more to redeeme the world than to make it He that made mee with a word speaking when he redeemed me spake and wept and bled and dyed to doe it what can I thinke too much to endure for his sake that was made a curse for mine It is with us heere as with Gedeons fleece one while the ground is wet and the fleece is drye another while the fleece is wet and the ground is drye Sometime wee have Raine and Faire Weather would doe better anon it is Faire and Raine would be welcommer And it fares with our bodies as with our estates now happily we have health and want meanes then againe wee have other things and want health all our delight here is like our selves fading and many times with Balthazar we are fetch'd off in the mids of our jollitie Nothing here but ebbing and flowing tumult and alteration in heaven onely shall we rest from our labours now if wee love our ease why doe we so love our lives The good man takes his God as he doth his wife for richer for poorer in sicknesse and in health we may not alwaies judge of Gods favour by His bounty I am but a novice in Religion if I thinke I cannot be Gods sonne and miserable Commonly those men are hottest in the pursuit of honour that least deserve it While deservednesse sits still and bides his leasure that gives and takes where he list and when and how and to whom and at last is importun'd to the place not for the good he shall receive but for that he may doe he will not be great upon all termes but will rather endure poverty thā part with his honesty and not sell his soule to buy a purchase What will it profit a man to gaine the world and lose his soule Christ is in us as the soule is in the body hee gives life wee are in Christ as the branches in the Vine whence we receive life Let our care be to offer up our selves living sacrifices to him of whom wee live and moove 'T is all hee requires an egge of his owne Bird some minutes of that time which hee hath given us What can I doe lesse one good turne requires another if I love not those that love mee I come short of Infidells Selfe-conceitednesse is the sinne in fashion 'T is a hard matter not to thinke well of our selves I am not behinde the least of the Apostles yee know the Voice and if he had not beene buffeted hee had beene exalted above measure and carried higher in conceite than he was before in his extasie he that well remembers from what he once fell cannot but be ashamed of what hee is and fall yet lower Oh Lord I am lesse than the least of thy mercies Malice never wants a marke He who hath nothing hath something to bee envied for and if nothing else he is envied for this that he is content with his nothing It is hard to bee prosperous and bee loved at once Those that will be great shall be envied it is hard but safe to be contented with a little but if I cannot avoyd ill tongues my care shall be no to deserve them and then let Shimei curse I seldome see sinne but in a religious tire Nay but I reserv'd them for sacrifice was Sauls to Samuel for sacrifice not for prey Goodnesse is the best disguise of evill either seeme what thou art or be what thou seemest God is not mocked Their sinne is more unpardonable that sinne of purpose malice leaves the owner as without excuse so without hope Sinnes of ignorance excuse a tanto save some blowes I may and doe sinne dayly against my will I will not against my knowledge What more glorious Master than God What better Mother than the Church How glorious is that calling that at once serves such a Master and such a Mother As it is our glory to serve them so it must be our glory to doe them good service God in us sets the world copies of piety and wee must live to others no lesse than preach As we are more eye so we are more look'd at motes in others eyes are beames in ours many things are lawfull that are not expedient and some things are expedient in respect of the person that are scandalous meerely for the chaire that which is reproveable in another is in us a reproach seeing it is so what manner of men ought we to be Promotions are neither from the East nor from the West but from God He that hath them and not of His gift hath them with a vengeance who would not rather wish to want than to be great so There was never any that was not ambitious every man is borne a Corah onely some more superlative than other But of all men I most wonder at those that are ambitious onely to be talk'd of and since they cannot bee notable they would bee notorious and with Cain bee mark'd though for murtherers Whether I know much or am knowne of many it matters not onely this I will care for that God may not say to me in the last day I know thee not Pride is good to none worst to it selfe when Adam would better his knowledge hee lost his dwelling in Paradise and when those builders of Babel would mend their dwelling they lost their knowledg The itch of being great potent or pointed at how many hath it undone I will never care to be or to know that which I know shall repent me what commendations is it to have beene some-body The tongue is the only betrayer of the minde The foole while he is silent is not discovered I will not be more thriftie of any thing than of my speech I had rather be thought to know a little than be knowne to know nothing There is but one thing a Christian need desire of God that 's a cleane heart Create a new heart c. there is but this one thing that God desires of a Christian his heart My sonne give me thy heart and this I will onely desire to have that I may give A broken and a contrite heart Oh God thou wilt not despise The Kings daughter is all glorious within but yet her rayment too is of wrought gold our outside our life must tell the world what we are within If our lives doe not answere our profession we are Pharisees we say and doe not It is a common fault to forget what we have beene when wee are changed for the better how many have beene resolved for heaven in their sicknesse that in their whole skinne have disclaim'd it and requited the recovery of the body with a relapse of the soule To receive good at the hands of the Lord and not evill is unreasonable to expect but to receive good at the hands of the Lord and returne evill is wicked and not to be endured I will never pray more hartily to God for a blessing than for grace to manage it Wherefore should I be
afflictions in this world cannot answer the joyes of that other I will never care whose these pleasures I see be while those I doe not see are mine and the fountaine of pleasures whom I shall one day see as I am seene shall be mine Let another praise thee and not thine owne mouth either we are far from neighbours or ill beloved among them when wee are faine to be our owne trumpet and blaze our selves the Iews not the Centurion say He loved our Nation and hath c. It is both honorable and humble to heare of our praises and tell of our unworthinesse Many a little make a mickle every day a mite will encrease our store I wil be ever adding to my heape of knowledge of faith c. That when the Master returnes I may be able to say behold Lord thy two Talents have gained other two The building of the soule like that of the world is not done in a day grace like Ezekiel's waters is first to the ancles then to the knees c. In vaine doth any thinke to bee perfect at once in an instant well is it for us if after many Lessons learn'd and heard in CHRIST'S Schoole wee get past the spoone and with some yeares of teares and prayers come to a stature a growth and with clambering and paines like Zacheus get to see Christ time was when it was said to the Apostles Oh yee of little faith and hee was once afraid to confesse CHRIST that was not afterward afraid to die for him like Bees while we are here we are ever gathering in His good time wee shall bee perfect in the meane time LORD suffer us not to bee tempted above that we are able God is that to the soule which the Sunne is to the world light and heat and with them comforts and stores it he that hath God hath every thing God alone is a world of friends against millions of enemies then will I thinke my selfe poore miserable distressed left when He leaves me Every thing almost we see borrowes its nature from its soile thus the body and temper of men differ with the aire and the soule like the body commonly savours something of the company it keepes and we grow familiar with their sinnes together with their persons at first winke at them then imitate them then defend them I will not bee more scrupulous in the choyce of any thing than of this hee can hardly have a good soule that hath a bad companion Sinne at first is modest and goes disguised with Saul to Endor that after a while growes impudent and dares looke bare-fac'd on the world first perswades to civill recreations thence bids to unlawfull delights Hee that will prevent the growth of sinne must resist the beginning the remedy is thought of too late where the disease is past cure 't is easier preventing a sicknesse than recovering it Custome as it lessens favours so it lessens sins else the same sinne would still be monstrous which in time is not taken notice of Goodnesse is not the gift of all but some but perseverance onely of a few how many like Ezekiahs sun have gone backward and forsaken their first love How many have we seene that with Caiaphas would have rent their cloaths at the name of blasphemie have afterward sworne by the life of Pharaoh what we are is no argument for what we will be every man knows his beginning not his end what hee is not what he shall be let him that thinketh he stands take heed lest he fall When I take a serious view of my selfe and see besides inward discontents so many outward enemies of quietnesse every where every minute want sicknesse dangers losse of friends of health of life threatning if not pursuing me and to these my spirituall enemies so strong my corruptions