Selected quad for the lemma: heaven_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heaven_n	father_n	great_a	lord_n	5,746	5	3.6147	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A13561	Three treatises The pearle of the gospell, The pilgrims profession: and A glasse for gentlewomen to dress themselues by. To which is added A short introduction to the worthy receiuing of the Lords supper. By Thomas Taylor, Doctor of Diuinity, and late preacher of Aldermanbury Church in London.	Taylor, Thomas, 1576-1632.; Taylor, Thomas, 1576-1632. Pearle of the gospell. aut; Taylor, Thomas, 1576-1632. Pilgrims profession. aut; Gunter, H.; Taylor, Thomas, 1576-1632. Glasse for gentlewomen to dresse themselves by. aut; Taylor, Thomas, 1576-1632. Short introduction to the worthy receiving of the Lords Supper. aut	1633 (1633)	STC 23856; ESTC S113869	74,858	266

Three Treatises THE PEARLE OF the GOSPELL THE PILGRIMS PROFESSION AND A Glasse for Gentlewomen to dresse themselues by To which is added A short Introduction to the worthy receiuing of the Lords Supper By Thomas Taylor Doctor in Diuinity and late Preacher of Aldermanbury Church in London LONDON Printed by I. B. for Iohn Bartlet at the gilt Cup in Cheap-side 1633. THE PEARLE of the Gospell OR Jewell Euangelicall 1 Diligently sought 2 Ioyfully found 3 Dearely bought by the wise Merchant Infolded in Christs Parable AND Unfolded by the Application of Thomas Taylor Doctor in Diuinity and late Preacher of Aldermanbury Church in London LONDON Printed by I. B. for Iohn Bartlet at the signe of the gilt Cup in Cheap-side 1633. TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFVLL Mistris Elizabeth Backus Wife to Master Samuel Backus Esquire and Justice of Peace And to her three vertuous and religious daughters Mris Mary Standen wife to Mr. Standen Esquire and Iustice of the Peace Mris Flower Backus wife of Mr. Iohn Backus Esquire and Mris Elizabeth Bellingham wife to Mr. Richard Bellingham Esquire Grace and Peace from the Fountaine Right Worshipfull PEarles are small in quantitie but great in their quality and smaller often in the weight than in their worth such an one is this which I haue presented vnto you as a token of my due respect and vnfained loue to your selfe and the Church in your familie Pearles from earth fit not common persons but this from heauen belongeth to al who meane to partake in the common saluation As this Pearle is yours in the common right of Saints so this offer of it is yours by a second and more peculiar right as who first helped it out of the darke into this light Your earnest and often desires of some of the written notes of this Treatise drew from me a promise the thought of the paiment whereof was my first thought of this publication And now this Pearle being yours weare it as your chiefe ornament the price of which ra●seth your owne price and recko●ing in the eyes of God and good men aboue the Carbuncles and Rubies Other ornaments seuered from this are but beautifull vanities The largest reuenues the richest estates the most ample treasures the costliest cabinets filled with pearles and precious stones sets the person wanting this pearle in no higher reckoning than common flints or other contemptible stones with him to whom the Nations are but as the drop of a bucket or as the dust of a ballance So of all naturall endowments we may compare them as Salomon doth beantie to a ring of Gold which outwardly commendeth the wearer But the iewell of this ring is this pearle of the Gospell or the life of the Gospell in the life of the Gospoller Let this Iewell be lost once or missing the ring may be gilded and glistering without but the touchstone and triall will finde that it was neuer gold And because I know that you haue no greater ioy than to see your children walke in the truth I am assured you will gladly afford them an equall share with you in this so precious a commodity and therefore haue I taken them into this dedication Blessed are you that haue your quiuer full of such louely arrowes Of the vertuous woman is said Her children praise her Were this a verbal praise of the mouth children might seeme testes e sinu and the spreaders of the partiall praises of their mother but this is an astuall and solid commendation and vnsuspected when the shining vertues of the feare of God sobrietie and modest conuersation of children proclaime the grace pietie and care of the mothers education Among that rich store of earthly comforts with which God hath beset you you haue none co●parablie gracefull to this if you except your sweet societie with your graue and religious husband And now to you three daughters worthy of such a Mother When I call to