men leave their seats of honour and apply their selves to sack-cloth ashes fasting mighty cryes turning from their evill waies and from the violence of their hands Oh that we could see such a beautifull City to honour our Nation and blesse it selfe But I am afraid that this is but a City of desires and that it is not harder to build up Jerusalem againe in her first glory than to raise up such a City amongst us every stone in this City may sooner be altered and new laid rather than mens mindes and consciences I doubt whether penitent duties were ever truly intended amongst us and I am very jealous whether ever or no we shall see them really expressed Men can rather shoot the gulfe climbe the Alpes go a pilgrimage over the whole earth than repent Well as it is my drift to propose impose and dispose so let it be yours to explore at homt and excite abroad Oh to incline God to plead with his judgements saying Should not I spare this great City wherein are more then sixscore thousand persons which cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand and also much cattel That the Citizens could first plead with their consciences saying Should not we turn to that great God who hath invited us by more then sixscore thousand warnings which cannot discern between pitty and forgivenesse and also much forbearance Ye see now what a great task ye are to undertake and that ye had need to lay to your whole strength to bring forth a right City Is it an easie matter for your selves to speak this language and to feel these brest-motions howsoever is it so to open other mens lips and to set omens hearts on working All the difficulties which ye ever met withall upon earth are not like unto this streight Yet to what end do ye wait upon the Lord if ye will not do him this service Why are ye trees of righteousnesse if ye will not bring forth this fruit I hope ye are alive to God your selves yea that there are some of the regenerate race which doe stir quick in this City but how many dead carkasses doe ye walk amongst I trust that ye have brought iniquity to remembrance but are there not too too many that need their Monitours and Remembrancers as if they had forgotten their selves and their sins In what forwardnesse is the great work is not the first stone for the generality yet to be laid yes it would astonish a man that amongst so many celestiall shewes there should be so little heaven and that the Devill should be lurking under so many Angelicall transformations I confesse here doth appear to be much Religion in the City but what Repentance is there or if Repentance is it that of Nineveh No here are sins enough in the City to have it overthrown but is there repentance enough in it to have it spared What people are they may find out by examination what they should be they may find out by the Example The earth never saw greater provocations but when shall it be said that the heavens never saw greater propitiation People are much for patterns but not for imitation wise men may devise formes but where are the vertuous men which will conforme to them No as a beast neighed to Alexanders horse which was painted but the spectators expressed no such respect to Alexanders Image it self whereupon Apelles said That he had painted the Horse better then the Prince Equus oh Rex melius expressus est quà m Tu. Erasm in Apoph So Brutes will be more affectionate to those things which doe resemble their nature then we to those things which should direct our manners Xenophon wrote a rare Book called Cyrus but where was there ever such a prince Plato set forth a singular Treatise de Republica but when was there ever such a Common-wealth No it is an easie matter to describe but it is an hard matâ—erto exhibit the like Here is a choise Picture Nineveh limmed out with tears graces and a frame made for it even this record in holy Scripture but when shall we behold the parallel Oh Citizens and Religious though ye may have some skill in painting yet can ye draw Nineveh to the life in Orient colours amongst you No were it to preserve the City from fire and sword yet wil ye readily be thus abased and changed ye may be but it will be with a great difficulty For the present what signs are there of such prostration consternation renovation No they which have committed horrible sinnes may rather have formes of seeking God to confirme themselves in their wickednesse than many here which are liable to imminent dangers have any evident expressions to fall to the earth or to look up to heaven to avert vengeance Can these bones live O Lord thou knowest Ezech. 