no enmity so dangerous as that which comes masqued with love open hostility calls us to our guard but there is no fence against a trusted treachery Wee need not bee bidden to avoid an enemy but who would run away from his friend Thus spiritually deales the world with our soules it kisses us and stabs us at once if it did not embrace us with one hand it could not murther us with the other Only God deliver us from the danger of this trust and wee shall be safe WIcked Politiques care not so much for the commission of villany as for the notice Smothered evills are as not done If oppressions murther or treasons may bee hid from view the obdurate-hearted offender complaines not of remorse So vast are the gorges of some Consciences that they can swallow the greatest crimes and finde no straine in the passage THe perfections of speculation argue not alwaies the inward powers of self-government the eye may bee cleare whilest the hand is palsied it is not so much to bee heeded how the soule is informed as how she is disciplined the lighted of knowledge doth well but the order of the affections doth better there can bee no safety upon that soule where there is no strait curb upon the desires if our lusts be not held under as slaves they will rule as Tyrants nothing can prevent the extremity of our miscarriage but early and strong denialls of our concupiscence A competent estate well husbanded is better than a vast patrimony neglected THere is no presuming upon time or meanes or strength how many have begun and proceeded well who yet have shamed themselves in their last stage If God uphold us not we cannot stand if God uphold us we cannot fall when wee are at the strongest it is good to be weake in our selves and when at our weakest strong in him in whom we can doe all things Lord bee thou strong in our weaknesse that our weake knees may be steady in thy strength THere are some whose speeches are witty whilst their carriage is weake whose deeds are incongruities whilst their words be apophthegms It is not worth the name of wisdome that may be heard onely and not seene Good discourse is but the froth of wisedome the pure and solid substance of it is in well framed actions and knowing these things happy are we if we do them AS he is a foole that hath a price in his hand to get wisedome and wants a heart so is hee unthankfull that hath a heart to get wisedome and hath no price in his hand a price not countervailable to what he seekes but retributory to him of whom he seekes It is a shame to come with close hands to them which teach us the great mysteries of salvation EXpectation is no better than a kinde enemy to good deserts We lose those things we over-looke Many had been admired if they had not been overmuch befriended by Fame who now in our judgement are cast as much below their ranks as they were fore-imagined above it EVen our very permission appropriates our ruine wee need no more guiltinesse of any sin than our willing toleration Every accessary to sin is filthy but the first authors of sin are abominable And if the followers and abettors of evill be worthy of torment no hell is too deep for the leaders of publique wickednesse GEtting and saving are not ever the waies to abundance but sometimes giving the mercifull God crownes our beneficence with the blessing of store It is a good signe of a wel meant devotion when we can abide it chargeable as contrarily in the affaires of God a niggardly hand argues a cold and narrow heart SOmetimes God strikes in favour but more often forbeares out of severity the best are fittest for heaven the earth is fittest for the worst this is the region of sin and misery that of immortality It is no argument of disfavour to be taken only from a well fed life as not of approbation to age in sin GOd oft winkes at weaknesses where he sees Truth O how pleasing a thing is sincerity that in favour thereof the mercy of a God digests many an error Lord let our hearts goe upright though our feet slide the fall cannot through thy grace be deadly however it may shame or pain us WEE cannot easily put upon God a greater wrong than the alienation of our trust earthly meanes are for use not for confidence we may we must imploy them we may not we must not rely upon them Policy and Religion doe as well together as they are ill asunder the Dove without the Serpent is easily caught the Serpent without the Dove stings deadly Religion without Policy is too simple to be safe Policy without Religion is too subtle to be good being matched they make themselves secure and many happy THere is not alwaies the greatest efficacy where is the greatest noise God loves to make way for himselfe by terror but he conveyes himselfe to us in sweetnesse It is happy for us if after the flashes and gusts of the Law we have heard the soft voice of Evangelicall mercy It is fit they should be first humbled by his terror that would be made capable of his mercy and by both won to repentance NOthing is more odious to God than a prophane neutrality in maine oppositions in Religion To goe upright in a wrong way is a lesse eye-sore to God than to halt betwixt right and wrong The Spirit wisheth that the Laodiceans were either hot or cold either Temper would bee better borne than neither than both In reconcileable differences nothing is more safe than indifferency both of practise and opinion But in cases of so necessary hostility as betwixt God and Baal he that is on neither side is enemy to both Lesse hatefull are