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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
fire_n	burn_v	great_a	time_n	3,594	5	3.3658	3	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

they smart not now they will one day rend the soule 4 Quia pereunt because ill-gotten riches never prosper with a man but perish and come to a naughty end and that partly through the owners wickednesse as the Prophet speakes of some that earne wages and put it in pertusum sacculum into a broken bag or into a bag full of holes and chinkes every lust every sinne that a wicked man is given to makes as it were a chinke or a hole in his estate whereat his wealth runnes out if it be not stopt by true repentance and partly through the just judgement of God that like as we see Marke 11. 20. as soone as Christ had cursed the figtree it presently withered and dried up 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the rootes to shew that it was not the roote alone but the blessing of Christ that did support the figtree it is not all a mans care nor all his endeavour that can keepe his wealth from withering and perishing if God from heaven give a curse unto it as he doth to all ill gotten goods W●e be to him that coveteth an evill covetousnesse to his house Hab. 2. 9. there hangs a judgement over that mans house like raine in the clouds which sooner or later will come dashing downe upon it and overwhelme it Fire shall consume the Tabernacles of bribery Iob 15. 34 a man that builds his tabernacle and raiseth his estate by bribery and such unlawfull meanes the Lord doth beare such hatred to that mans house that if Atonement be not made he will even fire it and burne it to the ground what a world of sudden and lamentable fires are there every day in some place or other who can tell but that God doth fire such houses for the bribery and iniquity of the owners and founders you know that fire may be given to a traine of Gunpowder a great way off from the place to which the blow is intended so may judgement be breeding a long time ere it breake out it may hover a long time ere it light therefore as you tender your owne safety take heed of getting riches by ill courses quia pereunt because they perish and come to a naughty end And wilt thou perish saith Austine for that which perisheth God forbid 5 Lastly quia damnant because with out Gods infinite mercie they damne a mans soule eternally The Apostle Paul is direct Rom. 3. 8. They which doe evill that good may come of it their damnation is just Now wherefore doe men filch and steale cozen and deceive defraud and over reach and doe all mann●r of evill is it not that good may come of it that they get goods by it if it be so then make the inference your selves whether such mens damnation be not just But I dare not dwell upon this uncomfortable point I know it is beside my text let me intreate you in a word and so I have done with it that seeing riches ill gotten are so dangerous to the soule and so great an enemy to a mans contentment that you would remember Agurs prayer and desire no more of God but that which is food and meanes convenient for you and that is onely so much as you may get justly use soberly enjoy thankfully distribute cheerefully and live contentedly You have heard the two extreames of this vertue Poverty and Riches now the meane is that where true contentment rests that is when God fits a man with such an estate as is most meete and most convenient for him feed mee with food convenient for me saith Agur when a mans heart and his estate doe convenire doe meete and agree and comply in one ther 's the contentment that my text speakes of when God fashioneth a mans heart to his meanes as David speakes Psal 33. 13 14 15. The Lord looketh downe from his habitation upon the men of the earth and he fashioneth their hearts every one of them as a sute of cloathes is fitted to a mans body so doth God fashion a good mans heart to his estate and makes it sutable sit and convenient for him and this is it that gives him content for when there is an unsutablenesse a disproportion a disagreement betwixt a mans minde and his meanes he can have no content no comfort in it as we see by Ahab and by Haman and divers others who wanted for no meanes yet because their hearts did not Convenire did not comply and agree with their estates see how discontentedly they lived and ●yed If then thy estate be not according to thy minde desire of God as Agur did to fashion and fit thy minde and heart to thy estate that they may convenire concord and comply one with the other then shalt thou have content in it be it more or lesse You must know it were as easie to God to give a man plenty as poverty health as sicknesse peace as trouble all were one to him to give a man great meanes as little but onely that he sees the one more convenient for some men than the other and accordingly dispenseth his favours He is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the knower and searcher of the heart and sees that some man if he had more it would make him proud if he had lesse it would make him repine he sees that every man hath not wisedome nor humility nor heavenly mindednesse enough to concoct a more plentifull estate and therefore he fits every one with such an estate as is most sutable most convenient for him Doe not therefore thinke hardely of God because he straytens thee and cuts thee short in many things which thou desirest but know that God knowes thee better than thy selfe Remember what title S. Paul gives to God 1 Tim. 1. 