37.3 It were a miracle almost to see these dry and scattered pieces though prophesied upon to have a noise and a shaking amongst them and bone to come together to bone and flesh and sinewes and skin to grow upon them and the spirit of life to enter into them There is nothing impessible to God but this is almost incredible to the present view For I doe not see that men have learned Nineveh's initiating much lesse then her compleating graces They are not yet come to her dejections trepidations perculsions astonishments humi-cubations macerations syncopes of griefe paroxisms of conflicts gravitoned accents of prayer No people nourish the flesh catch at the world follow modes temporise with changes and leave perills to the venture and judgments to the chance Happen what wil they have not so much as a wrimpled brow or a trembling breast A Stork will flie faster from a cold Country or a beast from a naked sword then these from plagues and punishments Then if they be not come to the disfigured face of repentance how will they ever come to her transfigured spirit When shall we see the two essentiall parts of repentance amongst them The turning from their evill waids and from the violence of their hands First Their evill waies do seem to have a mist upon them they have not eyes clear enough to see them or hearts tender enough to lament them Though they have strayed far enough from the prescript rule of obedience they find never a precept warranting their lawlesse paths yet they do tread on and consider not whither their feet do carry them the Ignis erraticus hath led them aside and they do not lay to heart over what ditches rocks cliffs and precipices they do passe It is enough that they are in motion but whether in regular or erroneous courses they do not apprehend Oh that there should be such declinations under the directing Ordinances or such foot-prints amongst instructed Christians No man saith What have I done Many a man saith What may I not do but No man saith What have I done People do look upon their faces but seldome upon their
to turn back an host of judgements upon their March appear in your compleat harnesse and quit your selves like men But by what Citizens shall this be performed by them which are truly religious and are sensible of the sins and do supplicate for the safety of the City There are many which are called Citizens and many that seem to be Religious but I must have such as have a sense and can supplicate which have the sins of the City smarting in their hearts and the safety of the City ecchoing in their lips Alex. ab Alex. l. 4. c. 17. Quam pulchras manus pulchra crura habes ventrem vero non habes Plut. in Philopaem As of old they which would honour the Altars of the Gods did burn not frankincense but Cedar and Citrine so for this sacrifice there must not be the vulgar Citizens but those of the sweetest odour Titus Quintius derided Philopaemenes because he had rare hands and singular thighes but no belly so they are not the Citizens to be prized which have onely hands to catch or thighes to walk up and down in trading but such as have the Belly the conscience to nourish the whole body They which have narrow braynes that can consult onely about their private interests Suidas are like Philocles the Comaedian who was said to have a sharp head like a Lapwing I take little pleasure in the hearing of any persons commended for particular excellencies which are but outward as that Alsus Son of Sigarus Saxo Gram. l. 7. Sucton King of Denmark was praised for haire which glistered like silver and Tiberius who had eyes so bright that he could see in the night and Anthony Benzus who at 34 years of age had such plenty of milk in his brests Cardan de subtil l. 1. de nost hom Pliny l. 11. c. 37. Strabo l. 15. that he was able to give suck to an Infant and Zancles the Samothracian who had new teeth grew in his head at the age of 104 years and Darîus Longimanus who had hand which could reach down to his knees and the Carmelitane Monke who so often as he stirred his cowl about his head Cardan de reb var. l. 8. e. 48. Petrarch ex Treb. Saxo Gram. l. 8. Dan. hist his hair was seen to sparkle like fire and Zenobia Queen of the Palmirenes who had teeth like bright gems and Suavilda who was so incomparably fair that when she was adjudged to be trampled to death under the horses feet the bruit beasts started back and by no violence could be compelled to injury her beautifull body No more do I take delight to hear Citizens commended onely for exteriour things as that they dwell in the most gorgeous structures wear the costliest array have the largest warehouses have Factours trading in every port of Italy nay in the bottom of the Streights and in the furthest part of the Indies that they have