cared for to bee looked after For it is onely possidete animas vestras it is not villas vestras as August notes your villages your houses and lands your wealth and riches for it had beene vaine to have advised to this in times of trouble and persecutions when such things are sure to goe to wracke nor indeed had it beene worth the while to have looked after such things specially then for what are they nec vera nec vestra saies Bernard neither true goods for they bide not by you nor your owne for you cannot carry them away with you and had he advised to the keeping of these he would not have prescribed patience as the meane for that is the way rather to lose all he should have said rather bestirre your selves put up no wrong one injury will draw on another talke and prate scold and raile lye and sweare tugge and pull for this is the course that men commonly take to get and keepe riches Nor doth he say possidete honores vestros looke to your Honours your Credits your good esteeme see you lose not an inch of that for he knew that this was not in their owne hands to keepe Honor est honorantis non honorati it is in the mouth of the people and what is Vox populi Why Hosanna to day and Crucifige to morrow even honest mens credits are often forced to lodge upon the tongue of Knaves and beside our Saviour knew also there was not so much need to advise to be carefull of this for he foresaw that too too many that would professe his name would be more carefull of their credit then they would be of their Conscience yea they would be religious to no other purpose and weare the Hood of Profession to no other end but to get them a good esteeme among men Nor thirdly t is not possidete amicos vestros keepe your Friends lose not the love of them however for he knew that friends were slippery ware and to keepe them was more then could be done with a good conscience as the world was like to goe with them in those succeeding dayes when one friend and brother would betray another to death unlesse they would resolve to humour them at all turnes never contradict them or reprove them doe they or speake they never so crossely never speake against those faults which the world notes them to be guilty of for example if they be noted to be railers slanderers backe-biters whisperers censurers evill speakers of Rulers Governours men of place and authority why never find fault with them for these things never alleadge Scripture against these conditions but rather animate them in their way commend their zeale and against Gods word and conscience bee as they bee and doe as they doe or else no possibility of keeping them Nor fourthly it is not possidete opiniones vestras hold your opinions sticke close to your owne fancies what ever reasons shall be brought against them etiamsi suadent non persuadent tamen though you be convinced never so yet be sure you hold your owne be resolute for he knew indeed that men without bidding many of them would hold faster their opinions then the faith it selfe yea rather then they should sinke they care not though religion and peace and all goe to wracke they will turne every stone but their owne conceits shall take place Nor fifthly it is not possidete delicias vestras your delights your pleasures see you abate not your selves of them whatsoever plagues and judgements and miseries and troubles come amongst you follow your sports and pastimes your feasts and pleasures still Nor lastly it is not corpora vestra your bodies looke well to them that they pine not see they lie soft and be well fed drinke good store of Sacke and Sagar that your bodies may looke plump and faire and fat and be in good liking for all your troubles No Brethren here is not a word of any of all these things here is onely possidete animas vestras looke to your soules either because he fore-saw men were apt to be more carelesse of them then of other things and so needed to be called upon or else to teach them according to the doctrine that your soule above all things is to be cared for to be looked after And so it is by reason of its excellencie above all things which you may take a glimpse of from these three considerations I shall propouâ—d unto you which may serve for so many proofes and reasons of the point First consider that the divine graces of Gods holy spirit which of all things that can be imagined are the most excellent are appointed to adorne the soule of man now thinke if the hangings are so excellent what may you conceive of the roome for which they are appointed of the soule that is to be adorned sure that is most excellent and regardable above all things Secondly consider how he that best knew yea that only knew the worth of a soule for the truth is no meere man while he is in his mortall condition is able to set a true value upon the soule or to esteeme of it according to its worth but he onely that paid the price for it the Lord Jesus he alone knew the worth of it and consider how he preferres it above all the world Matth. 16. 16. What will it profit a man to â—inne the whole world and lose his owne soule the whole world it seemes is not worth one soule sure then it is to be looked after above all things Thirdly consider the price he gave for the soules redemption not any corruptible thing but the very precious life bloud of himselfe the sonne of God 1 Pet. 1. 