Selected quad for the lemma: child_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
child_n	word_n	young_a	youth_n	300	4	8.0702	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A01935	Certaine sermons preached upon severall occasions viz. The vvay to prosper. The vvay to be content. The vvay to vvell-doing. A summer sermon. A vvinter sermon. Vnknowne kindnesse. The poore mans hope. By Iohn Gore Rector of Wenden-lofts in Essex.	Gore, John, Rector of Wendenlofts, Essex.; Gore, John, Rector of Wendenlofts, Essex. Way to prosper.; Gore, John, Rector of Wendenlofts, Essex. Way to be content.; Gore, John, Rector of Wendenlofts, Essex. Way to well-doing.; Gore, John, Rector of Wendenlofts, Essex. Summer sermon.; Gore, John, Rector of Wendenlofts, Essex. Winter sermon.; Gore, John, Rector of Wendenlofts, Essex. Unknowne kindnesse.; Gore, John, Rector of Wendenlofts, Essex. Poore mans hope.; Gore, John, Rector of Wendenlofts, Essex. Oracle of God.	1636 (1636)	STC 12071; ESTC S120526	199,234	334

David did observe this priviledge that they were never forsaken and they were the righteous onely I never saw 〈◊〉 righteous forsaken 3. The continuance and succession of Gods favour and mercy that it doth not rest onely upon the righteous themselves but extendeth and e●la geth it selfe to their posterity and their seed nor their seed begging their bread Of th●se in their order and first of the time how long David had observed Gods dealing with the righteous namely from hi youth to his age ● I have been● young Here first you may take into your consideration the holy minority of the Prophet David that in his young time he began to enter into religious thoughts and meditations touching Gods proceedings with his servants That time which other young folkes waste and melt away in folly and vanitie or in the pleasures of sinne that did he dispend and employ in a more serious and more sacred manner in devotions and divine contemplations of the manifold wisedome and workes of God To be a patterne and a president to all young ●olke● that should come after him to begin betimes 〈◊〉 God and follow goodnesse Remember thy Creatour in the dayes of thy youth saith Salomon Eccles 12. 1. before evill dayes come Old dayes are evill dayes in respect of young dayes ●t be the young that be the good dayes if young folkes had but grace to make good use of them It was Gods Ordinance Levit. ● 14. that in their Meate-offerings of first fruits they should offer greene eares of corne or corne beaten out of greene eares To intimate unto us that God loves wee should dedicate and consecrate our greene and tender yeares to his service and not put it off as too many doe to the very Autumne and fall of their lives It is witten in the Gospel that when Christ heard a yong man say He had kept the Commandements from his youth th● Text faith He began to 〈…〉 to shew how God loves these timely beginnings of grace and goodnes Yea I dare say it that God makes more account of a little goodnesse in a young body ●h●n of a great deale more in one that is of greater age as you read 1 Reg. 14. 13. When 〈◊〉 childe was sicke the Prophet sent him word from God that he only of Ieroboams house 〈…〉 goe to the grave in peace because in him was found some good thing toward the Lord. There could not be much goodnesse in him being but a child and bred in Idolatry yet because there was some goodnesse ye see how God tooke liking to him and shewed his acceptance by that extraordinary favour towards him Let this be an encouragement to all young persons that are as the Poet speakes Aurorae filij sons of the morning that have day and life before them to learn of David and Ieroboams son to begin betimes to set forward to heaven and make choise of Christ to be their Guardian in their youth so shall they be sure never to come to want nor beggery in their age It was the honour and the happines of Andronicus and Iunia as we read Rom. 16. 7. that they were in Christ before Paul and it is the happiest priviledge and priority in the world to be the first in Christ and in the Covenant of grace for he that is the formost in Christianity upon earth shall be sure to have preferment according to his time both in grace and glory in the heavens Be ambitious therefore ye young men of this high honour and preferment get into Christ as soone as possibly you can for if you linger like Lot in Sodome and stay till you have gotten an habite and an haunt in wickednesse you would no● beleeve how hard a matter you shall finde it then to dispose your mindes and frame your lives to goodnesse Stampe Garlicke in a new morter and it will smell of it ever after let the devill get possession of a child he will hardly be removed when he comes to riper yeares as we have an example Marke 9. 20. There was an evil spirit had gotten such hold of a yong mans body that the Disciples with all their power and prayers could not cast him out whereupon our Saviour perceiving with what extremity he came forth with what wallowing and foaming and renting of the possessed He demanded how long that had happened unto him answer was made of a child if Satan get but handsell in child-hood he will plead prescription in age Therefore let all parents take heed they doe not deale with their children as those wicked ones did 2 Reg. 17. who offered their children to Molock first they carried them round about the fire and that was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wheeling about their death and destruction secondly they caused their children to passe through the fire this was called Lustratio a purging by sacrifice thirdly they put them into the belly of Molock which was an hollow Image of brasse and burnt them quicke this was Vivi-comburium burning alive Too many such graces●sse parents there are in the world who first initiate their children to the devill when they correct them 〈◊〉 this is as it were to carry them about the fire of hell secondly when by their evill example they teach them villany as the young 〈…〉 of the old Lyon to catch the prey 〈◊〉 9 this is as ●t were to make them passe through the ●●●e they not onely teach them evill by their evill example but applaud and allow them in their wickednesse and as the Apostles word is Rom. 1. 32. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 take delight and pleasure in their lewdnesse that is to put them as it were into the armes into the belly of the devill This is a wofull training up of children God forgive and amend all them that use it and God give all such children grace to doe as Salomon adviseth the young man Prov. 2. 16. ●urto se eripere to steale themselves ●ut of the hands and bands of sinne and Satan and to bind themselves Apprentices to God in their youth so shall they be sure to be potected and preserved and provided for in their age I bave beene young saith David and now am old c. Now am old You have heard the beginning of Davids pietie now marke his proceeding and continuance in well-doing he was no changeling you see neither in Religion nor in affection to God-ward but held on in a constant setled course of godly-mindednesse I●a ut cano placer●t quod Juveni complace●a● as one said so that that goodnesse which pleased him in his youth pleased him no lesse in his elder yeares yong and old he was still the same still bent and set his heart to serve and to observe the Lord. It was the commendation given to Mnason Act. 21. 16. that he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an old disciple and it is the greatest honour that can be given to man or woman to be truely stiled as he was

