THE HOLY LIMBECK: OR, A Semicentury of Spiritual Extractions: Wherein The Spirit is Extracted from the Letter of certain eminent places IN THE Holy Scripture: And a Compendious way discovered for the Spiritual-improvement of the literal Sense, in order to the better understanding of the mind and meaning of the Spirit therein.  
By Jo: Godolphin, L.L.D.  
London, Printed by John Field For Edmund Paxton, and are to be sold at his Shop in Paul's Chain, over against the Castle Tavern near the Doctor's Commons. 1650.   

TO THE READER.  
THou mayst not, Reader, expect any exact Method here, there being no Obligation of art on such Stillatories as these thereunto; neither mayst thou expect a   


were opened, and they saw that they were naked;] stripped of the Image of God, of that purity and righteousness wherein they were created, Eccl. 7. ult. naked of the favour of God, naked to the subsequent temptations of the envious one, to the subtle insinuations of that fawning Serpent. Conscience, that before was Virtue's Guardian, now becomes Death's Herald; an imperfect Idea of God's Image defaced: in some, Nature's curb through God's providential care; in others, the Grace's magazine by the operation of a higher and supernatural light. That nakedness which was before the Creator's glory, now becomes the Creatures shame; once the emblem of Innocence, the character of Truth, now the livery of Pride, the purchase of a Lye. Come, buy of Christ white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear, Rev. 3.18.  
And they sewed them Fig-leaves together, and made themselves Aprons.] What? could a Fig-leaf hid them from God, whose eyes are in every place? Prov. 15.3. A Fig-leaf cover them from him whose eyes run to and fro throughout the whole earth? 2 Chron. 16.9. or cloud them from his presence, whose very eyelids try the children of men? Psal. 11.4. Can they think a Fig-leaf to be a plaster of breadth sufficient to salve a Leprosy as epidemical as the world is wide? Can an Apron of Fig-leaves hid a worldful of Impieties? Can a Fig-leaf shelter their Rebellion? hid their Unbelief? cover their Ingratitude? shadow their Pride? cloak their Ambition? cloud their Contempt of God's Truth? dissemble their Faith in crediting the Devil? palliate their Sacrilege? excuse their abuse of the Creatures to wanton lust? or conceal the Temporal and Spiritual murder of themselves and their posterity? Such Fig-leaves Aprons are never out of fashion, are made and worn by their naked Issue to this day. The Atheist wears the Fig-leaves of Ignorance, and the Ignorant the Livery of an Atheist; the Profane garb themselves with the Fig-leaves of gallantry and heroic minds; the Idolater hath whole Groves of Fig-leaves, to shadow his worshipping the Host of Heaven; the Heretic sows his Fig-leaves in his brain, and hath an Apron for every Heresy; the blind Ceremonialist sitting still on brood on his Superstition to hatch Promotion, would fain shroud his Romish Judaisme under the withered Fig-leaves of wellworn Antiquity, or the more substantial Aprons of Order and Decency; the Hypocrite, that Janus of Religion, hath his finespun Apron, broad Fig-leaves of very specious Sanctity, as if Piety pretended, were not Iniquity doubled; the Laodicean hath his Fig-leaf Aprons of a golden Mean, holding it no good policy to engage too far for God, lest Times of Persecution prove too hot for his lukewarm Faith; the Moral honest man stands much on the Fig-leaves of his Legal Righteousness, and thinks because he is not what he might be, he is what he ought to be; the highway Christian thinks himself privileged by that stile to commit the worst of villainies, under the Fig-leaves of an outward Profession, that if he speak for God he may practise for the Devil; the State-Politician to legitimate the spurious oftspring of his projecting brain, hath the fading Fig-leaves of his Prince's favour, and the plausible Rhetoric of all affable humility, to cloak the sprouting designs of his unlimited Ambition; dazzling the judgements of the wise by his ambodextrous compliance, attracting by his powerful influence the Stargazing Multitude to admire the Comet of his rare Endowments, whilst himself lies forging in the Vault of his double heart, some sugared Poison for the ruin of them both; the envious man covers the venom of his heart with the Fig-leaves of equivocating kindness, and under the vizard of much sweet deportment, will handsomely beguile you to become his instrument of your own destruction; the Covetous man weaves specious pretences of impartial Justice, and therewith makes Fig-leaf Aprons for his sordid Oppression, calls his Covetousness, Praiseworthy providence; his Extortion, Damage-recompence; and his Usury nothing but Consideration-money, in token of gratitude; the Proud, for want of other Fig-leaves, will glory in an apish-fond-affected humility; the Drunkard thinks himself the only good Companion, and rusheth into all excess of Riot, under the notion of good-fellowship; the Adulterer wallows in the mire of his lust, and glories in his shame, that it more tends to Nature's credit then his disgrace; more an ornament wherewith he is well qualified, than a vice whereby he is heaven-exclude, 1 Cor. 6.9. and acts the beast under the Fig-leaf of a venial sin. Thus the accursed progeny of the first Adam, are still vainly sewing Fig-leaves together for their nakedness, whilst the newborn Issue of the second, covered with the white Robes of his Righteousness, are clothed with the garments of salvation, Isa. 61.10. and shall stand before the Throne, and before the Lamb, with palms in their hands, Rev. 7.9. when these Fig-leaves shall be useless, save to kindle the fuel of chaff and stubble to everlasting burn, 2 Pet. 3.7. and be the sad Remembrancer of their Parent's Apostasy, when they sewed Fig-leaves together, and made themselves Aprons, Gen. 3.7.   

The first Martyr.  
And Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass when they were in the field, that Cain risen up against Abel, and slew him,  Gen. 4.8. 
ANd Cain talked with Abel his brother,] So did Esau with his heart, when resolved on the like fratricide, Gen. 27.41. Trust not any brother that will supplant, Jer. 4.9. the honiest tongue may have the strongest poison of Asps under it. Solomon dissuades thee from going into thy brother's house in the day of thy calamity, Prov. 27.10. Envy not the wicked, yet familiarize not thyself with them, for their heart studieth destruction, and their lips talk of mischief, Pro. 27.10.  
And it came to pass when they were in the field,] Solitary places are the Devils vaults, witness the Garden, when he beguiled the first Adam, Gen. 3. witness the Wilderness, when he tempted the second, Mat. 4.1. God said betimes, It was not good for man to be alone, Gen. 2.18. Chaste Joseph knew it well, Gen. 39.11. And woe to him (saith the Preacher) that is alone, Eccles. 4.10. indeed the field is the proper place of blood for man to act the beast in; But he that form the eye, shall he not see? Psal. 49.9. yes; and the man of blood shall not live out half his days, Psal. 55.23.  
And Cain risen up against Abel, and slew him.] Here the Serpent's seed hath bruised the heel of the woman's, Gen. 3.15. The seed of all true Religion slain from the beginning of the world. Innocent Abel! the first Martyr that suffered for Religion, and lively Type of Christ, of Christ the Prince of Martyrs; the heel of the blessed Seed bruised, a Type of what the Head himself should suffer. Bloody Cain! the first Apostate after that first Evangelical Promise, the first builder of that spiritual City of the Wicked, the Seed of the Serpent, founded in his brother's blood; the true portraiture whereof is Mystical Babylon or Rome, founded by Romulus, by the like example of fratricide, in the murder of his brother Remus, the Seat of the Beast and of the Whore (by whose Authority Christ himself was slain) since drunk with the blood of his Saints, and still breathing out blood and slaughter to every Abel, that refusing to communicate in her Spiritual Whoredoms, will not with her offer the earthly Sacrifice of Cain, the fruits of the ground, which hath nothing of Faith or the Spirit in them. Thus Goodness and Envy, like Rebecca's Twins, the one is never born without the other; If God hath more respect to Abel's, then to his brother's Sacrifice, by his brother shall himself be Sacrificed: Goodness is ever accompanied with danger, and he indeed is only Martyr-proof, that dares be good. The wicked would be rather blind, then see Religion thrive, or virtue flourish: had God loved Abel less, Cain would have loved him more; his favour with God, purchased his Brother's hate, so that he needed not to have slain Abel, whom he had murdered before, For whosoever but hateth his brother, is a murderer, 1 John 3.15. Both these Brethren did Sacrifice to the Lord, yet Cain must have Abel's blood, for offering that in faith, which himself did with a false heart: How parallel doth this run to the cain's of this Age? who with the faithful once walked in the House of God as Friends, yet now style them Enemies to God for the service of his House; is not this to slay thy Brother? Nothing acutes the Spirit of a man to assay some desperate design, as desire of revenge; and he that's caught in this whirlwind, lives like the Salamander in the fire; 'twas desire of revenge that hurled Charles the Sixth of France, incensed against the Duke of Britain, into a Bedlam-Lunacy; discontent and emulation beget this passion; if sin get not Priority of Honour from desert, desert shall have Priority of Fate. Cain here in reference to his Brother Abel's death, deals with his Father's Posterity, in respect of God's glory, as the rich Man in Quintilian did with his garden Flowers in respect of his Brother's profit, poison them all, because his Neighbour's Bees should suck no more Honey from them; and hazards eternal life, only to abreviate his Brothers temporal, looking at him, as they in Lucian's Rock of Honour, with an envious eye, proud of his own ruin for another's damage. Every other sin hath some pleasure in it, or admits excuse, envy alone wants both. Angebat illum non proprium peccatum, sed fratris prosperitas, saith Theodoret, 'twas his Brother's happiness that galled him. Precedents hereof Divine and Humane, we may fly and read; Jacob and Esau, Saul and David, Rachel and Leah, Gen. 30.1. Joseph and the Patriarches. David also had a touch of this vice by his own confession, in Psalm 37. but all these syllableed to a word, cannot spell Cain, cursed Cain, yet reprieved and life continued, even for the same cause that other Murderers lose it, that he might live a stigmatised example in this unpeopled condition of the world's nonage; branded, to the terror of all that should afterward behold the spectacle; cursed from the earth, drunk with his Brother's blood, now spews out his own; banished the presence of God, to become the lively Image of the deadly state of sinners out of Christ; dead whilst alive, a moving Sepulchre, the Devils Captive, damnation's firstborn, Hell's heir, Heaven's exile, and the Earth's vagabond; his own fury a horror to himself, indeed Hell's Compendium: O tremble than thou man of blood, whosoever thou art, guilty of murder either by the Tongue or Sword! Tremble ye Persecutors of the Saints of God, their blood shall never quench Hell, sheath your malice yet; swell not against conviction of Conscience, for in those Orient days of Gospel-light, it is not possible you can think to do God good service by slaughtering the lambs of heaven. Remember, God is a Spirit Infinite, his very Essence proclaims what kind of Worship he doth challenge and expect from his Creatural Image. Touch not any cain's blemished Sacrifice; offer with righteous Abel, and if thou suffer with him, Amen: Welcome to the Marriage of the Lamb; thy blood shall from the Altar cry for Justice, not unequivalent to that on Cain, when he slew his brother, Gen. 4.8.   

