Downame - Puritan-02038 v2

Cautions to be obfereled in law full pleafures. 241 vs as it were there fira fruits, and finall carte ofhis euerlafling ioyes in there temporali delighes,to make vs long after thofe fully- fatisfying and neuer glutting pleafures, and to thinke no labour too much for the obtaining of thofc pure ioyes which are at his right hand for cuermore : feeing euen thefe earthly pleafures though momentany,and mixed with many miferies and much bitterneffebyreafonoffin, doe kaue ne- uertheleffe fuch a pleafant rellifh behind them. Secondly, they finable vs to thole duties of Gods feruice,and dour cal- lings, as they do recreate and refrcfh vs after our painfull la.. bours. In which refpeEi they are exceeding neceffarie, feting in regard of our frailtie and vveaknes, it were impoflible to trauaile in our Chriflian courfe,vnleffe we were flrengthned and cheated with thefe earthly baits : for our bodies would be tyred,and ourminds made dull and fluggifh,ifthey flood alwaies bent; neither could we long labour if our hearts were not cheated and our fpirits refrefhed with this fweete oyntment ofpleafitre and delight. And thus haue I chewed that thefe naturali and ciuillplea. Veil 6 fures are in themfelues good and lawfull ; yet, as I laid, they That;/1,24 are not goodabfoluteiy, immutablie, or in any high degree pleafures are of ofperfe6 ion. But in refpedi ofvs and oftheir vfe ofan indif- an indifferent ferent nature, holding their naturali goodneffe when they sat re, holding are well vied, and degenerating into euill, when as they are only when they abufed, ascaufes,meanes,or inflruments offin.And therfore are well vied, in the next place we are to confider, how there gifts ofGod voto which a which arc good in themfelues,may alto be good vnto vs: vn- required that to which is required,firfl that our perlons be iuflified and re- júflp edons be conciled vnto God by a true faith in Iefus Chrifi : for as we may obferue in the Apofiles order,true coy and reioycing are Rom.it3a the effeéis and fruits of ouriufiification and peace with God: without which as we haue no right or intere1t in there plea- lures, fo are they altogether falle and full ofvanitie, like vn- to the delights of a malefactlorwhich he hath berweene the time ofhis condemnation and execution,or vitro a faireway which bringeth himto the gallowes. As therefore Jebel laid to Iehorem, what peace can there be fo long as the whore- domes of thy mother lefabel remaine ? So may I fay to the K wicked