19. any thing that is mortall may be valued by a mortall man and one earthly thing may be purchased by another but mans soule as appeâ—res is neither mortall nor earthly for the Sonne of God only is able to value that and his bloud onely to make purchase of it therefore sure to be esteemed above all things But perhaps you will say Doth not the text tell us it may be purchased by patience and we thereby may be they that may make purchase of it I answer True but Christian patience is no corruptible thing it is a vertue post funera vivit vertue never dies with the body but lives for ever Jobs body is dead but his vertue lives James 5. 11. You have heard of the patience of Job Patience is a Grace and Grace in the godly is never extinct as sinne is not in the wicked both grace and sinne goeth to Heaven or Hell as the foule doth and abides in it and with it for ever to beautifie or to torture it Besides you must not conceive that by your patience you shall make such a possession of your soules as Christ did by his bloud for he thereby purchased the fee-simple of them the full right both title and tenure from the
passe not when they have sought themselves in the durt all the week on Saturday in the afternoone they beginne to thinke of seeking Christ or to speake in their owne prophane phrase then they beginne to provide fodder for their cattell or it may be it is Sunday morning before they goe about their Sermon Peradventure some of their wits deserves commendation but to be sure their custome deserves no imitation for make the best of it it is to doe Gods work negligently and cursed be he that doth so Jer. 48. Yea and marke it such men too as their heart on the weeke dayes runnes wholly after their covetousnesse so for the most part doth their tongues upon the Sabbath for what are the mainest points that such men beat most upon in the Pulpit but paiment of Tythes Church duties and plenty of arguments they can produce for the pressure of this point which though a modest man haply hath more cause to use yet he dares not alleadge lest he should give his people occasion to thinke that contrary to Saint Pauls practice he sought theirs more then them It is very true peoples conscience in tything even every where is like some Ministers conscience in preaching it alwayes comes short of duty and yet Brethren let us observe it of all sinnes preaching is least prevailing against this sinne for whatsoever the Minister speakes in this case they will judge to be spoken in his owne case what ever he intends they will taxe him of selfe-seeking for it is a point called Nolime tangere the very touch will infect but to glance in the Pulpit upon the unconscionablenesse of people in this kind is the very next way to spread the contagion such are their natures and constitutions And yet Brethren this is a common place and therfore I may the better speake it and where there is one Lay-man here I would there were a hundred for to heare me but here are the Church-wardens that for the most part are the ringleaders to dishonesty in this kind the Proverb holding true in them The nearer the Church the farther from God so soone as they have taken the Oath of Relation to the Church then will they shew themselves injurious one way or other to the chiefe Churchman and the Devill perhaps perswades them they may doe it that yeare by authority But as I was saying and I pray you be pleased to marke it you of the Laity and tell your neighbours of it when you come at home A Minister may and ought to seeke that which God and the Law hath alotted him for his maintenance and yet be no selfe-seeker but may seeke Christ in it and the soules of you his people in it I warrant you will not beleeve this but I le make it plaine unto you First he seekes Christ in it for Tythes are called Gods portion Mal. 3. 8. the Ministers are but Gods Rent-gatherers and should they faile in their duty in this kind we may well fore-see by the unconscionable conditions of men who above all things love to cheate God of his due that by the next generation Christ would have cause to take up his old complaint The Foxes have holes and the Birds of the aire have nests but the Sonne of man Christ Jesus hath not where to hide his head therefore in seeking their owne dues you see they may be said to seeke Christ even to keepe him in the Land amongst you Then secondly they in this seeke not so much themselves as they doe you their people for marke it wouldst not thou say that that man did chiefely aime at thy good that should bestow all his paines and indeavour to save thee from the Gallowes although he should get to himselfe there by the price for the Halter Why I tell thee of all thefts this is the most dangerous and dunnable when thou doest withold or diminish that which is due to the Ministers of God Now that the curse which God threatens Mal. 3. might not fall upon thee thy Minister lookes more narrowly to receive his dues and it is a part of his duty to thee lest I say thou by his remisnesse shouldst pull the curle upon thine owne head And I pray thee what doth hee get by it even the price of a two peny halter for thy Tythes and thy dues which thou payest to him are but as of that value in respect of thy soule the whole world is nothing in comparison of that saies Christ and I hope thou wilt not deny it if thou lovest thy soule But indeed Brethren this is the truth of it people doe not love their owne soules it appeares in this of all men they doe not care for him that hath the charge of their soules it goes most against the stomachs of many of them to doe him a common courtesie Any Lay-man shall have better dealings with them and shall receive better Tythes from them where Lay-men doe receive them then he that hath the