The Holy Walk.  
And Enoch walked with God,  Gen. 5. ver. 24. 
ANd Enoch walked] not in the counsel of the ungodly, Psal. 1.1. not in the ways of evil men, Prov. 4.15. not in froward and strange ways, Prov. 21.8. not in the broad way that leadeth to destruction, Matt. 7.13. not in the way of bribery, Isa. 33.15. whose Tabernacles shall be consumed by fire, job 15.34. not in the company of riotous men, Prov. 28.7. not in ways seeming right only in his own eyes, Prov. 12.15. not in ways of discord, but in love, Eph. 5.2. not disorderly, 2 Thess. 3.6. not after the imaginations of a corrupt heart, jer. 9.14. not as driven with every wind of Doctrine, Eph. 4.14. not as a stumbling block in the way of the blind, Levit. 19.14. not without wisdom towards them that are without, Col. 4.5. not wand'ring from God, Psal. 119.10. nor turning aside from his Commandments, Deut. 17.20. not walking after the flesh, but after the Spirit, Rom. 8.1. And  
With God,] before him with a perfect heart, Gen. 17.2. in his Statutes, keeping close to his Commandments, Levit. 26.3. in all the ways which the Lord his God commanded him, Deut. 5.33. jer. 7.23. in the ways of righteousness, wherein is life, Prov. 12.28. in the good way, jer. 6.16. walking in his house with a perfect heart, Psal. 101.2. doing the will of God from the heart, Eph. 6.6. perfecting holiness in the fear of God, 2 Cor. 7.1. believing with all his heart, Acts 8.37. living in all good Conscience before God, Acts 23.1. always void of offence, Acts 24.16. seeking the Lord with his whole desire, 2 Chron. 15.15. in whose heart God hath so put his fear, as that he shall not departed from him, jer. 32.40. giving himself unto Prayer, Psal. 109.4. continuing instant therein, Rom. 12.12. meditating on God's Precepts, Psal. 119.15. holding fast the mystery of Faith in a pure conscience, 1 Tim. 3.9. always speaking the truth in love, Ephesians 4.15. refraining his feet from every evil way, Psal. 119.101. yea, hating every false way, Psal. 119.104. abhorring that which is evil, and cleaving to that which is good, Rom. 12.9. regulating his conversation by the rule of God's Word, Psal. 119.9. delighting himself in the Almighty, Job 27.10. and in the Law of the Lord, Psal. 1.2. and in his Statutes, Psalm 119.16. worshipping God in the Spirit, Phil. 3.3. whose confidence is in the Lord only, Prov. 3.26. having none in the flesh, Phil. 3.3. conformed to the image of the Son of God, Rom. 8.29. and ordering his conversation aright, Psal. 50.23. taking such heed to his ways, Psalms 39.1. that they all please the Lord, Prov. 16.7. walking still in the day without stumbling, John 11.9. uprightly, Psal. 15.2. righteously, Isa. 33.15. worthy the vocation wherewith he was called, Eph. 4.1. worthy of the Lord, Col. 1.10. circumspectly, not as a fool, Eph. 5.19. honestly towards them that are without, 1 Thess. 4.12. committing all his ways unto the Lord, Psal. 37.5. like a peculiar vessel, zealous of good works, Tit. 2.14. and undefiled in the ways of the Lord, Psal. 119.1. all the preparations of whose heart is from the Lord, Prov. 16.1. whose help, Hos. 13.9. and whose hope is in the Lord his God, Psal. 146.5. in whom the Lord hath not beheld iniquity, Numb. 23.21. for he walketh in Christ, as having received a promise of him, Col. 2.6. indeed as a just man like Noah, Gen. 6.9.  
Mark then the perfect man, and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace, Psal. 37.37. whereof there is none, saith my God, to the wicked, Isa. 48.22. Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect, Matth. 5.48. Fear God and eschew evil, for which God himself to the Devil's face honoured Job with the high Characters of perfection and uprightness, Job 1.8. Walk before God, and be thou perfect, Gen. 17.1. Noah was a just man, and perfect in his Generation; why? because he walked with God, Gen. 6.9. Perfect, even this side heaven, which is more than Paul would ascribe unto himself, Phil. 3.12. Perfect, though not in regard of parts and degrees, yet in regard of the truth and soundness of Grace, 1 Pet. 5.10. Sanctify therefore yourselves, and be ye holy, for I am holy, saith the Lord, Leu. 11.44. Walk in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of your life, Luke 1.17. See that on your hearts be written, on your lips imprinted, and on your hands engraven, nothing but holiness to the Lord, Exod. 28.36. have all your fruit unto holiness, that your end may be everlasting life, Rom. 6.22. establish therefore your hearts in holiness, 1 Thess. 3.13. then perfect it in the fear of God, 2 Cor. 7.1. and thus, like Enoch, walk with him, Gen. 5.24. and thou shalt never see the second death, john 8.51.   

The Ark.  
But with thee will I establish my Covenant, and thou shalt come into the Ark,  Gen. 6.18. 
SIn and Judgement are both ripe together, the overflowings of the one presage a deluge of the other: Let favour be showed to the wicked, yet saith the Prophet, will he not learn Righteousness; but when judgements are in the earth, the Inhabitants of the world become better Scholars, Isa. 26.9,10. Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be destroyed, jon. 3.4. but Nineveh repent, and was not, ver. 10. yet seven days and the world shall be drowned, Gen. 7.4. but Noah believed and was not, Gen. 6.8. Sin is so antypathal to the holiness of God, as it made him repent man's Creation, and grieved him to the very heart, Gen. 6.6. A few drops of true penitential tears might have saved the whole world from drowning, and have caused God (in all holy sobriety be it spoken) to have repent of his repenting. The world was now One thousand six hundred fifty six years old, when God opened his Chamber windows, those heavenly Sluices, and Epitomised the whole Creation in an Ark; indeed a very lively Type of the Church of God, the Ark of all the faithful; But where are the Mountains of Ararat? Compute as many years from our Saviors Incarnation, as was to the Flood from the world's Creation; and by the late assuagement of the Antichristian waters in all the world, as by the returns of some Doves (sent forth the Ark for that purpose) with Olives in their mouths, and by the non-returns of others we may probably conjecture, there may be no great disparity of years 'twixt the Rest of Type and Antitype. Indeed judgement is already begun at the house of God, now what shall be the end of them that obey not the Gospel; nay, of them that strike a League with Hell as much as in them lies, to ungospel the Gospel, trampling on the blood of the Covenant, counting it an unholy thing: Thus the mystery of Iniquity still continues working, till that Antichristian Leviathan be revealed, whom with his gygantick brood the Lord shall consume with the Spirit of his mouth; But with the Faithful he will establish his Covenant, and they shall come into his Ark, Gen. 6.18.   

Blood for Blood.  
He that sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed,  Gen. 9.6. 
IT is murder not to punish it: If detraction be breach of Charity, or to deny a perishing beast the courtesy of our aid be Inhumanity, what merits he that transforms the Image of God into the substance of Death: To acquit the Murderer, is to be guilty of his life, and without true penitence he shall die by that Book which saved him: He that refuseth to undefile the Land of that blood wherewith it is polluted, by taking satisfaction for the life of a Murderer, delivers up the whole body of a Nation to the judgements of God; to keep an ulcerous member from the Justice of man, does what in him lies to justify the Executioner of Hell against the Charter of Heaven; twice murders the innocent that was slain before, entails the guilt of blood on the Land and his own Posterity, commits in one act Oppression and Sacrilege, by denying Justice to quick and dead, and basely self-murthers his own soul.  
Butchery, with the Jew, is honoured above the Liberal Sciences, and long experience requisite to that Arts perfection; they have a Book of Shambleses Constitutions, and in the most difficult cases they consult with some Learned Rabbi, that the Jew Butcher had need be half a Physician in Anatomising, and half a rabbin in cases of Conscience; and who knows but that many of those Jewish Physicians, which in our days practising murder, kill by Authority, after a Prenticeship served in the Drugster's slaughter-shop, came themselves (whither they send others) from the Shambles.  
But who shall shed his blood that sheds his own? that wilfully neglects the means of life? that makes this poison his Evening-draught? this Knife his Cutthroat? that Bow his Gallows? or yonder Pool his Grave? that kills himself dead-drunk? that eats himself Carrion-dead, gluttonously biting of his third of life, whilst he delves his grave with his own teeth? that exhausts his vitals in a stews, and fornicates with hell? who thus becomes his self-destroyer, is a Rebel to that God that made him, a Vagabond from his presence for ever; is an Enemy proclaimed in Hell to all Religion; is a Traitor to Reason; ●n Apostate to Sense; a Fool ●o the very Bruits; and a Slave to the Devil. Who shall shed his blood that hates his brother? for he's a murderer too, 1 John 3.15. that restrains charity, or usurps revenge, the Prerogative Royal of the most High: Who shall shed that Pastor's blood that starves his Flock, or erroneously misguides them by his life or Doctrine, like Sheep unto the slaughter? who shall shed that Lawyer's blood, that most butcherously cuts his innocent Client's throat, by betraying his righteous Cause for a bribe, ore-ballancing an honest Fee, prostrating the nakedness of truth to the foul insultings of corrupt injustice? that withholds the truth it unrighteousness? that Janus like, looks both ways at once, and hath an Ambodextrous tongue to suck blood from both, yet distribute right to neither? Who shall shed that Empirics blood, that kills others that himself may live? that practices on the Bodies of men with less conscience than he takes fees; and destroys more lives by his desperate ignorance, than the Judicious Physician by his Chemical Practice? Who shall shed the Machivilians blood, that like the Wolf in the Breast, gnaws out the bowels of his Country; and to feed his vulturous designs, preys on that State that bred and fostered him; and rather than have his invisible projects countermined, will cap in hand petition the Devil to summon a Council in Hell, that may furnish him thence with Auxiliary Legions to come in for his assistance? Lastly, Who shall shed the Usurer's blood, that sucks out the Vitals of his Neighbour's Estate with Jewish Exaction, and then extorts his very Liberty from him, even Nature's Prerogative, till the last gasp of all his Fortune be conveyed him; and having only reserved to himself for term of life, a few years of beggary and too late repentance, entails the remainder of his misery to his injured innocent Posterity; whilst his own sad soul, to prevent the ghastly hungerbits of merciless Famine, does oft career on the resolves of some desperate courses to the Shipwreck of his Conscience; that so being now undone in soul and body, state and posterity, he may go to his grave (if it be his happiness to have one) completely miserable. But let none of these forget, That there is a God that judgeth the earth, and hath enacted, That whosoever sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed, Gen. 9.6.   

Babel.  
Go to, let us go down, and there confound their Language,  Gen. 11.7. 
BUt yet one Century of years expired since the Deluge, and behold, the Sons of men ripe for a second confusion! they are now scaling Heaven, not by Faith, but Presumption, are daubing up a stately Molehill, as if they meant to overtop the most High, overpower the Almighty, mighty, parley with their Creator, go to Heaven in a carnal way, or at least secure themselves from future Deluges, by erecting this Castle in the air for a place of retreat; but the Lord descends from on high, blows off the Pyramid of their Pride, by sweeping away their Cobweb Edifice with the besom of Confusion.  
Of these proud Masons, oNimrod was the chief, the Captain, the Master Workman, the first Tyrant, and (as some suppose) the first that brought Idolatry in fashion; indeed he erected a very stately Idol, for such ambitious fools to worship as imitate the vapour of his brain: To establish themselves a Name in all the Earth was their grand design, they would fain be great, and high enough to peep into heaven; but the dissipation they doubted, was the judgement they suffered; their attempting the prevention of what they feared, prevented their accomplishing of what they projected; and the foundation they had laid whereon to build their greatness, became the groundwork of their ruin. They called a general Council or rebellious Confederacy, and voted for a Tower, whose top should reach unto Heaven; A Fabric of that height, would require a Basis deeper than the Earth; but he that will ascend Heaven, must not lay his foundation in Hell: no question but this ambitious rout; in the results of their desperate resolves, were as well compact as their building, and that as uniform as their Language; but as they went up, the Lord came down, scattered the one, and confounded the other.  
Had these men been at Jerusalem, when the Apostles inspired with the gift of Tongues became such expert Linguists, they might have seen the like power in a contrary effect to this of Babylon; this came by the sin of man, that by the mercy of God; the one from Babylon, the other from Jerusalem: No marvel then that at this day are such audacious Theomachists in mystical Babylon, where that proud Antichristian Nimrod exalting himself above God, sits in the Temple as God. Indeed the whole Christian Earth was once of one Language and of one Speech; but when Babylon saddled her Ass, and took a Journey to Rome; when they said, Go to, Let us make Martyrs, and burn them throughly; when they took the brick of their own inventions, in stead of Zions Stone, a tried and precious Stone, Isaiah 28.16. and the frothy slime of their own brain, for the well-tempered mortar of the infallible word; and said, Go to, Let us build us a City of Spiritual Whoredoms, and a Tower of Merits, whose top may reach unto Heaven, no marvel then, I say, that the Lord should at the brightness of his coming, scatter those Idolatrous Vermin, or Jesuitical Imps, like dust before the wind upon the face of all the earth, and with the Spirit of his mouth confound the Language of the beast, 2 Thess. 2.8.   