so many leases in the City so many purchases in the Country and have matched their Children into the noblest families of the Nation that they sit upon the Bench and shine in the Magistrates Robes no I can hear an Elephant thus praised for his great Bosce or a fat Bull of Basan for his well fleshed stanks but they are the perfections of the mind and eminent vertues which I chiefly magnify in Citizens Such are the conspicuous persons which are perspicuous in graces and the eyes that see them blesse them for their piety whose chief mart is in Heaven and trade for such riches as exceed all the treasures of Egypt whose hearts are knit to the City and whose tongues are solliciting for it which weep over the sins of the City and would even sacrifice themselves in expiatory duties to prevent judgements from it Pardon me therefore if I do not judge the City by Furs and gold Chains birth and bruit port and portalls means and merchandise no not by wit and worship sermons and services but by soft brests sound vitalls pure and operative spirits Potency priority principality presidency here have no place but onely the feeling conscience and the fervent Soul For those which are onely politick or pragmaticall or busied about their own ambitious designes as they have no leisure to mind this subject so they have no propensions to be intent upon this solemn work I may send them to Biccius and Malchiattus who traded at Florence only to learn Philip the fair how to adulterate mettal or to those Merchants which were so buried in their Warehouses that they were called Sectores Joh. villan l. 8. c. 55. Sectores aut sâ—quuto res quia sequebantur suum Asconius because they followed only plots how to enhaunse their estates or to those Aegyptian Traffikers who were steined with so many blemishes in their callings that they were commanded to give over their merchandisings by the space of ten years before they could be admitted to any office of place of authority or to the Family of the Clodii in Rome Alex. ab Alex. l. 4. c. 6 Suct in Tiber. who were all of them except P. Clodius so given to factions and seditions to raise their own interests and Parties that they were accounted the common Boutefeaus of the City or to C. M. Coriolanus who in the greatest necessity never tendered the welfare of the Inferiours but looked onely to provide for his own greatnesse and his great Ones and held the poorer Citizens to sad sufferings lest being supplied with what they wanted D. Halicarn 1. 7. they might be enabled to call him and the rest to account for their injuries Now what should I do with such Citizens they do but only live within the City or live upon the City they will not be drawn from their shops and Countinghouses to venture a knee or a tongue that they might preserve the City at the greatest exigent Send back therefore those souldiers which how down upon their knees to lap water they are not fit to he employed in Gedeons Army so set apart those Citizens which stoop down and are even grovelong in their worldly contrivements and projects they are not fit to be called forth to seek for the Cities safety Having taken upon me then a kind of dolorous service to whom should I rather apply my self then to the true Mourners in Jerusalem Yes there are sins in the City and these sins do threaten judgement all ye then which do face the one and fear the other let me intreat you to sigh and sacrifice with me that the City being penitent neither the perill nor perishing of the City may be dreaded To obtain this blessing I confesse I have as I can sanctified my self with some solemn resolutions I desire you to enter into the Vow with me not to desert the City with your repentance and devotions till a discharge may be brought out of Heaven and the City setled in a condition to be Spared I hear a lowd speech What
Vespasians Generall who going into the Baths of Cremona and finding them cold said he would soon have them hotter for he presently set the City on fire and consumed it and so doth Atila who ruined Tongres and in it an hundred Churches and so doth Frederick sirnamed Aenobarbe who for an abuse offered to his Empress Beatrice caused the City of Millaine to be razed Diod. S. l. 14. and the platform of the City at that time to be plowed up and so doth Himilco for destroying Messana in Sicily and leaving them neither wall tile stick nor stone Strobo l. 13. and so doth Craesus for laying waste Sidena and cursing any man that should reedifie it and so doth Alexander for laying in the dust the two famous Cities of the east Cyropolis and Persepolis Q. Curtius and so doth P. Aemilius for levelling to the ground 70 Cities in Aepiras Oh what