charge of their soules yea any other Minister any Lecturer shall have their affections and it may be sometimes their monies too but their owne Pastor that hath the charge of their soules though he be never so carefull and painfull for their good shall not get so much as his dues of them Nay which is more strange yet if a Lecturer doth but turne Pastor and take the charge of soules upon him it is the very next way to lose many of the peoples loves which haply before he did injoy and this some Lecturers fore-see well enough and therefore refuse to take any such charge upon them But what is the reason that people in this sort affect not him that hath the charge over their soules when as the Apostle also commands it so expressely but even because they doe not love their owne soules But Brethren I would you would but seriously in your retired thoughts thinke upon that charge of the Apostle Heb. 13. 17. and read over with due consideration that place in the third of Malachi where Tythes are called Gods portion and where the curse is threatned to light upon those that retaine them and a gracious blessing is promised to all the rest of their substance to the free willing and liberall payers of them I say if you would but consider well of those two places it would never goe so against your stomachs to doe your Minister a common courtesie nor would you ever thinke ill of him for looking after that which belongs unto him nor would you ever put him off with the riffe-raffe of your things as the worst fleece the least sheafe and the like nor in your bargaining with him for your Tythes would you desire to get a drinking penny as you call it by him which according to the ballance of your owne consciences if you can shall be at least halfe in halfe no nor would you ever thinke you did wrong the Countrey in giving God his due in
hands of Justice and therefore they are wholly his as we our selves are all over 1 Cor. 6. 19. 20. but we by our patience shall oâ—ely become capable of the benefits and blessings of Christs purchase we shall from the hand of mercy and free grace have the command over and the free use of what he payed so deare for for the truth is Christ did not enter upon this purchase for his owne behoofe but for ours onely and therefore it was made in our name because he meant we should have the benefit of it he would freely put us in possession and keepe us in the same so long as we continue qualified with patience which also he bestowes though it be called ours in your patience for that is oâ—rs as our soules are wee have it of his free gift not of our selves I le make it plain by an example A Prince hath won or purchased a Castle and made it â—ensible against the enemy with his owne munition and then puts a servant in possession of it and tels him So long as you continue faithfull to me and make use of this munition for defence so long shall you injoy the benefits and priviledges of this Castle you shall be defended in it and have the command over it and the free use of it and much honour by being Captaine thereof So our Lord Jesus having purchased the Castles of our soules with his bloud at the hands of his Fathers justice out of the power of sinne and Satan that before under Gods justice had the power and keeping of them and then fortifying them with his divine power strengthning them with his grace gives us command over them and tels us so long as we continue faithfull to him and patient that is make use of his Ammunition and Grace we shall keepe the possession of them and of all the comforts and priviledges that doe appertaine unto them which to us both is and will be greater honour and more happinesse then if he should have put us in possession of a Kingdome You have heard the saying My mind to me a Kingdome is nay Solomon saies to have freedome of mind and command over ones owne spirit is better then to have command over a City Prov. 16. 32. He that is patient and slow to anger is better then the mighty and he that can rule his owne spirit then he that can rule a City what this freedome and rule is we shâ—ll in part shew when we come to the next point we will now come to the Use of this Is the soule so excellent a commodity that grace from Heaven is sent to adorne it that the bloud of the Sonne of God onely is able to redeeme it and that the whole world with all its treasure is not to be compared unto it How farre beside themselves then are they that make but little or no account of it some there are that will scarce beleeve they have any soules at all because they never saw them for they are resolved to beleeve no more then they see and they have the same opinion concerning God indeed they thereby sufficiently declare that their soules serve them onely in stead of Salt to keep their bodies from stinking Others there are that will oft protest as they have souls to save but if you looke upon their wayes of worldlines drunkennesse malice and opposition to the meanes and messengers of the soules salvation you may well be perswaded that they beleeve no such matter And a third sort there is that though perhaps they may beleeve that they have soules yet they thinke them not worthy above all things to be cared for their wealth shall have the upper hand sixe whole dayes shall willingly be imployed about that and not one without grudging about the soule I warrant if I should hold you two houres now in dispensing among you provisions for the soule there would be more maundering and it would irk some more then if they should spend ten houres in some