Abrams Call.  
Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy Country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a Land that I will show thee,  Gen. 12.1. 
IT is the perfect freedom of a child of God, to come and go at his Command, out of whose service to be manumitted, is the dishonorablest Vassalage under the Sun. Our obedience to God admits not the Sophisms of flesh and blood; to debate the point of obedience with God by delays, is to enter ourselves the Devil's slaves without dispute: He that asks leave of his lust to part with it, in obedience to God, seems to take leave of his God, and part with him in obedience to his lust: Nay, if the Land of thy Nativity, or the vastness of thy Possessions; if the honours of thy State-Offices, or the Profits of thy Corruption therein; if the quality of thy Birth, or the vanity of thy pleasures; if the exquisiteness of thy Endowments, or the popular Hosannas of Idolatrous Flattery; if the Wife of thy Bosom, or the issue of thy Loins; if all or any of these counterbalance the least of God's Commands, in the scale of thy judgement or affection, go sacrifice to thy God of flesh, and be thine own slave, for thou art not yet selfess enough to be employed in the service of the Most High; indeed, God is able of the stones to raise up children unto Ahraham, so there may be hope of thy heart; but till with him thou canst deny thyself the present possession of the whole earth, for a bare reversion of Heaven; till with him thou canst answer Gods Call, and exchange thy Country here, for a better hereafter, thy Father's House below, for those Mansions prepared above, thou mayest not expect a Canaan in his bosom, Luke 16.22.   

God in the Mount: OR,  
In the Mount of the Lord it shall be seen,  Gen. 22.14. 
NOt in the Molehills of men, God never trifles away his Miracles, he works no wonders beneath the highest pitch of Humane power: A Miracle doth presuppose impossibility in all below that power which wrought it; where the power of the Creature ends, the Almightiness of the Creator gins; Miracles of Mercy are not wrought, till the exigency of the Creature calls for the mercy of a Miracle; it stands not much with God's honour, to interpose his power in doing that for the Creature which he hath impower'd the Creature to do for himself; should God come in to man's help, before the cure is passed the help of man, the goodness of his mercy would anticipate the glory of his power, and the freeness of his love obstruct the actings of Faith.  
In the Mount of the Lord it shall be seen.] Therefore not in the Valley of Despair, nor on the Pinnacle of Presumption, unless to cut off the one, Numb. 15.30. or destroy the other, Mat. 27.5. When therefore Poverty doth pinch, or nakedness benumb; when Persecutions flames threaten either to scorch thy soul, or burn thy body; when the floods thereof menace either shipwreck to thy Conscience, or a Land-deluge to all thy sublunar interests: when the proud Nimrods' of the earth first foam out their Juliantick rancour, to poison thy sacred chastity with their Scorpion-Blasphemies, and then engulf thee locked in irons, to suffocatethee with milder damps in their hell-typifying dungeons, the portrait of their own black souls; when such Tyrants, prodigal of their Engines, and their grand Master, by the juncture of all his infernal Imps, call a Council in hell to persecute thee on earth, Cast not away thy confidence, the Saints themselves were under a Cloud before thee, and it was Israel's Proverb, The Lord will be seen in the Mount, Gen. 22.14.   

Modest Contentation.  
I have enough, my Brother, keep what thou hast unto thyself,  Gen. 33.9. 
THe gift of refusing gifts, is a gift greater than man can give; he that can shut his hands against the rich, will open them to the poor: It is a subtle piece of thriving policy, to repulse some advantages of gain; and the speediest way to abound in every thing, is to be self-denyingly contented with any thing: No man thinks he hath enough, but he that knows he hath more than he doth deserve; and no man enjoys what he doth possess, but he that covets no more than he doth enjoy; he that can repulse the temptations of gain, gains by such temptations, whilst the assaults of the repulsed Enemy recoils to the damage of the Assailant. The mind contented is a fortress impregnable, it is not whole volleys of Bribes, nor the Canon of Commands Royal, though charged with the highest Titles of Honour, or Provenues of State-offices, can make the least breach on the naked outworks of his unprojecting and well-contented mind; but the unsatiable and idolatrous wretch, supposing gain to be godliness, acknowledgeth no other Infinite than his own unplenable desire, whilst the other in every estate practising Paul's well learned Lesson of Contentment, subscribes to godliness as his greatest gain; he takes possession of his own heart, and enjoys himself; he is tenant to no man's estate for term of lust; he is under his high Lord, his own heart-Lord, and thence can command his desires to do homage to none but the Providence of God. This disposition unkennels the greedy dogs (as the prophet Isaiah, speaking of blind watchmen, Isa. 56.11. styles them) That can never have enough, and shows us the hideous darkness of the infathomable gulf of the ravenous desires of the Cannibals of this age. Profane Esau (now no more rough but courteous Esau) may rise in judgement against the Wolves of this Generation, for he so far abhorred such violence, that he modestly refused even what was freely presented him, and said, I have enough, my brother, keep what thou hast unto thyself, Gen. 33.9.   

I am that I am. Exod. 3.14.  
TO define God, is more properly a Paradox then a Precept in Divinity; indeed, a secret too Mataphysical for the most Logical eyesight of any created understanding. What God is not, we know; what God is, we know not: If thou wouldst fain sublime thyself to a sight of him who is invisible, look with the eye of Faith through the prospective of Christ; and the best way to define God, is to endeavour the practice of that description he makes of himself, in the Mystery of his Word and Volumn of his Works. To define an Infinite, is a kind of Blasphemous Contradiction; and he that thinks he can suppose an exact definition of God, is one of the Fools that says in his heart There's none. Canst thou find out an end for Eternity, or beginning for Sempiternity? art thou too strong for Omnipotency? canst thou circumcircle Immensity? canst thou confine Ubiquity, or confute Omnisciency? canst thou exclude Omnipresency? then mayest thou in part tell me what God is: Beware of limiting the Holy One of Israel; if thou canst see of God more than his backparts, thou hast better eyes than Moses had, whose Commission if the Israelites question, behold it ratified by that eternal Subscription, I am that I am, Exod. 3.14.   

Loyal Disloyalty.  
They feared God, and did not as the King of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive,  Exod. 1.17. 
TO obey Caesar for God, is the Subjects duty; to obey him for himself, the Salves vassalage: To obey the commands of Caesar, wherein he disobeys the Commands of God, is to make thy Loyalty to thy Prince guilty of rebellion to thy God: To obey God for Caesar, is Mercenary Religion, to obey him for himself, is Filial Obedience: To obey the Commands of God, wherein they contradict the Commands of Caesar, is to render thy fear of God unguilty of over-honoring thy Prince: To have absolute command over all the Creatures, is only the Creator's Prerogative-Royal; to obey this absolute Monarch above all Sublunary Potentates, is the Christians Prerogative-Loyal. When Humane Laws jarring with Gods, make a discord in Heaven, thy obedience to the former may not make it harmony on earth: Our Allegiance to Caesar must swear fealty to God's supremacy, that if at any time thy obedience to God be unduly convicted of disloyalty to thy Prince, thy Appeal lies to the Chancery of Heaven: Gods Will is a Law, yet his People's Obedience no Slavery, but perfect Freedom; the Prince his Will is a Law too, where he hath none but Slaves to His Subjects: Where the Engines of State-policy make the wheels of the People's Obedience run Counter to the Primum Mobile, or main Spring of Gods revealed pleasure, it may be feared, lest the frame of the whole work, and the body of the Land retrograde to the first Chaos of Confusion: Obedience to man rather than God, is as the sin of Witchcraft; yea, the Prince who delivers not his Commands from God, or derives not his Commission from Heaven, neither fears God nor honours himself; and whosoever obeys him in such Commands, is guilty of that obedience, as Treason against the highest Majesty: A special Command from God, legitimates a thing unlawful in itself, it had not been murder in Abraham to have slain his Son; but thus it is not with Princes on Earth, therefore the Egyptian Midwives approved their loyalty to God, by their disloyalty to Pharaoh; for, They feared God, and did not as the King of Egypt commanded them, but saved the man-children alive, Exod. 1.17.   

Heavenly Eloquence.  
Go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say,  Exod. 4.13. 
THe Spirits dictates are the Saints best Rhetoric; the plainest Language where the Spirit is Orator, is too profound for the deepest apprehension of mere natural judgements; not he that hath most learning, but he that hath most grace is best learned; he that is seen in all Arts & Sciences is held an able man, but he that hath learned Christ is the best Scholar. A poor weak Christian that doth practice Christ, speaks his Language with more grace than the most exquisite Orator of mere nominal Christians, and hath more persuasive Rhetoric in his sweet Conversation, than many of our learned Gownsmen in their life and Doctrine. There are a Generation of men in this refined and new-modelled Age, that have fled exceeding high in their expression, some think they have outshot all objects of reason to comprehend, and of faith to believe; as if too mysterious to make reasonable sense of, and too superluminary to conclude nonsense; this is not heavenly Eloquence: Others there are that draw their Language to so fine a third, that it oft breaks in the spinning, and nought but a Spider crawls from the Web; sometimes it breaks into sense ridiculous, and sometimes into errors venomous, now into self-interest, and anon into faction; or if the third hold, it serves only to s●w Pillows under the drowsy declensions of most uncorrupted Patrons; neither is this heavenly eloquence: The great Doctor of the Gentiles, Paul, that Gospel-Orator, accosted not the Corinthians with the persuasible enticements of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of Power; and this was heavenly Eloquence: for when the Spirit prompts the heart, the tongue cannot but speak eloquently; the volubility whereof flowing only from some principle of nature, is but as the wagging of an Apsenleaf, compared with the Seraphic Language of a gracious heart, where the Spirit giveth utterance: Such Language Christ promised his Disciples when called to attest his Truth; and such Language God promised Moses when he employed him as his Agent into Egypt, to uninslave his bondaged people, saying, Go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say, Exod. 4.13.   

Jehovah-nissi. Exod. 17.15.  
THey who in their spiritual warfare list themselves under Gods Command to fight the Lords Battles, not only have Christ for their Captain, but even the Lord of Hosts for their Jehovah-nissi, the Lord for their Banner: Suppose the Generalissimo of all the infernal Janissaries muster up all his Forces, and draws them into Battalia against thy naked soul, ranking the honours, profits and pleasures of this life on the right wing, the hideous troops of all thy fearful sins on the left, placing thy most conquering lusts in the main body, keeping whole Regiments of that gallant Brigade of most specious Sanctity (whose leader is Spiritual pride) for a Reserve, with divers ensnaring temptations lying in Ambush, with as many occasions and opportunities of sinning, as so many Scouts to discover the state, posture and motion of thy soul; all this supposed, yet the being on thy side thou needest not to fear, For in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength, Isa. 26.4. He is the Church-Militants Banner, against which the gates of hell shall not prevail: To the wicked the Lord is a consuming fire, dissolving them like the fat of Lambs; but his Church, like Moses his Bush, is preserved in the midst of fiery persecutions, to lustre forth as well the glory, as the power of the Almighty. The Church never yet fought with the Prince of the Air, but either won the day by being victorious, or gained by being persecuted: And why? because the Lord was her Banner; and indeed, where the Lord of Hosts leads the Van, Victory must needs attend the Rear: When that stripling David was to Duel that monstrous Goliath, he advanced towards him only in the name of the Lord of Hosts, 1 Sam. 17.8. Whilst Moses' supported arm was God's Standard, Joshuah defeated the uncircumcised Amalekites; Therefore Moses built him an Altar, and called it Jehovah-nissi, Exod. 17.15.   

Stand still.  
Fear ye not, stand still, and see the Salvation of the Lord,  Exod. 14.13. 
DIstrust, the Brat of slavish fear, is the first step leads downward to Despair; he that will not trust God on his word, will scarce confide in his miracles: To fancy safety out of God's protection, is an argument of wretched security, and little policy; but to doubt his protection in the midst of his encompassing mercies, an argument of more ingratitude, and less faith: As it is most desperate presumption, and an ungracious tempting of God, to stand still when he opens us a door of flight, and as it were bids us fly for our life, either by revealing us his Will by his Word, or by whispering it in our hearts by his Spirit, or by proclaiming it by his past or present deliverances; so is it a no less desperate Cowardice, and most Atheistical distrust, to fly when God bids us stand, either by shutting against us the door of escape, or by giving us pledges of victory, or promises of protection. It had been a strange piece of self-enslaving and rebellious madness in Peter, to have stayed in prison when the Angel unshackled him, and opened the door; yet but an ill-purchased freedom in Paul to have bribed Felix Cesaria's Governor for his enlargement: In our inevitablest straits, we are in all humble observance and faithful patience to attend the pleasure of God, without disputing the Justice of his Providence, and by a holy recumbancy, without the least murmuring distrustfulness, to acquiesce in the Faith of his Promises: The invisible Politician may and is oft brought to his wit's end, but a just man is never at his Faith's end: Art thou degraded in the world, and undeservedly persecuted? stand still, keep an eye to the promise, and be strong in the faith: Art thou fortune-fallen, become poor, and through no default of thine cast into prison? stand still, remember the Lord heareth the poor, and despiseth not his Prisoners, Psal. 96.33. Art thou engaged in any combat at home with Monsters, like Paul's Ephesian Beasts, or in any desperate hazard of life? stand still, never forgetting who it is that hath calculated even the very hairs of thy head: Thus what once Moses said to the unbondaged, yet murmuring Israelites, let me say to the Redeemed, yet distrustful people of God, when pursued by the heart-hardned Pharaohs of this age, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the Salvation of the Lord, Exod. 14.13.   