so many my infirmities so continuall and my selfe so overmatched with all these with Peter I beginne to sinke and I could wish I had not beene since I must be miserable but when I looke up to heaven and those joyes I am going to I would not be lesse miserable to be so happie GOD is my Father the Angels are my fellowes Heaven is my Inheritance now if my inheritance be in heaven why is not my desire there Where our treasure is there will our heart be also where our treasure and our heart is there shall we be one day who would exchange his future happinesse for a present Contentation is a blessing not wealth true riches consist not so in having much as in not desiring more why then doe wee so labour to abound and not rather to be content If I have but a little my account is the lesse if I have much and doe not more good I shall adde to my condemnation together with my store I will ever studie rather to use my little well than to encrease it I will not care to bee rich but to be good this onely is that treasure that never shall have an end let mee be rich in goodnesse and I cannot complaine of povertie he onely is poore whom GOD hates To speake little is a note of a wise man to speake well of a good man goodnesse is not seene in the length or brevity of our speech but in the matter the streames of the tongue runs from the current of the heart and are like the fountaine it is a signe we have little goodnesse in us when there comes little out of us if GOD were more in our hearts He would be often in our mouthes and with more reverence Though I will never affect to speake of my goodnesse yet I will shew it in my speech He that will be a Criticke of others actions had need look well to his owne 't is a foule shame to have that found in our selves which we would take upon us to mend in others in this I will ever follow my Saviours rule first get out mine owne beame and I shall see better to helpe my brother out with his more Injuries if they dye not they kill Here onely a CHRISTIAN must learne to forget for if wee forgive not men their trespasses neither will our Father c. In this case my care shall be onely how to put them up and leave vengeance to whom it belongs God is ever his Iudge that is not his owne The malicious man is so much no mans foe as his owne for while he is out of charitie with others GOD is so with him if he lov'd himselfe hee would not hate his brother I will love all men for His sake that made them but the Christian because he is GODS sonne I will love doubly for his owne sake for his Fathers sake GOD lookes not at what we have beene but what we are it is no commendation to have beene an Israelite That we once did well addes to our condemnation together with our sinne and if the righteous man forsake his righteousnesse his reward is lost our former goodnesse will not
as nature God receiveth no sonne whom He chastiseth not but t is with a gentle hand He leaves no markes behinde and He hath soone throwne away His rod if with unfained resolution you will doe so no more God though He beate many of His Children till they cry yet He never beates any for crying There is a double life in man and must bee a double nourishment men live as if there were no more to bee done but feede and be warme food and rayment are the maine businesses of the World 'T is true wealth and friends and health are things to thanke God for but better desires better becomes Christians the Christian man lives not by bread onely c. Meate for the belly and the belly for meate but God shall destroy both it and them every good mans meate and drinke is to do the will of Him that sent him God hath given us this aire to breathe in it doth not give but continue life 't is the meanes of living not the Author of life God gives it us to use not to serve How many make this world their God and serve it and God as it were but their World to make use of I will never be a servant to my slave God though He be ever the same in Himselfe He is not alwaies so in us though Hee love those whom He doth love unto the end yet not without Intermission Men commonly never know the benefit of a thing but by the absence of it wee could not so well esteeme of health if it pleased not God we were sometime sicke the long absence of a desired friend makes him more welcome at his returne thus Christ is pleas'd sometime to withdraw His presence that with more earnestnesse we might be drawne to seeke Him Tell mee Oh Thou whom my soule loveth where thou feedest c. As when many eyes are fixed upon one pictture every one thinkes the eyes of the picture to be fixed on him so with our soules all looke together at God but every one must appropriate Him to himselfe To know that God is the God of Abraham the God of Isaack and the God of Iacob is but a weake assurance that He will provide for me unlesse also He be my God our faith as our charity must begin at home and say My Lord and my God Our Saviour doth not say doe unto others as others doe unto you but as you would have others doe unto you If thou wouldest have thy neighbour do thee right doe so to him though he have done thee wrong Lex talionis was never a good Christian Law If I forgive not I shall not be forgiven As he cannot rise againe the resurrection of the body that doth not first dye the death of the body no more can he be borne the birth of the soule that doth not first dye the death of sinne It is necessary that hee which will bee borne twice should dye once while he lives and hee that will once rise the resurrection of life should dye twice That I may live ever I will dye daily That two contraries cannot consist in the same subject is as good Divinity as it is Philosophy Good and evill are like Fire and Water ever contending till the one be conquered either my sinns and I must part or God and I I cannot be at once Gods Church and the Divels chappell It is the fault of a great many if God beare with them in their sinnes they thinke hee countenances them if they be not presently striken dead with Vzzah they goe on when they smart not they beleeve not and he is not fear'd till felt Sicknesse is not thought of till death nor that till hell forgetting that the long sufferance of God should lead them to repentance he forbeares us that hee might forgive us shall I sinne because grace abounds God forbid God as He is infinite in mercy so is He in justice and as His mercy extends to thousands in them that love him so do His judgments to many generations of them that hate Him That He is long in comming is no argument that Hee will not come forbearance is no acquittance the longer our time the greater our account if we have liv'd long and liv'd not well of young Saints prove old Divells wee had beene better have gone to heaven young than to have lived to these yeares to goe to hell miserable is that mans case whose latter end is worse than his beginning The relation betweene sinning and falling is so neere that they are us'd promiscuously the one for the other Now it is a hard matter to fall without hurt and once downe it is not an easie matter to rise without helpe Where it is so dangerous to fall and so hard to rise if we love our selves we will looke to our footing Most men feare to heare ill that feare not to doe ill the arrantest hypocrite in the world would not be thought so he would not be censur'd for sinne that feares not to be damned for it and is afraid of holding up his hand to the barre that is not afraid of standing at the Tribunal seat of God All the care is how to sleepe in a whole skinne not so much to live well as to die safe keepe without the compasse of the Law though they come within the teach of hell If this bee not to feare men more than God I know not what is I should wonder many times to see sin so smugge to here a Iudas at his haile Master and kisses did I not remember of what Sire they come the Divell and that he can stil personate that goodnesse he once had He would be more shunn'd if he could not bee mistaken that is not suspected in a disguise where the adversary is so subtile they had need bee wise as Serpents that would be innocent as Doves Charity so forgives offences that it is ready not only to pardon the offender but to doe for him and thinkes it selfe not innocent that it starves not it's enemy while it sees him starve What little difference is there in Religion betweene not saving and killing we are not commended that we require not evill with the like We have not forgiven injuries if wee doe onely not revenge them if wrongs tye our hands from doing good where we ought and may they prove sinnes to us that were but crosses and we wrong our selves more by not doing than by suffering and God shall so forgive us our trespasses For with what measure I mete unto others it shall be measured unto me againe God deales by us as He would have us deale by others and we must doe by others as we would have them doe by us and all of us deale one with another as we would have God deale with all of us As I cannot love God and hate my brother so can I not bee loved of God How iustly is the fire of Envy punished with the fire of Hell It cost God