shop about their worldly imployments and I pray what cheating what couzening what lying what swearing what injustice what oppressing to get wealth and riches is every where practised and for Gods sake what doth all this prove but that men preferre the world before their soules And so for friends will not too too many hazzard their soules to get or keepe the favour of them of some rich worldly man whom they hope may be a good Master to them wil they not be ready to say what he would have them yea and perhaps to sweare to it too And for credit doth not many stand more upon that then upon their soules safety to have a name for great Preachers great professors great gifted men to be esteemed the holy ones sans pere without parallell then to be truly gracious humble sincere and secretly upright with God I would they did not for then we should not heare such vaunting bragges nor see such wilfull uneven walkings as sometime in private we doe and in deed are ashamed to name because they would be thought incredible they being the conditions of some of them that are most famous for good Againe have we not many that love their opinions better then they doe their soules and study more to uphold them then to preserve these nay alas how many be there that make their opinions theâ—r consciences and have no other conscience then their bare opinion the truth is they doe not know nor will they learn to know the one from the other And for the body alas who almost regards not that in the first place the body the body they are all for the body and I pray how doth your body Sir and make much of your body and so they will without bidding that shall be cloathed and fed and nourished and Physicked but the soule in the meane time shall be tattered and torne and ragged and leane never will they mind its welfare nor well indure those that perswade thereto the bodily Physitian shall be welcome to them whensoere he comes and if they be but sicke of the finger-ake he shall be sent for with much intreaty and wel paied for his pains in comming but for the Physitian of the soule if he will come he may but he shall never be sent for and when he doth come he shall have the coursest and homelieft entertainment that can be imagined scarce welcome scarce Godamercie for his paines in comming if they be sick when he hath asked them how they doe he had best take heed he goe no further then the out-side if he beginnes to speake any thing about the soule why then Sir I did not sleepe well the last night I pray spare me at this time talking is somewhat tedious unto mee some such paltry tricke or other they will have to rid the house of him Now alas what simple men are these that are thus all for the body and as I may say thus nothing for the soule
our brethren if they be of this condition how much more then may others who are strangers to us as 2 Sam. 16. 11. Behold my son saies David that came out of my bowels seekes my life how much rather may this Benjamite doe it or as Moses said Exod. 6. 12. Behold the children of Israel have not hearkened unto me how then shall Pharaoh heare me so may we say Behold they that are professors will not hearken unto us when we advise them for their soules good how then shall they that are open and prophane wretches hearken unto us if they that call themselves Gods peoples be enemies to their owne soules and take sinnes part against them and us and account us their enemies for telling them the truth against their sinne how shall we hope for better respect from others Truly Brethren your soules have enemies enough you need not be enemies to them your selves the Devill and devilish minded men seducers or what you will in all their oppositions aime only to mischiefe your soules bee wise therefore and remember God hath set your soules at a high rate as appeares by the price given for their redemption and Christ set them at a high rate in preferring one of them before the whole world and the Devill sets them at a high rate for rather then hee would lose a soule he would give the whole world for it if it were his owne as appeares by those his words Matth. 4. All these will I give thee In deed the Devill is not such a foole to give so much when he may have it it for lesse yea for nothing for so he hath the soules of many Which of you will give a pound for that you may have for a peny For Gods sake therefore give not away your soules for nothing part not with them for trifles sell them not away for sinne Skinne for skinne and all that a man hath will he give for his life the life of his body the life of the soule should be more deare O abstaine from all things that may pollute your soules or that warre against them such are fleshly lusts 1 Pet. 2. 11. that may choake your soules or drowne them in perdition and destruction such are worldly cares 1 Tim. 6. 9. that may poyson your soules such is false doctrine you will not give to a beloved child that which may choake or poyson it and will you give to your divine soules that which will And we Ministers must be carefull from consideration of the soules excellencie not to starve soules they are committed to us to feed and without vision the people perish Prov. 29. 18. and then our life shall goe for theirs if through our default Ezek. 3. 18. and therefore the Apostle 2 Tim. 4. 