they to God that serve him not at all than they that serve him with a Rivall FOolish men are plagued for their offences and it is no small part of their plague that they see it not The only common disturber of Men Families Cities Kingdomes Worlds is sin There is no such traitor to any State as the wilfully wicked the quietest and most plausible offender is secretly seditious and stirreth quarrels in heaven Our hearts are Wells of bitter and venomous Water our actions are the streames In vaine shall we cleanse our hands while our hearts are evill If the fountaine bee redressed the streames cannot be faulty as contrarily the purity and soundnesse of the streame availes nothing to the redresse of the fountaine Reformation must beginne at the Well head of the abuse the order of beeing is a good guide to the method of amending AS there are sometimes beardlesse Sages so are there oft times gray-headed Children not the ancient are wise but the wise is ancient It is vaine to looke for good of those Children wee have neglected and as vaine to grieve for those miscarriages in elder age which our care might have prevented betimes Children
was not ashamed to set upon Christ himselfe with this temptation and thinks Christs members never low enough untill he can bring them as low as himselfe But God is often neerest to his children when he seemeth farthest off In the Mount of the Lord it shall be seene God is with them and in them though the wicked be not aware of it even as the Moone at what time it is least visible to us is then neerest the Sunne HE that shunneth labour procureth trouble An unimployed life is a burthen to it selfe God is a pure At alwayes working alwayes doing and the neerer our Soule comes to God the more it is in action and the freer from disquiet Men experimentally feele that comfort in doing what belongs unto them which before they longed for and went without WE ought not to be over-hastie in censuring others when we see their spirits out of temper Many things worke strongly upon the weake nature of man and wee may sinne more by harsh censure than they by over-much distemper as in Iobs case which was a matter rather of just griefe and pittie than great wonder or heavie censure IN all our troubles we should looke first home to our owne hearts stop the storme there for wee may thanke our owne selves not onely for our troubles but likewise for overmuch troubling our selves in trouble if wee will prevent casting downe let us prevent griefe the cause of it and sinne the cause of that A Dejected man is indisposed to good duties it makes him like an Instrument out of tune like a Body out of joint that mooveth both uncomely and painefully It unfits him to duties towards God who loves both a chearefull giver and receiver Dejectednesse makes a man forgetfull of all former blessings and stoppes the influence of Gods grace for the time present and that to come it makes us unfit to receive mercies A quiet Soule is the seat of wisdome therefore meekenesse is required in receiving of that ingrafted Word which is able to save our soules It is ill sowing in a storme A stormie spirit will not suffer the Word to take place Men are deceived that thinke a dejected spirit to be an humbled spirit yet it is so when we are cast downe in the sense of our owne unworthinesse and then as much raysed in the confidence of Gods mercie SAtan hath never more advantage than upon discontent it disposeth us for entertaining any Temptation It damps the spirits of those that walke the same way with us when as we should as good travellers cheere up one another both by word and example In such a case the wheeles of the soule are taken off or as it were want oyle whereby it passeth on very heavily and no good action comes off from it as it should which breeds not only uncomfortablenesse but unsetlednesse in good courses for a man will never goe on comfortably and constantly in that which he heavily undertakes So much as we are quiet and cheerfull so much we live and are as it were in Heaven so much as we yeeld to discouragements we lose so much of our life and happinesse Cheerfulnesse being as it were the life of our lives and the spirit of our spirits by which they are more inlarged to receive happinesse and to expresse it THere is an art or skill in bearing troubles without over-much troubling our selves As in bearing of a burthen there is away so to poise it that it weigheth not over-heavy if it hang all on one side it poiseth the body down The greater part of our troubles we pul upon our selves by not parting our care so as to take upon us only the care of duty and leave the rest to God and by mingling our passions with our crosses and like a foolish Patient chewing the Pills which we should swallow downe WHy should wee dwell too much upon griefe when wee ought to remove the soule higher Wee are neerest neighbours unto our selves when wee suffer griefe like a Canker to eat into the soule and like a fire in the bones to consume the marrow and drink up the spirits we are accessarie to the wrong done both to our bodies and soules we waste our owne Candle and put out our owne Light IN great fires men looke first to their Iewels and then to their Lumber No Iewell is so precious no possession so rich as the Soule The account for our owne soules and the soules of others is the greatest account and therefore the care of soules should be the greatest care A Godly mans comforts and grievances are hid from the world naturall