doubt a Righteous man for our Saviour gave testimony of him that his faith had made him whole and yet he begged by the high-way So though it doe not seeme to hold in singulis in all particular● yet ut plurimum for the most part it is a rare unusuall thing to see a righteous body come to beggery David in all his time never saw it and I beleeve the oldest man alive cannot point out many instances But I take it the Prophets meaning may be this that hee never saw the righteous nor h●s seed forsaken of God though they did begge their bread that is though they should be driven to that hard exigent as for a time to begge their bread yet even in that extremity God would not forsake them but be graciously present with them to sanctifie their poverty unto them and to give them a comfortable enjoyment of that very bread and food which the exigency of their hard condition had constrained them to begge for I say though they should upon some extremity be enforced to make their wants knowne and seeke releefe as beggers doe yet their God whom they serve will never leave them to that scarcity as to make a trade and profession of common beggery As Saint Iohn saith in another case Hee that is borne of God cannot sinne the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cannot be a workeman or an Artificer of sinne hee cannot follow his sinnes as a workeman followes his trade but some time or other he shall breake off his sinnes by repentance and turne to God by reformation So hee that belongs to God cannot shall not begge his bread so as to make a trade and profession of beggery God will surely raise them up some friends or meanes to sustaine them for the present and to put them into a better course for the time to come For it was one of the greatest curses that David could banne the enemies of God withall Psal 106. Let their children be vagabonds and begge their bread let them seeke it also out of desolate places where no bread is to be had now surely God will provide better for the children of the righteous then that this should be their lot Consider the Ostrit●h saith Iob 39. 13. God hath taken understanding from her and shee leaves her young ones behind her and provides not for them but forgetteth them as if they were not hers how comes it then that they grow up and that the species is not extinguished but continues Surely because God takes care for them and nurseth them up So the Hinde that is in the wildernesse as shee calveth shee bringeth her young and casts forth her sorrowes and there leaveth them who now should provide for them but onely God So they say of the Raven that when her young ones are newly hatched shee flies away and leaves them destitute of foode and there they lie in the nest croking and crying ready to starve for want of sustenance but that God takes pitty upon them and createth a worme out of their excrements which crawleth into their mouthes and so feeds them and keepes them alive therefore it is said in the Psalme God feedeth the young Ravens that call upon him Now if God be so gracious as to feed young Ostritches and Hindes and Ravens much more will hee feede young children and babes and infants that call upon him My father and my mother forsooke mee saith David Psa 27. and the Lord tooke mee up In the Originall the word is Asuph I was a foundling like a lost childe that left by the parents and found by the parish such was Davids case it should seeme for a time and the Lord tooke care of him and brought him up so will God provide that none of the Righteous seed shall be lost or perish for want of looking to but hee will finde them himselfe and set some good body or other to finde them out as hee set Pharaohs daughter to finde out Moses and to nurse him up at her owne cost one way or other God will take order for their seed and posterity that they shall never come to utter want and beggery What then is to be thought of our common beggers are they all ungodly are they all unrighteous are they all the seed of Reprobates I dare not say so there may be some that belong to the election of grace among them else God forbid Wee reade in the Gospel that some were called in out of the High-wayes and from under Hedges to the wedding Dinner of the Lord which is doubtlesse meant of beggers that lay lurking thereabouts and marke that the Lord of the Feast saith to his servant● Coge in●rare compell them to come in they came not in alone but by compulsion and so may our common beggers by compulsion perhaps be brought to goodnesse as Seneca observes that such licentious persons have sometimes beene amended per disciplinam metum by correction and feare nunquam spontè never of their owne accord But generally as they are suffered and ●et alone they are the very filth and vermine of the Common wealth I meane such as have health and strength and limbs and are able to doe good worke and take paines in an honest calling yet rather chuse to wander up and downe the country and spend their dayes in a most base ungodly course of life they are indeed the very Sodomites of the land children of Beliall without God without Magistrate without Minister dissolute disobedient and reprobate to every good work And therefore no marvell that God in his just judgement doth let such runnagates continue in scarcenesse for if they would seeke their meat at God as David saith the young Lyons doe God would take such order that they should not alwayes be to seeke for their meate as now they are if they did but begge their daily bread of God as our Saviour teacheth us in his prayer God would surely provide them bread that they should need to begge it of none else but him but as they restraine their prayers from God so God restraines his blessing from them and lets them like Runnagates continue in scarcenesse But now for the seed of the Righteous they have a speciall relation to God and God hath a special regard to them as being the lambs of his owne flocke the members of his own Son and the children of his own adoption and in that respect heaven shall want power and earth want meanes before any of Gods owne children shall want maintenance let the world be never so hard corne never so deare and their meanes never so small that God that multiplied the widdowes oyle will adde such a blessing to that little which they have that like a Spring it shall continually feede them and keepe off beggery from ever comming on them Here then is a comfort to all poore pious parents that have little or nothing to leave their children but onely prayers and blessings God who is Rich