remembrance the vnfained faith which dwelt yet dwelleth in your Grand-mother whose reuerend old age is crowned with an ancient and honorable profession and practice of holy Religion aboue any I know in these parts and in your deare mother and am assured it dwelleth in you also I could not but put you in remembrance to stirre vp the gift of God that is in you And exhort you as you haue happily begun to hold on in the way of grace and see that your workes be more at last than at first God hath aduanced you into the fellowship of religious and compleat Gentlemen your husbands to faire estates and portions in this world but especially to a sure expectation hereafter by meanes of your inseparable coniunction to your Head and Husband Iesus Christ. You must now aduance him who hath thus aduanced you and love him for himselfe who hath loued you in his Sonne and hold euery new sense of mercy a new spurre and prouocation vnto dutie In the way and pace in which you goe I must acknowledge I passe and slip an opportunitie by passing oner in silence so many commendable parts in you all which make you worthy to be praised among women fearing God But my praises can lift you no higher than your owne vertues doe whose diligent paines in gaining knowledge of holy things conscionable practice of sound religion charitable refreshing of the poore members of Christ and whose humble sober wise modest and louely carriage especially in these loose dayes are as so many tongues and mouthes and pens without mine to publish your due praises and knowing that you will be better pleased that I turne my praises into praiers for your progresse and prosperitie in the good way I shall endeuour to supplie that want this way heartily commending you to the power of his grace who onely can further inrich you with the Pearle of the Gospell who also giue you with the new yeare new supplies of all holy graces till the new man bee compleat in Iesus Christ in whom I rest Your Worships to be vsed for your furtherance in the faith THO. TAYLOR THE PEARLE OF the GOSPEL MATTH 13. 45. The Kingdome of heauen is like vnto a Merchant man that seeketh good pearles Who hauing found a pearle of great price went and sold all that he had and bought it OVr Lord Iesus comming from the bosome of the Father to reueale the mystery hid from the beginning of the world spent the whole time of his ministerie in discouering to the Church the excellency the vtility and the necessity of that blessed and sauing truth the daughter of eternity without which the whole world had lien in perpetual death and darknesse This parable among many and aboue many manifests that how base soeuer and vile the things of God seeme to naturall men yet there is such worth vertue price and beauty in them as the godly man who onely can discerne them will exchange all hee hath with them yea and part with all the world before hee

supported by the Spirit for wee haue in him lying vnder the temptation an instance of our owne strong-hearted corruption which out of a good proposition can draw most dangerous and wicked conclusions For out of the consideration of the the shortnesse of his life he could draw conclusions of murmuring impatience and almost of desperation But now Dauid is another man and the Spirit of grace hath conquered those assaults now he can out of the same premises draw the cleane contrary conclusions to support his faith patience and dependance vpon God For such is the wisedome of the Spirit that he can draw holy sweet comfortable conclusions from those principles and grounds from which flesh and corruption vseth to sucke sinne and poyson and teacheth the Saints so to doe In the profession it selfe consider for the meaning 4. things 1. What a stranger is 2. Who is this stranger 3. Where he is a stranger 4. The community of this condition as all my Fathers were 1. A stranger is he that being absent from his owne Country is trauelling homewards vnto it for these two conditions are proper to a stranger First that he is absent from his natiue soyle absent from his naturall friends absent from his Fathers house and absent from his owne home an● inheritance thus was Abraham a stranger in Canaan Secondly that he is trauelling home as a Pilgrim to his owne Country Thus was Iacob a stranger whose whole life was a trauel in forrain Countries out of any certaine and settled dwelling as himselfe professeth Gen. 47. 