( 39l dogs ~ or ask you for money ' and cafl it ini:odie dirt : anddo I thus ;n hundred and an hundred times over, would you go on e-o £ive it them becaufe they cry for it ? · 0 Sirs, that you could but ufe your Re~fon in.the matters for which it was given youbyY?nr Mak~r !' Etther ttme ~nd mercy is wonh fomething or nothmg: lf 1t be worth nothtng, nevt:r · beg for it and nev~r be fad when it is taken from you. Why make you'fuch a fiir for that which is nothing worth? (I mean your corporal mercies, for fpiritual mercies you can be too well content to be without) But if they~e -,orth any thing, why do - you cafi them away, and make no better ufe of them ?-What:· good do you with them ? or ~haq~ood ~o they do you?_Belie!e it finners, God doth notdefptfe hts merctc:s as you do. ~He wlll n~t alway give you meat, and drink , and health; and firengtb, . and life, to play with, and do nothing with.. Hewill teach you better to value them before he bath done.with you. Not that he thinks them too good for you ; but he would tia ve them bebetter to you then you will let them be. He would have every bit you·. eat, to be ufed eo firengchen you in yoar walkw heaven, and every hour of your time ro help you towards eternal happinefs,., and every prefent mercy to further your everla.fl:ing mercy ; that fo by the improvement, their value may ·be advanced, and they may be mercies indeed to you. Be ruled by God, and you fuall . receive more in one mercy, then you do now in a thoufand. But – !f you will do nothing with them, blame him not if he take them \· from you, and leave you defl:itute of what you knew not how to ufe. Nayyom fin isgreater -th~n meerly to cafi aw.:ryyour merciu: : You do not only lofe them , but turn them all into a cnrfe , and: und!J your fouls with that which is given for the fuflentation of · your bvdies : While you know n0 better ufe of mercies, then to . pleafe your fenfes , and accommodate the fle:fu, and forget the One thing nudful,.which is the -End of all, you turn them all into , fin, and fight againll: God by them',and fire.ngchen hi's enemy and your own, and block up your way to Heav-en by them; and rrea- -– fu:re u~ wrath for rhe dreadful day, ·when yourweal rh fhall be a Witnels againfi you, and fball eat your flefh as it were fire~ ram. J, 2, 3; Rom. 2. 5. .You conremptuoufly caft that bread t() ogs, whichhegive£h you to fupply your own necdfitics :You ~n~acheroufJy carry over his p1~ovifion w the.enemy. Confider ~Di~i,
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