17. To God onely wise be glory and immortality If we did but consider that God is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 onely wise it would be a great stay to our minds and a great helpe to our contentment But here 's the mischiefe we thinke our selves wise too nay I may say it we thinke our selves as wise or wiser than God we are of Alphonsus his minde who feared not to say Si in principio mundi ipse Deo adfuisset mult● melius ornatiusque condenda fuisse if he had beene with God in the beginning things should have beene contrived in an other manner than now they are so doe we blasphemously thinke that if God would but take our counsell and be ruled by us things should be carried in another manner than now they are that some should not have so much others so little some all others never a whit thus wee wretchedly and blasphemously thinke our selves as wise or wiser than God and that 's the reason we are not content with his dealing whereas if we did consider that God were onely wise and none were wise but he this would make us resigne our selves to him submit our wills to his and say as Ely did It is the Lord let

would spare it and not cut it downe and doth Eliah differ from all the rest and bend his prayers against the people and pray for the vexation and undoing of his Countrey How could this stand with that good Religion and that good affection which so holy a man should beare towards the people of God Answ Three things there are in my weake judgement that may seeme to warrant and beare out Eliah in praying for a judgement 1. Authoritas Prophetic● Prophets might doe more than ordinary persons and Eliah had the spirit of Prophesie and knew by revelation from God that such a judgement was a comming therefore he might the more warrantably and unoffensively frame his desires to Gods appointments and fit his prayers to Gods purposes Thus must we conceive of those bitter execrations and imprecations wherewith David did so often in the Psalmes curse and banne his enemies Let their Table be their snare let their children be vagabodes and beg their bread c. A man would thinke it could not stand with the piety and charitie of a godly man to wish such wicked events such uncharitable wishes to proceede out of his mouth but onely that we know hee was a Prophet of God and did it per aff●atum divinum by the direction and inspiration of the Holy Ghost hee knew by the spirit of Prophesie they were such as were accursed of God being Gods enemies as well as his and therefore might the more warrantably and safely doe it It is not for us to use Davids curses unlesse we had Davids spirit David and Eliah had that gift which the Apostle calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the discerning spirits they knew by instinct from heaven who were blest and who were cursed of God It is not so with us God hath hid those secrets from our eyes and therefore it is our part and duty to pray in love and charity That God would have mercy upon all men But what use then are wee to make of those curses in the Psalmes that are read so often to us Answ Thus wee may doe we may apply them to the enemies of the Church that seeke the ruine of the true Religion and professe an open enmity to the Gospel and Faith of Iesus Christ Who is God blessed for ever we may safely take our Saviours part and curse all those that are enemies to him So let all thy enemies perish O Lord Iud. 5. 3 1 But for our owne enemies that have done us some private wrong or bare us some secret grudge to curse them and banne them in this kinde as the usuall manner of some is it is both unwarrantable uncharitable and ungodly But the best and safest use that wee can make of those curses is to appropriate and apply them to our selves to acknowledge and adjudge our selves worthy to undergoe all those deadly evils and that God may justly doe so and more than so unto us if he should deale with us according to our sinnes by this meanes we shall save God a labour and our selves a paine For as on the contrary to blesse our selves is the way to make God curse us Deut. 29. 20. Hee that blesseth himselfe when he heareth the words of these curses saying I shall have peace though I walke in the imaginations of my owne heart adding drunkennesse to thirst marke what followes the Lord will be revenged upon the soule of such a one his anger and his jealousie shall smoke against that man and all the curses that are written in this booke shall light upon him and the Lord shall blot out his name from under heaven This a man gets by blessing of himselfe whereas if thou wouldst be blest of God I doe not say that thou shouldst curse thy selfe farre be it from any servant of Christ so to doe but this I would advise thee to doe even with a sorrowfull and a sad heart to say Amen to all the curses in the Booke of God to acknowledge and confesse that thou hast justly deserved and that it is Gods onely mercy that thou hast escaped them So much for