set upon Heaven then their notes are changed they are put into such a tune as is both sweet and pleasant to God himself The great power of fervent Prayer IT is Martin Luther's saying That Prayer is bombarda christianorum the christians gun-shot As then a bullet out of a gun so prayers out of the mouth can go no further then the Spirit carrieth them if they be timidae put out faintly they cannot fly far if they be tumidae hollow-hearted then they will not p●erce much onely the fervent humble active devotion hits the mark and pierceth the walls of Heaven though like those of Gaz● made of brasse and iron c. Esa. 45. 2. University-Learning to be countenanced by men in Authority THe University of Cambridge hath for her Arms A Book clasped between four Lions and Oxford a Book open between three Crowns hereby signifying That English-men may not onely study the liberall Arts closely and quietly but also professe them publickly and openly being guarded with the Lion and the Crown protected thereby and encouraged thereunto by royall Charters and princely priviledges And thus the University of Heidelbergh hath for her Arms a Lion holding a Book in his paw intimating that persons in authority ought to be favourers of all good literature Hence it comes to passe that Universities are the Nurseries of all sorts of learning like the Persian tree which at the same time buds and blossoms and bears fruit some there are ripe for the Church others drawing on to maturity some in the flower others in the bud of hope all advancing themselves for the service of God and their Country The life of Man miserable THe life of man may very well be resembled to a River which as it comes from the Sea so it returns thither again And thus the beginning and ending of our daies may be said to be full of salt-water full of crosses full of misery our first voice a cry our last a groan There may be happily some fair fresh clear water in the way some lucida inter valla some seeming delights and pleasures in the middle age of our life but it passeth away so swiftly that it is no sooner seen but gone Iob 4. 14. Ministers of all men to be painfull in their Calling ARt thou put to be a preacher of the Gospell thou art a labourer Elders that rule well are worthy of double honour Many saies Bishop Latimer can away with praesunt but not with benè if that benè w●re out of the Text all were well If a man might eat the sweet and never sweat it were an easie matter to be a preacher if there were not opus but bonum all were well too But every Clergy-man is or ought to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that as St. Augustine saies is nomen operis to be a steward and overseer in Gods house is an office of great employment Well art thou a student in any profession then as Cato said of Scipio thou must be least idle when thou art most idle thou must read diligently confer often observe daily Reading makes a full man conference a ready man and writing an exact man Joy how to be regulated AS an able workman being to build an house would not have too many windows left thereby he should weaken the house too much nor too few left it should darken it too much So should no man be overjoyed upon the accesse of some prosperous fortune nor over-much transported upon the income of some happy tidings left his too much outward joy should weaken his inward rejoycing Neither must he not rejoyce at all left his spirit become dull and stupid But as the windowes of the Temple were broad without yet narrow within so in the matter of joy he must be full within but somewhat contracted without The study of Divinity most necessary HE that hath a Garden-plot doth as well sow the pot-hearbs as the marjorom as well the leeks as the lilly as well the whol some hysope as the sweet carnation gilliflowre the which he doth to this intent that he may have wholsome hearbs as well to nourish his inward parts as sweet flowers to please his outward senses as well fruitfull plants to refresh his body as fair shews to please his mind Even so he that hath a capacious brain a pregnant wit a fancy that is luxuriant let such a head-piece apply it self as well to the sacred knowledge of Divinity as to Philosophy to a Creator-knowledge as well as a creature-knowledge that so he may reap not onely pleasure but profit not onely contentation in mind but quietnesse and peace of conscience Severall varieties to be found in Scripture AS in Noah's Ark were to be numbered all sorts of creatures or as in eodem prato in the same meadow the ox may lick up grasse the hound may find a hare the bird may pick up seeds the virgins gather flowers and a man find a pearl So in one and the same Scripture are varieties to be found for all sorts of conditions In them the Lamb may wade and the Elephant swim children may be fed with milk and meat may be had for stronger men there 's comfort for the afflicted ease for those that are weary and heavy laden c. Ministers how to preach profitably AS in building of a house first there must be a respect had to the scituation next to the foundation then to the superstructures the contriving of lights and severall rooms lastly the covering to keep all dry So every Minister is to consider the scituation of his Text what 's the coherence what 's the context and then omitting the working of curious cobwebs in the top of the house he must lay the foundation of sound doctrin raise it upon strong pillars of reason glaze it with naturall demonstration and lastly to cover all with usefull application The Scriptures but a dead letter without operation of the Spirit IT is reported of a great person that being desirous to see the sword wherewith Scanderbeg had done so great exploits when he saw it replyed He saw no such great matter in that sword more then any other sword It is truth quoth one standing by you see the sword but not the arm that wielded it So when we look upon the Scriptures the bare word whether printed in our Bibles or audible in the Pulpit we shall finde no such businesse in it more then in other writings but when we consider the arm of Gods power that joynes with it when we look upon the operation of his holy Spirit working therein then we shall change our thoughts and say Nec vox hominem sonat O Deus certe as Iacob did of Bethel Surely of a certain God is in this Word The falls of good Men presage the Nation 's ruine WHen