Let me alone.  
Let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot, etc.  Exod. 32.10. 
TO will and to do are all one with God; it is the Prerogative-Royal only of the Almighty, to be able to do whatsoever he pleaseth to will; whatsoever he will he doth, but all that he can he doth not. Now the power of the Creature, flows from that in the Creator; hence it is that the more we are form into his likeness, the more prevalency we have with him, and the more victory over ourselves. A just man is a wonderful strong Creature; I can do nothing to Sodom, saith God to Lot, till thou be gone thence, Gen. 19.22. Thus the free condescendency of the Highest, vouchsafes such a voluntary restraint of his Justice, as the prevalent integrity of a righteous man in favour with God, seems to overpower even the Almighty. The faithful are God's favourites; rather than their Petition shall be laid aside, his own Mercy shall say Amen unto their Prayers. Faith is such a solicitous grace, such an importunate beggar, as it will never leave God alone; yea, the very wicked of the Earth far the better for the Prayers of the godly; see it in the case of Sodom, Gen. 18. and here those Israelites might have been led to the slaughter like the Calf they worshipped, had not this Moses (refusing to be the Adopted Grandchild of the King of Egypt, though his Daughter might have challenged him by Providence, Exod. 2.5.) now become such a Favourite in the Court of Heaven, that God himself must as it were importune him to slack his importunity, and sue to him to withdraw his suit, and say, Let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation, Exod. 32.10.   

The right Interpretation of Scripture.  
Ye shall put nothing to the word which I command you, neither shall ye take aught therefrom,  Deut. 4.2. 
When thou readest the Scripture, let the Text interpret the Text, and grope not to wind thyself out of the Labyrinth of those sacred Oracles by the clue of thine own private spirit, nor conceit thyself wiser than the Omniscient. To wrest Scripture, is to father a lie on the Spirit of Truth; and he that betrays the Word to a sense the Spirit never meant it, Sophisticates the great Seal of Heaven, and hath no share therein, the Plagues therein denounced only excepted: Whether then thou readest to thyself, or expoundest to others, do not gloss the holy Text with unintelligible notions, the Bastard-comment of a Weathercock-faith, nor bespatter the splendour of such a glorious Light, with the scarce vapor-proof atoms of an erroneous muddy judgement: Many Revelations are arrived of late, some no question came from beyond the world, are Commissioned from Heaven, have the Seal of the Spirit indeed, whose authority admits not of dispute; such only are the faithful interpreters of the holy Language: other Revelations there are, which came from below the world, are Commissioned from Hell, have the Seal of the Beast on them; these also pretend a title to our faith, but believe not every Spirit, 1 John 4.1. To take the crutch from the Lame by the impudent assertions of a blind, yet wilful judgement, is the inhumanest piece of imperious ignorance in the world; and to misguide the doubtful Pilgrim under pretence of a more compendious way to the New Jerusalem then was ever yet discovered, is to incur the curse of Heaven, the thanks of Hell, and the blackest guilt of the highest murder. No Scripture may be construed by the corrupt Dictionary of any ill-byassed Spirit, or according to the Analogy of private interests; he that strains the Scripture to a note the Spirit never tuned it, perverts it to his own destruction: Ye shall put nothing to the word which I command you, neither shall ye take aught therefrom, Deut. 4.2.   

The Foundation of Knowledge.  
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,  Prov. 1.7. 
OF all creatures, Sub-angelical Man is the noblest; of all the parts of Man, the Soul; of all the faculties of the Soul, the Understanding; which if not exercised about her genuine object, the Gospel-fear or true worship of her Creator, merits not the name of Sense; and he that bottoms his knowledge, or lays the Foundation of his wisdom on any other Basis, builds but on the sand with hay and stubble, and shall find the edifice soon prove more brittle, than the shell of that brain which built it. Christ the wisdom of the Father is the Cornerstone of ours; and if other Foundation any man hath laid, the structure, if it prove not his Babel in this world, will undoubtedly a Tower of Shilo in that to come. Whose wisdom gins not with the fear of God, ends in his eternal displeasure: If our wisdom commence with the fear of the Lord, his grace will accompany the progressions thereof, and his glory crown the event: Without this fear there may be wit, not wisdo●… the gravest Sages, without 〈◊〉 are but the most decent fools; and the choicest extractions of their unsanctified brain, but the Chemistry of vaporing profaneness, or at best, the high Magic of most learned Lunacy; For the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, Prov. 1.7.   

The poor Man's Advocate.  
Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thy hand to do it,  Prov. 3.27. 
ROb not the Poor of the Tribute of thine Alms, lest at the general Assize or Grave-delivery they indict thee of Sacrilege. The poor man's Box is God's Exchequer, and he that adds not to it, takes from it. There is not a mite given in charity on earth, but is recorded for a pound in Heaven; yea, a Cup of cold water flowing from the bowels of Compassion, may so swell, that out of his belly shall flow even Rivers of Living water: There's not a poor man that asks a penny of thee, but thou art so much indebted to him, that in case he commence his Suit in Forma Pauperis, and prefer a Bill in the Chancery of Heaven by way of Petition against thee, it may be feared an Ite Maledicti may issue forth to thy everlasting and inevitable ruin. Thou owest God more for the Poors ask a penny of thee, than they could thee, hadst thou freely given them a pound; for in the one thou owest God praise for the opportunity of doing good; but in the other they have but their own due, and thou dost but thy duty: Wherefore, Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thy hand to do it, Prov. 3.27.   

The contented Spirit.  
Drink waters out of thine own Cistern, and running waters out of thine own Well,  Prov. 5.15. 
DIspleasure not a friend to be a slave to thine own lust, thy rags are Robes with contentation; if thou hast not a mite for the Poor, endow them with thy Prayers; feast on thine own Lentils; quaff thy penitential tears, in stead of luscious wines, and count thy sins in stead of pounds; keep thy thoughts at home, and let not thy ambition climb beyond thy Maker's pleasure; crack not the Miser's heartstrings by countermining policy to rob him of his covetousness: If thou hast a yolk and a shell, never keep house at another man's Table; it's better be a Snail in his shell, than a Lion in a Grate: Give the Devil his due, and plunder no man: Do not cut a purse by Law, nor lay the foundation of thine own curse upon the ruins of another's happiness: Let both eyes be but single-sighted, and let not thy tongue be double-hearted: Rejoice in the wife of thy youth, but let thy Neighbours alone: Drink waters out of thine own Cistern, and running waters out of thine own Well, Prov. 5.15.   

The Arm of Flesh.  
Cursed is he that maketh flesh his Arm,  Jer. 17.5. 
HIs is but a winged prosperity, whose happiness is centred in his riches; and his no stabler honour, whose ambition in the people's breath; the one builds Castles in the air, and the other inhabits them; the one counts himself in heaven, when his neighbour is in hell, or in his debt; the other blesses himself as sufficiently immortal, if some courteous Historian may be purchased to foist his noble acts into the Margin of a Chronicle; the one erects the golden Calf, and the other worships it, both are an abomination to the Lord: For what greater dishonour can be done the Creator, then to attribute his Attributes to the Creature. When the Sword gives Laws, the well-lined bags of the one will prove but pin-proof; and when Death's Herald summons the surrender of the Souls Citadel, titles of Honour will prove but a Cobweb-guard for the other: It is not Armies of men can secure thee in a Famine, nor thousands of Granaries in a Pestilence, nor either of these supply its proper defect if thou rest thereon; whole volleys of prayers, unless levied by the eye of Faith, cannot prevent the incursion of the least of all God's judgements: All the policy of the world knows not how to quench the least flash of Lightning; the highest endowments of the most refined brain, the noblest spirit of the mightiest Champions; the eloquentest beauty amongst Nature's darlings, have not Rhetoric enough to persuade Death to desist, though for an hour: He that speaks by his own eloquence, may gallantly plead the posthaste of his own ruin; he that fights upon his own strength, is in actual war with himself; he that prays by his own spirit, hath them heard by his own ears: Say not then to either of these, This shall be my Sanctuary; for, Cursed is he that maketh flesh his Arm, Jer. 17.5.   

Custom in Sin.  
Can the Blackmore change his skin, or the Leopard his spots? then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil,  Jer. 13.23. 
CUstom is a Law to the wicked, saith Solomon in his wisdom; yet though sin and thou are Twins by nature, let not thy natural corruption practise itself into a habit, lest the Devil claim thee by prescription: Hell hath some title to the Customary sinner, for all such desperate shipwrecks of Faith fall within the Devil's Royalty. To habituate ourselves in evil, is what in us lies to divest ourselves of all possibility of doing good; and he that from the cradle to the crutch sins away an age, may as soon command his grey hairs to resume their youthly colour, as incline a thought to Piety without a Miracle of Mercy: Every Customary sin, like the sin of hypocrisy, hath more than one sin in it, every such sinner keeps the Records of Hell, and is the Devils best Customer: It's easier for the Devil to speak truth, then for the Customary sinner to act it: He that accustoms himself to lie, will sooner perjure his conscience, then confine himself to truths; he that accustoms himself to theft, will sooner be hanged for a rush, then deny himself the guilt of murder to purchase a purse; he that accustoms himself to be drunk, will sooner starve his posterity then be manacled to the rules of sobriety; he that accustoms himself to women, will sooner be poxed, then be wedded to chastity; and he that accustoms himself to swear, will rather be damned then be out of fashion: Can the Blackmore change his skin, or the Leopard his spots? then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil, Jer. 13.23.   

Prevalency in Importunity.  
He had power over the Angel, and prevailed,  Gen. 32.28. 
AWaiting Importunity is the child of Faith, but impatient solicitousness the brat of Presumption: To wrestle with the Lord by believing, is Saintlike, but to fight with him by presuming, Devilish. To the woman of Canaan Christ said, Be it unto thee even as thou wilt; but to Zebedees' wife, Ye know not what ye ask: The graceless Judge who neither feared God nor regarded man, was yet conquered by an Importunate Widow. Let me alone, saith God to Moses, when Israel was at their Calf-Idolatry, as if his importunity had even bound (with reference be it spoken) the hands of the Almighty, and prevailed with him to repent of the evil he intended them, Exod. 32.14. Heaven's gate flies open at the importunity of a Righteous man, where Gods will takes place of ours, and patience hath her perfect work; and again, Heavens windows shall not open for three years and an half together, if Elias pray so, James 5.17. Indeed the Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent only take it by main force of Faith: There is nothing too hard for a zealous Importunity, which is not improper for God to grant, or thee to crave. Faith's wings in prayer flies up the soul towards Heaven, no higher than importunity swiftens them; If without this our prayer be fled Heaven-wards, though it took wing at the heart, it will not light in the bosom. Faith apprehends a fit object, Hope takes level, to both which Importunity becomes that secret virtue which conveys the arrow to the mark: Though jacob's holy Wrestler, when he saw he prevailed not, touched his thigh out of joint, yet his faith remained sound enough to wrestle a blessing from him through the force of his importunity: Thus by his strength he had power with God; yea, He had power over the Angel, and prevailed, Gen. 32.28.   