the first reason that may warrant Eliahs prayer the next may be this 2. Convenientia temporis the fitnesse and order of time when this was done it was done in the time of the Law which was used to such judgements they were then accustomed to more terrible wonders than are now sutable to the sweet and saving time of the Gospel observe the wonders that Moses wrought in Egypt what terrible what hurtfull what mischeivous wonders they were he turned all their water into bloud all their dust into Lice and spoiled all the fruits of the earth and undid the whole Land What a dreadfull wonder was that of Elisha 2 Reg. 2. when he cursed the children of Bethel that mocked him for his baldnesse One would have thought that a little discipline a little correction or sending to their Parents or Masters would have sufficed and beene a sufficient revenge for waggish unhappy boyes that did not know their duty to a man of God but hee lookes upon them with a direfull countenance and cursed and banned them in the name of the Lord and immediatly two Shee-beares came out of the Wood and teare two and fortic of them in peices what a horrible what a terrible what a mischeivous wonder was this Of the same kinde was that of Eliah 2 Reg. Chap. 1. when the Captaine came with authority to bid him come downe and come before the King hee might have answered I cannot come or the Lord appointed mee some other way to goe c. but the next word we heare is a word of Iudgement and Vengeance If I be a man of God let fire come downe from heaven and consume thee and thy company and so it did both them and the rest that came after on the same message Such wonders as these were usuall in the time of the Law But now looke to the Miracles and Wonders of our Saviour in the Gospel and you shall finde them to be of another nature all of goodnesse and mercy all mercifull all beneficiall all healing Miracles no way hurtfull or destructive of any mans life Wee ●ead of many a mans life that hee saved many that hee recalled and restored none that hee destroyed no not one being so reviled as hee was so persecuted so laid for so betraied apprehended condemned and crucified yet what one man did our Saviour striké dead for all these haynous indignities Nay hee was so farre from revenge that hee prayed for their lives that sought and wrought his death The most terribble wonders that ever our Saviour did were but two and those no wayes prejudicious to the person or life of any man woman or childe The one was his cursing and blasting of the barren Figge-tree and this was but symbolicall not done in any spleene to the poore tree but onely to shew his indignation against all unfruitfull profession when men make an outward shew

of piety to God but when the poore and hungry come to them as Christ came to that Figtree hoping to pull some fruite of charity and mercy from them there is nothing to be found but leaves good words perhaps and that is all beleeve it such men are nigh unto cursing and it is Gods infinite mercie if hee doe not blast their estate as Christ did the Fig-tree that it shall never prosper to them nor theirs The other wonder of Christ that did any hurt was that Mat. Chapter eight The drowning of the Swine and yet that was the devils doing Christ onely gave way to these evill spirits which seeke the destruction of man and beast to carry them headlong into the 〈◊〉 as they would carry us too but that God above who stiles himselfe The preserver of men is pleased in mercy to keepe out of their clutches and this was symbolicall too to let us understand how God hates all those that are of a swinish disposition that is all drunken sots that like swine have neither wit nor grace to moderate themselves in the use of Gods creatures and all lazie beasts that mind nothing but their bellies as you know a Swine is one of the laziest creatures that a man can keepe it doth him no worke nor service at all or lastly All hoggish worldlings and miserable muck-wormes of the earth that never doe good till they come to die let all such tremble and feare and call to God for mercy least in his just judgement hee deliver their soules into the hands of those hellish Fiends to carry them headlong as they did the swine into the lake that burneth with fire and brimestone for evermore there shall bee weeping and gnashing of teeth These are the two severest wonders that ever our Saviour did or suffered to be done as for all the rest looke into the Stories of the Gospel which are the Acts and Monuments of Iesus Christ you shall finde to be all gracious all beneficiall all healing and saving wonders Never any man came to him for sight that went away blind never any came to him for hearing that went away deafe never any came to him for health that went away sicke In a word you shall never finde that ever any man or woman came to our Saviour for any help or mercy that ever went away confounded or disappointed of their hopes Now beloved Christ is the same Iesus still that then he was Coelum non animum as we say though he have changed his place he hath not changed his nature but is still as favourable as indulgent to mankind as ever he was if we doe but as truly seeke unto him for our soules health as they did for their bodies So you see the nature of these wonders is altered from that they were in Eliahs times the severity of the Law suites not with the lenity of the Gospel and we must now imitate our Saviour in works of mercy not follow Eliah in prayers for judgment We see Luk 9. 