9. The whole time of my pilgrimage is an hundred and thirty yeeres 2. Who is this stranger Dauid saith I am a stranger which may seemestrange if we consider that Dauid was a King and that in his own Country and that the Country of Iudea in comparison of whose inhabitants all the world besides were strangers as Mat. 27 7. For Dauid was not now in flight before Saul as when hee plaid the foole in the Philistims Countrey before Achish to saue his life nor in likelihood in chase before Absalom as when being driuen from home hee went vp to the mount of Oliues and wept Neither vndertooke hee any meritorious iourney in a Pilgrims weed For besides that he was King of Ierusalem and needed not make any tedious Pilgrimage thither Popish Pilgrims were not borne some thousands of yeares after his Age. There was now no Sepulcher of our Lord to visit nor no Image of our Lady and yet hee professeth himselfe a stranger 3. But where was Dauid a stranger Himselfe saith Before thee that is wheresoeuer hee is before God there he is a stranger not in another mans kingdome or Countrey as of Moabits or Philistims but in his owne Country in Canaan he is a stranger yea at Bethlem in the City of Dauid and in Sion the Fort of Dauid hee is a stranger This hee expresseth Psalme 119. 19. I am a stranger vpon earth that is in euery part of the earth euen in mine owne house in mine owne bed in mine owne body and bosome I am a stranger with thee Wherein the holy Prophet both acknowledgeth the Lord the proprietary of whom he held his Countrey and Kingdome For it is as if he had said I am a stranger in thy Countrey my Countrey is thy Countrey and thy Countrey is my Countrey and now I doe but soiourne a while with thee in thy Countrey till I returne home and dwell with thee in my Country As also hee infoldeth a motiue why the LORD should incline his eare to his Prayer and shew him fauour because hee is a stranger in the Lords Countrey and therefore committing himselfe to the protection and safe conduct of the Lord of the country he doubteth not but to finde grace in his eyes by his means a comfortable passage til he come happily to the end of his way For who should heare the complaints of a soiourner but he with whom he soiourneth 4. But is it otherwise with Dauid now than with other men no surely but he beareth part in the common condition of his fathers Although he was deare to God the King of Gods people yet he is no better than his Fathers he is a stranger as all his Fathers were He meaneth not the fathers of his flesh only who were all dead and gone to their iournies end but the Fathers of his faith also these holy Patriarchs Abraham Isaac Iacob their posterity which were the holy seed who in their times accounted themselues strangers declared themselues so to be both in that they chused to dwell in tents not in houses or Cities as the posterity of Cain did for they held themselues strangers on earth and expecting euery day the word of God to call them hither or thither at his pleasure they would not cumber thēselues with buildings or purchases but betooke themselues to poore and portable tents which were soone pitched vp and as soone taken downe As also in that they were contented to wander vp down as Pilgrims restlesly from place to place insomuch as the iourneyes and trauels of Abraham recorded in Stoty amounts to 1794. miles Iacobs little lesse whose posterity was a stranger in Egypt foure hundred yeeres from thence were taken into the terrible Wildernesse where they wandred forty yeeres and all the rest of them in the wide wildernes of this world and vale of Baca onely passed thorow as Pilgrims vnto the hea●●●ly Canaan All which our holy ●●●ophet reuoluing in his minde subscribes the same schedule that he is a stranger a●so as they were Hence we learne That all the Saints of God true beleeuers are strangers vpon earth for so was Dauid and all his Fathers of his flesh and of his faith as himselfe not only here in sense of his affliction professeth but elsewhere stirred vp by the sight and sense of Gods abundant mercy towards him and in the 〈◊〉 of his solemne ioy festiuity vttereth the same words 1 Chro. 29. 15. All things come of thee and of thine owne hand wee haue giuen thee for we are strangers before thee soiourners like all our Fathers 2 Cor. 5. 6. while we are at home in the body we are 〈◊〉 from the Lord. And indeed euery Christian is a Gershom that is a stranger and in a strange land in respect first of the place for they are absent from heauenly Canaan their owne home and Countrey here is not their Fathers house nor their brethren and sisters nor their treasure they are Citizens with Saints heauen their home where our Lord Iesus is preparing Mansions for them Joh. 14. Secondly as for the world it is but a way to their Cou●try as a wildernesse thorow which the Israel of God passe towards their Canaan They are indeed in the world but not of it for they are called out of the world 1. by Christs separation Ioh. 15. 19.