man and wife onely because God is left out the Lord is not betweene them Therefore the onely way to bring peace and unity into a family is to bring God into the family and the onely way to bring God into a house is to bring him and draw him in by prayer Draw neare to God and God will draw neare to you saith S. Iames. Be not you wanting to God and God will never be wanting to you Alwayes remember the Apostles farewell to the Corinthians 2 Cor 13. 11. Be of one minde live in peace and the God of peace shall be with you Thus doe as God would have you and that is the way to be content 2. Elies case to be crost in ones children Put case thy children be either taken from thee by untimely death in their youth or which is worse live to be ungracious and undutifull to thee in their age these are piercing griefes yet learne to be content in both For the first say that Almighty God who hath Ius vitae necis the power of life and death in his owne hands and can draw out and cut short our lives as it pleaseth him doe cut off thy child in the budding in the blooming of his age when he is Aurorae filius as the Poet speakes a sonne of the morning so that all thy joy thy hope thy comfort seemes to perish and die and be extinguisht in him yet learne to be content for why Consider that if thy child had lived he must have served an apprentiship all the while that he might after have heene free of the heavenly Jerusalem now if God in his mercy will grant it the freedome in the beginning of its yeares and make him a citizen among the Saints shortly after he came into the world is this any cause of discontent and not rather of thanksgiving But who can tell whether such a child be saved or no if I were but sure of that wil some say I should be the better content though I know a good parent will abhorre such a thought of doubtfulnesse yet for the better setling of your minds in that assurance doe but call to minde our Saviours saying Suffer little children to come unto me for unto such belongeth the Kingdome of God it is not only said that they belong to Gods kingdome but that Gods kingdome belongs to them as much as to say if any have a right unto it or may claime a part or portion in it it is such or none in the Originall it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For of such is the kingdome of God that is Gods kingdome doth consist of little children heaven is replenished and stored with such as they Forasmuch then as there can be no feare nor danger of thy childs salvation with God let this teach thee to be content if God shall take him from thee in the beginning of its dayes But the greatest crosse of all is when children live to be ungracious and undutifull to their parents in their age as Elies were when aged parents shall be forced to complaine as the tree did in the Apologue that it was rent and torne and split asunder with the same wedge that was cut out of its owne bowels this I am perswaded is the greatest griefe that can befall a tender-hearted parent This was the crosse that subdued Egypt all the plagues of God could not make them yeeld till God smote their children and that broke their hearts so 1 Sam. 30. 6. it is said of Davids men that their soules were bitter for their children the miscarriage of a child is gall and worme-wood to a parent it imbitters their very soules If thy case be thus I bewaile and condole it onely let mee perswade thee to be content because the God that made thy childe can mende him Do therefore for him as Noah did for Iaphet Gen. 9. 27. He had given that son of his a great deale of good counsell no doubt and perswaded him to dwell in Gods Church and become a lively member of the same but knowing well to how little purpose all this would be without Gods working upon his heart he falls to prayer God perswade Iaphet to dwell in the tents of Shem as if he had said I have advised and done my utmost to perswade thee my sonne but all this is but lost labour unlesse God put to his helping hand now therefore The good Lord perswade thee c. Thus doe thou for thy refractary childe desire God to perswade him to convince him to convert and turne his heart and thou shalt see that nothing shall stand in his way but the worke shall be accomplished If God undertake to bring Peter out of prison no bolts nor barres shall be able to hold him there if the Lord ●ake in hand to leade Israel out of Egypt into the promised ●and sea shall be no sea wildernesse no wildernesse Giants no Giants c. So though thy childe be never so ill minded never so desperately bent if God undertake to mend him and make him good all his ill conditions shall not hinder it therefore let not thy heart sinke nor thy faith faile nor thy hopes languish but still pray still entreat still waite upon God and chats the way to be content 3. Iosephs case to be crost in ones reputation Put case thy good name which Salomon saith is more precious than riches be impeached and taken from thee by slanders and lyes and base imputations of those that wish thee ill for such is the vice and villany of the world that they will traduce and discredit a man whether he deserve it yea or no. David compares such to the Aspe which is a beast ill sighted but quicke of hearing weake but full of poyson so are all detractours ill-sighted to see any thing that 's good in another but quicke of hearing any thing that is bad of him weake they are in judgement and in charity both but full of the poyson of malice and envie The poyson of Alpes is under their lips Psal 140. 3. Iunius translates it venenum p●yados the poyson of the spitting serpent they have learned of the old Serpent the Devill to spit their venome in the faces of those that faine would live in peace and dwell securely by them they are indeed a cursed generation Deut. 27. 24. Cursed be he that smites his neighbour in secret that doth secretly and slily underhand traduce him and seeke to worke him out of the good opinion of his neighbours and friends and marke what followes let all the people say Amen God doth not onely curse such a one himselfe but he gives all his people leave to curse him too and cursed be that offence that brings the curse of God and the curse of the people upon such an offender Well if it have beene any of your hard haps to be thus secretly smitten or openly injured in your reputations as some of us I am sure have beene let me as I