blessed to my cost With God all things are not onely alike possible but easie and he can as well of stones make Abraham children as of Iews I will never despaire of him that can do al things I cannot be so infinitely sinful as God is merciful Oh God if thou wilt when thou wilt thou canst make me whole why should I give my selfe over where my Physician doth not Workes without faith are like a suite of clothes without a body emptie Faith without workes is like a body without cloathes no warmth want hear Workes without faith are not good workes faith without good workes is as good as no faith but a dead Faith Then onely are they themselves when they are together what God hath joyned let no man put asunder Our actions are never pleasing to God when our light doth not shine before men let your light so shine before men that they may see your good workes and glorifie your Father which is in heaven that your Father which is in heaven may one day glorifie you With men confesse and suffer is good justice but with God the contrarie to confesse our sins is the next way to be forgiven them that soule is past hope that lyes speechlesse I will ever pray Oh Lord open thou my lips and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise and my owne sinnes Pray for them that curse you doe good to them that c. Is durus sermo a hard saying and against the haire 't is not so easie a matter to forget an ill turne as to doe one yet this must be if we will be Christians hee that will not be in charity shall never be in heaven Why should I doe my selfe a shrewd turne because another would It was the divell that first made us enemies to God and it is still he that makes us enemies to one another it is not for nothing I have thought that he is painted with a clovē foote hee loves divisions so well and there is no greater argument of a divell incarnate than a malicious heart say what thou wilt but I will never beleeve thee against scripture that thou lovest God whom thou hast not seene that lovest not thy brother whom thou hast seene if wee love Him we will love one another If we will be Christs Disciples we must leave all but it s not all wee must take up our crosse too be readie to take it up not of our selves but if it be layd upon us we must suffer willingly for Christs sake we must not suffer wilfully or throw our selves into the fire He that bids us suffer bids us flye If they persecute you in one City flye c. It is our commendation to endure to stroke or the Faggot it is not to seeke it when zeale runnes without discretion warrant it commonly makes more haste than good speed CHRIST would have us innocent but wise too Serpents as well as Doves lay downe our lives for His sake but not fling them downe we must neither goe like beares to the stake nor like mad-men neither runne to our martyrdome or from it Pray with our SAVIOVR if it be possible to misse the cup or but to kisse it but still not my will but thy Will we must submit all to God and thinke that fittest for us which Hee thinkes so That which I heare from David I would heare from every good man Thy word is a Lanterne to my feete c. To his feete not to his eyes alone if we use the Word of God onely to gaze on and see fine stories to discourse by not live by it wants his use and wee want our goodnesse and shall want our glory knowledge without practice adds to our punishment together with our sinne How many Pharisees have sate in Moses that shall never sit in Abrahams bosome onely for this because they knew and did not Workes of piety must never goe without humility he that prayes and is not humbled like the Pharisie in the parable goes away worse than hee came When thou prayest thou askest blessing and doe it on thy knees if to your earthly father how much more to your heavenly Men have inverted the course now they drinke their health upon their knees and pray for their health upon their tailes God shall answere such men according to their manners proudly Why should GOD stoope to their wants that stoope not to their owne we cannot bee too humble when we are to speake to that Majestie whom we cannot see and live and whom wee shall one day see and live to our cost if we be not humbled thanke God thou hast knees to howe how many would that have not why shouldest thou bend and cringe and bow to thy father or thy friend or thy betters and not to thy God Prayer is the Iacobs ladder of the soule wheron it goes up and downe to God and conferres with Him in our praiers wee blesse Him and by our prayers wee blesse our selves there is no part of Gods worship more acceptable or more profitable than this of prayer and none more slighted men come to prayer as to a thing indifferent wilfull negligence in leaving it undone and coldnesse in doing of it are the sinne almost of who not only Oh Lord doe thou be mercifull to the neglect of thy people There are many services and many Masters and yet no man can serve two masters that is two of a contrary disposition for there is the world the flesh and the divell and ye may serve all these at once nay yee cannot serve one and not all the glutton he serves his belly with Esau sells his birthright his blessing for pottage the drunkard he serves I know not well what whether the drinke or the company or his appetite or all but instead of quenching his thirst drownes his soule the envious man and the furious man are alike in this both serve the passion onely here they differ the envious man with Sampson will braine himselfe so hee may braine others the furious man braines others so long till at length he be brained himselfe the usurer he serves his gold the adulterer he serves his lust but all serve one chiefe Lord one Master the Divell and shall all receive the same Wages which is the wages of all sinne death Why should God pay them for their paines that goe not of His errands FINIS SPARE HOVRES of Meditations The Second Part. BLessed are the poore for theirs is the kingdom of heaven How are they poore that have a Kingdome or what Kingdom is wealthy if not that of heaven or why complain'st thou of that povertie that saints thee that is a happy soule that makes even with God every night and every morne begins the World anew God is love and hee that loveth is borne of God God loveth him so there is no love lost by this are we knowne to be Gods sons and Christs disciples if we love one another I may love others
Ioseph had never beene a Courtier had hee not first beene a prisoner Gods children are ever the better for being miserable and end in that It is good for mee that I have been afflicted let God use me how Hee will on earth so I may have what Hee hath promised to those that love Him in heaven Who would not be a Lazarus for a day that hee might sit in Abraham's bosome for ever Gods Church must be a lillie among thorns and while I am a member of the Church I must not looke to fare better than the whole Body if they have call'd the master of the house Beelzebub well may it be endur'd to those of the household my comfort is if I am reviled for His sake I shall be blessed Prosperity is like Vinum merum all wine it makes drunke the soule and therefore God mingles it that He may keep us sober feeds His children with a bit and a knocke ever dishes His sweete meate with sowre sause if wee did alwaies abound wee would grow proud and forget our selves and if not sometimes wee would despaire and forget our God I will pray with Salomon give me neither wealth nor poverty but a meane or if wealth grace to imploy it if poverty patience to endure it Afflictions are the medicines of the minde if they are not toothsome let it suffice they are wholesome 't is not required in Physicke that it should please but heale unlesse we esteeme our pleasure above our health let me suffer so I may reigne be beaten so I may be a son Nothing can be ever too much to endure for those pleasures which endure for ever There was never good but was hard to get the prison and the hatchet sores and crums leade to Abraham's bosome and the way thither is by weeping-crosse if many tribulations will carry me to heaven on Gods name let me have them welcome the poverty which makes me heire to those riches that never shall have an end I will deale for my soule as for my body never refuse health because the Phisicke that should procure it is bitter let it distast me so it heale me There are in the world that thinke it too great sawcinesse to be our owne spokes-men to God and therefore goe to St. Some-body to preferre their petitions for them I shall ever hold it good manners to goe of my owne errants to God He that bids me Come will bid me welcome God hath said Come unto me c. It is no unmannerlinesse to come when I am call'd All consciences like all stomacks are not alike how many doe we see digest those sinnes with ease which others cannot get downe with struggling one straines at a gnat when another swallowes a camell hee that will keepe cleere of great sinnes must make conscience of all I will thinke no sinne little because the least endangers my soule and it is all one whether I sell my SAVIOVR for thirty pence with Iudas or for halfe I am worth with Ananias whether I goe to hell for one sin or for many This life is but a journey unto death and every day we are some spannes neerer the grave how is it that wee which are so neere our death are so farre from thinking of it Security is a great enemy to prevention and a presumption that wee shall not dye yet makes men that they doe not prepare to dye at all it is good taking time while time is if it come suddenly and find thee unprepared miserable man that thou art who shall deliver thee from the body c Therefore hath Nature given us two eares and but one mouth that we should heare twice as much as wee should speake with all thy secrets trust neither thy wife nor thy friend hee that is thriftie of his owne tongue shall lesse feare anothers There are that affect not so much to have true friends as to have many and whisper to that friend what they heare from this and againe to this what from that and glory to have it knowne how much they are trusted whereas they were therefore trusted that it might not be knowne I have ever thought it a maxime in friendship that he which will bee intimate with many is entirely nones let me love and be lov'd of all I will bee inward onely with a few I had rather have one meane friend that I may call my owne than the most potent where I must share with others He that provides not for his owne is worse than an infidell 't is not the blame of charity that it begins at home it is that it ends not abroad I am not borne all to my selfe