the chapmen and Merchants of all merchandise remained once or twice without Ierusalem But for supernaturall and spirituall trading as all the six dayes are fit so the seuenth especially is the Lords mart or market to furnish all his people with prouision for the whole weeke following And for the place All places are not fit for ciuill marts and merchants but the principall prohibited place is the Church the house of God Matth. 21. 12. Iesus went into the Temple of God and cast out all them that bought sold in the Temple ouerthrew the tables of the mony changers the seats of them that sold Doues Christ would not endure his Fathers house of prayer to be made a house of merchandise But in spirituall trading for heauen all places are fit for Christian Merchants who should goe no where but still be trading for grace and continually either bee doing of good or taking of good But especially the house of God is the most proper place appointed for the inriching of the heart and increasing of the stocke of faith and knowledge and of all graces So much for the dissimilitude betweene them Now the similitude and reason of this resemblance standeth in fiue thing 1. A Merchant man is a man that dealeth in great precious commodities The Greeke word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Merchant is no Pedler nor chapman of small wares nor taken vp in selling pins or points and toyes for babes but tradeth for great things for great bulks and quantities for great sums and dealeth in most rich commodities So the Christian Merchant carefull for heauen aymeth not at the base profits of this life as siluer gold such corruptible things for these things are but sinall in his eye and contemptible in respect of the businesse of iustification of holinesse grace and glory These are that one thing needful and that better part that taketh vp his thoughts and desires such a rich Merchant was Dauid Psa. 4. 7. Thou hast giuen me more ioy of heart than they hau● had when their wheat and their oyle did abound Let other men peddle and barter for corne wine and oyle the Christian Merchant hath a commodity beyond all this in his eye Lord lift vpon mee the light of thy countenance Such a Merchant was Zacheus when saluation was come to his house he cast away these pedling profits faster than he gat them halfe he gaue to the poore and the rest he reserued to restore fourefold Such a on was Paul who counted al things losse dung in comparison of Christ to know the vertue of his death and resurrection Such rich Merchants were the Martyrs who hauing heauen in their eie esteemed their goods libertie yea life it self not worth hauing in comparison therof For as a man if he were as high as the Moone would see the earth but as a pricke so he whose thoughts are in heauen and his eyes on things that are aboue within the veile esteemeth the earth but small and despicable For euen as the great light drowneth the lesser so the bright shining of the Sunne of righteousnesse drowneth all the lesser candles comforts of this present world Secondly there is likenesse in the skill of the commoditie hee dealeth in for as a Merchant greatly aduanceth his estate if he haue skill and insight what commodities are like to bee of the quickest returne if he know and lay out for the best conditioned commodities of euery kind So the Christian Merchant labouring for skill knowledge and sound iudgement in the matter of Religion whereby he may be able to iudge aright of Doctrines deliuered shall grow rich in knowledge and to a great measure of faith and full of Christian wisedome whence the Apostle Phil. 1. 10. prayeth that they may abound in all knowledge and iudgement to discerne things that differ and thus they shall bee rich and filled with the fruits of righteousnes ver 11. And contrariwise for want of this skill a Merchant dealing for great bulkes soone falleth into great losses But especially the Ieweller or Lapidary by ignorance may soone ouerthrow his whole estate in respect of many cheaters and couseners who can notably counterfeit Pearles and make themseeme very orient by false arts and so put away at a great price a peece of a fish bone or shell or some peece of painted glasse for rich Pearls and precious stones Euen so many spirituall Merchants decay and break for want of this skil by meanes of many imposters deceiuers heretiks false teachers Apostates Libertine Preachers and the Popish guides furnished with all arts to deceiue as with wit and speech other insinuatiue faculties that make offer of pibbles for pearls and thrust vpon men for the true Pearle of Gods word the glassie brickle cōceits of mans brains which because they haue made to glister and haue set a good colour on them they hold at as high a rate as any Pearl can be valued and now many inconsiderate persons are taken with the beauty profit or some seeming pleasure and so robbed and gulled of their soundnesse for the present an● of their expectations and hopes hereafter Now that wee may not be thus abused let vs listen to those Apostolicall precepts EPHES. 4. 14. Not to bee children wauering and carried about with euery wind of Doctrine by the decei● of men and craftinesse whereby they lye in wait to deceiue and in 1 IOH. 4. 