1 2. chargeth us as we will answer it before God and Jesus Christ that we preach the word and be instant in the same not onely in season but also out of season if those words had but a good Canonicall exposition perhaps some of us would preach oftner then we doe But friends if we give you meate and you will not take it or will throw it away and not eate it your bloud shall be upon your own heads for as we are Shepheards over you so are you every one over that one sheepe that God hath intrusted you withall viz. your soule you are men and women that have reason as well as weto looke to your charge and the lesse that is the greater shall the punishment be if you be carelesse of it we may be faithfull in our greater charge as he in the Gospel was that had ten talents and you may be faithlesse in your lesser as he was that had but one But so much for the Use of this point and for the first part of the text the purchase We come to the other and that is the price as we at first called it which is Patience By your pâ—tience If the soule be so excellent a commodity as hath beene said and Patience be that which makes us capable of the possession of it then sure we may conclude that Patience is a vertue of great consequence a necessary grace for every Christian and that shall be the point Patience is a vertue of great consequence and a grace most needfull for every Christian. It is a grace of the same ranke with faith and love for by faith we possesse God by love we possesse men and by patience we possesse our selves we have need of faith for we have need of God we have need of love for we have need of man and we have need of patience for the world is so bad we had need looke to our selves to have our wits about us and they are kept at home onely by patience He that wants faith is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without the head and he that wants love is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not of the body and he that wants patience is not himselfe nor his owne man A Traveller saies He that will travell to Jerusalem had need be indued with these three vertues or gifts faith patience and money faith to beleeve what ere he sees or heares there patience to indure the injuries of the Infidels that shall be offered him there and money to make him friends and to discharge all tributes and cost there put but charity in the roome of money and the same three vertues must he have that will travell to the new Jerusalem that is in Heaven and the truth is this Trinity of graces consists in a Unity of person he that hath one of them hath all and he hath none of them in any true measure that hath not every of them in some measure you may see how they are joyned together Titus 2. 2. sound in Faith Charity and Patience For indeed as vices are linked together so are vertues united and Patience is as the common Palace wherin all are preserved or as the doore of the soule which keepes all the other vertues in it and unlesse this doore be opened there is no danger of losing any of them but if it be they are soone liable to be gone and we ready to commit any sinne experience will witnesse that if Patience bâ— broken the grace of prayer is lost for the present and the gift of hearing too and of well-doing we cannot in perturbation of spirit either speake to God as we should nor receive any wholsome counsell from any nor performe any duty of love to whom it is due nay by impatience of delay we make shipwracke of our faith and distrust God by impatience of wrongs and words we make breach of Charity and fall a hating a railing a slandering a backbiting by impatience of a sober estate we fall to be covetous worldly and oppressing and therefore Tertullian saies Patience is such a Governour in our affaires ut nullum opus Deo complacitum perpetrare extraneus à patientia possit that it is not possible for him
Should a man have two children the eldest a lusty beautifull hopefull well-mannered child likely to live many a yeare and the younger a sickly lame crooked unwholsome leaprous and ill conditioned thing and foolish withall and not like to live a yeare to an end if the father should bestow all his care to provide for the younger and sickly child tie all his estate upon that and doe onely for it and take no care for the elder which is the more lusty and lively and likely to live you would count him very unvise and foolish why this is the case of these men the body is the sickly child that shall die to morrow which they take so much care for and the soule the healthfull child that shall live for ever which is not regarded Nay further what doe I talke of riches and friends and credit and opinions and bodies how many are there in the world that set their soules below their sinnes to satisfie a lust suppose of malice of pride of revenge what care they if they damne their soules nay even to vexe and grieve the spirit of another we thinke them fooles and mad at least worthy of scorne that to vexe another will eate no victuals or will hang or drowne themselves as some sullen wives to anger their husbands will sometime offer and threaten to doe though before they doe it indeed they will be better advised But more mad are they that to vexe and grieve another will destroy their owne soules by running headlong into such and such courses as are unlawfull onely because they are by their friends or Minister perswaded to the contrary Nay the Minister let him speake against their sinnes in the behalfe of their soules what will they say but hee speakes against them and so make sinne and themselves all one so dearely are they devoted to their sinnes as Ahab said of Micaiah he speakes no good of me I dare say the honest Prophet never spake word of ill against him all dayes of his life he was his Prince and