54. When the disciples fingers itched to be revenged on the Samaritans for their base discourtesie in not entertaining our Saviour Master said they wilt thou that we command fire from heaven and consume them as Eliah did We have a president for it it is a booke case Eliah did so let us doe the like these men deserve it as bad or worse than they with whom Eliah had to doe No saith our Saviour the case is altered ye know not of what spirit ye are the spirit of the Law required severity the spirit of the Gospel requires meekenesse and mercy Farre is it from the good Spirit of Christ and of God to stirre up any mans heart to private revenge not an Eagle but a Dove was the shape wherein that holy and healthfull Spirit made choise to appeare Let us therefore all that are called Christians follow no other president but our Saviour Christs whose onely lesson that ever he set us to learne of him was 〈…〉 and meeke and so doing we shall finde Requi●m animabus 〈…〉 owne soules The third and last reason that may warrant Eliah in praying for a judgement was 3. Necessitas rei the necessity of the thing it self that holy Prophet had spent his strength in vaine Sermon upon Sermon warning upon warning threatning upon threatning and when he saw that nothing would worke them to goodnesse then he prayes for a judgement not in a vindictive way to be revenged upon them but as a desperate remedy knowing that that or nothing would bring them to good as it is said 2 Chron. ult God sent his Prophets rising early and sending them and used all gentle meanes to reclaime them till there was no remedy then he sent destruction In this sence if a man have a child or a friend or any one that he wisheth well to his soule if he be growen to that passe so hardned in sinne that no perswasions no warnings no threatnings will worke upon him I am perswaded it were neither uncharitable nor unpleasing to God if a man should pray Lord smite him correct him lay some medicinall some healing punishment upon him that he may see the errour of his wayes and may returne and repent and so be saved Vpon these and the like grounds I suppose Eliah might with a safe conscience pray for a judgement but then the next question is Why hee should make choise to pray for this kinde of judgement of drought and dearth for want of raine rather than any other I will tell you what I think the reasons may be 1. Because it was an uncontrouleable a convincing judgement if Eliah should have brought any earthly or visible judgement as Sword or Pestilence c. they would have imputed it presently to some secondary meanes and causes now this was a heavenly an invisible judgement the stoppage of the cloudes the detaining of Raine and the burning and scorching of the 〈…〉 judgement from heaven and 〈…〉 needes confesse to be Digitus the 〈…〉 God not Aliqnid humani no handy worke of any mortall man For this was the fallacy which the Scribes and Pharises put upon our Saviour Mat. 16. 1. When they had seene all the miracles and wonders of Christ how hee cured the sicke c. they conceited that these things might be done by slight of hand by art Magicke by Beelzebub or by Conjuration c but say they Shew us asigne from Heaven and then we will beleeve They knew that a Magician or a devill might doe much upon earth but he could doe nothing in heaven therefore say they shew us a signe from Heaven and we will beleeve So here to prevent all misconceites Elias prayed and procures a judgement from heaven and that a convincing a cutting judgement for you must know that the people at that time left off to worship the true God and fell to worship Baall the Sunne the Moone and all the Hoast of Heaven trusting no doubt that these gods of

theirs would by their influence so moysten and fatten the earth that they should not need to be beholding to God for any rayne now quoth Eliah here is a judgement to try your gods withall goe to the gods that ye have served let them helpe now or never if they can doe any thing they can send a showre of rayne if not why doe ye serve them I say it was a convincing judgement Eliah did it on purpose to let them see the vilenesse of their Idolatry what base what impotent what unworthy gods they served that could not helpe their clyents to a drop of raine In like manner whatsoever a man makes his god besides the true one I meane puts his trust in for helpe in time of neede shall at length so deceive him and so befoole him that he shall be forced to confesse as these people did in the end The Lord he is God The Lord he is God 2. Because it was a just and a fitting punishment this people were guilty of spirituall barrennesse and God plagued them with temporall barrennesse No Nation under heaven was so husbanded and manured of God so watered with the dewes of heaven I meane with the meanes of grace and salvation as they were and yet none more unfruitful in every good work Now therefore Eliah fits them with a judgement sutable and agreeable to their sinne hee prayes to God that it might not raine that so their lands might be answerable to their lives and their soyles become as barren as their soules Thus it pleaseth God many times to pay men in their owne coyne to come home to them in their owne kinde and to fit his punishments according to their sinnes That as they that sinne in their goods by misgetting miskeeping and mispending them are many times punished in their goods by losses and crosses by fire by water c. And as they that sinne in their children by misloving or misnurturing them are oft times punished in their children as David was in Absolom and Adonijah so they that sinne in their lands it is just with God to punish them in their lands Salomon tells us Prov. 21. 