somewhat to my friend to my neighbour I will so care for my owne as I may relieve others and so doe for others as I wrong not my owne Much knowledge not much speech Emblem 's a wise man I shall ever hold it neither safe nor wise alwaies to speake what I know of my owne affaires nor what I thinke of others a man may speake too much truth Pleasures like the Rose are sweet but prickly the hony doth not countervaile the sting all this worlds delights are vanity and end in vexation like Iudas while they kisse they betray I would neither be a Stoick nor an Epicure allow of no pleasure nor give way to all they are good sause but naught to make a meale of and were given not to fill the belly but to relish the meate I may use them sometimes for digestion never for food In crosses these two things must be thought on first whence they come from God Hee strikes thee that made thee next wherefore they come for thy good either to try thee or to mend thee if they bee harsh yet they be gainfull I shall ever count it a good change to have the fire of persecution for the fire of hell who would not rather smart for a while then for ever let me rather have that fire which is rewarded with heaven than these pleasures which shall be rewarded with fire Salomon's Rejoyce oh young man in the dayes of thy youth were the finest thing in the world if it were not for that which follows for all this thou shall come to judgement to goe well lye soft sleepe hard if there were noe after-reckoning who would not say out of delight what the Apostles did out of amazement It is good for us to be here but when I have a stewardship to account for and God knowes how soone my master returning and my talent to seek the Bridegroome entering and my oyle to buy I have more reason to care how to redeeme my time past than to spend the present To grow heavy or lumpish with crosses argues not so much want of courage as grace nothing more soyles the reputation of a Christian than to have his minde droope with his Mammon what if health friends meanes have all forsooke thee wilt thou lose thy wittes together with thy goods all the
for other respects my enemies that they may bee good to mee or my friends because they are so but God I will love because I will love Him and because He is to be beloved When I at first looke out into the World and see many men and those none of the best in better case I think my selfe forgotten wish for more but when I remember my account I feare I have too much forget those wishes It may bee if I had more wealth I should be more riotous outward losses are somtimes gainfull and it is good for us that wee are afflicted it would be worse with us if it were not sometimes thus bad many if they were not kept short of these would come short of Heaven He knowes us that keeps us if He wil have us Lazar's not Dive's bring us to Heaven that way rather than another His will be done let Him give my goods to the poore and my body to be burn'd and bring me to Heaven though in a firy Chariot I cannot complaine of the foulenes of that way that carries me to God Things which wee come easily by we easily part with lightly come lightly goe true friendship as it is hard to find so it is hardly lost and therefore hardly lost because hard to find I will put up many injuries before I put off one friend small faults I will swallow others I will winke at and if he will not be my other selfe I will be his and change my nature before my friend friends like stones get nothing by rolling We are content with a little when we are by our selves who puts on scarlet and resolves not to be seene or is serv'd in plate when there is none to take witnesse of it Nature if it would but be private it would not be so costly most men are therefore covetous because they are ambitious and love the stage and desire to have much that they may have much to shew and set their land upon their cupboards I thinke they would shew more of their wit if they shewed lesse of their substance they doe not so much shew that to their guests as themselves and are admir'd at not for the abundance of these but the want of the other Pride and Vncharitablenesse are sinnes in fashion and the one the cause of the other many thinke they should vvant for their pride if they should but be charitable I have often wondred and grieved to see a rich porch and a poor Christians walls cloath'd and men goe naked Say what thou wilt but I am sure with the Apostle That hee cannot love God whom he hath not seene that loves not his brethren whom hee hath seene and can indure to see miserable Many are therefore friends to others that they may befriend themselves and like leaves in winter fall from the trees when they begin to wither and with Saint Peter know not the man How many doe we nick-name friends at large that prove but strangers at a pinch that will be your servants in a complement and not know you in a businesse I will not desire of God not to have friends but not such friends or not to need them We owe more to God for redeeming us than for making us His Word made us but when it came to redeeme us that Word must be made flesh and that flesh must suffer in our creation He gave us our selves but in our redemption He gave us Himselfe and by giving Himselfe for us gave us our selves againe that were lost so that we owe our selves and all that wee have twice told and now what shall wee give unto thee ô Thou Preserver of men for our selves thus given and restored If we could give our selves a thousand times over yet what are we to God and yet if wee doe give our selves to Him and His service such as we are and such as we can Hee accepts it and will reward it I will never grudge God His owne I have nothing that is not His and if I give it to Him He wil restore it againe with interest never any man was a loser by God The best ornament of the body is the minde and the best ornament of the minde is honestie I will care rather how to live well than how to go fine I may have an ill garment and come to Heaven I cannot and have an ill soule He who first bid us cast our care upon Him did not so meane as if we should take no care our selves it will not come to our share to sit still and cry God helpe us Salomon hath read his fortune that will not worke in summer therefore shall hee starve in winter It was the destinie sinne brought upon the world in the sweat of thy browes thou shalt eate thy meat and thanke God we can have it so He that made us without our selves will not keepe us without our selves it is mercie enough for us that we eat with sweating I will never thinke much of my paines where it is rewarded with a blessing If an Asse do but speake once in a world as Balaam's did a beast have any part of a man in him we wonder and justly but let a man have every part of a beast goe upon all foure wallow with the drunkard or lose his speech together with his legges t is ne're talk'd of It is the property of a man to speake as of a beast not to speake why doe we wonder to heare a beast speake and not wonder to heare a man not able to speak or how justly doth he want the blessing that cannot aske it It was our Saviours to His disciples Behold I send you as sheepe in the middest of Wolves blessed Saviour didst thou not care for thy Disciples or if thou didst why are they not rather sent as Lions in the middest of sheep than as sheep in the midst of wolves Even because He loved them therfore He so sent them that out of the Lions mouth they might come forth more glorious as there shall bee ever some poore to exercise our charitie so there shall bee some wicked to exercise our patience some bulls of Basan to compasse c. Where the enemies are so strong and so many they had need be wise as serpents that will be innocent as doves Desperately wicked is that of some if I shall be sav'd I shall be sav'd as if Heaven would come unlook'd for and they should be sav'd whether they would or no God never did nor will save any man in spight of his teeth or against his will as we cannot keepe body and soule together without sweating no more can wee bring our soule and God together with sitting still never any got wealth by barely wishing for it and as few come to Heaven by meerely desiring it There 's a race to be runne and a battaile to be fought and as well in religion as in any thing we must worke for our living It is appointed
that He may leave us inexcusable wash His hands of us and say perditio tua ex te c. Our destruction if it do come is from our selves if wee could but wish well to our owne soules we could not but do well and yet it is not wishing but doing well that doth the deed I will do what I can and I will desire to do what I should and cannot God accepts a willing mind and if I am willing beyond my ability He will either make me able or accept my wil. O God thou that workest in me both to will and to do work my will to thine and my power to my will that I may not onely will or desire but do thy wil. God doth not looke for every thing from every one for ten talents where He left but two onely Hee there exacts much where He hath given much if the seed of thorny or stony ground bring forth no fruit or withered it is no marvell but where He hath dung'd and gooded to expect a crop is but reasonable The more I have the more I have to answere for the greater my trust the greater my account Let others care how to get more my care shall be how to pay for that I have already All lands do not yeeld the same things and the same land doth not yeeld all things thus God divides His blessings to us as He doth to these to some strength of body to another strength of wit to one health to another knowledge c. He hath distributed to no man all things yet to every man some thing he is strangely miserable that hath nothing but this doth not please if every one have not all they growe surly What wilt thou give me since I go