him a discourse of spirituall matters that concerne the right way of pleasing God and of saving his owne soule He is of Gallios temper Act. 18. 17. hee cares for none of these things he hath other gates matters to trouble his head withall But then come to a faithfull man one that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 like-minded to God and his blessed Apostle one whose minde and whose affection stands that way and tell him of these things you cannot please him better that is the doctrine he desires to heare of he will care for it even naturally without any irkesomenesse or reluctation Therefore as a father said of Saint Lukes Gospel which hee dedicated to one Theophilus which signifieth a lover of God si Deum diligis ad tescriptum est If thou beest one that lovest God this Gospel is written to thee Thou art the Patron of it as well as He In like manner if thou beest a faithfull man this faithfull saying is spoken to thee this text is written for thee and thou must take it to thy selfe as if it concerned thee and none else but thee We reade 2. Reg. 9. 5. when the Prophet came to anoynt Iohn to be King over Israel and found him fitting among the rest of the captaines hee delivers his message indefinitely to one of the company not naming Iehu nor any man else I have an errand to thee O Captaine Iehu answered to which of all us The Prophet replyed To thee O Captaine when Iehu perceived that the message concerned himselfe hee rose up immediately and obeyed it In like manner when a preacher comes into the congregation and delivers his message indefinitely to the whole assembly thou must know that his errand is to thee he comes with a message sent from God to thee and thou must impropriate it to thy selfe as if it pertained to none but thee for this is that which frustrates all our sermons and makes all our preaching voyd and uneffectuall because men take our messages to be errands sent from heaven to others and nothing at all concerning or belonging to themselves Iust like little children when they looke in a glasse they thinke the face they see there is the babyes face and not their owne But I am perswaded better things of you my brethren that you are not in the number of those that doe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act. 13. 46. put away the word of salvation from your selves to others and therefore let me use the words of Lydia if you desire of God to bee counted faithfull give heede and good regard to what is here set downe for the holy Ghost commends it to be a faithfull saying as if no other saying were so faithfull as this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is a faithfull saying But that is not all I had rather draw it another way and make another kind of use of it as thus namely that I and you and every one that beares the name of Christian would be perswaded to imitate this example to follow this patterne and to learne of God and his blessed Apostle to be faithfull in all our sayings that whatsoever we speake whatsoever we affirme it may be Bonafide as we say so honest and so unfained that wee may bee able to maintaine it without an oath This that we have spoken is a faithfull saying For I beseech you 〈…〉 what are all your bonds all your oathes all your Affidavits all your witnesse-bearing to mens words but proles humana persidiae the very issue and off-spring of mens unfaithfulnesse if men were but true and faithfull in their sayings all these things neede not be It was a sad complaint of David Psal 1 ● 1. Def●●erunt fideles a filijs hominum we render it faithfulnesse is minished from the children of men Thankes be to Gods mercy we cannot say that faithfulnes is quite abolished or utterly cashered from the sons of men only this diminuta it is lessened it is abated it is minished exceeding much for by all report men are nothing neere so faithfull so honest so plaine dealing in their words and in their actions as they were in former times faithfulnesse is ●●nished from the children of men And if it bee from the children of 〈◊〉 there let it rest and goe no further farre be it from the children of God to bee defective that way if the children of men I meane carnall unregenerate men the men of this world or the men of the earth as David termes them if they bee unfaithfull or unconscionable they doe but their kind their punishment though it be just it shall be lesse you know that blackenes in a Moore is no deformity as it is in another man but if the children of God that make profession and protestation of their faith to God shall make no conscience to deale treacherously and unfaithfully with men God cannot chuse but take it hainously and revenge it sharpely It is indeed an odious and hatefull sinne both to God and man Psal 101. I hate the sinnes of unfaithfulnesse there shall no such cleave unto me sinne you know is of a cleaving nature whatever sinne a man is given to he shall finde that it will cling like a burre unto him hee shall have much adoe to shake it off therefore the Apostle gives it the right terme and calles it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 12. 1. the sin that hangath on so fast but there is one finne above all the rest the sinne of unfaithfulnesse so harefull in a good mans eye that David vowed to himselfe that whatever other sinne st●●ke by him hee would surely shake off that that odious infamous sinne should never cleave unto him I hate the sinnes of unfaithfulnesse there shall no such cleave unto me contrarily it is the glory and crowne of a christian man to bee accounted and approved a faithfull man as God gives this restimonie of 〈◊〉 Num. 12. He is faithfull in all my house c what ever businesse or imployment God set him about he 〈◊〉 it and did it faithfully what a deale of accounts what a deale of back reckonings might he spared if such 〈…〉 were but knowne to bee like those overseers of the ●emple I meane faithfull in th●it dealings 2. Reg. 12. 15. there was no reckoning made with the men into whose hands they delivered the mony for saith the tent they deals faithfully neither is it only a commend abit thing among men 〈◊〉 a thing wonderfull exceptable to God it is that indeede which is called by the schoolemen Gratia gratum sacies it is a grace of God that makes even God himselfe in love with a man A faithfull man may truely be termed V●●r Dei the very wife and spouse of God according to that saying of God himselfe Hos 2. 20. I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulnesse so that as a good natured husband will beare with any other weakenesse and winke at many just occasions of offence in his