men are strangers to them If we be troubled with the distempers of our hearts it is a ground of comfort unto us that our spirits are ruled by a higher Spirit and that there is a principle of that life in us which cannot brooke the most secret corruption but rather casts it out by an holy complaint as strength of Nature doth poyson which seekes its destruction Hee wants spirituall life that is not at all disquieted hee abates the vigour and livelinesse of his life that is over-much disquieted A Burning Ague is more hopefull than a Lethargie so is hee that feeles too much more happie than hee that feeles not at all for hee in all his jollitie is but as a Booke fairely bound beautifull to the eye while it is shut but being opened is full of nothing but Tragedies despaire to such is the beginning of comfort trouble the beginning of peace A storme is the way to a calme and Hell the way to Heaven 'T is fit that sinne contracted by joy should be dissolved by griefe A Christian should neither be a dead Sea nor a raging Sea Affections are never well ordered but when they are fit to have communion with God to love joy trust and delight in him above all things for they are the inward movings of the soule which then move best when they move us to God not from him A Carnall man is like a Spring corrupted that cannot worke it selfe cleare because it is wholly tainted his eye and light is darknesse and therefore no wonder if he seeth nothing Sinne lyeth upon his understanding and hinders the knowledge of it selfe it lyes close upon the will and hinders the striving against it selfe That which a carnall man doth for by-ends and reasons the godly man doth from a new Nature which if there were no Law to compell yet it would moove him to that which is pleasing to Christ WE cannot say This or that trouble shall not befall yet we may by helpe of the Spirit say Nothing that doth befall shall make me doe that which is unworthy of a Christian If wee expect the worst when it comes it is no more than wee thought of if better befalls us then it is the sweeter to us the lesse wee expected it IN the uncertaintie of all events here we should labour to frame that contentment in and from our own selves which
to tempt them AS wee ought not to reject the comfort of our friends in adversitie so should we not build too much upon humane comforts Men being at the best but Conduits of comfort and such as God freely conveyeth comfort by taking libertie often to denie comfort by them that so hee may be acknowledged the God of all comfort WE must not goe to the Surgeon for everie scratch opening of our estates to others is not good but when it is necessarie and it is not necessarie when wee can fetch supply from our owne store For God would have us tender of our reputations except in some speciall cases wherein we are to give him the glory by a free and full confession A Wicked man beaten out of earthly comforts is as a naked man in a storme and an unarmed man in the field or as a Shippe tossed in the Sea without an Anchor which presently dasheth upon Rocks or falleth upon Quick-sands But a Christian when hee is driven out of all comforts below nay when God seemes to be angry with him he can appeale from God angry to God appeased he can wrestle and strive with God by Gods owne strength fight with him with his owne weapons and plead with him by his owne arguments till he obtaine the comfort he desireth IT is an infallible rule of discerning a man to be in the state of Grace when he findes every condition draw him neerer unto God For thus it appeares that such love God and are called of him unto whom all things worke together for the best Grace dormant without exercise doth not secure us The soule without action is like an instrument not plaied upon or like a ship alwaies in the haven Even life it selfe is made more lively by action and by stirring up the grace of God in us sparkles come to be flames and all graces are kept bright WHen the soule suffers it selfe by somthing here below to be drawne away from God 't is his mercy tous that we should find nothing but trouble unquietnes in any thing else that so wee might remember from whence we are fallen and returne home againe and it is a good trouble that frees us from the greatest trouble and brings with it the most comfortable rest The soule naturally sinks downewards and therefore had need to be often wound up but after that Gods spirit hath touched the soule it will rather be quiet till it stands pointed Godward in whom there is both worth to satisfie and strength to support it If we resolve in Gods power and not our own and be strong in the Lord and not in our selves then it matters not what our troubles or temptations be either from within or without for Trust in God at length will triumph GRace like oyle will ever be above and though the soul be overborne with passion for a time yet if grace have once truly seasoned it it will worke it selfe into freedome again The eye when any dust falls into it is not more tender and unquiet till it bee wrought out againe than a gratious soul being once troubled The spirit as a spring will be cleansing it selfe more and more whereas the heart of a carnall man is like a standing poole whatsoever is cast into it there it rests trouble and disquietnesse in him are in their proper place It is proper for the sea to rage and cast up durt and God hath set it downe for an eternall rule That vexation and sinne shall be inseperable IF Man withdraw