childlesse could the best of the Patriarkes say It is hard and rare to see that in others which we want our selves and would have and be still Whil'st I am in this world I shall ever behold this inequalitie and if I cannot make a covenant with mine eyes I will with my heart Since I cannot but see it I will learn not to repine at it it is the Lord let Him do whatsoever He will God calls some men to martyrdome when others would startle at a stake and yet good Christians too all men as all trees are not fit for fewell that are fit for use every one cannot hold out against the prison and the hatchet It is an easie matter to dare affliction before it come and when it doth come run away from it We know not of what spirit wee are what metall we are made of our prayer must be first not to meet with persecutions and next to endure them but not meet them Earth is but our rode to Heaven and the things of this world like high-way fruit are common to all the sunne shines and raine falls alike upon the just and upon the unjust lest they should bee thought evils they are given unto the good and least they should be too well thought of they are afforded to the evill There is another good which is wholly the Godly's and wholly to be sought for the kingdome of Heaven and the righteousnesse thereof they whose kingdome is not of this world can see the kingdomes of this world with their SAVIOVR from the pinnacle and contemn them or at least not fall downe and worship them It shall not trouble me that I am out-bid in these things by others I will bee contented to excell them in better things the comfort I have and the glory I shall have The covetous man never hath enough like Pharaohs leane kine eates but is never the fuller toiles and sweats wakes and wants for all this it is a greater miserie to desire much than to have nothing of no man can it be better said all is vanitie and vexation of spirit he is his owne tormentor and doth at once make himselfe a hell here and provide himselfe one hereafter he is never at rest till hee rest his last which yet is the beginning of a worse torment so he robs himselfe both of the pleasure of this life and of a better It is good to bee covetous of good things and labour for the food which perisheth not of this I will never have enough but pray Lord give me ever more of this bread ever and more All that God made at first was good He made them so He left them so if they be not still so the dishonour may be His the smart will be ours their goodnes consists in their good usage and our sinne in the abuse of them God make us but to remember why they were made and we cannot be to seek how they should be used Our Saviours commendation of Iohn Baptist was that hee was a burning and shining lampe the hypocrit like a glow-worme shines but burnes not others like hell fire burne but shine not and must looke to have their portion in the fire they resemble We are not excusable if we doe onely shine and not burne or burne and not shine the one we see condemned in the Laodiceans because they wanted heate the other in the foolish virgins because they wanted light Hee must first shine one earth that will after shine in heaven and burne on earth that will burne in hell Rest is the whetstone of labour And that which we usually say of hope is true of this if it were not for rest the heart would breake wherefore God hath given for every day a night to rest in and for every seven a day and a night We could not live if wee had not this yet this must not be our life to live at ease he shall never enter into Gods rest that so loves his owne Every one almost with the Iewes is weather wise and prognosticates without booke when you see a cloud arise out of the west ye say there comes a showre c. hypocrites that can discerne the face of the weather and not of the times how vainely are men inquisitive for the provision of their bodies and let their soules shift you will not plant or graft without consulting with your neighbours and your almanack but in the point of salvation huddle on and the Minister and Gods Word is not intended How ill holp up art thou to know the state of the heavens and not of thy soule If thou wilt needs contemplate it behold it as thy home not as thy Calendar to better not thy knowledge but thy life or thy knowledge of a better life and thy desire of that place where the Father of life is and where thou desirest to live God made not death neither delights He in the destruction of the living ôh God suffer not that which thou diddest not make to prevaile over that which thou hast made and redeemed Man is the glory of His maker and thy glorie thou wilt not give to another and suffer not us to sell that glorie thou hast allreadie given that we lose not our
share of that glorie thou hast yet to give In some cases and some things a man may know too much It is not good to be prying into the privie Counsailes of God I doubt whether some mens overboldnesse with the hidden things of God have not made them an accursed thing to them and pressing before their time or leave into the Holy of Holy's have barr'd themselves from ever comming thither at all why should we call for light where God will have none make windowes into heaven I will admire God in Himselfe and be content to know Him no farther than in His word where this light leaves me I will leave enquiring and boast of my ignorance What I have alreadie done was done long before and what I am yet to do is alreadie done before God this shall be my comfort that I can neither doe nor suffer any thing without His knowledge and leave God hath given man charge of His other creatures and His Angells charge over Him and they are now our keepers that shall be one day our companions great is His love to us in their care and great should our care be to continue this love and since we are alwaies in His sight and theirs why doe wee at all that which we would not have seene My care shall be not to shunne His sight but not to provoke His anger what I doe He sees and I will doe it as I would answer it Those that honour me will I honour is a bargaine of Gods owne making Gods honour is the way to ours wee cannot but be blest if we will but bee observant I will care onely to serve Him and I am sure I shall serve my selfe Never any man lost in Gods service He who dwells not in tabernacles made with hands will dwell in tabernacles which His owne hands have made even the hearts of men and we enjoy Him though wee doe not see Him for no man hath seene God at any time He is invisible but not insensible Our blessednesse consists here in feeling of Him in heaven in seeing of Him whom yet I doe not see and shall one day see as I am seene in the meane time I will doe nothing which I would not have Him see or may rob mee of His sight I have read of the Hart that hee weepes everie yeere for the shedding of his head though to make roome for a better thus I see the worldling goe away sorrowfull at that saying Goe sell all that thou hast though it be for treasure in Heaven men do not look at what they are to have but what they are to part with and are for one bird in the hand above five in the bush but he that consults with his body for the saving of his soule will never bring it to heaven Let me sowe in teares so I may reape in joy I will be contented with the heaven I shall have Many a man is therefore sinfull because it is gainfull By Diana wee live that shall bee their god that they can live by but he trafficks ill for his soule that loseth it to fill his coffers I had rather be poore than wicked it is not thy poverty but thy sins that shut thee out from God it is better going to heaven in ragges than to hell in purple It is with the growth of our soule as with the creation of our bodie we come up by degrees First with Nicodemus we must be borne againe and then we must dwell a while at the sucking-bottle from strength to strength which the Eunuch from reading the Scriptures to understanding them from understanding to applying from applying to practising of hearers we become knowers of knowers doers of the Word from perfection to perfection or rather from imperfection to perfection from persecuting the Church with Paul to preaching to it till we come from Dives doore to Abraham's bosome from eating and drinking from marrying and giving in marriage to be as the Angells in heaven Many live as if they came but into this world to make merry and away and after some yeares of quaffing with Nabal die of a drunken fit it were well for such men as they have liv'd like beasts if they could die like them too never to live againe but alas they cannot her 's their miserie that they only leave their pleasures behinde them and not their sinnes I will labour to leave my Sinnes behinde mee and have my repentance goe before me and my good workes follow after me and I shall meet with pleasures that never shall have an end The eares are the doores of the soule without these we were but artificiall creatures men onely in shew hence we know we discourse we beleeve we learne to speake to God and heare God speake to us without these we could not speake not know not understand in a word by these under God we are what we are but some ther are that cannot heare others that will not heare It is a lesse judgement to want the power of hearing than the will to be borne deafe than to become so they that cannot heare are the more excusable but they that will not heare it were farre better for such if they had no eares Every envious man is a mad-man for he will starve himselfe to see another thrive he needs no other lent than his neighbours well-fare other mens prosperitie is his gallowes where hee will hang himselfe a hundred times over and at last with Achitophel once for all I will not so dedesire of God to have much as not to cover much hee that can but thinke his owne enough will never think anothers too much I will never grudge any mans going before me but to Heaven Most men look for the theefs Paradise to meet with CHRIST upon His crosse Heaven upon his death-bed and reserves his repentance as the best bit for the last and meane to goe out of the world and out of their sinnes all together But how shall God then heare them that before could not be heard of them In this case it is good being formost why should'st thou put off repentance till to morrow when for ought thou know'st thy soule is going to hell this night without it God give thee of the dew of heaven and of the fatnesse of the earth was Isaaks blessing to mistaken Iacob First of the dew of heaven and then of the fatnesse of the earth for alas what is earth without a blessing from heaven but of Esau quite contrarie first of the fatnesse of the earth and then of the dew of heaven your Esau's preferre earth before heaven and therefore have their heaven upon earth God gives them as much as they care for Ishmael shall be made a great nation and that 's enough but hee goes a wrong course for his soule that thinkes preferrement is the way to happinesse My indeavour shall bee not to leave a name behinde me upon earth but to finde it written in heaven The Sun