well-doing if they have once done a good worke they thinke they have a supersedeas for doing good any more But God loves constancy in well-doing 〈…〉 see 2. Reg. 13. 18 19. how the man of God was wroth with the King of Israel because when he bade him smite upon the ground he smote but thrice and stayed sayth he thou shouldest have smitten five or sixe times then shouldest thou have smitten Syria till thou hadst consumed it whereas now thou shalt smite it but thrice So when a man shall doe two or three good deedes and then stay his hand this is not enough to please God then is God pleased when wee proceede and goe on and keepe a constant setled course of weldoing when wee make it as our meat and drinke to doe the will of our heavenly father so that as a healthfull man if hee eate or drinke the lesse one day hee ●ates and drinkes the more another day so should wee if wee serve God the lesse one day serve him the more another day if wee doe the lesse good one day doe the more the next day as an Archer if he shoote amisse one time he will try to mend it the next time so if we have done amisse one day strive to amend it the next day and so continually endeavour to rede●me our times because our dayes be few and evill Doubtlesse it is for this cause that God hath layd such a charge upon us to affirme these things constantly that they might be alwaies fresh in your remembrance and alway constant in our practise You know what is said in the Gospel Blessed is that servant whom his master when he commeth shall finde so doing that is when death or judgement shall come upon a man like a theefe in the night unexpectedly and unawares blessed of God is that man that is found at his prayers or taken in his calling or any waies taken in the act of well-doing but woe to that man or woman that is taken as it were napping in the midst of his sinnes as Balthashar was taken in the midst of his cups Nebushadnezzar in the midst of his pride the old world in the midst of their fleshline to speake the best of it that may be it is much to bee feared that God meanes no good to that parties soule I will close up 〈…〉 with that sweete and comfortable Collect Lord let thy speciall grace now and ever more prevent and follow us and make us continually to be given to all good workes through Iesus Christ our Lord Amen But that is not all I take it 〈…〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies rather to affirme strongly ex tote valde as we say to presse it home withall the strength and might we have though you neglect and slight good workes in your practise wee must not slight nor neglect them in our preaching but set them on as the Bee doth her sting with the greatest force and efficacie that possibly we can put to it I know there is as great difference betweene preachers as betwixt an infant and a Gyant drawing the same bow and yet if a Gyant shoote an arrow against a stone wall it pierceth not but reboundeth backe againe with the greater violence so the most happie the most able preacher that lives may shoot as unprofitably I meane preach as unsuccessefully as a weaker teacher if hee meete with people that have stones in their hearts I meane that are untractable and unpliable to any goodnesse unlesse God doe by them as he promised by his prophet Ezech. 11. I will take away your stony hearts and give you a heart of flesh non ●arnale sed carn●um not a fleshly heart but a fleshy hears that is a heart that shall bee as tender as your flesh that the least blow will bee seene upon it and the least pricke of a pin draw blood of it when God hath made this way then shall they feele that the word of God is virga virtutis a rod of strength and power even in the hand of the weakest minister wee see by experience let a little child take a staffe in his hand and strike a man therewith it never troubles him he never complaines of the blow but let a strong man take this child by the hand and strike with the same staffe he that feeles the blow though he see not the party that strooke him can easily conjecture that this was more then a child could doe there was the strength of some man in it In like manner when wee take the word of God into our hands as Gehazi tooke the staffe of Elisha al●● we lay it on but weakely we doe but Verbera●● 〈…〉 beate the ayre or beate your eares that is all that we of our selves can doe but if at any time you feele a blow that lights upon your hearts if you feele a word that toucheth you to the soule beleeve it that stroke came from the hand of God All that we can doe is but as Iohn Baptist speaketh Mat. 3. to lay the Axe to the r●ote of the tree now if a man take an Axe and onely lay it to the roote of a tree it will be long enough ere the tree be cut downe for it is the strength of the arme and the fetching of the blow it is that that wounds it it is that that fells it downe and for that cause I suppose the preaching of the word is called the Arme of God Esa ●3 1. it is not the hand of a preacher but it is the ●rme of God that wounds a sinners heart and makes him fall downe at the foote of God the weakenesse is from us but the strength is all from God who yet hath commanded us not to abate any thing of our owne paines nor to preach his word in any negligent manner but to affirm● and confirme it with all the strength and might that our witt and learning will afford 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith my text These things I will that thou affirme strongly And so from the skirts as it were I come to the body of my text where you have an abridgement of the law and the Gospel the Gospel is doctrina credendorum the law is doctrina agendorum the one teacheth us what wee ought to beleeve the other teacheth what wee ought to doe for the comfort and discharge of our owne soules in the sight of God Here both are knit together Beleeving and doing Law and Gospel Faith and good workes doe in our text as they should doe in our lives even meete and kisse each other Intimating unto us what Gods good pleasure is in this behalfe namely That as many as are of a right faith as many as have beleeved in God should be also of aright conversation should be carefull to maintaine good workes 1. For matter of faith I suppose that of all men living we Protestants are in the right the Faith that we professe and hold is doubtlesse such as is able

if thou belongest to heaven Lastly from hence they that are rich in this world may learne in a contrary sence to that of Lucifer to be similes altissimo like to the most high God I meane in goodnesse and tender-mercie we use to say dives quasi divus to intimate that a rich man should be to the poore as Moses was to Aaron in some fence a God Exod. 4. to succour and defend them in the time of need so then look how God above doth in the Summer time refresh the bowels of the earth with raine and in the Winter time keepe warme the backe of it with Snow so should they Philemon-like refresh the bowels of the poore that are pinched with hunger and Dorcas-like provide some cloathing for the backes of the poore that are not able to cloath themselves It is recorded of Iob to his eternall happinesse and honour that the loynes of the poore did blesse him being warmed with the fleece of his flocke Oh what a blessed thing it is to have the blessing of the poore and the blessing of God into the bargaine and all for the offalls of a mans estate Such a man shal be blessed in his name blessed in his person blessed in his posterity God will blesse a charitable minded man men will blesse him heaven will blesse him earth will blesse him all that ever have beene comforted or cloathed by him will blesse him too their backes will blesse him their bellies will blesse him their soules will blesse him his house shal be filled with blessings as a cruell mans house is filled with curses Therefore as David said of the men of Iabez when newes was brought him that they had buried the bones of Saul 2 Sam. 2. 