1. Beleeue not euery spirit but try the spirits whether they are of God and 1 THESS 5. 21. Trye all things and keepe that which is good Thirdly the similitude is in their conuersing and conferring one with another Euery Merchant will bee speaking of his commodities he will make offer of his Pearles and wares of price that he may put them off into other mens hands for his owne aduantage So the Christian Merchant will be talking and conferring of this Pearle of the Gospell as in CANT 5. 6. The Spouse sp●ndeth her daies in breathing out the prayses of Christ. A faithfull Christian cannot hide grace in a napkin nor hold it so close to himselfe but hee must communicate it and make offers of it to others Such good Merchants were the two Disciples going to Emmaus conferring of Christ whom Christ ioyned himselfe with LVK. 24. 19. Such an one was Paul offering the Pearle to Agrippa and wishing all the people were such as he was except his bonds ACT. 26. 29. And the reason is whatsoeuer hee can communicate to another is his owne cleare gaine For this is the difference betweene the secular riches and spirituall A worldly rich man is rich for himselfe onely and the more he imparteth to others the lesse is left for himselfe But he that is rich in God is not onely rich in and for himselfe but these riches doe more inrich him by inriching others than holding them to himselfe and

but it is a death to him to goe backward and to see his estate of grace rather to decrease than increase hee hath no comfort in his present vnfruitfulnesse much lesse in Apostacy and backe-sliding but his comfort and account to the Lord is onely when he can say LVK. 19. 13. Lord thy talent hath increased ten talents Let this consideration also comfort godly poore men despised in the world thou that art a poore Christian in a low estate in the world labor busily for grace and thou maist be as rich a Merchant haue as rich a stocke and deale in as great and rich commodities if poore in spirit as the richest Thou that hast no mony and but little credit in the world maist here make as good a bargaine and as gainfull returne for thy selfe as he that hath thou sands of mony beyond thee The poore receiue the Gospell saith our Sauiour that is few but the poore in estate none but the poor in spirit for this trading is without money like the poore womans curing who speut all her money on the Physitians and yet was not cured but Christ commeth and cureth her freely Againe art thou a poore man hast thou a great charge of children and no meanes to put them forth to trades here is a rich trade make Merchants of them teach them and binde them to this trade of godlinesse this is the way to make them prosperous in earth and bring them happily towards heauen Prou. 14. 26. The feare of the Lord is an assured strength and his children shall haue hope Haue likewise a care that hauing bought and purchased the Pearle thou dost not sel it againe Pro. 23. 23. Buy the truth but sell it not likewise wisdome instruction vnderstanding for what we sel we esteeme it lesse worth thā that we sel it for but we must value this Pearle aboue riches glory liberty Pearls and life it selfe by no means part from wisdome neither by our forgetfulnesse security or ouer-sight any way Besides wee can sell it for nothing which is not vncertaine gaine but this is most certaine and most lasting and therefore not to be exchanged with any other This of the third generall The Merchant mans actions are three 1 He seeketh a good Pearle 2 Findeth an excellent one 3 Selleth all he hath to buy it Euery man naturally will be seeking some thing to make him happy the naturall man hath some naturall Pearle or other on which hee setteth his affection and in which he taketh greatest delight Some Merchants esteem pleasure their best Pearle some honour some riches and the most of the world seeking some perle light vpon some counterfeit or other wherein they content themselues and blind both themselues and others which made an ancient Father cry out Happy is that Merchant that knoweth to seeke not hurtful things as the ambitious doe nor vnprofitable things as the curious doe but the most wholesome things as doe the Saints but this a supernaturall both seeker and seeking and things sought ● The thing sought is the grace of the Gospell a good Pearle indeed as before the seeker was the wise Merchant But how can any man seeke grace seeing Psal. 14. and Rom. 3. no man seeketh after God Answ. No man by nature can seeke after grace nor of himselfe once aske after it because hee is destitute of the spirit of God no more than the lost groat can aske after her that lost it or a wandring sheepe after the Shepherd or a dead man after life So as those places are meant of men before conuersion and calling for the elect seeke not God till God first seeke them and findeth them But this is to be vnderstood of men called conuerted already found of God and mooued by the Spirit of God who mooued by God can now moue themselues and sought by him now can eeke him Which both setteth out our infinite misery who of our selues neuer minde the meanes of happinesse and also magnifieth Gods mercy which is infinite who offering vnto vs a free grace doth truly say I was found of them that sought me not and giueth him also the honour of goodnesse and of our seeking of him Onely the godly and all they are seekers of the good Pearle they seeke after God in Christ and the grace of the Gospel euery where the godly are called seekers of God and seekers of wisedome Prou. 2. and seekers of the kingdome Mat. 6. 