A Caveat for Charity.  
Take heed that ye do not your alms before men to be seen of them,  Matth. 6.1. 
When thou castest thy bread on the waters, let thy right hand conceal it from the left, for a good work ill done, belies the intention of the Spirit, and scandals the truth of holiness. He that gives his alms to be seen of men, sells the reward of piety, to purchase the curse of pride; the sure promises of God, for the vain applause of men; that the poor are more beholding to his vanity then his charity, whose bounty they highly gratify, if they pray God to forgive him his hypocrisy. In a fit of good nature (if nature can be so) a man may drop an alms or two, but this is mere moral charity; the wretched Canker-worm of mankind may, in hope to do his Coffers right, by taking God's promise for their security, lend the poor an alms upon pawn of his Prayers Interest, but this is mercenary Charity: The gluttonous Epicure, that in his jollity denied the Poor the crumbs he gave his dogs, may on his deathbed erect them an Hospital, but this is thanks-worthless charity; the profane person in his gallantry may be very noble to the poor, but this is vainglorious charity; the Hypocrite may embrace the Poors necessity as his alms opportunity, yet have but Pharisaic charity; the good meaning man may give liberally to the sound Cripple, but this is blind charity; the heart-melting, yet purse-frozen Christian, may give large and fair words, but this is cold charity; and all these shall have their reward: Take heed therefore how ye do your alms, Matth. 6.1.   

The Pharisees Prayer.  
God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, etc.  Luke 18.11. 
A Proud Prayer is a blemished Sacrifice; and he that with this Pharisee justifies himself as righteous when he should confess his sins, worships the unknown God of his Merits, sacrificing his brain to the Calf of his lips, and his Auditors ears to the Dagon of his brain. Self-idolatry is a most exquisite piece of Spiritual witchcraft, it changes the Pulpit to a Stage at the turn of a hand, the breathe of a Spirit into strange Convulsions of Wit; it makes but one thing of Idol and Idolater, but one thing of every vain Babbler and this Pharisee.  
In this Prayer, yea in these few words thereof, where are no less than three lies, and another sin in each, [God,] He meant nothing less, therefore lied, and took the Name of God in vain; [I thank thee] gratitude implies some humility, therefore lied and dissembled that grace which he wanted; [I am not as other men are] another lie accompanied with Spiritual Pride and Arrogancy, beside a running vein of hypocrisy throughout the whole; hence it is, that Simulata Pietas becomes Duplex Iniquitas. What a most gross Pharisee was this? and can any in this age be so ridiculous in the sight of God, or rather superlatively odious to the most High, as with the damned Angels and this Pharisee, to usurp more holiness than God vouchsafes them, and dissemble more then ere was in them: Such an Hypocrite is a Proteus in Religion, that would fain be Canonised for his Tongue-devotion. A fair blazoned Catalogue of good works, is not the Argument of Prayer; nor a long Prayer, the infallible Argument of a good work: Let the Proud Pharisee court Heaven with his compliment, and accost the Lord with thanks that he is not as other men are; but let my Prayer be, Lord, be merciful to me a sinner, Luke 18.13.   

The Key of the Grave.  
And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth,  John 11.43. 
NO wonder he should open another's grave whilst himself lived, that could unlock his own when himself lay dead and buried in it: If Peter can by the power of Christ speak men dead with one word, Acts 5.5. no question but himself can speak them alive again by another: He that hath prevailed o'er the gates of Hell, may easily command the door of the grave; the power that opened the earth to let Corah in, may well open it again to let Lazarus out: The Resurrection shall be anticipated, the Graves shall yield their dead before the time, rather than the power of Christ shall admit dispute for the want of a miracle.  
Draw the Curtain: Art not thou this Lazarus? Lazarus dead and buried? or Lazarus raised and revived? Lazarus had been but four days in the grave, and Martha concludes him to stink, and objects it in bar to Christ's proceed: How many times four years hast thou lain dead and buried in the grave of sin, which may conclude thee also exceeding noisome in the nostrils of God? yet he never objected it as a bar to thy faith: Is not every faculty of thy soul, as well as each member of thy body, by reason of a long continuance among the dead, become all putrified, and nothing but corruption? Is not every sin a grave for one faculty or other? hast thou not as many graves as sins? is there no corruption in thine heart? none in the will? none in the affection? none in the judgement? nay, would you think this Land and Nation were quite rotten, dead and buried? and that it were now but the disturbed ghost of a body Politic, that came to an untimely end by being her own Executioner? would you think that Judicatories, Pulpits, Magistracy and Ministry were all dead, buried, rotten, and full of corruption? I conclude nothing, only offer these things to thy consideration; yet this I say, That supposing a verity in all this, yet if there be faith enough to believe, there is some hope, yea an assurance, That though the soul even-stink again, by reason of Custom in sin, yea, though the Devil himself roll a stone at the door of thy heart, not only to bolt in the corruption that is already there, but also to harden it against the very means of Vivification, yet Christ's blood having cried with a loud voice, Lazarus comes forth, John 11.43.   

Judas his Epitaph.  
From the Ministry and Apostleship Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place,  Acts 1.25. 
THe saddest Epitaph that ever enshrined the memory of a dead Apostle; it seems he was degraded from his Apostleship, before he went to his own place: What, had he a propriety in that place by purchase? doubtless even in this life he had the Livery and Seisin thereof in his conscience, though he were not put into actual Possession till the Conveyances were sealed with his own blood: But what call you this place? where was it seated? how situated? whose was it anciently? was Judas such an eminent person in his country, that Peter could possibly imagine that there could be no man ignorant of that Place, which was so properly his own? no question but the temper of that Expression hath more of the Spirit in it, than a thousand of those uncharitable Ignorations which thunder men to hell ipso verbo, before they understand whether they ever had their teeth set on edge by Judas his Sop, or in their practice consented to the Crucifying of the Lord of glory.  
It's worth an Elegy, seriously to consider on how many of our monumental Sepulchers the Inscription of this Epitaph may rank itself, among the Elegiac Panegyrics of our supposed Worthies: Doubtless if Judas, who confessed the fact and condemned himself, be gone to his own place, such as make repetition of his damnable Doctrine, but equivocate the act and justify themselves, will post after him. By nature we are all the children of wrath and heirs of hell, take heed therefore of going to thy one place; estrange thyself from the place of thy nativity, endeavour for an inoculation into a  family, that when thou art hence departed, posterity passing by thy Monument in the Chronicle of this life, may not read this Epitaph, That thou art gone unto thy place, Acts 1.25.   

The Idolatrous Hosanna.  
And when they heard these say, they were full of wrath, and cried out, saying, Great is Diana of the Ephesians,  Acts 19.28. 
NOthing more perilous to the persons and estates of men, then to maintain a false Religion, when the errors thereof are discovered by the light of the Gospel; herein Demetrius was his Craftsmaster, and rather than the Ephesian Lady shall suffer in her reputation, he will make her free of the Company of Silversmiths, and the learned Town-Clerk shall search the Records to derive her descent from Jupiter, and he as zeaous for the Law, as the other for the Worship: Thus each in his Profession makes his Religion dance to the tune of his own private interests.  
Are there no Mechanical gods among us? none who condemn the Town-Clerk, yet justify Demetrius? that will not refer the matter to the Touchstone of the Law of Gospel? yet cry up the Idol of their own handicrafts institution. Was there a Diana in Ephesus? may I not say there are five for one in England? which bring no small gain unto the Craftsmen: And that each man's Religion may pass for currant money, behold it stamped with Demetrius his Inscription, Great is Diana of the Ephesians, Acts 19.28.   

The Eutychian Sluggard.  
He fell down from the third loft, and was taken up dead,  Acts 20.9. 
IT was a mercy that he scaped so, that the Earth was betwixt him and the bottomless Pit, and that he stopped tumbling before he came into Hell. He is extreme drowsy whose body is not kept from sleeping at that Word, which is able to awaken his conscience, though it slept a nap of an Age long; It seems this sluggard was in no little sleep, whom such a fall could not awaken, for he was taken up dead; he must needs sleep whom the Devil rocks; but undoubtedly, him whom the Lord finds not always watching, the Devil may one day catch napping.  
There are more Sermon-sleepers than Eutychus dreamt of; have you never seen a man sleep at Sermon with his eyes open, but his ears shut? bid such an one repeat you the Sermon, and he'll tell you his dream: have you never observed a man at a Sermon to sleep very attentively, that heard, all, understood, little, and practised nothing: It seems there may be deaf hearers as well as dumb Preachers. Thus there are more ways of sleeping at a Sermon than one, and for him that cannot refrain, it would be less Hypocrisy to go to Hell in a featherbed at home; for Eutychus slept but once that we hear of at a Sermon, yet be fell down from the third lost, and was taken up dead, Acts 20.9.   

Paul's Viper.  
There came a viper out of the heat, and fastened on Paul's hand,  Acts. 28.3. 
What, Come from a wreck at Sea, to perish by a worm on shore? so thought the kind Barbarians; and thence presently conclude, that this Paul had a viperous hand in committing murder, and must suffer, though not by the violence of wind and seas, yet by the venom of this viper or their tongues; though he had no sooner shook hands with the Beast without prejudice, and committed it to the fire without the leust hurt to his little finger, but they instantly fall a deifying him, and then farther transgress by their idolatry, than they had done before by their uncharity.  
It is a courteous piece of Barbarism, to entertain distressed Strangers without charity; and the one half of our notorious Alms we should doubtless find, if the Trumpet were impartially sounded to be scarce equivalent humanity: They endeavour the preservation of his person, but the ruin of his reputation, yet at the turn of a hand are ready to Sacrifice to him. And wherein do we exceed these Barbarians, unless it be by executing as well as condemning the innocent? there is a certain kind of pestilent venom disgorged out of the stomaches of most men, through the overflowings of the gall; better it were that these were purged, then vomited out; for proceeding from the inflammation of an incendiary spleen, it sticks closer to the reputations of men, than the viper which came out of the heat, and fastened upon Paul's hand, Acts 28.3   

The just Man's Anchor.  
The just shall live by faith,  Heb. 10.38. 
NEutrality in a good cause, is a strong argument of a weak faith; and perverse resolvedness in a bad, no shallow Test of deep presumption. In times of persecution, God's promises are the godly man's Sanctuary, who even in the midst of the flames, at once both smiles at the Tyranny, and pities the folly of his Persecutors: the approach of an enemy may fright him from his House, not from his Habitation; his House is in the body, but his home in Heaven: In the hottest pestilence he fears only the infection of sin; and when War produceth a Famine, he feeds on the peace of a good conscience: Though the floods of Confusion inundate the foundation of Magistracy; though the Stars of the Gospel's Firmament fall, and the light thereof be turned even into Egyptian darkness that may be felt; though the Earth yawn to embowel mankind, and the grave starve for want of nourishment; though Hell had no more work left to do, but to tempt and persecute, yet The just shall live by faith, Heb. 10.38.   

The Devil put to flight.  
Resist the Devil, and he will flee from thee,  James. 4.7. 
When Hell's Generalissimo, with Legions of potent temptations, besieges the naked fortress of thy unfortified soul; up, sound an Alarm to thy Faith, press all the graces of the one, and faculties of the other for God's service; levy thy prayers under the Conduct of God's Spirit, list them under the Merit's Banner of the Captain of thy Salvation; look well to the outworks of thy moral actions, but narrower to the inner line of thy treacherous thoughts; round the watch of thy whole man with care and constancy, keep a special watch at three of thy Cinque Ports; let Faith be the Captain of the Main-guard, kept at the door of thy heart; cashier all cowardly thoughts, and such as hold correspondence with the Enemy; let not Hypocrisy as a Spy sneak in and out thy Garrison; let the Watchword be Emmanuel, and let a party of faithful Prayers be ever sallying out, till Relief be sent from Heaven with a supply of Grace in a Sufficiency thereof: Resist the Devil, and he will flee from thee, James 4.7.   

