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A13993
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The Christians looking glasse wherein hee may cleerely see, his loue to God liuely expressed, his fidelity truely discouered, and pride against God and man, anatomised. Whereby the hypocrisie of the times is notoriously manifested. By Thomas Tuke, minister of Gods word at Saint Giles in the Fields.
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Tuke, Thomas, d. 1657.
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1615
(1615)
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STC 24304; ESTC S102478
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58,392
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160
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The Christians LOOKING-GLASSE Wherein hee may cleerely see His loue to GOD liuely expressed His Fidelity truely discouered And Pride against GOD and Man Anatomised whereby the Hypocrisie of the times is notoriously manifested By THOMAS TVKE Minister of GODS Word at Saint Giles in the Fields LONDON Printed by Nicholas Okes and are to bee sold by Richard Bolton at his Shop in Chancery-lane neere Holborne 1615. TO THE RIGHT VERTVOVS AND HONOVRABLE LADY the Lady ALICIA DVDLEY MADAME THere are three necessary vertues well be-seeming euery Christian Man Charity Fidelity and Humility both towardes God and Man There are foure reasons to passe by many moe which should moue vs to the loue of God First because hee is our gracious Father who of his owne will begat vs with the word of truth that we should be as the first fruits of his Creatures Now if a childe shall loue his father of whom he hath receiued a part of his body how much more ought he loue God Qui animam suam infundendo creauit creando infudit of whom hee hath receiued his soule and to whose goodnesse he stands obliged both for soule and body both for the being continuing of them Therefore Dauid saith Thou hast possessed my reines thou hast couered me in my Mothers wombe Vpon thee haue I been staied from the wombe thou art hee that tooke me out of my mothers bowels And Iob long before him Thine hands haue made me and fashioned me wholly round about thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh and ioyned me together with bones and sinewes thou hast giuen me life and grace and thy visitation hath preserued my spirit Secondly God is to be loued for his most sweet and pleasing nature which the wicked indeed feeleth not because as Isidore saith he hath lost the palate of his heart with the feuer of iniquity Thirdly God by his beneficence hath deserued our loue for out of his meere loue he sent his own and onely Son into the world to saue vs when we were lost to redeeme vs when we were captiues and by his death to giue vs life when we had deserued nought but death Fourthly aske now the beasts they shall teach thee and the fowles of the heauen and they shall tell thee speake to the earth and it shall shew thee or the fishes of the sea they shall declare vnto thee Euen these things in their kindes do praise God and shew their loue vnto man for whom they were appointed and shall man shew no loue to God and in loue do nothing for God for whom his creatures doe so much good suffer so much euil being all put vnder his feet and subiected to his power All sheepe oxen yea the beasts of the field the fowles of the aire and the fish of the sea Now because a man hath in him life like a plant sense as a beast and vnderstanding proper to a Man therefore it behooues him to loue God with his life with his senses and with his reason Our Sauiour saith we ought to loue God with all our heart with al our soule and with all our minde We ought to loue him with all our heart that is with all our affections delighting and ioying in him more then in any thing For he loues not God that delights in any thing more then in God and as S t Austen saith Minus te amat qui aliquid tâ—cuÌ„ amat quod non propter te amat By how much the more the lower bowes of a Tree are multiplied by so much the lesse it groweth vpwards so by how much the more a man doth loue these things beneath by so much the lesse is his loue erected and lifted vnto God aboue therefore such loue is to be pruned cut away as superfluous branches froÌ„ a tree that it may thriue the better God requires the whole heart My son giue me thy heart like some noble Bird of prey that seizeth vpon the heart for he alone created it he alone couers it and he only can content and fill it Totum exigit te qui fecit te totum he requires thee all that made thee all If we owe our selues wholly for our generation what shall wee adde for our regeneration Neither are we so easily new made as made In the first work God gaue vs vnto our selues in the second he gaue vs himselfe and restored vs vnto our selues Being therefore both giuen and restored we doe owe our selues for our selues and we do owe our selues twice But what shall wee repay vnto the Lord for himselfe For although we were able to repay our selues a thousand times what are wee vnto the Lord If a man had some speciall iewell which he is minded to giue away he would bethinke himselfe where hee might best bestow it Our heart is the best member which wee haue and God is our best friend let vs bestow it vpon him it is not lost that is giuen vnto him Secondly wee must loue the Lord with all our Soule induring rather the separation of the soule from the body then that our soule should be separated from God who is the soule of our soule the comfort both of soule and body And because our soule affoords life and sense vnto the body therefore to shew that we loue God with all our soule we ought to honour him with our liues all our life long and with all our senses suffering them to be guided by his will and chusing rather to bee depriued of them all then of him that gaue them all Thirdly we must loue him with all our minde and vnderstandings and cogitations being fixt vpon him and ruled by him His word should informe â—nd direct our reason our reason rightly informed should rule our wils our affections and conuersations in all which wee ought to seeke and apply our selues vnto God that our liues our affections our wils and our vnderstandings may be said to be Gods so as although we liue yet we may truly say We liue not but God doth liue within vs. And so much for our loue of God Loue of Man is either loue of our selues or of our Neighbour That a man should loue himselfe it is very necessary for he that loues not himselfe cannot loue another And as S t Austen saith Sinon nosti diligere teipsum timâ—o ne decipias proximum sicut teipsum if thou knowest not to loue thy selfe I am afraid least thou shouldst deceiue thy neighbour as thy selfe Yet is it no easie matter for a man to loue himselfe aright for he that loues iniquity hateth his owne soule and hee that loues himselfe in the way of sin doth loue a robber condemned to dye Si malè amaueris tunc odisti si benè odeâ—is tunc amasti If a man loue himselfe amisse hee hates himselfe but if hee hate himselfe well