33. and wicked men are described to bee such as seeke not after God Psalm 14. 4. And why 1. These onely doe see their owne want and beggery which is implyed in seeking No man seeketh that hee wanteth not or that first findeth not in himselfe a want of grace Dauid desired grace as the thirstie ground and grace is not promised nor giuen to any but the thirstie Psa. 55. 1. Euery one that thirsteth come yee to the waters Psalm 14. 2. First they must vnderstand namely their estate and then seeke after God 2. All these and they alone doe see the excellency as well as the need of this Pearle and God hath let them see in some measure the worth of it Why are men so earnestly carried to seeke Pearles farre and neere swallowing insensibly all toiles dangers and charges but because they know their worth and price and that if they can light on them they shall be wel paid for all their labour Euen so such as to whom God hath made knowne in some mea sure the worth of this inestimable Iewell are quickned daily to the vnweariable inquisition after it Paul knew that one graine of grace would weigh downe all world and therefore would procure it through all perils and dangers through good reports or euill through wants and losses euen of the dearest things most desirous in all the world whereas Ignoti nulla cupido none will seeke that hee knoweth not or not any goodnesse in it 3 They onely know that without painfull seeking they shall neuer attaine the Pearle for as Pearles doe not lye on the face of the ground but are hid in the bowels of the earth or in the sands so the mysteries of the Kingdome lye not abroad for euery one to stumble vpon vnawares but they are a hidden treasure not discerned by the naturall man nay hated by the wisedome of the flesh and scorned by the wisest of the world Besides that this is the condition vpon which the Lord bestoweth his best blessings if wee dig for wisdome as for treasures which words imply that it is not easie to come by hee knoweth our nature that we lightly set by what we lightly come by and if Pearles were as common as pibbles we should as lightly set by them as we doe by the other 4 The godly alone see that without the Pearle they cannot by any thing else be satisfied for so seeking implieth a discontent in the

of the young man than he did of his Disciples who said vers 27. we haue left all to follow thee and yet Peter had an house still and John to which he tooke the Virgin Mary And therefore Christ would hau● the young man to part with all which he could not hold with his loue and affection to Christ himselfe and the Gospell Fourthly that which Christ required of this Iusticiary is not any deuised Euangelicall counsell aboue the law but a duty contained in the law the summe of which is Thou shalt loue the Lord thy God with all thy heart and whereas he had boasted that he had kept all the law Christ doth send him backe againe to the law to let him see his want of loue both to God and his neighbour to God if the loue of his friends hinder him from following him whom hee confesseth a teacher from God And want of loue to man if at Christs word hee will not part with his mony especially if not at Christ his especiall commandement So as this is not a counsell to some perfect recluses or orders of wilfull men but a commandement to all Christians that must striue to perfection 1 Cor. 2. 6. And we speake wisdome amongst them that are perfect who must not onely leaue goods and lands and houses for Christ and the Gospell but must hate father mother wife and children brethren sisters and their owne life if they cannot hold them with Christ. So much to answer the Papists Now to the question 1. Who can deny wealth to be the gift of God if it beheld without couetousnesse confidence pride and subordinate to heauen and heauenly things Or who can deny but riches may become helps to heauenly Tabernacles who can deny but good men may both haue them and vse them Abraham was a man of great possessions and Iob and Dauid men of most great wealth and yet godly men and poore of spirit goods therfore in themselues are not to be cast away but first in comparison rather than wee will not attaine and retaine the Pearle of the Gospell we must abandon all we haue Secondly when they proue an impediment to our calling and holy professiō we must renounce them as Moses in this case refused to be the sonne of Pharaohs daughter and to suffer with Gods people a traueller may carry a staffe to helpe him in his iourney but not to ouer-load himselfe and he may beare some mony in his purse for his charges but not burthen himselfe with it Thirdly in affection alwayes we must renounce them and hold them retiredly and weignedly vsing the world as not vsing it Let them be in our hands not in our hearts to lay downe or lay out not to lay vp or lay vp our hearts with them Fourthly actually but not vncalled we must leaue them not of our owne accord but called by God non sponte sed vocati let vs alwayes see wee haue a good ground as if tyrants or persecutors keepe vs from inioying either Christ or our owne estate then in this choyse we must prefer a poore estate in Christ before a rich estate in the world And buyeth it Our Sauiour vseth this word buying not to signifie that we can make any recompence paiment or merit to purchase eternall life for first that is infinite we finite and betweene these is no proportion Secondly it is a free gift of God Rom. 6. 