thunder-claps do there come out of many mens mouths to shake down such glorious Ornaments what Furnaces do there burn in many mens breasts to consume such ensigns of Art and Architecture Can they not walk freely in the world unlesse they stamp down Cities under their feet Can they not see the way to their ambitious designes but by the light of flaming Castles Temples Palaces and Houses of state Did Vulcan beget them were they born under mount Aetna do they desire to shine in the world like blazing Comets or to scorch all before them like brands taken out of the infernall Pit why else are the scattered stones of a City such a pleasing spectacle to them or the ashes of a City such a glorious triumph How justly might they crouch for a peece of silver which care not in an humour to melt away the riches of so many ages how ill do they deserve an house to hide their heads in which care not in a fury to expose so many Citizens to the bleak air Well if such there have been in the yeares of old Pagans and Infidels which have been thus barbarous yet let every Christian heart tremble to work such desolations for these things are like the Destroyer not like the Creator Let us spare Cities therefore for God doth spare them even because they are Cities Should not I spare Nineveh a City 6. This further doth shew That a City is at the height of impiety when the time of her fate and fall be come Such people wilfully destroy the City for God would spare it even for that it is a City Would God spare Then have not these rejected all warnings which have brought their selves into a condition on not to be spared yes God is highly incensed if he doth let loose those judgements which he hath restrained and doth open those flood-gates which for a time he did scluseup If God hath made thee a vessel of honour how hast thou trespassed Fecit te vas in honorem cur te in contumeliam facere praesumpsisti Bern. de 7. grad Confes An semeâ—est panam commeruisse parum Ovio l. 2. de Trâ—st confiderans hujus miseri miserabilem conditionem misereor quidem sed vereor ne frustra Bern. p. 70. which hast turned thy selse into a vessel of wrath We are a very urging people if we have lost the benefit of a sparing God Seemeth it a small thing unto you to deserve punishment No we have done evill to purpose if vengeance doth lye at the door I pitty this state of wretchednesse saith Bern. but God knoweth whether I shall prevent it Doth judgment threaten this Nation oh then that I could shake men into an apprehensioâ— of their manifest and monstrous guilts there are deep spots if this Nitre must be used there are high affronts when God must dash mens contempts upon their haughty faces Do ye dread any charging plagues then why do ye not find out your challenging sinnes Do your ears glow and do ye suspect no bad news do ye seem to see nothing but rods and rasours and yoaks and fetters and yet are ye so blind that ye cannot see your violating of Gods laws Must God lock up your doors before ye will consider what bad Tenants ye have been must He pluck away all your Wares before ye will consider the sinnes of your trading must he spew you out of the City before ye will take notice what a surfeit ye are upon his stomack doth every Mechanick talk of the danger of the times and yet can neither Citizen nor Senator cry out of those execrable things which are ready to make the City an execration have ye lost your cares your eyes your tongues your wits your consciences do ye praunce in the City when ye are ready to stamp upon the stones of your streets do ye dance upon your thresholds when ye are ready to stagger with amazement do ye walk with stretched out necks when your necks are ready to stoop down with the weight of judgements do ye add thirst to your drunkennesse when the cup of astonishment is ready to be put-to your lips do ye scorn the menaces of scripture when all the curses which are written in this book and those which are not written are ready to fly in your faces do ye abuse Sermons when your Pulpits shake before their dropping do ye lye in the lap of Dalilah till the Philistins come and bind you do ye eat and drink marry and give in marriage till the floud break in and sweep you all away Can ye never hear your errours but in generall shrieks nor see your provocations but when vengeance doth open your eyes Ye have often said that this City must suffer and that the end of all will be dismall do ye say it and not fear it or fear it and not flee from it Oh that thou hadst known in this thy day those things which belong to thy peace that thou hadst but as much prevention as thou hadst judgement or as much conscience as thou hast a presaging spirit that thou wert but as true a Saint as thou wouldst seem to be a Prophet but ye can only foresee and foretell but remedy nothing If we may live but a short time merrily we care not if the rest of our dayes be spent in misery as that desperate person who being told he should not live seven moneths said Sex menses satis sunt vitae septimum Orco relin quo Victor Varia â—â—ct 1. 