V9 of A -P.1 o. 4 epelatrn lie Apecaiypi e' 34,1 of ,molt excellent wits, that thereis no man but will confefï'e, that that was the time, wherein mendid eat up Books AnditJhxall bebitter in thy belly. The word when it is tatted with the mouth,is fweet,but bitter in the belly,that is,the knoWledgeofGods Will is veryfweetandpleafans by itfelfbut the publiji ing ofir, Whereby the fruit of itmight come unto the refl. of the members,ufull oftroubles andanguifb,lik_e the concoElion of meat afterit is digelled in thef emac1e, which thing Ieremiehad experience, and complained of long ago, Chap.' 5. i6. Alto Ezechiel, 3.3. And fo in a word have all done that have run in this race,but efpecially thefe new Champions ofthis time that I fpeak of. And indeed the word was fo much the fweeter unto them,with howmuch more heartyhunger they came unto it, after it had been [toiler' away from the world for certain ages,andwas now firft ofall reftored again through the mercy ofGod; contrariwife the . office ofpreaching it was fo muchthe more bitter,by, howmuchmore groffe theblindnefs was whereinmen were drowned,who muff needs be found to,be the more obstinate, and mifchierous,againft the faith- full preachers and profeffors of the word, becaufe they had been fo long inured to,andnotified in their wicked opinions and praCtifes. The Efate of that time could not be declared more briefly., nor yet more manifeftty. io Then I tookthe Book.Although Iohn hear how great trouble this meat fho::ld bring,yet he willingly obeyeth the Angel,and devoured' the Boo.k,as he was commanded. The defire after the heavenly word ofGodwas more ftrong and forcible with him, then any refpeft of irkfomnefs,or of gripes at heart that were like to arife out of the bit- ternefs of it. And this kinde of fortitude was angular in the learned menofthat Age,that we fpeke of before ..: itcould not be, but they knewwell enough, what dangers and troubles they fhould rail up again{t themfelves by defending of the truth; yet for all that they were not a whit leffe painfull and couragious in feeking and fetting out the truth , but contemned all the bitternefs of any danger whatfoever,in refpeaofthat fweetnes,which they took in;and'fucked out of the joy of the" Holy Gleofr. By whole worthyexample, all the Mini¡rers of the word are to be provoked , to go forward in the difchargeoftheir holy funftionboldly and stoutly, and never to for- fake,or to balk it for any ttoubles they canmeet withall. It :is not any ítrange thing , to fi;ide that bitter in experience, which when it was fir& but overly tatted with the 'tip as it were of the tongue, feen,ed to be fweet,Let everyProphet thereforemeditate throughly of this in- Y y 2 amnion,
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