Balaams' Ass.  
The dumb Ass speaking with man's voice, forbade the madness of the Prophet,  2 Pet. 2.16. 
COvetousness is sufficiently detestable in such as wait but on their private callings, far more odious in those that on State-Affairs, but most abominable in those that on the Altar: To dishonour that God which made the earth, for the dross of it, is the ignoblest of ingratitudes; and for the menial servants of the high Lord of heaven and earth, to become the mercenary slaves of men, to discredit that Master whom they pretend to serve, is the inexemplariest precedent of the horridst rebellion. Some have had a strange dream of the Resurrection of Beasts, and thence most grossly held, that Creatures merely Sensitive shall rise again; truly I know no better Argument to back this beast with, then to interpret that opinion to be understood of this dumb Ass, to rise in judgement against the madness of many the supposed Prophets of our days; for though as the tree falls, so he shall lie, yet I cannot say, That he that lives and dies a beast, shall rise so. Time was (I spare the present tense) when many learned Prophets for a mess of pottage sold the truth, to Anathematise the pillars thereof; methinks they are somewhat excusable, for they were mad; the silliest of all Animals here wonderfully qualified, at once both to publish and reprove their Lunacy: Beware then, thou that art in the Lord's Embassy, or oftener in thine own service under that notion, make not a trade of that which may and should be bought without money; neither set the gifts of God to sale; be not tempted by the baits of men to tempt the Almighty, to counterdict his determinate purposes; neither let the rewards of the wicked ensnare thee, to the prejudice of the faithful servants of God, lest they condemn thee of less understanding than the Horse or Mule; for, The dumb Ass speaking with man's voice, forbade the madness of the Prophet, 2 Pet. 2.16.   

The Spirit's Touchstone.  
Believe not every Spirit, but try the Spirits, whether they be of God or no,  1 John 4.1. 
LOok well to thy faith, there are many false Prophets risen up amongst us: Anchor it on firm ground, Religion blows too many ways: All Prophets are not Michaiahs; believe them not one Doctrine the sooner, for circumcising the Text, to come to the Cushion ere the matter, beating it down in stead of sin, and pressing it more than the Point they handle: All Prophets are not Micaiahs; believe them not one Corollary the sooner, for Metaphisicking the Temples into Schools, and learnedly confuting their own Objections, to salve their own Credits more than their Auditors souls: All Prophets are not Micaiahs; believe them not one Sycophantick lie the sooner for their multitude, or the high qualifications of their Chaplainship; King Ahab had four hundred, and a lying Spirit in them all. God's word is the Spirits Touchstone, thereby thou mayest distinguish the Wolf from the Lamb, and the Serpent from the Dove: Commit not thy souls fraight to the faith of every wind, nor thy faith to the wind of every Doctrine, lest thou make Shipwreck of both: Believe not every Spirit, but try the Spirits, whether they be of God or no, 1 John 4.1.   

Simon the Cross-bearer.  
And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name, him they compelled to bear his cross,  Mart. 27.32. 
WE read of no less than four Simons in the Gospel, Simon Peter firnamed Bar-jona, Matth. 16.17. the Fisherman-Apostle, Matth. 4.18. Simon Magus the Samarian Sorcerer, Acts 8.9. Simon Zelotes, Luke 6.15. the Canaanite, Matthew 10.4. and this Simon of Cyrene, Matth. 27.32. who bore that Cross, which bore that Christ who bore our Sins, Isa. 53.11. what a heavy weight was that? were there as many worlds as atoms in this, and each of them multiplied by the highest of numbers, they were all too light to balance the least chip of this Cross: To style him the Gospel- Atlas', is too diminutive an Epithet: What, did Simon bear Christ's Cross? a load that would have made the very Pillars of Heaven and Earth to crack again? No, Christ bore his own Cross; none but himself could bear that Cross, and our Curse; indeed Simon bore that wooden Cross the stony Jews prepared out of Jerusalem's Oaks; and Simons Apes, at this day, bear that Golden Cross the leaden Priests, or Demetrian Romanists, prepare for the Worship of their Ave-Diana: If Simon had born Christ's Cross, he should have been Simon the Martyr of Gyrene; Simon may be said to bear the Cross of Christ, but not Christ's Cross.  
Thus many are erroneously supposed Christ's Cross-bearers, when ofttimes they are no better than Christ's Crucifiers: And thus if a covetous wretch, that is a Piety-pretender, be summoned to disburse for Christ's State-service, he will suffer in person by imprisonment, rather than in his bounty by enlargement; and submit himself to be shut fast, rather than his Coffers to be opened; yet plead Conscience, as if it were that only which is so straight-laced, whereas indeed his purss-strings are shrunk, yet then proclaim himself as one of Christ's Cross-bearers, when mean while, like Covetous Judas, he is but his own Budget-bearer: Monsters in nature there are; if there could be Monsters in Grace, the Hypocrite must be one of the ugliest. All sufferers are not Christ's Cross-bearers, nor all dyers for Religion, Martyrs; But if thou suffer, not in, but for a good cause, and for a good conscience, than art thou one of Christ's happy Cross-bearers: if thou patiently bear reproach, contempt, and the scorn of men for the Gospel's sake, then mayest thou more properly be said to bear Christ's Cross, than the Man of Cyrene, Simon by name, whom they compelled to bear his Cross, Mar. 27.32.   

The Soldiers Mistake.  
They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots,  Mat. 27.35. 
Was there ever a fairer distribution of such sacrilegious plunder? yet who but a Prophet could have thought, that those Robes which apparelled the Son of God, should ever have clothed such impious varlets?  
They parted his garments among them,] There may be Rents, Sects and Divisions in the Church, among the visible members thereof; but the seamless Vesture, Truth, the Churches pure and unblemishable Ornament, maugre the profanest violence of the rudest Soldier, shall ever remain inviolably whole, perfect and entire. Naked wretches! what covert gave these Ornaments to your shameful infidelity? what beauty to your deformity? what lustre to your ugliness? you embrace a Shadow, and let the Substance vanish.  
No wonder the members are left naked, when the body is devested: But are these ignorant Soldiers the only mistaken creatures? are there not others who wear Christ's Livery, yet crucify their Saviour? none who put him to death, that they may part his garments among them? none that wear the costly Ornaments of Ceremonial Worship, yet are naked in regard of the true Ornament of Faith, and the living object thereof? Are there none that rest upon duties, yet murder their Christ in their daily practice? no hypocrites, that put on the outside of Religion, yet line it with Martyr-Scarlet? none that garb themselves according to the season of the times, and temper of Promotions Clime, wearing that Religion which is most in fashion, though never so unbeseeming the quality of a true Christian, or unfit for the soul that wears it, cutting the size of their Conscience by the measure of their ambition, not their Religion by the rule of God's Word? Are there none who seem to put on Christ's Livery at every duty, at every Sermon, on every Sabbath, yea at every meal, yet divest themselves of the garments of his Righteousness? Thus all the world's mistaken: The Soldier's was an ignorant mistake, but ours a wilful; they left the substance for the shadow, we take the shadow for the substance: What's the difference? they crucified one Christ, we new make another; they out of the rude deportment incident to their profession, part among them his garments whom they crucified; we, by the dirt of our hypocritical performances, bespatter his garments whom we profess to hollow: All which is now come to pass, that it might indeed be fulfilled what was spoken by the Prophet, They parted my garments among them, and on my vesture did they cast lots, Psal. 22.18.   

The learned Babbler.  
Then certain Philosophers of the Epicureans, and of the Stoics, encountered him; and some said, What will this Babbler say?  Acts 17.18. 
What makes Paul at Athens? knew he not that the Inscription of Antiquity on the one side, and the Teste of the Learned stamped on the other, makes a currant Religion of the grossest Superstition? knew he not, that he was to buckle with a whole Academy of Idolaters, and that nothing obstructed the propagation of the Gospel, in the purity and simplicity thereof, so much as the unsanctified superfluities of Humane wisdom? Grant this, yet were there any Lectures of Jesus in the Attic Schools? or had the body of Philosophy any knowledge of a Resurrection? or could it Syllogistically conclude a Trinity of Persons from the premises of one most absolute, pure, simple, undivided Divine Essence? This was a mystery too Metaphysical for the profoundest Sophies in Athens; thence say they, Let us hear what this babbling fellow will say.  
And are there no English Athenians, that hold the spirituality of Gospel-discourse to be mere babbling? the preaching of Jesus to be the setting forth of some strange God, or some new Doctrine? little dream our Holiday Formalists, that there is any Athenianism in their Devotions, whilst they value the sincere, plain, and uninticing words of the wisdom of God, but as the preterfluous evacuations of overcharged clouds, and the demonstrations of the Spirit, but as the Ignis Fatuus of a Superzealous Comet▪ Little dream our Eutychian Sermon-sleepers, that they are guilty hereof, when they nod it as plainly and distinctly as ever any Athenian spoke it: Little think our Philosophical Longobards, our universal Scholasticks, Learnings Standards, that their self-elation contracts this guilt, when Idolising their own endowments, Herod-like they sacrilegiously rob God of that honour which is his, by casting the Cobweb veil of their usurped Hosannas over Natures more refined qualities, to detract from the Fountain of Wisdom, from the wisdom of the Highest; insomuch, as were Paul himself to be sent in a second message, they would boldly accost him with this Salutation, What will this Babbler say? Acts 17.18.   

The Athenian Inscription.  
As I passed by and beheld your devotions, I found an Altar with this Inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD; whom ye ignorantly worship,  Acts 17.23. 
THis nigh seems no less Atheistical than Superstitious: To disacknowledge the known God, may stand as a Maxim in Atheism; to acknowledge the unknown God, as a Paradox in Superstition: To worship we know not what, is the centre of all Idolatry: and as Atheism stands at the right hand of Profaneness, so Superstition on the blind side of Ignorance: No wonder Ignorance is held the Mother of Devotion, when any thing becomes the Idol of Ignorance. Ask the mere nominal Christian, the morally religious man, that to gain heaven will not have his Religion tread out of his Ancestors steps, for fear of profaning their Canonised dust; nor that heaven should suffer the least violence by him, lest himself suffer the stigm of Sect or Schism in the Pot-opinions of his right-elbow friends; that will not omit morn or evening prayer, for fear he should not with a quiet conscience use his accustomed liberty in the intervals; ask this man's Prayer, whose Superscription hath it? if the God were Known, I doubt we might read Duty on the Altar, and Infidelity in the Heart: Ask the Ignorant soul what Inscription is on his Altar, whence so much strange incense is vanished into smoke; he knows not whither, and you will find this Inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD, on the altar of his heart, or David was no Prophet, Psal. 14.1. Who thought the fool such a cordial Atheist? or Ignorance such a zealous blind devotist? it seems Superstition and Atheism are very near allied: O that the Lord, when he passeth by and beholds our Devotions, may not find Altars with this Inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD, whom we ignorantly worship, Acts 17.23.   

The Female-Preacher.  
Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands, that if any obey not the word, they may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives,  1 Pet. 3.1. 
THe Female-preacher! what new preposterous Doctrine is that? doth not the Apostle writing to the Corinthians, silence that Sex in the Church, 1 Cor. 14.34. and thence issue a peremptory inhibition? saith he not in the following verse, that It is a shame for women to speak in the Church? how stands it then with the modesty of their Sex? are there in these latter days such effusions of Spirit, as women may now wear a Pulpit, to make that their glory, which primitively was their shame? 'tis so without a paradox in the Economics of Divinity; a sweet and gracious conversation, doth Preach most excellent Gospel-Doctrine; a virtuous life, is a visible word of truth, it takes God for the Text, Truth for the Doctrine, and Holiness for the Use; it doth Preach in its practice, yea so powerfully, that ofttimes faith cometh by seeing: The virtuous conversation of the wife, doth sometimes prove a happy Sermon to the husband; modesty in her, will Preach chastity to him; her saying little, reproves his rage; her wise home-keeping, is an use of conviction to his sociable profuseness; her charity condemns his Nabalism; her circumspection, doth most powerfully press the point of Parental Providence, and oft prevents the husband from turning Infidel or worse; her tenderness doth teach him kindness; and when she preaches love to him, she takes the Text out of her own Obedience: The practice of her subjection to him, doth Preach the duty of his to Christ; and indeed he preacheth best, that best practiceth: To practise the Sermon we hear, is the best way of repeating it; but to repeat the Sermon we see, is the ready way to practise it: Such a visible Sermon, is every graceful action proceeding from a virtuous and obedient wife; and if ever the devout Conversation of the wife prove the savour of life unto life for the husband; if ever the wife of his bosom procure him a place in Abraham's, all her piety to her God must be attended on with discreet loyalty to her husband, else in vain had the Apostle enjoined Wives to be in subjection to their own husbands, that if any obey not the word, they might without the word be won by the conversation of the wives, 1. Pet. 3.1.   

