LIFE OF FAITH. 445 Author and Finisher of our faith ; who, for, the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him that en- dured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wea- ried; and faint iri your mind ;" Heb. xii. 2, 3. You maywell' endure the buffeting and scorn, if you foresee the honor. You may well endure the crown of thorns, ifyou foresee the crown-of glory : you may endure to be forsaken of all, if you see him that will never fail you nor forsake you. This foretaste of the rivers of pleasure with the Lord, will drown the taste of vinegar and gall. Whine not like worldlings that have Iost their portion, when you are stripped as bare as Job. If you are true believers, you have all still, for God is All; you have lost nothing, for faith bath made the world as nothing to you ; and will you whine and vex_yourselves for nothing? Can you call it nothing so frequently and easily in your prayers, and ordinary speech, and do you now recall this, or tell us, by your serious grief, that- you speak but in hypocrisy and jest. ' Frangitur nemo molestiâ adver- sorum, qui non capitur delectatione prosperorum.' August. Had there been less idolatrous love, there would have been less tor- menting grief and care. Our life consisteth not in the abundance of the things that we-possess. He is not happy that bath them, but he that neither needeih nor desireth them. ' Cum in his quæ honrines eripiunt, optant, custodiunt, nihil invenerisi non dico quod malls, sed quod velis.' Sen. Superfluity doth but burden and break down : the corn that is too rank lodgeth ; and the branch- es break that are overladen with fruit. ' Omnia quæ superfluunt nocent: segetem nimia sternit ubertas :, rami onere fraguntur,, ad maturitatem non pervenit fcecunditas Idem quoque animis event, quos immoderata prosperitas rumpit; quia non tantum in aliorum Injuriam, sed etiam in suam utuntur.' Sen. It is pleasure, and not pain, that is the world's most deadly sting. It hath never so much hurt us, as when it bath flattered us into delights or hopes. '' Et fera et piscis spe aliqua oblectante decipitur.' Sen. Hope is the bait, prosperity and pleasure the net, that souls are ordinarily in- snared by. Men lose not their souls for poverty, but for riches; nor for dishonor, but for honor; nor for sorrow, but for delight. " Luxuriant animi rebus -plerumque sécundis." The luxuriances of .prosperity bring us so frequently under the pruning-hook. The surfeits and summer fruits of fullness and carnal'contentnients and delights, do put us to the trouble of our sicknesses and our physic. " How hardly shall rich men enter into heaven!" saith he that well knewwho should enter. Saith Augustine, ' Difficile, immo impossibile est, ut pr£esentibus et fu-
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