4. that the plowing of a wicked man is sinne That is strange the husbandry and tillage of the ground is generally held to be one of the most honest the most innocent the most harmelesse callings in the world and so it is of it selfe and yet we see when a wicked man takes the plow in hand when a man goes to his plow with an ill minde and an ill conscience his very plowing addes to his sinnes And it is just with God that that land which is plowed sinfully should thrive accordingly and become as bad and as barren as the owner A fruitfull land doth God make barren for the wickednesse of them that dwell therein 3. Because it was a sensible and a palpable judgement As God Almighty told Cain Gen. 4. 7. that he should be cursed from the earth The Lord knew that Caine cared not to be cursed from heaven and to be banished from the presence of God and branded for a Reprobate but to be cursed from the earth to be cursed in earthly things he being a tiller of the earth that would goe nearest to his heart of any judgement Even such is the disposition of every man of the earth as David termes earthly-minded men they doe not value nor care to be cursed from heaven to be excommunicated out of the favour of God and out of the blessed company of all faithfull people which censure of excomunication if it be rightly carried with a Clave non errante as the Schoolemen speake when there is no errour committed in the use of the Keyes is one of the greatest punishments under heaven But carnall men are not sensible of this and therefore God will punish them in that wherein they are sensible in their wives and children in their corne and cattell c. in such things as are neerest and dearest to them as when David slung his stone at Goliah if he had strucke him upon any part of his harnesse he had never felt the blow but striking him as he did in the forehead which was naked and tender that sunke him presently so it is with carnall men for spirituall judgements they are harnessed their hearts are hardned their consciences are seared they have as the Apostle speakes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a horny hoofe as it were growne over their hearts that makes them insensible of any spirituall blow that can light upon them Therefore Almighty God knowing in what part they lie naked in what kinde they are tenderly affected namely in their affection to earthly things strikes them there plagues them in that and that ●inkes them like Nabal whose heart died within him like a stone As we see in Exodus how Pharaoh and the Egyptians hardned their heart and out stood all the plagues of Egypt till God plagued them in their children and that broke their hearts So beleeve it they that care not for spirituall punishments for the losse of Gods favour the losse of heaven the losse and perill of their owne soules God will finde a time to punish them in that which they do and shal care for in their corne in their substance in that which is neerest and ●earest ●o th● As he did these Israelites here because they were not sensible of the want of grace God punisht them with that would make them sensible with the want of raine that when they had plowed sowne their land and bestowed all their care and cost all should be in vaine for want of moisture to refresh the earth These or the like reasons I suppose might move Eliah to pray and procure this kinde of judgement By the way if any man desire to know the reason why God is not thus marvelous in the Ministers of the Gospel as he was in Eliah and those other Prophets of the Law why we that are his Evangelicall Prophets cannot doe such wonders in our dayes as they did in theirs Answ though that same donum miraculorum the gift of Miracles be ceased in the Church now that the Gospel hath taken roote as Husbandmen when they transplant a tree at first they set props and staies to shore it up but after it hath taken roote they plucke away the stayes and let it grow by the ordinary influence of the heavens I say though the gift of working wonders be ceased yet miracles and wonders in an another kind never cease but are wrought daily by the Preachers of the Gospel For you must know that the micles under the Gospel are of a differing nature from the miraracles under the Law those were ●cularia miracula as I may fitly call them eye-miracles that were visible and outwardly apparent to be seene but these are Auricularia miracula Eare-miracles secret and invisible wrought in the heart by the Word and Spirit of God entring in at the eare and going

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