5. Blessed be ye of the Lord the Lord recompence you this mercy So may I say of a mercifull minded man blessed be such a man of the Lord the Lord will surely recompence him mercy for mercy kindnesse for kindnesse and whatsoever cost he hath bestowed upon earth he shall finde it a hundred fold with God in heaven This lesson men of wealth and ability may learne of the very Snow or rather of the God that sends it not to lay all upon their owne backes Sal●●s sylvas as hee said groves and grounds and all to decke up themselves but lay something out upon the backes of Christs naked members that they may heare that comfortable doome at the last day Come yee blessed of my Father for I was naked and ye cloathed c. I had a conceit as I come by the way that the Snow did carry in it a lively resemblance of the state of this world in sundry passages I will but name them and leave them to your consideration 1. As the earth lies warme under the Snow and feeles not the bitter blasts of winde and frost which other poore creatures shrinke and smart for so fares it with the rich men of this world that lie warme with their wealth about them and have no feeling nor compassion of the cold and hunger the miseries and necessities of their poorer brethren So Dives being warme within had no feeling of poore Lazarus without now Dives signifies a rich man and Lazarus in the Originall signifies one qui auxilio destitutus est One that stands in neede of helpe and the intent of the Parable is to shew that the rich are commonly as destitute of pitty as the poore are destitute of helpe the one hath little or no feeling of the other sufferings 2. You may observe how the Snow goes by drifts the Wind fetcheth it off from one place to fill up another many a piece of ground is made naked and bare to fill up some ditch or pile up against some hedge and there it lies to keep those places warme that were warme before Even so doth the wealth of this world goe by drifts the winde of adversitie fetcheth it off from one man to fill up the unsatiable ditch of another man and many a mans meanes like the Snow is blowne cleane away from him and his posterity into the hands of Vsurers and rich Oppressoins to keepe them warme that were warme already to increase their wealth that had too much before just as Nabo●hs Vineyard was blowne away from him and from his children into the territorie and demaines of wicked 〈◊〉 3. Looke how they boyes and other youths toyle themselves in the cold to make a Snow-ball that shall licke up the other Snow and la●● when that is gone so doth many a covetous man toile himselfe in the world and licke up his poore neighbours with hard bargaines and cruell dealings and all this to rowle up himselfe a private wealth which when he hath done is but like a Snow-ball it may last for a time but vix gaudet terti●● heres it is a venture but some unthriftie Heire will waste it and melt it away as fast and as ill as ever his father got it 4. The Snow blindes a mans eyes that when he comes into a darke roome he can scarce discerne any thing Thus are many a mans eyes dazled with the vanities and vices of the world that when hee should come to looke inward into the darke corners of his heart to see how the case stands betwixt God and his soule like the blinded Sodomites he gropes at noone-day and cannot finde the doore of Gods mercy to enter at Salomon saith that gifts blinde the eyes of the wise In the Originall it is Pickim such as have their eyes open the meaning is that corruption and briberie so dazleth many a wise man that though his eyes be open to the world-ward to hell-ward they are blinde to God-ward and to heaven-ward and cannot see into the things that belong to the right way of pleasing of God and saving their owne soules 5. As many a dunghil and many a dirty slough is hid under a drift of Snow that a man can neither see it nor suspect it so is many a base minde many a false heart hid under a faire outside that will make profession and promises of favour and friendship to a man in prosperity but let him be cast or driven upon them in adversitie he shall finde them like a rotten quagmire under a heape of Snow a meanes rather to sinke him than to save or succour him at such a time 6. Lastly as Leontius said once to his sonnes pointing with his finger to his gray-haires 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. when this Snow melts there will be a floud so let all old weather-beaten sinners pueri centū annorū as the Prophet speaks Esa 65. 20. that are aged in time and sin but children in grace and knowledge that have feathered their nests in this world and have nothing to take to in the world to come let them beware as he said least a floud of fire brimstone in the infernal lake do follow upō the melting of their snowyheads upon the dissolution of their

spirit of a man is the candle of the Lord it implyes that a man naturally walkes in darkenesse which is full of error and full ofterrour till God in mercy set up a candle in his soule I meane endues him with knowledge and grace from heaven that hee may shew him the path of life and to avoyd the snares of death Now you know that a candle naturally burnes upwards if you take it and turne it the wrong way and hold it downewards is dyes and goes out alone so fares it with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Graces and gifts of God as Witt and Wisedome Knowledge and Learning and all these are the candles of the Lord and are purposely given us to light us up to heavenward but if wee take Gods candles and hold them downeward turne them the wrong way and apply and abuse them to sinne it is much to bee feared the light of God will goe out and thou shalt be left at the length in a place of utter darkenesse Therefore as thou tenderest the favour and good-will of God and the eternall welfare of thy owne soule deale not with the graces of God as Iehu dealt with Iehorams messengers 2. Reg. 9. doe not turne them behind thee and make them serve against their owne masters but remember that if the sonnes of Iacob would not endure to have their sister abused Gen. 24. vlt. how dost thou thinke thy God will endure to have his grace abused and to be prostituted to every sinne In a word as Ruben said to his distressed brethren Gen. 42. 