11. Osotius 〈◊〉 rerum 〈◊〉 nuelâ— Six moneths are enough for my life the seventh let death take We cannot forsake those courses by which we are certain to perish no more then Garzias Sousa at the siege of Aden could be perswaded by Albuquerke to come down from a Tower where by arrows and stones he was sure to be either shot to death or to have his brains dashed out How many perills do we see that we put to the venture whether we shall escape them or be ensnared with them we dread vengeance with impenitency and reflect upon ruine with
in convictions If our hearts condem us God is greater than our hearts and knoweth all things If the man be speechlesse then the next words are Take him bind him hand and foot and cast him into outer darknesse Oh that I could warn you from these guilts that I could separate and save you from presumptuous sins for what confidence can ye have when it shall be urged that ye knew both the crime and the curse what shall ye be able to say for your selves when it shall be said to you that ye did discern thoughts accusing are unanswerable witnesses the sear which begetteth pain is a sad convulsion-fit Thine own heart knoweth Eccles 7.22 Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee oh evill servant Luke 19.22 are silencing objections oh think I beseech you in time of those two dreadfull sayings that in John 9.41 If ye were blind ye should have no sin but now ye say we see therefore your sin remaineth and that in the 15 of John 22. Iâ— I had not come and spoken to them they had not had sin but now they have no cloak for their sin this same Seeing of theirs makes them go broad-waken to fell this same speaking of Christ wil make them liable to inevitable damnation They cannot desire sire better light no they say We see they cannot wish for a new interpreter for Christ hath spoken to them Whatsoever sin may be wiped off from the score yet such a sin remaineth whosoever may pretend some excuse for their sin yet these have no cloak for their sin Indeed to what end are very featured men or carry upon them the fairer physnomy of Christians to what end are Scriptures Temples Sacraments Vowes Devotions the presence of Saints the examples of Martyrs Angels or Spirit Judgement or Conscience if people care not to bicker with their own hearts-strooks such sins are the precipice of the soul the threshould of hell and above all other sins a thousand times do deserve the thunder-bolt of God Praecipitiwn animae Jeron â—â—imen insernt Greg. â—illies fulmâ—n Dei merentur Chrys For Herods shining Gown and Asuerosh's Empire would I not stand at the last day amongst presumptuous sinners Blessed is he which condemneth not himselfe in that which he alloweth Rom. 14.22 Our rejoycing is this the testimony of our conscience 2 Cor. 1.12 Oh therefore leap not the ditch to get to the bank of your own affected aimes skip not out at the window to walk after corrupt nature put not on your own fetters to make your selves slaves step not into the Pesthouse where ye know the infection rageth seek not out Satan sight not out the way to hell bring not diseases upon your selves shed not your own blood cast not your selves wilfully into the bottomlesse pit sin not against the light of your own Note-books and those fairer Manuscripts in your own souls turn not out of the beaten path vary not from what ye do discern The knowing sinner is a prodigious sinner the selfe blind trespasser is worse then the Egyptian with his hand-caught darknesse or Zedekiah with his eyes torn out a sighting conscience is more terrible then Goliath of Gath to encounter with God hath no mercy for obstinate sinners which doe commit sin though they doe discern it no he will onely spare them which cannot discern Should not I spare Nineveh that great City wherein are more then sixscort thousand persons which cannot discern Between their right hand and their left hand Praeter aduitos 〈◊〉 intelligentes sumplusquam duod â—iesmillia hominuâ—â— Domino parvulos simplices homines maâ—ime curae esse Chelm in lot 3. Now let us come to the degree Between their right hand and their left hand By such are understood Insants Besides men of ripe age and intelligent there are sixscore thousand and more of other men So that children and simple men are highly cared for by God saith