Ruler and his conscience would not suffer him to speake ill of the Ruler of the people He preached against his sinnes it may be sometime when he preached before him why that is all one saies Ahab touch my sinne touch me Why so it is with many now let a man speake against their sinnes suppose it be the sinnes of slandering railing backbiting whispering or hypocrisie why he preaches against us will some say nay they will adde further he preaches against Gods children as if Gods children were all guilty of such conditions and as if they could not abide to be told of their faults any more then the wicked but like them did make sinne all one with themselves sweet creatures doe they make Gods children in the meane time and an ill Father doe they make God that can or will breed his children no better doubtlesse they that are truly Gods are willingly or wittingly guilty of no such â—innes but what ever sinnes they are guilty of they love to have them preached against they hold none of those absurd Paradoxes that Gods children must not be told of their faults in publike for feare carnall men should be confirmed in their hard opinions of them for in deed by the same reason Christ and Mercy and the Gospel must not be preached for that carnall men will make an ill use of the same to be more bold in sinning Those that be truly godly conceive that it is not so much the Ministers preaching against such and such sins that makes carnall people judge so amisse of Gods children as they doe but rather it is the lives of hypocrites that call themselves Gods children and their application of suchthings when they are spoken to themselves as unto Gods children their pepper taking at them those that be truly godly conceive that of all others Gods children are to be told of their faults in publike for these reasons 1. Because God will not spare publikely to punish and correct them for their faults yea them in speciall Hos. 3. 2. and his Ministers therefore must doe like him and not spare to tell them of their faults yea them in speciall 2. Because the word of reproofe will doe good to them onely and to none else Doth not my word doe good to them that walke uprightly saies the Lord for others like those Dogges our Saviour speakes of if such holy things as reproofes be cast unto them will turne againe and rend them that cast them Matth. 7. 6. 3. Because they by their meeke taking of reproofe and their loving and humble carriage to those that tell them of their faults may give good example to others of so doing who usually doe contrary 4. That the Minister might shew his impartiality that he spares them no more in the wayes of sin then he doth the debaucht drunkards and disorderly livers who otherwise would be ready to say We cannot so much as looke into an Alehouse to cracke a Jugge or be merry a little or swear an oath but we are sure to have a Sermon made of it and all the Parish must ring of it but I warrant you he never meddles with the sinnes of Puritans they are men of his owne stampe and therefore such holy creatures as if they had no sinne in them thus will they say but if they see the Minister impartiall and like Christ in the Gospel not spare the persons of any men not care for their faults or frownes in cases of this nature they will take that which concernes themselves the better and conceive the Minister to be a man of God It is written in the commendation of a religious Knight that he loved those Preachers best that least favoured his corruptions and would blesse God for such teachers as would give him no rest in sin and would often provoke them with these words Goe on spare us not though corruption may busle a while yet God will give us hearts to come in at length and to submit to the Scepter of his word how ever it shall be a Preachers Crown to be faithfull and to balke none thus would hee speake to the Minister in private after that the Minister had beene as the world thought too sharpe with him in publike and doubtlesse the same mind is little or much in all those that be truly godly and religious those therfore that will owne such matters and be offended and take sins part are doubtlesse a bastard brood and such as God will never own for his at the great day they discover themselves by this condition but as I said before this is the condition of many of the better sort of the world for of the world I cannot but account them and if such doe so make themselves all one with their sinne no marvell if the worser sort be so conditioned if those that are neere us in respect of profession our owne Mothers sonnes as they account themselves
and words In a word shall I tell you what Tertullian saies in the praise of patience in his booke of that Subject which doth notably set forth the excellency necessity of it fidem munit saies he pacem gubernat dilectionem adjuvat humilitatem instruit c. it preserveth faith it orders peace it helpeth love it teacheth humility it rules the flesh and serves the spirit it bridles the tongue and holds the hands it treads upon temptations and perfects martyrdome it selfe for it is not suffering but patience in suffering that pleaseth God it comforts the poore and tempers the rich it easeth the sickly and maintaines the health it delighteth the faithfull it inviteth the unbeleever it commendeth the servant to the Master and the Master to the Lord it beautifies a woman and purchaseth esteeme to a man it is loved in a child praised in a youth and honoured in the aged in omni sexu in omni â—tate formosa cst it is beautifull in every sexe