is plac'd in the heaven as the heart in this little world of ours keeping its seate in the middle lends life to everie part whereas if it had beene seated above it would have beene miss'd below and if below it could not so easily have communicated above so that I knowe not whether wee owe more to God for creating the Sunne or for placing it not in the lowest sphere then like another Phaeton instead of lighting the world it had burnt it or did it change place with the higher planets wee should complaine of cold so wisely hath God provided for our welfare with our being and hath set the Sunne not too neare us lest wee should complaine of it nor too farre lest wee should want it but in the middle where it is neither an ill neighbour nor too great a stranger when we doe but looke upon what we have wee cannot distrust God for what wee have not and would have Oh God they deserve to want that can distrust thee in sight of these Whatsoever was necessarie for our preservation was created and whatsoever was necessary for our salvation was written I will neither desire to know more than God hath revealed nor to have more than Hee hath provided Great mens actions are authenticke If Herod and Caiaphas but begin Christ shall have fists enough about His eares if Abimelech lead the way every man cuts his bough and askes no question with inferiours Example doth more than Precept and like men in a streame they do not swimme but are carried Doe any of the Rulers beleeve in him is thought argument enough why others should not these see but by their candle and if the light be darknesse how great is their darknesse I will do nothing which I would not have God see and others learne else my light were better under a bushell unseene than follow'd where it should not thus I shall helpe not to light others but to burne them Of idlenesse comes no goodnesse doing nothing will in time come to doing ill and from beeing idle to bee ill occupied the labour that is impos'd upon the soule is not to sit still but to runne Good men must not be like Davids images that have feete and walke not then only have wee hope to come to our journies end when wee keepe going Some mens devotion is like hangings which they can take off and tack on as they please outsides of Christians their hands and their eyes like some tombe which they have mark'd are lifted up and they talke as the divell to our Saviour nothing but Scripture and with the Pharisee give farthings in the market-place and yet all 's but alchymie but counterfeit these are ill men but well thought of If I am not what I should be yet I will not seeme what I am not or be an ill man in good esteeme what am I the better to bee a Cast-away with credit What is GOD to me without CHRIST and what is CHRIST to me without faith and what is my faith to me without charitie but a dead faith and if my faith be dead what am I else but a dead man As it is vaine-glory to boast of our workes so it is in vaine to boast of our faith without works God as He loves young holinesse so He loves it old ye are those that have continued with me c. was the praise of the Apostles Perseverance is the pillar of our salvation if that fail al goes to the ground What commendation is it to have done well If thou hast forsaken thy first love if thou hast lost thy first hopes Hee must carrie his goodnes to his grave that will have it carrie him to heaven If we looke but on our bodies we have matter enough of wonder to see such a Common-wealth of order such a world of varieties in this little world of ours But when wee cast our eye aside on that part wherein wee resemble God the soule how doe we blush and are asham'd at our houses of clay that so glorious an Image should dwell so meanly so pent up that the Bodie should bee a companion for the Soule which shall one day be a companion for Angels but thus was God pleas'd to allay our pride Wee should have thought too well of our selves if we had not had some peece of us like other creatures of the earth earthie It shal not trouble me what metall my bodie be made of if my Soule be heavenly my body shall one day be so too When God sawe the thoughts of mans heart that they were evill and onely evill and continually It is said it repented Him that Hee had made man and that man whom He shall see so still will have just cause to repent him that ever hee was made if he doth not repent him of what he hath done God make me but truly penitent for my sin and I shall never repent me of my being It is a great way and requires a long time to come to heaven I admire their strength or rather weaknesse that talke of getting it at the last gaspe as if it could be had with a wet finger I know those that have liv'd some yeares and taken some paines too to set themselves forward and if they come thither at last wil think they have done well too for my owne part I neither desire nor hope to enjoy it without a great deale of difficultie anguish and agonie and shall thinke it labour well bestowed that I have it upon any termes Men usually measure others by their owne bushels they that are ill themselves are commonly apt to thinke ill of others since no man is free from slaunders I will not presently beleeve the worst of any man but I will speake only the best Our greatest enemies are within us and therefore our greatest victorie is to subdue our selves there is no such slavery as to be a slave to ones selfe it is a strange weaknesse but ordinarie to bee at everie mans becke but our owne Olde men are twice children and some as if they were children for yeares againe as well as for discretion waxe most worldly when they are leaving the world and as their bodies draw nearer the earth so their minds grow more earthie as if they were to live anew againe or should set up againe under-ground It is good and commendable to use these things while wee have them yet still so as remembring wee must part with them I will never be loth to part with that which I cannot enjoy long for to enjoy that which I shall never part with Every man for himselfe and God for us all is a common position but an ungodly one that God is all in us and all in all is true but that we should bee all for our selves is wicked every man for himselfe and every man for another Thou it may bee hast enough and to spare another hath not enough to live why hath God given thee so much above others but
that thou should'st spare somwhat of thine to releeve others It may be thine owne case Every man knowes his beginning not his ending in the meane time thank God that thou art not so and help those that are The barrennesse of the bodie is sometime a curse but the barrennesse of the soule is accursed that is a punishment this a sin and punished with hell We came not into this world meerely to fill up roome but to bring forth fruit not for shew but for use Our chiefe studie must be not for ease for riches or pleasure but fruitfulnesse If we are all for pleasure our fruit is hell and if we are fruitfull our pleasures shall never end Blessed are they which dye in the Lord for they rest from their labours in this world there is nothing but dangers and discontents vanitie and vexation then only shall we be at rest when we cease to bee If wee thought more of this we would not thinke much of our affliction If I am never so beleaguer'd with sicknesse or want or famine or all at once I will remember I came not into this world to take my rest but to prepare for it That ground is verie hard where the travellers foot leaves not impression and that heart 's very stonie where Gods blessing not only takes no roote but leaves no signe as soone forgotten as receiv'd 't is all He askes for all He doth a thankfull heart With what face can wee expect God should give us our asking that deny Him His God made other creatures for mans service man for His owne them for our use and us for His glorie How much O Lord do we owe to thee for our selves and them that hast so abounded to us above them and hast not made them but for us Teach us to give our selves to thee for them who hast given them to us for our selves God is glorified in all His creatures but not in all alike some glorifie Him in their beauty others in their deformity His glorie is not lesse seene in our wants than in our abundance in striking with blindnesse than in our aboundance in striking with blindnesse than in healing the blinde no lesse in Ieroboams arme dryed up than restor'd therefore do we see some want their sight others their feet and yet it may be neither for the childs sinne nor the Parents as our Saviour told the people but that the glorie of God might be seene Againe we see not