22. did not I speake unto you saying Sinne against the child and ye would not heare Oh be not you like them monitoribus asperi so carlesse and regardlesse of divine admonition but remember that you have beene spoken unto that you have beene warned of God not to sinne against your owne soules in this too common kinde but if the Lord have betrusted you with his grace labour to cherish it and as the Apostles word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. Tim. 1. 6. to blow it or stirre it up as we doe a dying fire to kindle and quicken it by the use of good meanes but in any case ne abutaris abuse it not 5. Lastly seeing thou hast to doe with the grace and favour of God ne diffides doe not distrust it doe not make any doubt or question of it but it will bestead thee and befriend thee and be firme and sure unto thee at any time of need It is the Apostles owne advertisement 1. Pet. 1. 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 trust perfectly on the grace that is revealed and brought into the world by Iesus Christ It is a thing that a man may leane his whole weight upon and venture his whole estate upon and paune his life and soule upon the certainety the truth and the infallibility of Gods heavenly grace to all that make their peace and put their trust in him Feare not Mary said the blessed Angel to the blessed Virgin for thou hast found favour with God as if he had said Let them feare that are out of Gods favour let them be distrustfull that are wicked and deceitfull that make no conscience of their waies but live in the displeasure of an angry God paveant illi let them feare but noli tu feare not thou be thou stead fast unmoveable in thy affiance to God for why Invenisti gratiam thou hast found favour with him in whose favour is life and whose grace will bee thy guid unto the day of death In a word then to close up this point As I said before so I say it over againe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gird up the loyues of your mindes and trust perfectly to the Grace of God doe it not in any wavering or timerous or unconfident manner as if God were like the Poets ●enedos Stat●o malesida carinis a trustles Anchor-hold to the seabeaten travailer or like those deceitfull Iewes Ioh. ● 24. to whom our Saviour durst not commit himselfe though they seemed to beleeve in his name Oh let not thy heart entertaine the least suspition the least jealousie of the faithfulnesse and fidelity of thy God but try him by thy prayers and trust him by thy faith and urge him with this Text that now is preached unto thee as S. Austin saith his mother Monica did Chyrographa tua ingerebat tibi Lord saith he shee urged thee with thy owne hand-writing tell him but how hard the world goes with thee and then say ere God have done with thee if thou dost not finde his Grace to be sufficient for thee And so I am come in the third place to shew you the efficacy and vertue of the Grace of God how and wherein the sufficiency thereof doth consist 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Text My Grace is sufficient The principall things whereunto the Grace of God and besides Gods Grace nothing else under heaven is available or sufficient are these that follow 1. Ad Condonandum to pardon and forgive us all our sinnes which would bee the bane and destruction of all our soules Grande est barathrum peccatorum meorum saith a Father sed maior est Abyssus misericordiae dei Great is the gulfe and whirlepoole of my sinnes but greater and deeper is the bottomlesse sea of Gods Grace and mercy see that place Rom. 5. 20. where sinne abounded Grace did much more abound Hast thou abundance of sinnes let not that disharten thee God hath abundance of Grace if thy sinnes be great his Grace is greater than thy sinnes and farre more sufficient to justifie than all thy sinnes are to condemne thy soule Onely ne desis be not thou wanting to God in thy prayers and repentance and his Grace shall never bee wanting to thee in thy pardon and forgivenesse What a golden sentence is that of S. Chrysostome 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou dost not thou canst not so much desire to have thy sinnes forgiven thee as God doth desire to forgive thy sinnes unto thee I forgave thee all thy debt because thou desiredst me said that gracious Lord to his ungracious servant Mat. 18. 32. intimating unto us that if God doe not forgive us ous debts if he doe not pardon and remit our sinnes we may thanke our selves the fault is our owne because wee doe not desire him for if we desired him he would doe it In a word then As our Saviour asked the ●riple Iohn 5. 6. Wilt thou be made whole so wilt thou bee made holy and cleane and fit for absolution from God dost thou desire in sincerity and truth to have thy sinnes remitted and thy soule absolved by the blood and death of Iesus Christ to have all thy misdeeds expunged and blotted out that they may be as if they had nev●● beene Then take the Prophet Esaies counsell Esay 43. 25 26. put God in remembrance of these things it is a pregnant place I pray reade it and remember it I even I

〈◊〉 then bee chargeable or burthensome to any friend or stranger and by this meanes it came to passe that what he wanted at home he found it abroad and Gods grace that was with him did ever supply him with that which was enough and sufficient for him Is it so with thee Thou that art a poore man art thou also an industrious and a painefull man that as Iacob got the blessing in the garment of Esau which signifieth Working so dost thou worke and take paines to get the blessing of thy God dost thou labour with thy hands the thing that is good that thou mayest rather bee charitable then chargeable to him that needeth and will not thy honest labour maintaine thee nor suffice the charge that daily lies upon thee Take comfort by this Text that now is taught thee and let not thy wants nor thy necessities dismay thee for there is a God above that hath sufficient for thee contrarily if thou beest one that live in pleasure as Saint Paul saith of that widow 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 she was dead even while she lived one that spendest thy time in this world no otherwise then that Leviathan doth in the sea onely by taking thy pastime therein or like those lyllies that our Saviour speakes that neither labour nor spain but onely make a faire shew as long as it will hold Then as Iehu said to Ioram What peace so may I say to thee What grace or what favour canst thou looke for at the hands of God 4. Saint Paul was Homo in aerumnis a man full of cares I doe not meane of carnall or worldly cares or such as Martha's were for the things of this life for these he had cast upon God and had learned in whatsoever estate he was therewith to be Content but I meane of spirituall divine religious cares for the health and welfare of the soule such as he commends in the Corinthians 2 Cor. 7. 