himselfe from Gods gratious government of him to happinesse hee will soone fall under Gods just government of him to deserved misery If he shakes off Gods sweet yoake hee puts himselfe under Satans heavy yoake who as Gods Executioner hardens him to destruction and so while hee rushes against Gods will he fulfils it and whilest he will not willingly doe Gods will Gods wil is don upon him against his will FOr setling our Faith the more God taketh liberty in using weake meanes to great purposes and setteth aside more likely and able means yet sometimes he altogether disableth the greatest meanes and worketh often by no meanes at all Nay God often bringeth his will to passe by crossing the course and streame of meanes to shew his owne soveraigntie to exercise our dependance THere is nothing so high that is above Gods providence nothing so low that is beneath it Nothing so large but is bounded by it Nothing so confused but God can order it Nothing so bad but he can draw good out of it Nothing so wisely plotted but God can disappoint it as Achitophels counsel nothing so weakly caried but he can give a prevailing issue unto it Nothing so natural but he can suspend its operation as heavy burdens from sinking fire from burning c. WHere a fearful spirit a melancholy temper a weak iudgement and a scrupulous conscience meet in one there Satan and his together with mens owne hearts which like Sophisters are continually cavilling amongst themselves worke much disquiet and makes the life uncomfortable But in this case wee should wholly resign our selves up unto God with Davids words Here I am let the Lord deale with me as seemeth good unto him For God oft wraps himselfe in a cloud and will not be seen till afterward Where wee cannot trace him we ought with Saint Paul to admire and adore him for all Gods dealings will appeare beautifull in their due season though wee for the present see not the contiguitie and linking together of one thing with another NOthing should displease us that pleaseth God neither should any thing be pleasing to us that displeaseth him A godly man in all estates and conditions sayes Amen to Gods Amen and puts his fiat and placet to Gods As the sea turnes all rivers into his owne rellish so he turnes all to his owne spirit and makes whatsoever befalls him an exercise of some vertue Thus hee inioyes heaven in the world under heaven and Gods kingdom comes where his will is thus done and suffered AS beasts that cannot endure the yoke at the first after they are inured a while unto it beare it willingly and carry their worke more easily by it So the yoke of obedience makes the life regular and quiet The meeting of authoritie and obedience together main the order and peace of the world SAlvation comes to bee sure unto us whilst by Faith looking to Gods promises and to God himselfe freely offering grace therin the soule resignes up it selfe to God making no further question from any unworthinesse of its owne for doubtlesse he will make good whatever he hath promised for the comfort of his children And what greater assurance can there be than for Being it selfe to lay its being to pawne and for Life it selfe to lay life to pawne and all to comfort a poore soule By the bare word of God it is alone that the Covenant of day and night and the preservation of the
we should commit our cause to the God of vengeance not meddle with his prerogative he will revenge better than we can and more perhaps than we desire The wronged side is the safer side If in stead of meditating revenge we can so overcome our selves as to pray for our enemies and deserve wel of them we shal both sweeten our owne spirits and prevent a sharp temptation which wee are prone unto and have an undoubted argument that we are sons of that Father that doth good to his enemies and Members of that Saviour that prayed for his persecutors and withall by heaping coles upon our Enemies heads wee shall melt them either to conversion or confusion WEe are not disquieted when wee put off our clothes and go to bed because we trust Gods ordinary Providence to raise us up again And why should wee be disquieted when we put off our bodies and sleep our last sleep considering we are more sure to rise out of our graves than out of our beds Nay we are raised up already in Christ our Head who is the Resurrection and the life in whom we may triumph over death that triumpheth over the greatest Monarchs as a disarmed and conquered Enemy THat which belongs to us in our calling is care of discarging our duty that which God takes upon him is assistance and good successe in it Let us do our work and leave God to do his owne Diligence and trust in him is onely ours the rest of the burthen is his He stands upon his credit so much that it shall appeare wee have not trusted him in vaine even when we see no apparance of doing any good Peter fished all night catcht nothing yet upon Christs word casting in his net again he caught so many Fish as brake it COvetousnesse when men wil be richer than God wil have them troubles all it troubles the house the whole family and the house within us our pretious soule which should be a quiet house for Gods Spirit to dwell in whose Seat is a quiet Spirit If men would follow Christs method and seeke first the Kingdome of Heaven doubtlesse all other things should be cast upon them GOd is neerest to us in troubles when our enemies on earth conclude our utter overthrow God is in Heaven concluding our glorious deliverance