Crumbs from the Table.  
But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and cast it to dogs: And she said, Truth, Lord; yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master's table,  Matth. 15.26,27. 
CHrists Offals are a feast to the humble soul, where there is a hungry faith, whereas his rarest dainties are but nauciated by the proud and full-fed Christian: Faith without humility flies up the soul to the Pinnacle of Presumption, and humility without faith oft lights it in the Valley of Despair: The children and the dogs must not sup at one Table; Christ is no Gospel-pearl for Swine, Legion is more welcome to such a Herd, than he to such a Legion. To this latter Age of ours, indeed times dotage, to this old decrepit bow-backed world is served in Christ's second course, the choicest rarities of Gospel-truths; but we have so apishly alamoded even our very palates, and so adulterated the substantial food of wholesome Doctrine, by the leaven and saucy Compounds of our own Traditions, that our poor souls do even starve, whilst our consciences surfeit; such is the scarcity of nutrifactive Truths under such plentiful varieties of new-dressed dispensations: When servants feast it, woe be to the children's bread; when Steward's feast dogs with the children's bread, who hungers for the master's crumbs? where's now the Master's Table? who keeps forth the Lords house? is there no provision made for the Lords Table? where are the Stewards? is there a dearth in Heaven? is not that sheet which epitomised the Creation for Peter's appetite, Acts 10.11,12. broad enough to cover the Lords Table for our faith? or are there no Guests at leisure to sup with the Lord? happily this man hath bought a piece of England, that man a yoke of Offices, the third happily hath married a wife of his own canonising; but are there no poor souls in the highways, no maimed consciences, that on their recovery would rejoice at the crumbs which fall from this Table? its worth our tears to acquaint the Master, how those sharp-set doglike appetites, which were not worthy the crumbs of his Table, have in revenge snarled his Table into crumbs; yet It is not meet to take the children's bread and cast it to such dogs, though the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master's table, Matth. 15.26,27.   

The Camel travelling through the needle's eye.  
It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, then for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God,  Matth. 19.24. 
IS Heaven's gate less than a needle's eye? no wonder few there be that find it, Matth. 7.14. or is it the rich man's greatness that obstructs his passage and denies him entrance? indeed our Saviour entitles the Poor to a propriety in this Kingdom, Luke 6.20. and it's the only inheritance that usurping Ahabs could never yet plunder from our poor and innocent Jezreelites. But why so difficult a thing for rich men to enter heaven? because so facile a thing for hell to enter them. Though it be even a Proverb with Solomon, Prov. 14.20. That the rich hath many friends, yet he may not expect to be Abraham's bosom-friend; there's not a drop of water for him in heaven, who hath not a crumb of bread for Lazarus on earth. 'Tis possible that Creatures of a larger bulk than Camels, may by the dexterity of the Artist pass through a needle's eye in some exquisite acupicture piece; so you may find the Portrait of a rich man in the picture of a parable, but a great gulf-wide from heaven: It is the invelleity of the Creature, which oft times renders that impossible, which in itself is feazible; and if Heaven were an earthly Paradise, or Eternity could be rated and purchasable at twenty years' value, the rich being here but Tenants at Will, at most for Term of Life, it should cost them an Hospital, but their souls should have a reversion in Heaven; were that transparent anonimity, 1 Cor. 2.9. and 2 Cor. 12.4. but penetrable by such blunt and sensual dross: Go to now ye rich men, weep and howl, etc. Jam. 5.1. Indeed without are dogs, Rev. 22.15. what sad news is this? news more desperate than a Bankrupts debt; Is there no possibility of entrance into heaven for the rich? hath that Saint, whom the Romanists idolise as the Clavis of Heaven, wept out all his Apostasy, yet no room but at the Italian Ephisus for a little bribery? have the Mammonists on earth nothing to do with Heaven's Exchequer? dare we say such a man is not in Heaven because he died rich? God forbidden; our Saviour never superfluated any Truth; he saith, A rich man shall hardly enter into heaven, Matth. 19.23. but all difficulties imply a possibility; and if but a grain of faith can cause Mountains of earth to skip into the Sea, Matth. 17.20. & 21.21. can it not as easily convey a few earthworms into heaven? only it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, then for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God, Matth. 19.24.   

Rabbi, Rabbi.  
Then spoke Jesus to the multitude, and to his Disciples, saying, The Scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses seat, etc. and love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi,  Matth. 23.1,2,6,7. 
AS there is not a vainer puff of pride, then hypocritical humility; so there is not a more ridiculous piece of folly, than a serious affected gravity, where ambition is worn with the wrong side outward: The People's Hosanna bred Vermin in Herod, that he became even wormsmeat above ground, Acts 12.23. and 'twas the Scribes impudence to have that Chair for their Pulpit, which cost the ambitious Sons of Levi a Journey under ground, Numb. 16.32. Though it be not denied but they were learned Expositors of the Law, yet we see not what niceties thereof they or their surviving hanging-sleeves at this day, can plead in Bar to that Action of Damage, which the poor man's Advocate hath commenced against them in Mat. 23.4. The Jews Proverb was, The People of the Land are the footstool of the Pharisees: ours may be, The footstool of the People are the Pharisees of the Land. The Scribes were the Law-Criticks; The Pharisees Gospel-mimicks; The Scribes being Lawyers, made no conscience of washing their hands after a bribe, as the other before a feast, Mark 7.3. nor with much difficulty obtained the Hypocrites portion; but the Pharisees took more pains for eternal pains, and were more exact in going to Hell: It would nonplus a Synagogue of Rabbis, to riddle whether they were more swollen with Ambition, or over-scurfed with hypocrisy: It is not worth one dram of Super-rational Faith, to believe the lying Spirit in Ahab's Prophets, was no other than the Spirit of Naboth, whom he had formerly slain; yet the creating Vote of this Supercilious Generation, is sufficient to Enact it in the Talmud for a tradition of faith to Posterity: Those whited-Sepulchres, would far better become a Charnel-house than Moses Seat. They had an excellent faculty of paying Tithe to a grain, but, Woe to widows Houses when they said their Prayers; It was their charity to loud Music, that made them ambitious of it to the Poor: Their devotion was very zealous for the Chief Seats in the Synagogues, and the uppermost Room was their best Cheer at a Feast, where they had a very good stomach to feed on the Chair at the Tables end: If this generation of Vipers can answer our Saviour, how they can escape the damnation of Hell, Matt. 23.33. then let those blind guides be greeted in our Markets (as too frequently they are) with the idolatrous salutations of Rabbi, Rabbi.   

Peace, be still.  
And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still: and the wind ceased, and there was a great calm,  Mark 4.39. 
Whilst Christ slept, the winds awaked; whilst he lay down, the storm risen: when Christ arose, the winds fell; and when he spoke, they held their peace: when Christ took his rest, the Ship took none; but silence commanded, and the Winds, the Sea, the Ship, and all are pacified: Where's the miracle? Shall not the Sea become a standing Pool, when he rebukes the wind, at whose rebuke the waters were unchanelled, and the foundations of the world discovered? Psal. 18.15. shall not the troubled Ocean become a bed of rest for him, who layeth the Beams of his Chambers in the Waters? Psalm 104.3. or shall not he bridle the wind, who maketh the clouds his Chariot, Psal. ibid. shall not he that brings the winds out of his Treasuries, Psalms 135.7. whistle them back again? shall not he clip the wings of the wind that flies thereon? Psalm 18.10. shall not that stormy wind fulfil his word, Psalms 148.8. whose word fills full the wind with storms? Psalm 107.25. shall not his voice still the Seas, Psalms 65.7. at whose presence the Earth trembles? Psalm 18.7. shall not he that giveth snow like wool, Psalm 147.16. scatter the Sea-froth like ashes? shall not his path be plain, Psal. 27.11. whose way is in the sea? Psal. 77.19. No wonder his mercy should still the surface of the waves, Psal. 65.7. whose wrath shakes the foundation of the hills? Psal. 18.7. Say then the world were all afloat with blood, and in unconstant motions; say Antichristianism blew a storm, that whilst the Master-Pilot seemed to have slept, the doubtful Mariners, shifting the sails of their Religion with the wind of every doctrine, had anticipated their danger by the self-shipwrack of their own faith; say Truth, the Churches Cargaison, lay at the mercy of the insulting waves, or tumult of the People, Psal. 65.7. say all the blood from righteous Abel to Zacharias, slain between the Temple and the Altar, emptied itself into the bloody Ocean of these latter ages, Cannot he that turned the Red-sea into dry Land, Psalm 66.6. repeat one wonder in a Gospel-season? say the East and Western storms of persecution, together with intestine whirlwinds, threaten inevitable ruin to the distressed Vessel, cannot that High Lord, to whom the wind and sea own their Allegiance, silence those Euroclydons, sponge those impetuous Waves, and land his Ark upon the Ararat of his holy Hill in Zion? or say the State, full freighted and deep loaden with the invalluable riches of that long-acquiring, yet perishable treasure of all Civil Happiness, were in the Bedlam-surges of a Civil War, so tossed and fluctuated by the violence of factious winds and gusts of Machivilianism, that all the Steersmen seemed beside their Compass, and every common Mariner ready to make Ship-wreck of a good conscience on the open ledges of most desperate profaneness, or invisible Quicksands of some dangerous Opinion; yet he before whom all nations are as nothing, Isa. 40.17. can soon annihilate the stirs of one: he that stilleth the noise of the Waves, can quickly appease the madness of the People, Psal. 65.7. if he touch the Hills they smoke, Psal. 104.3. and if he touch the heart (though as hard and lofty as the other) shall it not melt? Doubtless, he that rebuked the wind, and gave to the sea his decree, Prov. 8.29. can as easily muzzle the rage of wicked men, and say to the Church, Peace; and to the State, Be still.   

The Charitable Martyr.  
And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge; and when he had said this, he fell asleep,  Acts 7.60. 
A Good evening Prayer to bedward, a set form of charity, not unworthy our every night's practice, if Stephen's heart be our bedfellow: To forgive an Enemy, is the gallantest way of conquering; and he that can die pardoning his persecutors, survives their malice in his immortal charity: Revenge justifies a wrong, but patiented forgiveness heaps coals of fire on the Marble-wretch, till by confession, through the repercussions of a self-inditing conscience, he drops out all the blood he formerly had sucked, and his frozen heart be throughly dissolved. Behold this soft-hearted, though stoned Saint, call him Stephen the Baptist to Christ's death, Luke 12.50. Mat. 20.23. this Pelican of Martyrs, how to the life he dies in charity: Not to bless them which curse us, is the ready way to double that curse upon us; and by the not forgiving such as trespass us, we not only unpray our prayers, and deprecate our own happiness, but we pray God we may be damned; we endeavour to delude God by our fraudulent petitions, we give ourselves the lie, and the world our hypocrisy. To forget an injury, is more than nature can promise, yet to forgive it, is less than charity commands or grace can perform; for to pray for an Enemy implies more than forgiveness, and any thing less than forgiveness implies nothing less than revenge: To forget injuries is the best use we can make of an ill memory; to forgive them, is a capital sign of true charity; but to do good for evil, is the happy evidence of sound Religion: Since 'tis no Comet among the vapours of this age, to account him a man of the best stomach, that can digest least wrongs, let this stand for no Paradox, That the meekest mind hath the highest Spirit, Psal. 127.6. An injury well remembered, is ill retained, and half revenged; If ever thou hope thy charity should live after thee, let the injuries of others die before thee; and if ever thou expect thy blood should cry [How long Lord?] under the Altar, let it cry [Forgive Lord] over thy Grave: Thus Stephen kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge; and when he had said this, he fell asleep, Acts 7.60.   