23. Thirdly it is a buying but without money and money worth And the poore are called to buy it who haue no money to layout for it Fourthly this Pearle is such a commodity as neither men nor Angels can giue any due price for Fiftly we can giue God nothing but his owne But Christ here speaketh figuratiuely namely that this wife Merchant dealeth as a buyer first he seeth the want of Gods grace and Christs merits the thirsty are called to buy Esay 55. 1. Secondly as a buyer he periseth valueth and casteth the worth esteemeth Christ at the highest rate and all things else in comparison of him losse and dung Phil. 3. 13. Thirdly as a buyer he maketh an exchange not of money nor money worth but vseth all good indeuour and labour by prayer and diligence and the vse of all good meanes to obtain the grace of the Gospell Which price God doth set vpon grace and on which condition an exchange is made The beleeuer putteth ouer his sinnes to Christ and receiueth righteousnes from Christ. 2 Cor. 5. 21. For he hath made him to be sinne for vs that knew no sinne that we should be made the righteousnes of God in him Fourthly the bargaine made is earnested so the beleeuer able to giue nothing to God taketh from God the earnest of his Spirit in some sauing graces by which the whole bargain of eternall life is assured vnto him From this selling all and buying the Pearle learne That a wise Christian must aud will part with all he hath before hee wi●l part with Christ. Prou. 4. 7. Aboue all thy possessions get wisdom and vnderstanding The godly follow Christ out of Ierusalem and out of the campe Heb. 13. 13. they sold their liues and loued them not to the death for Christ. Pauls possessions and his life was nos deare so he might finish his course with ioy And why 1. Such sound iudgement is restored vnto euery sound Christian as he thinketh nothing so dear to him as Christ and his grace and doth suppose himselfe rich indeed if he attain naked Christ and the dearest things are base in this comparison The Church of Laodicea wil neuer buy gold and white raiment so long as her iudgement is blinded till she annoint her eyes with eye-salue to see and seeing once the worth she is content to be at any paines for it The text implieth that no lesse paines be made for wisdome than that of most industrious Merchants who take long and dangerous iournies and voyages by Sea and land for Pearles and swallow all paines and perils in hope of attaining them Secondly the Christian knoweth that he shall be no loser by the bargaine other Merchants buying great commodities know not whether they shal be gainers or no and many seeke Pearles with infinite losses finde them not But here is a certaine and an vndoubted gaine for whosoeuer forsaketh house wife lands liberty childeren and life for Christs sake and the Gospell shall receiue an hundred-fold with tribulation and in the world to come life euerlasting here is vsury enough not tenne in the hundred but an hundred for tenne haue this Pearle and want nothing want this Pearle and haue nothing Thirdly this putteth a difference betweene soundnesse and hypocrisie the hypocrite can sell much for Gods fauour Mic. 6. 6. they will giue thousands of rams and ten thousands of riuers of oyle and their first borne but wil not part with their sinnes Ananias and Saphira can part with three parts of

manners fashions and customes of his own countrey a Christian stranger although he be in the world yet he is not of the world hee is of another corporation and therefore though he walke in the flesh yet hee must not warre according to the flesh He carrieth this body of flesh about him as others doe but he must fight against flesh and the lusts of it contrary to the Patrons and defenders of the corruptions that are in the world through lust The world may and must enioy our presence for a time but must at no time gaine our conformity to it Rom. 12. 