Vsually after the lowest Ebbe followes the highest Spring-tide Christ stands upon Mount Sion and will worke our raising by that very meanes by which our enemies seeke to ruine us There is no condition so ill but there is Balme in Gilead Comfort in the God of Israel The depths of miserie are never beyond the depths of mercy Naturall men from the common light of Nature discovering there is a God will in extremities run unto him and God as the Author of Nature will sometimes heare them as he doth the young Ravens that cry unto him But comfortably and with assurance those onely have a familiar recourse unto him that have a sanctified sutable disposition unto God as being well acquainted with Him It is an excellent ground of sincerity to desire the favour of God not so much out of self-aimes as that God may have the more free and full praise from us considering the soul is never more fit for that blessed duty than when it is in a cheerfull plight IF we seriously think of what is our Duty God will surely thinke of what shall bee for our Comfort we shall feel God answering what we look for from Him in doing what he expects from us Can we have so meane thoughts of Him that wee should intend his glory and he not much more intend our good Yet many doe grossely mistake in taking Gods curse for a blessing To thrive in an ill way is a spirituall iudgement extremely hardening the heart There can neither be grace nor wisdome in setling upon a course wherein we can neither pray to God for successe in nor blesse God when he gives it WHen we are at the lowest yet it is a mercy that we are not consumed wee are never so ill but it might be worse with us whatsoever is lesse than Hell is undeserved and it is a matter praise worthy to God that we yet have time and opportunitie to get into a blessed Condition THe Apostle thought it the first duty in affliction to pray Is any afflicted let him pray Is any joyfull let him sing Psalmes Praising of God is then most comely though never out of season when God seems to call for it by renewing the sence of his mercies in some fresh favours toward us If a Bird will sing in Winter much more in the Spring If the heart be prepared in the winter time of Adversitie to praise God how ready will it be when it is warmed with the glorious sun-shine of his Favour OVr life is nothing but as it were a Webbe woven with interminglings of wants and favours crosses and blessings standings and failings combat and victory therefore there should be a perpetuall intercourse course of praying and praising in our hearts We should often apply these generalls of Holy-writ to our selves to stir up our hearts to praise God He will never leave nor forsake us he will be with us in fire and water the issue of all things shall be for our good we shall reap the quiet fruit of righteousnesse and no good thing will he withhold from them that live a godly life If wee had a spirit of Faith to apply such like generall promises wee should see much of Gods goodnesse in particular toward us God promiseth the forgivenesse of sin and yet thou findest the burthen thereof daily upon thee Neuerthelesse cheere up thy selfe when the Morning is darkest then comes day after a weary weeke comes a Sabbath and after a fight victory will appeare wee must endure the working of Gods Physicke when the sick humor is carried away and purged then we shall enioy desired health PRaising of God may well be called Incense because as it is sweet in it selfe and sweet to God so it sweetens all that comes from us Wee cannot love and joy in God but he wil delight in us when we neglect the praising of God wee lose both the comforts of his Love and our owne too Our praising God should not bee as sparkes out of a flint but as water out of a Spring natural ready free as Gods Love to us as Mercy pleaseth him so should praises please us For unthankfulnesse is a sin detestable both to God and man and the lesse punishment it receives from humane lawes the more it is punished inwardly by secret shame and outwardly by publicke hatred if once it prove notorious THe living God is a living Fountaine never drawne dry he hath never don so much for us but he can and will doe more If there be no end of our praises there shall be no end of his goodnes by this means we are sure never to bee very miserable how can he be dejected
that by a sweet communion with God sets himselfe in heaven nay maketh his heart a kind of heaven a Temple a Holy of Holies wherein Incense is offered unto God A thankfull heart to God for his Blessings is the greatest Blessing of all But were it not for a few gratious Soules what Honour should God have of the rest of the unthankfull world which should stir us up the more to be Trumpets of Gods Praises in the midst of his Enemies because this in some sort hath a Prerogative above our praising him in Heaven for there God hath no Enemies to dishonor him GOd is Salvation it self and nothing but Salvation and though our sins for a time may stop the current of His Mercy yet it being above all our sins will soone scatter that cloud remove that stop and then wee shall see and feele nothing but salvation from the Lord all his wayes are Mercy and Peace to a repentant Soule that casts it selfe upon him We should not therefore so much looke what destruction the Devill and his threaten as what salvation God promiseth Canot he that hath vouchsafed an issue in Christ from eternall death vouchsafe an issue from all temporall evills He that