only by nature but by accident one with Mephibosheth by the negligence of a nurse another with Abimelech by the fall of a stone lose a limme or their life when wee see this in others and not in our selves how are wee not thankfull to God for our selves beyond others Lepers in Soule God knowes and it is His mercy we are not so in Bodie whereby wee should at once neede the helpe and want the companie of friends and not onely bee miserable but shunn'd I will prayse God not only for the good which I have but for the evill which I might have and have not Our SAVIOVR knew what He did when Hee taught us to pray Our FATHER which art in Heaven c. To give us and to forgive us for He onely can doe both none can forgive sinnes or give grace but God alone Yet doth He not alwaies give with His owne hand but reacheth grace and salvation in His Word and Sacraments by the hands of His Ministers and because no man can heare His voice and live Hee speakes in them it is the wonder of His goodnes that He respects not only our wants but our infirmities and would so appeare to us as Hee might teach us but not fright us Thus wee see Him speaking to Moses himselfe to Israel by Moses He proportions the meanes answerable to our strength wee are not like our Maker if we think scorne to stoope to the weaknesse of our brethren I will be all things to all that by any means I may win some A good tree is knowne by its fruit yet all trees doe not beare the same fruit our fruit may bee all good though it bee not all the same all are not workers of miracles 't is not lookt wee should remove Mountaines or walke upon the Sea command the windes or appease the waters there are other fruits of the Spirit that wee must beare Now the fruits of the Spirit are these love peace joy long-suffering c. GOD make us fruitfull in these and we shall have no neede of those The end of all our SAVIOVRS miracles for the most part was see you tell no man It is one lesson in religion not to be seen and yet not precisely not to be seene but not therefore to doe well to be seene our commendations must be to doe and not say or if we say any thing say we are unprofitable servants As the outward service of the body without the inward sinceritie of the heart is unprofitable so the contrary is uncivil Gods service requires reverence as well as holinesse Many go to God as they do to their companions not kneeling but sitting or lolling along as if they were the Iudge not the petitioner or were to grant suites not to begge some and that unreverentnesse which they would not nay which they durst not use to this or that Mr Gentleman they use to God this is neither becomming Christians nor reasonable or at least civill men It is the fault of envie that it sees nothing but injuries but of charitie that it sees none or takes no notice of them but when one cheek is struck it turnes the other and when it can turne no way lies downe under the stroke he that will be righting himselfe of every wrong doth but pluck more fistes about his eares and set God against him too who if hee would but be quiet wold revenge it to his hands unlesse we doubt of His power wee will trust God with our wrongs and stay His leasure that is the fittest time for our deliverance which Hee thinkes so in this case we are like men in a pit the more we stirre the more we are mired I see MOSES in the Mount and with the people with a different face open to GOD veil'd to them GOD would not alwaies have us shew our brightnesse to the world in some cases He loves our talent in a napkin lapt up and hid Let it suffice Hee knowes thee that will reward thee others if they commend thee not it is because they know thee not or if they doe commend thee there 's all and it may bee to thy cost Why shouldest thou lose Heaven for good words or what art thou the better that others commend thee if God do not who therefore doth not because they do I will never care to have my praise ascend up to Heaven but to come downe from Heaven Blessed are the mercifull for they shall receive mercie GOD's promises though they be gracious yet they are confin'd
from this body of death Even He that delivered His body to death for me Oh God thou that workest in me both to will and to doe worke my will to thine da Domine quod jubes c. Give but power to obey and what thou wilt command Death is as hatefull to man as old age to beautie and we are ever complaining of the shortnesse of our time unlesse calamitie make it seeme long which yet if they be never so little over they are weary of that which before they wished for death as I will not be in love with tribulations so I will not love my life the worse for them nor the better for wanting them if prosperity make me fond of living or afraid of dying it had been better for mee if it had not been so well I shall pay deare for my ease It is better to go into the house of mourning than into the house of laughter nay the way to the house of laughter is through the house of mourning so our Saviour Blessed are they that mourne for they shall be comforted Mirth like Salomons strumpets leads to the chambers of death and the voluptuous man goes out of this World as hee came into it crying and into another world where there is nothing but weeping It is a great weaknesse to defer to doe that which must be done if I must once weepe I will doe it now It is better to cry for remorse than for anguish There were no such tyrant upon earth as the envious man if he had but his will no man should live a quiet life or dye a naturall death but himselfe hee sees his neighbours house burning and warmes him by the fire and is refreshed there is no estate that he hath not a quarrell to no person his equals hee hates because they are his equals his inferiors because they are not his equals and his superiors because he is not their equall he is an enemy to all mens peace but most of all to his own and I think if he were put to it himselfe knowes not what hee would be or have others be It is the greatest vanity in the world to runne mad for others pleasures what if I have not the same thing or in the same measure I have enough to serve my turne if they have more yet they must account for it and I will never envy any man that he hath more to answere for to God than I have I shall not account for the talents which I never had Gods blessings and our thankes must ever goe hand in hand one good turne requires another Wee must not thinke to serve our selves of God and not serve Him His blessings are not only encouragements or rewards but bonds Of these the more we have the more we owe and our care must be not onely to receive but to repaie Why should we strive to come out of every mans debt but GODS The charity of forgiving is more difficult than that of giving and more worth by how much our selves are more deare to us than our goods in the one wee are doers but in the other sufferers and many a man would doe for another that would not suffer for him I am but halfe a Christian if I have only learn'd to pitie and not to forgive we cannot at once remember our profession and our wrongs if they bee small the matter is the lesse if they be great our glorie is the more nor only our glorie but our reward it is our owne faults if wee be not gainers by our injuries Gluttony is not onely a sinne but a disease not onely to be forbidden but to bee afraid of other sinnes hurt in future this in present and robbes not only of eternall life but of this and destroies the body together with the soule Our bodies were not given for cellarage to lay in bread and beare in I will remember that I was not therefore borne or doe live meerely to eate and drinke but therefore eate and drinke that I may continue life I have seldome known any wickednesse so hainous that had not clients as well as patrons Corah had cōpanions with him in his sinne before in his punishment But innocency doth not go by voices I will never looke at my partners but my cause I desire no other Advocates but GOD and the truth It was the accusation of the old world that they were eating and drinking till they entred c. and is still of this and will be so to the end though this were not the end of our being but for the continuance of it I will use my meat as others doe their Physicke onely for health to satisfie not my desire but my stomach I can a great deale cheaper and safer feede my belly than my eye We see men set not their best wares upon the stalls but within lapp'd up it is neither commendable nor wise to shew our excellencies as Musicians do in all companies what are we the better that we thinke well of our selves while others thinke not so Or what are we then worse that others thinke meanly of us while we think so too Since those art never the better for thy selfe-conceitednes nor the worse for thy humilitie why shouldst thou make thy selfe envied for those graces which thou hast by shewing them and derided for making shew of those thou hast not and would'st seeme to have and art at once noted of men for a boaster and of God for a dissembler I will be content to be lowly in mine owne esteem and others that I may bee high in Gods A handsome garment is no argument of a strait body those are not alwaies the best men that make the most shew of holinesse Demurenesse may stand with falshood Pretences are evermore suspicious they that are ever perfum'd 't is to be thought have naturally ill breaths we must not ever beleeve our senses goodnesse is plaine and would be knowne by her workes but not tell of them whilest hypocrisie is painted to hide ' its wrinkles and would bee taken for better than it is and with the figge-tree it shall be curst for flourishing if wee are true Christians wee are both sides alike Goodnesse doth not go by yeeres many times you shall have that from a Samuel in his long coates which you shall not have from a Saul at forty yeeres old and yet it is not forwardness commends us but perseverance Some men like some fruits promise faire in the blossome but wither ere they be pluck'd others like some graine lye long in the ground but grow up the taller it is dangerous to deferre long but it is worse not to hold out I will love and endevour early holinesse yet it is better to begin late than to have done betimes there is a penny for him that comes at the eleventh houre If thy youth have been faulty it is comfort that thy age is otherwise It is no disparagement to have beene wicked but to continue