11. as being the first fruits of Grace and godly sorrow 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What carefulnesse it hath wrought in you how much it wrought in them I know not but sure I am it wrought in him a marvellous and a manifold care and that of the better kinde first an immediate care for himselfe and his owne soule least after he had preached unto others himselfe should be a cast-away 1 Cor. 9. 27. secondly a charitable and that a Catholicke and universall care for all Churches Christian soules under the cope of heaven 2 Cor. 11. 28. Non aliter in ecclesias quantumvis remotas affectus quam si illas humeris gestaret as Beza said of Calvin hee was no lesse tenderly affected for those Churches that were remote and far-off than if he had borne them upon his owne shoulders and carried them as nurses doe their babes in his owne bosome But his third and most especiall care was for the soules and saving health of his little children as he calls them Gal. 4. 20. Of whom he traveiled in birth till Christ was formed in them His care was greater for them than either for himselfe or any others and he gives his reason 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for saith he I stand in doubt of you Good Parents the more they love their children the more they stand in doubt of them least they should fall to any defection or decline to any corruption or come to any disaster when they themselves are dead and gone This made Saint Paul in such perplexity for them and yet were they but his spirituall children what care then may we thinke would he have taken for them if they had beene his naturall children too then might he justly have used that word and said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I am in doubt of you for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greeke signifieth both dubius and pauper doubtfull and poore for none have so much reason to be doubtfull of their childrens welfare as they that are poorest and have least to leave them They may justly feare as the woman of Tekoah said to David 2. Sam. 14. 7. least their coales should bee quenched for so shee calles her child her coale for as coales either warme or burne as they are used so doe children either comfort or crosse their parents as they prove now when a poore man shall dye and leave his coales I meane his Orphans behind him such is the world that where you shall light of one good body that will bee a meanes to cherish and maintaine and keepe them alive there be twenty to that one so unchristianly and uncharitably minded that they care not how they use them yea though they quench and crush and put them cleane out And hence come those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those perplexities and doubtfull cares of tender-hearted parents for their children Hast thou therefore many little ones and little to leave them and doth thy heart even yearne with care and feare to fore-thinke what shall betide them when thou by death art taken from them I will give thee the same counsell that I desire of God to take my selfe and that 's this Cognovisti Gratiam Dei saith our Apostle Colos 1. 6. Thou knowest the Grace of God thou knowest that to bee a sure stay when all other props and stayes are done away That Anchor will hold when all other tackling breakes Make tryall of that Doe by thy Children as Saint Paul did by his brethren Acts 20. 32. Commend them to God and to the word of his Grace Lay them downe at the feet of Iesus Christ as they in the Primitive Church laid downe their money at the feet of the Apostles desire God to bee their Father Christ to be their Guardian the Holy Ghost to bee their Guide and when thou hast don● so then as David saith Psal 116. 7. Revertere ad requiem Returne unto thy rest O my soule then settle and assure and resolve thy selfe that Heaven shall want mercy and earth meanes before any of those that are under Gods protection and patronage shall want maintenance Never bee in doubt what shall become of them knowing that His Grace is sufficient for them I might adde hereunto many particulars as that Saint Paul was homo in vinculis a man in bonds but the grace of God unloosed them all that he was Homo in necessitatibus a man in wants but the Grace of God supplyed them all that he was Homo in periculis a man in many perills and dangers but by the Grace of God he escaped them all that he was Homo in tentationibus a man mightily troubled with temptations but by the Grace of God he overcame them al All these I purposely overslip which perhaps might comply with many a mans condition and conduce to his comfort but there is one behind that is of greater value than all the rest that S. Paul was as I pray God of his mercy make me and thee and every Christian soule to be 5. Homo in Caelestibus a man of an Heavenly disposition though his bodily abode was upon earth yet his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his soules commerce and conversation was in heaven Phil. 3. 20. no marvell then that being so much acquainted with God as hee was and so conversant in heaven which is Gremium Gratiae the lap and bosome of Grace if as t is said of Saint Iohn that leaning in the bosome of Christ he thence suckt out his heavenly knowledge so S. Paul being so intimate and so entire with God who is the God of all Grace whatever else hee wanted could not possibly want Grace sufficient for him In a word then Is it so with thee though in a farre inferiour degree Art thou as every good Christian is and ought to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Citizen of heaven dost thou account that thy home and this but the place of thy pilgrimage for a time and as our Saviour set his face to goe to Ierusalem Luke 9. 51. dost thou set thy face to goe to heaven doth thy heart stand heaven-ward art thou bound for that coast as Paul went bound in the spirit to Ierusalem Acts 20. I meane dost thou set thy affections upon things above upon God and his Grace and not on things below upon the world and her goods which drowne mens soules in perdition Art thou one of that same Generis Aquilini of that Eagle kinde whereof our Saviour speakes Mat. 24. where the body is thither will the Eagles resort the body of thy Saviour thou knowest is in heaven and doth thy soule resort often thither dost thou wish as Macarius did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that thy soule might goe up into heaven with thy prayers and there abide for ever with God Then what Nathan said to David in a case of conviction I dare apply to thee in a case of comfort Thou art the man whom God delighteth to favour and therefore as the Patriachs are sayd Heb. 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 even to kisse and embrace the promises of Christ so doe thou even claspe and hugge this promise of Grace to thy selfe and let neither thy wants nor thy weaknesses dismay thee for both in life and death thou shalt finde Gods Grace to be sufficient for thee which God of his mercy grant unto us all c. Amen FINIS