in every age therefore a vertue of great consequence and a grace most needfull But of all arguments this in the text must be observed patience preserves the soule namely from the hands of its enemies and the peace of it from being broken and therefore must needs be of that consequence and so needfull as wee say for the soule is a thing of the greatest consequence in the world and of which a man hath most need to be carefull now by patience this is preserved and kept safe for patience frustrates all the aimes of Satan and the wicked against the same and therefore most craftily doe they indeavour to deprive a man of patience for if he lose this they know he will lose God and so in conclusion the soule it selfe for the enemy knowes well that as patience keepes God in the soule so impatience thrusts him out God will not dwell in perturbations for as he came to Eliah in a soft still voyce so he dwels onely in a quiet and still spirit In all Jobs afflictions what was aimed at but to breake his patience Job 2. 9. to make him curse God in a mood as many use to doe and so should he empty his soule of God and let the Devill in in his stead as anger and impatience alwayes doth and therefore note the Apostles Caveat Ephes. 4. 26 27. Let not the Sun goe downe upon your wrath not give place to the Devill that is to say if you grow wrathfull and impatient you let the Devill in and then farewell the soules possession he will not so soone give it up againe And as Satan so all his servants in all their oppositions against Gods people and Ministers have the same aime to deprive the soule of patience A bad neighbour that comes to his Ministers house on Saturdayes in the afternoone and there stands barking at his doore and baying at his window what can he aime at thereby but to move him unto impatience to distemper his spirit and so to unsute him for the doing Gods worke on the morrow And why are your foul-mouthed people so luxurious of their malicious foame against any Christian but for the same cause to make a breach upon their patience it appeares most plaine for if they cannot prevaile therein but see their words and doings passed over with a carelesse neglect how above measure are themselves vexed as I have read of one that hang'd himselfe for very vexation that he could not by his railing speeches move another unto impatience Patience indeed unto the soule is as the lid unto the eye or as a shield unto the head it breakes the stroake of every crosse and keepes the spirit harme-free it is as the balast of the ship to make it stable and therefore James 5. 8. be patient stablish your hearts a ship well balasted is not easily ore-turned by waves or winds whereas that which wants the same is tost every way many will balast themselves with wealth with riches and friends but when winds and stormes and blowes come these will not quiet the spirit and keepe out feares so as patience will for he that is balasted with patience how ever the world goes though the wind blow and the stormes come though his eares be loaded with revilings threatnings and reproaches and his body beaten with stripes and buffets yet his soule is unwounded he is not dozed nor at his wits end his spirit is not straitned with griefe or feare nor his faculties tied up though his passions be he hath the free command of himselfe and tongue and lookes and speakes as he was wont to doe his stomach swels not his mouth vapours not his eyes sparkle not his bloud boyles not nor doe his fingers itch or his colour change he is still the same onely perhaps looking to Heaven-ward saies in himselfe Christus gravior a tulit Christ indured more then this or omnia possum confirmante me Christo I shall or I can beare my burden through the strength of Christ or meliora spero I hope better dayes are comming or dabit Deus his quoque finem this world will not last alwayes Such is the temper of the soule wherin patience dwels it is like Mount Sion which cannot be moved or like a rocke on the Sea on all sides disquieted with assaults yet still quiet in its scituation whereas he that wants patience doth laniare animam suam furore suo as it is Job 18. 4. teare and butcher his owne soule in his rage whose picture you may see Mar. 5. 5 6. for as he there would not be tamed or bound with chaines or fetters but broak all and went raving about and cutting himselfe with stones so the impatent man being not himselfe will be kept in with no bonds or ties of God or man but breaks all to doe himselfe mischiefe and it is a true saying Neâ—â— laeditur nisi à seipso none can hurt a man till hee hath hurt himselfe by letting goe his patience and so you see the benefit and need of Patience 3. But there is one particular more in the Doctrine still to be further proved and that is to a Christian it is a grace so needfull to none as to a Christian. For he of all others hath most occasions of vexation a Christian is a Crucian a man of sorrowes Christs younger Brother he doth not onely take up but also beare his crosse daily by faith he takes it up but by patience he beares it The waters yea the bitter waters of afflictions come daily in upon his soule as David speakes and patience is like the tree mentioned Exod. 15. 25. which takes away their bitternesse from them and therefore of all others to a Christian it is most needfull and a Christian also is apt to fret and grieve at the occasions and sight of evill as well as another man and to be troubled when he sees cause which he is forbidden to doe as you mâ—y see Psal. 37. 1. Fret not thy selfe