2. Fashion not your selues according to this world that is the customes and guizes of it because it lyeth in wickednesse and the Christian is cast into another forme of doctrine and conuersation Art thou now sollicited to follow the lusts and fashions of this world thinke with thy selfe that thou art a stranger here and of another countrey thou liuest vnder other lawes thou maist not cast in thy lot with the wicked of the world nor giue voyce or suffrage in their meetings but be as Lot who though he were in Sodom was not of Sodom but was perpetually vexed with the vncleane conuersation of those wicked men Art thou prouoked to sweare to drinke excessiuely to lye for aduantage to breake the Sabbath for gaine to vncleannesse or any other soule lust Now say to thy selfe I am of the kingdome of light but this is a worke of darknesse this is an vnlawfull act in my Countrey and why should I practise it here seeing my Lord and King must needs know it if I commit treason here against my King and Countrey my King hath informers enow and I shall lose my whole estate there and bee banished out of my Countrey for euer Shall I saith Joseph commit this sinne against my God against my Master Seeing my Master hath kept nothing from me but sinne I will not doe this thing I will not sinne and commit this high wickednesse Fourthly A fourth duty is that seeing we are strangers here to learne to affect our own countrey and highly to esteeme it Euery man by nature loueth his natiue country best neither thinketh himselfe so well in any forraine land and strangers especially hauing parents kindred and great reuenues in their natiue soyle and being hardly intreated where they so●ourne would be glad to returne home and enioy the sight of those whomu they haue long longed to see Euen so the Christian Pilgrim Neuer did Israel more affect and extol their owne countrey in their banishment from it and captiuity in Babylon than the Christian stranger doth affectedly desire and prefer his heauenly Countrey aboue this strange land the Countrey of his captiuity For he discerneth that this is not his Country first That is a mans Country where he was borne brought vp but whence taketh a Christian his spirituall birth or where is he brought vp but in the Church and kingdome of Christ Earth giueth him a birth and being as he is man but as a Christian he is borne of God Secondly againe that is a man● countrey where his parents his ancestors deare kindred dwell and inhabit Now where dwelleth a Christian mans Father but in heauen Where is his elder brother but there Where are all his brethren and sisters sons and daughters of the same parents but there and therefore heauen is his Country Thirdly further that is a mans Countrey where his principall estate and goods are where his patrimony and inheritance lyeth and where is the chiefe portion the treasure the immortall inheri●āce of the Christian but in heauen And where else is his Countrey Now then a Christian considering on the one hand that he is in a strange Countrey and how hardly he hath bin intreated in it and so likely to be still and on the other hand that he hath a home and a father there that loueth him dearely and that his elder brother Iesus Christ and all his spiritual kindred the Saints of God are there And besides that he hath a rich portion and a large patrimony euen an immortall inheritance in heauen how can he choose but to be reared in his affections yea rauished to be there desiring nothing in the world more than to be dissolued hence to be with Christ which is best of all A Traueller hath his minde and thoughts still vpon home and saith with himselfe Home is homely And the Marriner or Sea-faring man in a storme or rough Sea hath his desires on the Shore and his minde is not where his ●ody is So is it with the Christian Passenger his minde is not where his body is and if he cannot get home in the body as soone as he desireth yet in his spirit he will mind heauen and heauenly things he will get as neere home as he can if hee cannot get into the heart of the city hee will be sure to get into the sub●bs the Church of God If hee cannot get suddenly into that Jerusalem which is aboue he will get into the Ierusalem which is from aboue and where his person cannot bee for the time his conuersation and meditation shal be in heauen for where his treasure is there will his heart be also Vse 2. In that wee are strangers with God we learne diuers things 1. The soueraignty and power of God who is the great owner and ruler of the whole earth Kings themselues who are the highest earthly Lords and commanders are but strangers with God for the earth is the Lords and all that therein is And no man sitteth in his owne but are Tenants at will vndre this great Land-Lord The greatest of men yea of Kings are but as Dauid was soiourners in his sight Leuit 15. 23. The Land is his and we are but strangers and soiourners with him 2. We must hence gather out our owne duty towards God in whose Countrey we soiourne and our duty is manifold 1. To aske leaue of God to passe through his Countrey so did Israel of Edom a wicked Prince and people Numb 20. I pray thee that we may passe thorow thy country c. It is fit to ask leaue where no right is Besides that by daily prayer for Gods leaue and fauourable loue in our way we both ascribe vnto God the honour of soueraignty and bounty as also sweeten his mercies which he giueth vs leaue to enioy all which are sanctified to vs by the word and by prayer 2 Binde thy selfe from trespassing in the way and Countrey through which thou passest So did Israel vnto Edom We will not goe through the fields nor the vinyards neitheir will we drinke of the water of the wels we will goe by the Kings way and neither turn to the right hand nor left til we be past thy borders So must the Christian be carefull he transgresse not the lawes of the Countrey in which he soiournes to sturre vp against himselfe the wrath