Bolton - Houston-Packer Collection BX9339.B65 A2 1641

158 Genera rdirectorsfor4 the entertainement ofthem, wee muff receive them , as men doehoney, with the tip of the `ringer, not with a full hand. By no meanesought we toengage, and as it were, to engu fe our affaions into their excelles and immoderation; not fuffer them fo tointimate, as to iteale away our hearts untoa pleating infenfible thraldome ; focreating necefities of re. creations, which is anextreme'miferie, and intolerable lia- very : wherein notwithftanding many truly unworthy and unnoble Gallants miferably languith, and come tonothing; proove onely unprofitable burthens of the earth; and in Read of a blaring, the very bane,oftheCountrey that bred them. Let fuchconfideratians as thefe ferve as fo many curbes; to reftraine us from an unfeafonable intrufion upon them:and fo many keene fpurres topoaft us out ofthern, before webe rancum elk,quoa limed and intangled by them. vinimua¢reict I Time is fhort. Our life isbut a fpan long, a bubble, a iuinus. thought,.a fi oake, a thadow, adreame, the very dreame of a thaciow; or ityou can name any thing more fading and fraile : andyet upon this momentdepends eternitie. As we behave our felvesheereupon earth , either in conformitie to thewaies of God, walking withhim, felfe-deniall,&c. or infafhionableneffetotheworid, ferving the times, and our owne turnes,&c. fo (hall wee fare everlaflingly in another life : And either become moll glorious andhappy creatures, crowned with an exquifite confluence and quintef fence, as it were, offweeteltuncnixed.eternall pleafur,s; a very thadow whereof, not the large$naturali hearts ofdeepen underfland- dingmen, from the Creation, to the lalt day, were they all united into one exaeteft height and excellency of conceit, could poffibly comprehend; nay, in this one circumftance,at the leaf}, the Saints (hall furpalfe even Angelicail felicitie ; they fhali behold, with.incredibie joy, their owne nature, in that refpgt honoured and advanced above the. brighten Cherub, thiningfor ever with infinite beautie and glorified fplendour, in the facred Perfon ofthe Sonne ofGod : or elfe fall irrecoverably into the mouthof inexplicable and reme dileffee

RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=