Now those that are thus faithfull GOD doth preserue them saith Dauid Sometimes hee preserues them by vouchsafing them deliuerance from dangers as in his Wisdome he sees conuenient whiles they liue heere as hee preserued Noah in the Floud Let out of Sodome Dauid in many dangers Daniel among the Lyons the three Confessours in the fire our Religious King with many others from that infernall Powder-plot of the Papists and infinite are his sauours of this kind But further hee preâ—â—rueth the saithfull as concerning their soules and the spirituall and eternall happinesse of both body and soule For hee hath engrauen them vpon the palmes of his hands Hee will Neuer turne away from them to doe them good but gards them by his power through faith as Saint Peter teacheth vnto saluation that in the end they shall attaine to the end of their faith the felicity of their soules without end This should stir vs vp to loue this good GOD and to shew our selues faithfull to him in our seruice the Crowne of life is promist to the faithfull wee desire faith of GOD and exact it of others let vs then bee faithfull our selues This faithfulnesse may bee demonstrated fiue waies First by being carefull to know the will of our Maister and diligent to keepe all his Precepts For if wee will not endeuour to please him in all things but will bee Licentious Libertines in some things wee are very Herods hypocrites and disloyall our hearts are not vpright with Him but do go an whoring after our owne desires Hee is no faithfull seruant which will do but what hee list himselfe Secondly faithfulnesse is seene in trouble If thou bee faint in the day of aduersity thy strength is small A friend that forsakes in affliction was no friend but of himselfe So hee that shall forsake GOD deny his Truth embrace errours by reason of persecution doth betray GOD to his power and shewes a false and vnfaithfull spirit hath possest him Fidem nemo vnquam perdit nisi qui non habet No man euer looseth faith but hee that hath it not For Faith if it be not feyned is very valorous and trusty Nulla necessitate ad fallendum cogitur nullo corrumpitur pramio It is compelled to falshood by no necessity it is corrupted by no reward Vre coede occide Burne beate kill do what you will it will not perish It is like Camomill which being troden vpon smels the better or like the Chrysoprasus which as Zanchy writeth shines more cleerely in the darke then in the light Thirdly a faithfull seruant will delight to saue his Maisters gaine and is glad to see his Maisters customers increase euen so hee that is faithful-hearted towards GOD will reioyce to see his Kingdome flourish his Word receiued his Lawes obserued his graces esteemed and his Customers or Chapmen that come to buy them of him multiplied Fourthly if a Maister shall allow his seruant time to dispatch all his owne businesses but withal appoint him a certaine time to doe him seruice in if this seruant shall not onely spend his owne time alotted him by his Maister as hee list himselfe but will also mis-â—pend that time which his Maister commands him to spend for him mis-spend it I say in idlenes leudnes gaming wickednes or otherwise vpon himselfe and not vpon his maister this seruant is vnfaithfull to his maister and as I thiâ—kâ— if hee will not breake this câ—stome his maister will not keepe him but turne him packing So are tâ—ose vâ—faithful vnto God that prophane his holy Sabboth which hee hath saâ—ctâ—fied for himselfe by their merchanâ—ising gadding gaming rioting and such prophâ—ne behauiour And I feare thaâ— if thâ—y will not mend these manners Sâ—d vox faucib â—â— hâ—râ—t On the contrary they that are carefull to spend their maisters time in their maisters worship as in prayer reading hearing mâ—ditation singing of Psalmes doing the workes of mercy and the like these shew themselues faithfull to him and as they are carefull to keepe his Sâ—bboth on earth before him so shal they certainly celebrate an euerlasting Sabboth in heauen with him Finally a seruant is not therefore to be counted faithfull because hee is entertained in his Maisters house and weares his cloth and eates his meate and heares him speake For say he be not afraid to displease him suppose he shall corrupt anâ— peruert the mindes of any of his fellowes and bring them to be stout and saucie or lazie and vntrue and imagine he doth secretly coÌ„spire with his Maisters foes and do seruice vnderhand or openly for them will yee say that this is a faithfull seruant or rather a Fals-hearted and wicked Knaue So euen so a man is not presently to bee counted faithfull and true to God because he is admitted into his Hoâ—se which is the Church because he is baptized which is his liuery because hee is called or reputed his seruant because hee receiues the Sacrament which is as it were his bread because he heares his maister speake vnto him in his Ministers For we may say of a Christian as Saint Paul saith of a Iew and of Baptisme as he speakes of Circumcision All they are not Israel which are of Israel neither are they all Children because they are the seede of Abraham He is not a Iew which is one outward neither is that Circumcision which is outward in the Flesh but he is â—lew that is one within and the circumcision is of the Heart in the Spirit not in the Letter whose praise is not of Men but of God So we may say euery man is not faithfull vnto God that is counted or called Godly but he that proues his heart and practises vnto God He is not faithfull that is come of faithfull parents vnlesse he partake with them in their faith as well as in their flesh A man is not indeed a Christian because hee is so named or reputed except he be flesh of Christs flesh and bone of his bone except he bee annointed with the Oyle of gladnesse and haue the Spirit of Christ to rule him Neither is that Baptisme which stands in water onely Flumine non Flamine For true Baptisme is to be baptized with the Holy Ghost and Water with the bloud of Christ as well as with water Neither hath he any benefite by the Sacrament that doth not receiue Panem Dominum the Lord who is the bread and staffe of our soules as well as Panem Domini the bread of the Lord which the Lords Steward doth dispense vnto vs. Those therefore that feare not Gods displeasure that would seduce his seruants from their allegeance to him that are at a league as it were with sinne and conspire with Sathan and doe him seruice all these whatsoeuer notwithstanding their place in the Church their hearing of Sermons their comming to Church and receiuing of Sacraments and al-be-it