Chelmannus Simple men we had before and now God doth proceed to children which cannot discern between the right hand and the left God doth search out a cause why he should be moved to mercy towards Insant which were not come to the years of discretion Causam exquirit pâ—opter quam moveatur ad mi sericordiamerga infantâ—s qui ad discretionts annos nondum venerant cùm carerent judicio Baro. in loc Multi essent infantes qui nondum propriis de lictis fuâ—rant tale exitium promeriti Cal. vin in loc Inter dexteram sinistram phrasis haec est petita à pueris qui nesciunt utrum dextra sinistra sit valentior usui cuilibet aptior Rupert in loc sic Cornel. à Lapide Arias montanus Pappus Ribera malti alii seeing they want judgement namely because they could not discern between the right hand and the left saith Baro. There were many Insants which had not deserved such a destruction by their own sins saith Calvin Beâ—ween the right hand and the left this is a phrase taken from children which know not whether the right hand or the left he stronger and more apt for any use saith Rupert And to the same purpose doth Cornelius à Lapide Arias Montanus Pappus Ribera and many others declare their opinions I shall not stand upon the curious observations which many have insisted upon as that God hath compleatly furnished us in giving us two feet two eyes and two hands and that some things are more serviceable to God Almighty then others as our right hand to us is more usefull then the left and that by the right hand and left we should learn to distinguish between truth and falshood and many the like strange conclusions drawn out of these words which I shal pass over because I hold them too subtile speculations I shall stand onely upon that which I conceive is most naturall to the Text which is this Observation That knowledge is incompatible with Infancy for they cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand As the man is so is his strength Judg. 8.21 So as the child is so is his judgement Wo to thee O Land when thy King is a child Eccles 10.16 That is when he doth want not years but wisdom which doth intimate that a child is not come to years of discretion knowledge doth proceed from observation for I have learned by experience Gen. 30.27 Now can a child resolve upon accidents or try conclusions was there ever heard of an Academy of Infants no Christ which was Comprehensor from the beginning and had his knowledge of union perfected at the first hour of his quickening yet his experimentall knowledge came by degrees therefore it is said That he increased in wisdome Luk. 2.52 The habit of wisdome he had at the first Scientia Christi be ata augmentata non fuit quia omnia videbat in Verbo nec scientia Christi ind ta infusa quia à principio plenariè habuit omnes species intelligibiles
his high preferment here thou art but spared and cattel spared for thee but hast thou no greater degree of happinesse to attain unto Yes thou art not onely set forth to be an Heir of the Creatures but to be a co-heir with Christ Jesus There is an inheritance reserved for thee in the heavens an inheritance incorruptible undefiled which fadeth not away 1 Pet 1.4 Oh therfore look with a kind of neglect upon this present estate Misera quaedam est haec vita quae cum bestiis est communis Anselm for it is a kind of miserable life which we have here onely common with beasts therefore if thou dost know where thy durable riches and thy better and more enduring substance is laid then where the treasure is there let the heart be also Let thy conversation be in heaven set thy affections upon those things which are above Aug. ep 45. ad Ripar Paulinam Let life everlasting have thee amongst her lovers What are all these pittances and moyeties to that far more excellent and eternall weight of glory No if we could consider how many things Si consideremus quae qualia nobis promittuntur in coelis vilescerent omnia quae hîc habentur in terris Greg. Quid restat nisi ut jubiles Aug. in Psal 94. and how great are promised to us in heaven all things here upon earth would seem contemptible unto us Some comforts thou maist have here but there what doth remaine but that thou shouldst keep a solemn Jubilee Oh then that through these chinks of the flesh some beames of that heavenly light could shine into thy soul that with these dull ears thou couldst hear some distichs of those new songs which thou shalt sing with that celestiall Quire that afar off thou couldst spy thy Crown and get a glympse of that white Robe and that thy heart were already in heaven and thy spirit conversing with the spirits of just men made perfect Oh step beyond this world oh be translated in