brought us into trouble can easily make a way out of it when he pleaseth this should be a ground of resolute and absolute obedience even in our greatest extremities considering God will either deliver us from death or by death and at length out of death CAinish hypocrites hang downe their heads when God lifts up the countenance of their brethren when the countenance of Gods children cleers up then their enemies hearts and looks are cloudy Ierusalems joy is Babylons sorrow It is with the Church and Her enemies as it is with a ballance the scales whereof when one is up the other is downe The reason why wicked men gnash their teeth at the sight of Gods gratious dealing is that they take the rise of Gods children to be a presage of their ruine Which lesson Hamans wife had learned SAlvation is Gods own work humbling and casting down is his strange Worke whereby he comes to his owne worke For when he intends to save he wil seem to destroy first whom he will revive he will kill first Grace and Goodnesse countenanced by God have a native in-bred majesty in them which maketh the face to shine and borroweth not his lustre from without which God at length will have to appeare in its own likenesse howsoever malice may cast a vaile thereon and disguise it for a time WHat comfort was it for Adam when hee was shut out of Paradise to looke upon it after he had lost it the more excellencies are in God the more our grief if we have not our part in them the very life-bloud of the Gospell lies in a speciall application of particular mercy to our selves without which we can neither entertain the Love of God nor returne Love againe whereby we lose all the comfort God intends us in his Word which of purpose was written for our solace and refreshment PRetend not thy unworthinesse and unabilitie to keep thee off from God for this is the way to keep thee so still God bids us draw neer to Him and Hee will draw neere to us Whilst we in Gods own wayes draw neere to Him and labour to entertaine good thoughts of Him He will delight to shew himselfe fauourable unto us whilest we are striving against an unbeleeving heart Hee will come in and helpe us and so fresh light will come in God alone must help us and if ever Hee helpe us it must be by casting our selves upon him for then he will reach out himselfe unto us in the promise of mercy to pardon our sin and in the promise of Grace to sanctifie our Natures SPirituall Comforts in distresse such as the world can neither give nor take away shew that God lookes upon the soules of his with another eye than he beholdeth others He sends a secret Messenger that reports his peculiar Love to their hearts He knowes their soules and feeds them with his hidden Manna the inward peace they feele is not in freedome from trouble but in freenesse with God in the midst of trouble SEchem had not sinned if Dinah had not tempted him Immodestie of behaviour makes way to Lust and gives life unto wicked hopes Lust commonly ends in loathing But Sechem would salve up his sinne with an honest satisfaction but actions ill begun are hardly salved up with late satisfaction wheras good entrances give strength to the proceedings and successe to the end Dinahs brethren pretend Religion we cannot give our sister in mariage to an uncircumcised man here God is in the mouth and Satan in the heart A smiling malice is most deadly and hatred doth most ranckle the heart when it is kept in and dissembled Iacobs sonnes think of nothing but revenge and which is worst begin their crueltie with craft and end their craft with Religion Bloudiest projects have ever wont to be thus coloured for the worse any thing is the better shew it desires to make and contrarily the better colour is set upon vice the more odious it makes it for as every simulation addes to an evill so the best addes most evill Indeed filthinesse should not have bin wrought in Israel nor should murther have been wrought by Israel Cursed be their wrath for it was fierce and their rage for it was cruell To punish above the offence is no lesse injustice than to offend and to execute rigor upon a submisse offendor is more mercilesse than just The idle curiositie of Dinah bred all this mischief what great evills arise from small beginnings Ravishment followes her wandring upon her ravishment murther and upon the murtner spoile It is holy and safe to be jealous of the first occasions of evill either done or suffered IF Thamar had not put off her widowes apparell Iudah had not taken her for a whore Immodestie of outward fashion or gesture bewraies evill desires the heart that means well will never wish to seem ill for commonly we affect to shew better than we are and it is no trusting of those which wish not to appeare good Thamars belly swells and Iudahs heart swells with rage Let her be burnt How easie is it to detest those sinnes in others which wee flatter in our selves Even in the best men nature is partiall in it selfe it is good to sentence others frailties with the remembrance of our owne Iudah no sooner sees the signals but confesseth his shame She is more righteous than I. God will find a time to bring his children upon their knees and to wring from them penitent Confessions and rather than he will not make them soundly ashamed he will make them Trumpets of their owne reproach There is nothing more thankelesse or dangerous than to stand in the way of a resolute sinner that which doth correct and oblige the Penitent makes the wilfull mind furious and