Reliance on Providence.  
Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or what shall we drink? or wherewithal shall we be clothed? for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things,  Mat. 6.31,32. 
NOt to believe God, is to give him the lie; and not to acquiesce in his Promises, doth as well dispute the point of his Power, as question the infallibility of his Truth: Gods promises are the Patrimony of the faithful, whereby they keep heaven in hand, but let out the lower world to inferior Peasants: God's Providence is the younger brothers Inheritance, and a fair one too, or joseph's Vice-Royalty, Gen. 41.40. was but a dream. Rather than Elijah shall want a Providence to feed him in a famine, or Samson the like to feast him, the Raven of Fowls shall be a Cater for the one, and the Lion of Beasts an Epulary for the other; yea, the Lion and the Raven, though the prey-Creatures of earth and air, yet seek their meat of God, Psal. 104.21. and 147.9. whereas the earthly minded (who know no better Providence than their own) make a god of their Meat, Phil. 3.19. a whole flock of such Peacocks, that glory in their train, is not worth one Sparrow, which lights not on ground without a conveyance of Providence: If Solomon's gallantry came short of those withering blushes, that but enamell'd the earth, well worth the trusting is that Providence, with the care of that earth he refined for the superscription of his own image, to enamel it with the graces of his Spirit. To call this unhappy accident, or that unexpected circumstance, the issue of Chance or Fortune, is but a rustic piece of sophistical Atheism: There's not a hair of thy head but is placed to account in the the Diary of Providence, the number whereof though incalculable, yet comes far short of balancing the summa totalis of thy sins: And though for want of better spectacles, that seems Chance in respect of us, which is Providence in respect of God; yet that Sect of Understanders, who refer all things to Gods absolute will in a way of fatal necessity, do as much calumniate that superintendent Attribute of his Mercy, as the other detract from the irresistability of his Power: If thou wouldst live by Providence, take God to his Word; for Providence without a promise, may be large Bounty without the least mercy: Now, all his promises are Yea and Amen: Therefore take no thought what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, or wherewithal, etc. Matth. 6.31,32.   

See thou do it not.  
And I fell at his feet to worship him; and he said unto me, See thou do it not,  Rev. 19.10. 
'TWas well prevented; the Prophetical Divine was within a foot of Idolatry: There was but an Almost between Agrippa and a Christian, and there was no more between John and an Idolater; the one had almost overtaken, by his Faith, that Scribe or discreet respondent in the Gospel, travelling on the Dromedary of his works to the Kingdom of God, from which he was not far, Mat. 12.34. the other was as fast posting to the Kingdom of Satan, had he not in the way, when he fell, stumbled on a Vide ne feceris. Had not the Angel entered a caveat, the Divine had proved a most false Will-worshipper; thus he that was so well seen in the visions of God, was dazzled with too much light.  
And are not the Saints then much engaged to those Sacrilegious Idolists of the western Babylon, for doing them more honour than Angels dare admit of; indeed, unless their worship were better, it's no matter who had it, if God could be so satisfied. Idolatry is the Epidemical sin of the world; there's scarce a Nation this side Heaven, a people in any Nation, a profession in any people, a person in any profession, a soul in any person, or a faculty in any soul, to whom it may not be said, See thou do it not. Not to do what we are commanded, is Disobedience or Rebellion; to do what we are not commanded, uperstition; & to do what we ought, in that way we ought not, Idolatry: If we worship the true God in a false way, we make an Idol of God; if we worship a false god in the true way, we make a god of an Idol. Indeed, all thoughts cogitable, all words articulable, and all actions performable by the Creature, as they tend either to the honour or dishonour of the Creator, so have they in them a true worship, or downright Idolatry: For Covetousness, which is idolatry, Col. 3.5. may not be measured only by thy purse-strings, but dilates itself to all the evils man naturally covets to commit: Thus the whole world makes but one Idol; to our Saviour it was the Devil's gratituity, if he would condescend to worship him; to us it is the Devils Dagon which he hath set up for all People, Nations and Languages, at the sound of the enchanting Music of his temptations, to fall down and worship, or be cast into the burning fiery Furnace of Persecution; and where shall we find a trusty Daniel? indeed we have many that will burn, rather than fall to the least superstition; yet take them out of the road of notorious idolatry, and let the Idol be compounded of Spiritual Pride, invisible Covetousness, Equivocated Love to earthly Temporals, or any other materials of their own Ingredients and Erection, and you shall find Christendom nonplused to parallel such a Trinity of unidolatrous Children: insomuch that as the corrupter ages have been ever bowing to the great Idol of Antichristianism, which mystical Nabuchadnezzar hath set up; so the more refined times to the brazen Serpent in their own hearts, those dregs of remaining corruption, to which the most superstitionless Saint would fall down, worship, and finally Sacrifice, did not the Angel of the Covenant by his Spirit intervene with a See thou do it not, Rev. 19.10.   

The mad Prodigal.  
And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of, etc.  Luke 15.17. 
ANd when he came to himself] Why, whither went this younger brother? how far had he been from himself? truly he had been with Swine; you may guests what his Profession was, when he parted from sober company; he asked leave of his father, to take leave of himself, and parted from himself, when he bad reason adieu: That charity gins at home, was the first thought that came to the Prodigal, after the Prodigal came to himself; and it was a happy escape, that during his desperate Lunacy for want of Acorn husks, he had not made use of an Oaken bough: He began to go out of himself, when first he would fain be his own man; but when he came again to himself, he was half way home to his own happiness: He begged hearty for his own curse, when he first asked his Father's blessing; and had not the swine fared the better of the two, the herd should be drowned ere himself would cry Peccavi.  
Swine and Drunkards, meet Companions; Swine and Lustmongers, very fit Sty-fellows, Hogs and Epicures, Boars and Hell-Stalions, Sows and Harlots, Pigs and Prodigals; pity such proper English that runs so naturally, should ever know any other construction then what the nature of the beast admits.  
Though this be but a Parable, yet here's a Parent and a Prodigal, a Blessing and a Curse, an elder and a younger brother, a faithful and unfaithful servant, a penitent child, and a pardoning Father, a self-justifying servant, yet a wise rewarding Master; indeed the whole mystery of man's Salvation: In which Parable, He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto his Conscience; and unless he resolves to die in this Bedlam, and perish in the other, he will be of this Prodigals mind, When he came to himself, and said, etc. Luke 15.17.   

The true Ornament.  
Whose adorning, let it not be that outward adorning, of plaiting the hair, etc. But let it be the hidden man of the heart,  1 Pet. 3.3,4. 
HOw? is not plaiting the hair a commendable Ornament? with what deformed beauties then is this Age disfigured? how handsomely it makes itself ugly? what pains it takes to be ridiculous? better the brain were out of his place, than the excrescency thereof, or the whole head ache, than one hair not well: How many happy Good-morrows might the soul bid itself, by ask blessings of her heavenly Father, whilst she stands sacrificing the precious Morn to the Idol in the Looking-glass? how many Virgin-Oraizons might be early up at heaven, whilst the ingenious fancy is so zealous at new-modelling that careful careless Love-lock, or the Woodcock's snare, as if there were some Gordian Magic in each curl? But doth this refer only to the Feminine? then is this Age Hermophrodited; is not he the most admired Comet, that can be most fantastic? Some are so well read in the Glass and Comb, as to divide a hair, and again reconcile them with a wet finger, others curl them with a powder; doubtless both these do stand very much on their heads; no wonder their Brain-shell is so addle, when the choicest of their Intellects walk with its heels upward, that the whole Microcosm can espy no other Horoscope then that of the Antipodes: You may guests the substance of what's within, by the dust of what's without; and if ever a Wit did put a Solecism upon his own brain, 'twas when he first went to School to adorn his head on the outside, for every sober man wears his head with the wrong side outward; but he whose head came newly out of a Mill-sack, makes more of the offals of his Cranium, than the brain itself is worth.  
And is this then the grave Christians Ornament? Away, you that profess piety, blazon no more vanity, such dusty cobwebs are no metal for the Helmet of your Salvation; be not so vainly ingenious in dressing but a Virmins Forest, with such odoriferous curls; 'tis but a spans length off, and other Virmin by the dust and oyncture of your own rottenness shall do it for you: Shall not he that covereth himself with a cloud, Lam. 3.44. that putteth on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and is clad with zeal as with a cloak, Isa. 59.17. send baldness in stead of well-set hair? Isa. 3.24. and smite with a scab the crown of the head? ver. 17. he that clothes the grass of the field shall strip thee naked: If ever therefore thou hopest to put on the garments the four and twenty Elders wear about the Throne, Rev. 4.4. or if ever thou expectest to be clothed with immortality of bliss, away with the bravery of your tinkling Ornaments, with the wimples and the crisping pins, Isa. 3.18,22. the Prophet there compares your Cauls and Tires to the Moon; no wonder sober minds conclude you Lunatic.  
And you that are the Amazons of the Age, but of the Masculine-Gender, that take your pastime in War, yet walk as if shod with the preparation of the Gospel of Peace; if you must needs wear Arms in Haltionian days, put on the Shield of Faith, the Breastplate of Righteousness, and the Helmet of Salvation; Belt yourselves with the Girdle of Truth, but do not draw the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, out of any other Scabbard than the Scriptures: This is that true Ornament, which becomes every sober, wise, grave, modest and true Christian, Whose adorning, let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, etc. But let it be the hidden man of the heart, 1 Pet. 3.3,4.   

News from the Grave.  
They have taken away the Lord out of the Sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him,  John 20.2. 
TAken him away! did the high Priests bribed Soldiers tell her so? what incredible News is this? none but a Sadduce will believe it: Thou art mistaken, Marry, the Lord was never there; there's no circumscription by a Sepulchre of him that fills Heaven and Earth; though a Manger cradled the Babe, no Grave can comprehend the Lord; was this Sepulchre larger than Solomon's Temple? or will he whom the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain, 1 Kings 8.27. be confined by a few clods of earth? Indeed, the Angel bade the two Maries, See the place where the Lord lay, Matth. 28.6. but the Lord himself told the Thief, To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise, Luke 23.43. Thus the body of the Lord was in the Grave, but not the Lord of the Body.  
If the Resurrection be such a mystery of Faith to such as were Cotemporaries with the First-fruits thereof, Acts 23.26. no wonder now 'tis such a miracle of Grace to practise the Faith thereof: If the case of non-Resurrection doth undistinguish the reasonable soul from Bruits, no marvel the Sadduces of this Age are such beasts to deny it; yet if Christ's own Disciples in this high point of Faith, could scarce believe their eyes, 'tis more than an O Altitudo of Mercy, if the news at Jerusalem pass for currant at the other end of the world: 'Tis an unsavoury Quaere, to ask with what body Lot's wife shall arise; and but a shallow Hypothesis, whether Aaron's Rebels, or Aaron's two Sons, shall rise first: He that surfeits himself to death with the luscious Mummia of another man's Corpse, shall doubtless bring out of the Grave as much as he carried in, yet the other rise never the leaner: Though he surfeited with the others Epigastrium, or happily died with a piece of his belly in his mouth, yet do not think that he shall rise with two Diaphragmes, or the other be answerable as a Murderer for the body he destroyed, after he was dead: The veriest Cannibal in all Tartary shall rise but with one body, though a thousand be incorporated with him; and if ever there come any Feminine Mummia out of Egypt to the Drugster's shambles, thou mayest eat it without the least danger of rising an Hermaphrodite: That such Parables are incredible with the highest mere Naturalists, is no news to the weakest Christian, who hath more grace then to doubt what he hath no reason to believe: If there be such a Sadduce in England, as to deny the Resurrection, he must needs be beholding to a Pythagorean Metempsychosis, to bespatter one Heresy with the dirt of another; for, admiting that ridiculous old Fable of the Souls progress from one body to another by Traduction, from such absurd premises might possibly follow, the conclusion of the world's non-conclusion to the perpetuation thereof, to prevent a Resurrection: It is not without all controversy, whether the Christian demi-Jews of late, or the Jewish demi-Christians of old, are deepest buried in the Ignorance of a Resurrection; they took our Saviour to be John the Baptist, or Elias, or one of the Prophets, as if one of their souls were passed by a kind of Transmigration into our Saviors body; these take. Paul, or Apollo, or Cephas to be our Saviour, as if his very Personality were passed by a Mystical Union into one of their Souls: Thus the naked Ignorance of any Fundamental Truth, ever ends in Heresy; which Heresy persisted in, ever concludes in blasphemy: It was Mary's complaint here upon a mistake, That they had taken away the Lord out of the Sepulchre, and she knew not where they had laid him: Methinks I hear Mary's echo at this hither end of the world (may it be but the like mistake) resounded by many of us that pretend to look so much after him; viz. That they have taken away the Lord out of the Sanctuary, and we know not where they have laid him.   
FINIS.   

Imprimatur  
1ᵒ Martii, 1649. Joseph Caryl.