into hell thou art there there is no running from the punishment till from the sinne All sicknesse is not of the body every leprosie is not in the skinne it were well for some men it were every sinne is a disease our soules are no lesse subject to infection than our bodies some are diseas'd and do not know it others are diseas'd and doe not care for it both cases are hard but the last is desperate To make light of sin and because thy soule is sicke even unto death to say with the Atheist Epicure Let us eat and drinke for we must dye is to shake hands with vengeance Hee that will not so much as aske to be heal'd how justly shall he dye in his leprosie It is strange but it is ordinary to see every man greedy to continue this life and not to procure a better If the head doe but ake strait to the Prophet with the Shunamite to the Physicians with Asa If they bee but talk'd to of dying with Ieroboam's wife they run and ride and send and as the Cripple to our Saviour pul downe the tiles to come at him but in the matter of their soule they are deafe to the disease why are wee not as industrious for Heaven as for our health and to live ever as to live long Alas what is age without goodnesse but a fairer marke for vengeance What is Dives the better to out-live LAZARVS and at last dye and be damn'd Let others trouble themselves and the world how to maintaine this body my care shall bee how to subject it whilest I employ my soule only for the setting out of my flesh what am I else but a glorious slave Diseases though they were the fruit of sinne and brought upon us by our selves yet they are not dispos'd of amongst us but by God they head doth not ake but with his leave nor leave aking but with His helpe it is from above both that wee are sicke and that wee are made whole to whom should I not only owe my life but bestow it but to him of whom I live and move As it is in extremities for men to remember God but with repining so it is hard in prosperity to remember themselves and what they have receiv'd of God we are apt to forget what wee have bin when we are chang'd for the better Pharaoh's butler hath forgot he was a prisoner it is too true that too many love God for their owne sakes either they are poore and would be rais'd or they are sicke and would bee heal'd and like beggers no sooner are they serv'd but they are gone I may both love my selfe and God I may not love God for my selfe I would not love my selfe but for that I am His and I will love Him but for Himselfe When I consider the yeeres I have already lived me thinkes they are few but evill evill not in respect of affliction alone but of sin and I am found guilty if I consider the present if there be any present when it is ever passing I do but adde to my score and if I consider the time to come if I have any to come God knowes I do but adde to the measure of my owne sinnes and Gods wrath together with my yeeres since I must live and cannot but sinne I will study how my sinnes may not hinder me of a better life first I will abhorre them and then I will abhorre my selfe for them and if I could not before break my heart of them I will now breake it for them A broken and a contrite heart O God thou wilt not despise To every one it shall one day be sayd Give an account of thy stewardship c. It is that which everie man should tell himselfe and one tell another what the Apostle hath long since told us all that we must all stand before the tribunall seate of Almightie GOD the righteous thinkes long of this day and longs for it because hee is long since provided for it the wicked thinks it coms too fast and yet thinkes not of it till it come and when it is come can think of nothing but that and is stown'd with the thought of it his pleasures which were never but shadowes yet accounted recall then appeare as they were and not as they were accounted and those torments which were ever thought but shadowes bug-beares then appeare as they are and prove reall the comparing of what he hath enjoi'd with what he hath lost and that little lesse than nothing of time which he hath liv'd with the eternitie of torment hee is to dye in makes him curse the time of his birth since there is a time of death and another death beyond all time so the godly and the wicked differ not more in their lives than in their deaths but most of all after death Oh my God! as thou hast made mee of the best sort of creatures a man and of the best of that sort a christian so let mee be yet better by beeing one of those whom thou hast sorted for thy selfe what am I better if I am only call'd and not chosen All bookes are not alike easie those that are are not all alike profitable some would profit more if they did but rellish others would rellish better if they were more profitable he doth well that doth both utile dulci I will neither drowne my meat in sauce nor dish it dry They are not the only robbers that breake houses guile is worse theft than outrage it is alike wicked to make wine of other mens grapes as Ahab did of Naboth's and to be drunk of our owne hee that will have riches in spight of heaven shall have hell to boote The malicious man is his owne moth that God is better to him than hee can expect is nothing whilest He is better to others than Hee is to him like Gideon's first miracle hee would have all the ground dry but his fleece if Cain's sacrifice miscary Abel must not bee accepted and live no man may bee either greater or better with safetie I will not looke at what I have but what I deserve and I shall never thinke my owne little or anothers too much that is a wicked heart that would have all men worse than it selfe and hates all those whom others thinke better God is therfore bountifull to us that we might be so to others to feast those that cannot bid us againe and to build for those that cannot lodge us againe is the way to that marriage-feast and those buildings whose Builder Maker is God he alone hath the true use of wealth that receives it onely to disburse it if of wealth that receives it only to disburse it if men were their owne friends they would make others so with this Mammon why should the rust of that gold rise up in judgement against thee the use of which will set thee with those that shall sit in judgement Persecution is the dore to happines Canaan hath still the same way a wildernesse who can looke for heaven cheape that sees his SAVIOVR bleeding I may not afflict my selfe yet I shall suspect my selfe without affliction calmes are no lesse dangerous than stormes Some men doe not climbe but vault into preferment at a leape I know not their sleight I mistrust their quicknesse few men were ever great and good in an instant All the harme I wish these is that their early rising do them no harme they that are their owne brokers in these are likely their owne theeves in better and steale themselves out of heaven Favours are more binding but aflictions are more profitable to have much is more glorie but to be content with that we have is more victory there is no conquest like that of our selves no conquest of our selves like that of want it is a hard matter not to find poverty a burden or prosperity a snare this religion obtains us that if we are not richer than others yet we are content to be poorer he only hath enough that would have no more Our endevors are in vaine without God's blessing yet in vaine shall he challenge a blessing that endevors not sloth is no lesse guiltie than coveteousnesse I can doe nothing without God yet I will not looke God shall doe all The cause of all punishment is sinne and the end of all sinne is punishment Either present or to come how then doe we love to be punished and yet love to sinne if we could but be innocent we could not but be safe while I am here I cannot but sinne but I hope to avoid the punishment through Him who hath borne the punishment and the sinne Our life is but a breath at first God breath'd upon man the breath of life c. And it is gone with a breath if He breath upon us in displeasure we die for at the breath of His nostrills wee are all consum'd since we doe not live but by His leave why doe we not live to His glorie Oh God I have not liv'd long yet so much of my life as I have not liv'd to thee I have liv'd too much all I desire is that as this life was thy gift to me so it may be my gift to thee I I can afford God little if not His owne All punishments are from the same hand Iobs boyles are no lesse Gods finger than Pharaohs but all are not with the same end those are but chastnings upon some that are judgements upon others God strikes His owne because He loves them He strikes the wicked because they love not Him those Hee corrects but these He executes it is a signe Hee loves us when Hee strikes us and if his strokes bring us to love him wee may brag with David it is good for us that we have beene afflicted God is all eare and all eye and all in all grant Lord that as I am alwaies seene of thee so I may be alwaies heard of thee and may alwaies heare thee in thy Word and contemplate thee in thy workes that I may one day see as I am seene and heare and bee heard in that heavenly quire of Hallelujah's Glorie and power and honour be unto the Lambe and to Him that sitteth on the Throne for evermore Amen FINIS * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 similem