spirit press into the presence of thy Redeemer and let thy soul serve above stairs and stand like a pensioner in the presence Chamber despise this dung contemn this ash-heap sigh under this chayn bewaile this wilderness Thou wouldst have felicity is this the scituation of it No when thou saist I would live happily Quando dicis Beatè vivere volo bonam rem quaeris sed non hic Aug. in 13 Joh. thou seekest for a good thing but thou must not seek for it here Oh therefore let thy fervour to heaven be so ardent that all that the earth can present unto thee even Messuages and Mannours Debt-books and Free-deeds Wardrobes and Ware-houses chests of Treasure or Cabinets of Jewels Patents or Charters surred Gowns or chains of Gold Portalls or Palaces seem despicable to thee though thou dost spend some time with blear eyed Leah yet never be contented till thou dost embrace the beautifull Rachel though thou drinkest some draughts of the dilute wine at the beginning of the banquet yet never be satisfied till thou dost get a taste of the miraculous wine which will be brought in at the latter end of the feast if thou couldst live never so happily in Achish Court yet doe not fix there but let thy desires be for thy Crown in Jerusalem if thou couldst see Christ here transfigured upon mount Tabour yet do not wish to build Tabernacles here but let thy inward pantings be to enter into thy Masters joy thy Masters glory ever to be with the Lord to enjoy the prize of the high-calling of God in Christ Jesus and to follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth there thou shalt be a companion of Angels whereas alas here thou art but a Lord of Beasts there thou shalt have a communion with the Saints whereas here thou dost but converse with Cattel for after the persons are spared the greatest additionall that can be made is the sparing of Cattel And also Cattel Eightly This doth serve to shew That we ought to express commiseration to Cattel for seeing God would spare them why should not we Yes spare them 1. by respective usage The just man is mercifull to his beast but the mercies of the wicked are cruell he is a beast which is barbarous to his beast he is no better then a slave which doth make the beast his slave thou must neither feed it under the necessary allowance nor work it beyond the strength be neither too sparing of Provender nor too extream in punishment it is pitty but he should dwell in an Alms-house which hath no purse for his â—east that he should live under a Tyrant that hath nothing but a whip for his beast which pinch it till it faint or lay burthens upon it till it sink that because he is a Master doth not care what penuriousnesse or severity he doth expresse to it Where shall this dumb Creature be righted God hath a Bar for this oppressed Creature and the right beast even the savage Master shall one day meer both with a pound and a scourge Secondly Spare the Cattel by moderate use for though â—â—an hath a right to the Creature yet no Impery over it he may participate of it but not riot upon it he may enjoy it for his necessity and delight but not for his excesse and surfeit no those voluptuous Libertines and insatiable gluttons shall one day know what it is to tyrannize over the Creatures God is offended with evill beasts and slow-bellyes men given to the appetite which have mind of nothing but eating lambs out of the flock and calves out of the stall Amos 6.4 that is killing and devouring the cry of the Creatures shall one day bring in a sad arraignment at Gods Bar Dives that fared deliciously is in hell flames and our Saviour doth denounce a curse to all his fellow Epicures Wo be to you that are sull Gula clausâ—â— para disum primogenituram vendidit Sustendit pistorem decollavit I aptistam ejeciâ— Baltasarem Innoc. de vilit con human Malae Dominae servitur gulae Amb. deelia Jejun Qui Christum desideraâ— illo pane vescitur non magnopere curat quam de pretiosis cibis stercus conficiat Jeron ad Paul If surfeiting cast our first parents out of Paradise lost Esau his birth-right hung up the chiefe Baker beheaded John Baptist and rent away Baltazvrs Kingdome then it is a sinne not superficially to be regarded He doth serve an ill Mistress which obeyes his appetite He which desires Christ and doth make him his nourishment doth not care greatly of what precious meats he doth make his excrements Take heed therefore thou dost not fall from thy Dresser into Hell and that thy Cook-room doth not provide for thee a boyling Caldron below that thy riotous banquets do not provide for thee ravenous hunger in another world as thou wouldest spare thy soul spare the Cattel by moderate use 3ly Spare the Cattel by